June 28

June 24/25

"Knee deep in the water somewhere, blue sky breeze blowin’ wind in my hair…..and I think I might’a found me my own kind of Paradise. "  

 Zach Brown Band

We left Shearwater around 0900 in gray overcast skies, with the water even looking gray – everything was kind of gray……….we came 15 miles inland, and, PRESTO, sunlight! I can’t believe the difference this sunshine has made on my outlook! We came down Lama Passage (aka Llama, Llama Passage – we can’t help it, our grandkids love the Llama Llama books – “Llama Llama New Pajamas”) to Codville Lagoon, which is a Marine Provincial Park. Lovely. And we hope it’s full of prawns…………..On our way down here (about 3 hours) we talked about why this was better than the Broughtons, our previously favorite spot in Canada. We have decided that we were right – the farther north you go, the better it is. The Broughtons are much nicer than Desolation Sound – fewer boats, prettier scenery, etc…………and going past Cape Caution is much the same – this is MUCH more beautiful than the Broughtons…. We went down Lama Passage for 2 hours today, and we saw 3 boats, total…..’way fewer people up here.

We are anchored tonight in Codville Lagoon, a Provincial Marine Park. It’s lovely…we’re in about 40 feet, surrounded by old cedar forests. (If we were here in December, they’d have airlifted me to a Vancouver ICU by now – there is NOTHING but cedar here) It’s gorgeous.

Okay, I’ve just gotta say it…………we’ve been bombarded by “This is Bear Country” signs. Signs telling us to take noisy things with us, reminding us not to leave food, etc., lying around.” Okay, so if this is bear country, where are all the freakin’ bears??? I have not seen anything remotely resembling a bear. I don’t know who is responsible for perpetuating this nonsense (probably the BC Tourist Office), but, trust me, there are no bears to be seen….if you have seen a bear, it’s probably the same bear that everybody else has seen. There is ONE bear in northern BC , and he’s running around like a crazy monster, getting everybody excited. RELAX….I’m telling you, there are no bears. (If a grizzly comes around tonight looking for hermit crabs, then, y’know, I’m just a tourist, eh?)

Tomorrow we’re heading for the Hakai Institute, over on Pruth Bay, on the Pacific side…..

June 25

We left Codville Lagoon around 8:30, after pulling  our prawn pots – 45 lovely prawns! Yum, scampi tomorrow! (Or coconut prawns, but that was what we had with the Ocean Falls prawns….)

Pruth Bay is about a 38-mile run, so, for us, that’s a 6-hour ride…….but it’s yet another beautiful day in Paradise, so that’s okay with me. I could even make Sun Tea, it’s so nice. (Was that me, whining about the weather 3 days ago???)

...and here's the west beach, a short walk from Pruth Bay: 

We’ve been admiring all the great sailboats up here – a 36’ Pearson Pilothouse caught our eye the other day, but we’ve decided that 36’ is just too small – no room for a watermaker or a freezer. Saw one yesterday in Llama Llama that was making a good 8 knots (using his engine, not under sail). We’ve never seen a sailboat leave that kind of wake! We couldn’t see the name of the boat (it was about ½ mile away from us), so we don’t know the make of the boat, but we’re definitely going to start looking up here in BC for Nellie 2.

June  27

"Mother, Mother Ocean, I have heard your call…”

                                                            Jimmy Buffet

We left Pruth Bay at 0445, at first light. The water in Fitzhugh Sound was flat calm, and the only boats we saw were a tug pulling a couple of overloaded barges, off in the distance. After about 2 hours, we realized that even the ocean swells were low and calm. Our original plan was to go to Takush Harbour, on the south side of Smith Sound, and wait there for a quiet day to go around Cape Caution. After listening (or trying to listen – we get a tremendous amount of static on the radio when our engine is running – something else for Bob to fix) to Environment Canada’s marine weather, we realized that this is going to be the last calm day until at least Monday……which meant a long time sitting at anchor in Takush. Now, normally, I don’t have a lot of issues with sitting at anchor – it’s peaceful and often very restful (not much else to do but knit, read and nap). However, with the sword of Cape Caution hanging over our heads, sitting at anchor for 3 or 4 days would probably be anything BUT peaceful. So we made the decision to just keep going. This is against all advice, by the way. Everyone – simply EVERYONE – has told us (even the books) to make the crossing at first light, when the wind is calmest and the seas better. However, by the time we actually got out of Smith Sound, it was 10:00am. We hit Cape Caution around 12:30 – and saw quite a few boats making the crossing the other way. (Nobody was going south except for us and a cruise ship.) Certainly, the swells grew to about 1 – 1.5 metres, but that only lasted for about an hour or so. The swells weren’t coming fast, so it was really more like being passed by a 30’ Bayliner. Not bad at all. I was able to knit with size 1 needles when I wasn’t at the helm, so that tells you how calm it was. J When we got south of the cape, and into Queen Charlotte Straits, the wind picked up, but the water was calm again, since we were in the protection of so many islands. We are now anchored in Blunden Harbour (the US one – there’s another one north of Cape Caution, which makes for lots of confusion, at least on my part….Bob claims I am frequently confused about things, anyway, though). Steppe and Mary Williford are somewhere nearby, but with all the hills and rocks around us we cannot get through by radio.

Blunden Harbour is where the cougar got the dog in 2010 (for those of you who remember that story)….a couple was walking their dog, a Great Pyrenees – that’s not spelled right, I’m sure – when a cougar came out of the woods and attacked the dog. Bye, bye, puppy. The couple left Blunden and went back to Port McNeill, where we heard the story 2 weeks later. Bob was up later than I last night, and said that there were lots of animal noises last night – but he didn’t see anything. It was probably the bear…..and maybe the cougar. Canadian wildlife is overreported. (Except for eagles – they’re everywhere.) We’ve seen lots of dolphins, tons of eagles and a couple gray whales, but that’s it, as far as critters go.