July 1

         

Happy Canada Day! We are sitting on the dock at Jennis Bay Marina. This is the first time we’ve ever come up Drury Inlet, even though we’ve been up here before. I always thought it was just a short, narrow inlet with a rapids in the middle that we didn’t much want to negotiate….au contraire, ma frere……it’s huge. The rapids must be run at slack tide, but that’s okay, the tide is based on one that is close to this area and easy to find…..we went through a little early (about 20 minutes) and we probably won’t do it again. We came through fine, but Nellie just doesn’t go fast enough to make that comfortable.

We left funky, fun Sullivan’s Bay on Sunday morning, after pulling in 16 nice prawns. We got in touch with Saratoga Sue (Mary & Steppe’s boat) and met them around noon in Claydon Bay, a nice anchorage about 5 miles from Sullivan’s. We each dropped a crab pot and had a great time visiting. A shared pot luck dinner of chicken, prawns and salad, and life was good. The next morning we pulled up the crab pots and took off for Napier Bay – another place we’ve never gone. (We have read in the Waggoner’s Cruise Guide that Napier Bay is not a good anchorage, so we have avoided it.) Mary & Steppe anchor in here a lot, so we followed them in – what a terrific spot. 

A shot of the entrance to Wells Passage on our way to Napier Bay:  What I thought was fog was actually a cloud lying on the water.

Quiet, peaceful cove…….around 5 pm, we were having happy hour on board Nellie when Mary pointed and said “Bear!” Sure enough, on the shore was a black bear, foraging for his dinner. We watched him until he left, and then accused Steppe and Mary of bribing the bear to show up, just so I could see him. I’m convinced it’s the same bear everyone else sees….then, this morning around 7:00, Mary called over and said to look off our bow – there was the bear, swimming from one side of the island to the other. Did you know bears swim? Why, yes they do! Quite well, in fact. I would have guessed it was a seal except for the extra hump behind the head……….he got to the other side, clambered out over the rocks, accompanied by a fair amount of grunting and chuffing, and then walked along the rocks for a while. It seemed like a smallish bear to me, until a gentleman on another boat got off his boat (he was tied up to the ranger’s dock, so I’m guessing he was the ranger) and he looked really small (I have no sense of distance at all, so it was clearly a lot farther away than I had thought) – well, the bear looked at least as big as the man, so it was more likely a LARGE bear, not a little one. As we were leaving the cove, Steppe radioed to us that there were 2 bears on the shore – I have decided that they really paid extra to have that bear swim in front of our boat then get out, climb into some SUV or something and then go hang around on the shore waiting for us to leave. Must’ve cost Steppe a fortune!

So, we’re back to today – and we’re at Jennis Bay. Mary & Steppe are taking off from here and going eastward a little, then homewards, and we are going to hang around here in this part of the Broughtons, hoping to catch some cod and/or halibut…..but it cannot be a gigantic fish, because there is only so much room in the freezer (which is working just fine, thanks). 

Across the dock from us is the Deer Leap, an 85-foot wooden boat built in 1929 and lovingly restored. What a boat and what an undertaking! The inside has huge built-in buffets, filled with crystal and silver pieces, crystal chandeliers, and everything that just screams 1929. There are lace curtains on the windows, and an aft deck that you could have a dance for 20 on. She's kept in Port Orchard, WA, all winter and cruises up here all summer....and here's her picture:

on her roof there are 3 kayaks, motorcycles, an aluminum boat and the original canoe that came with the boat...........