Vancouver

I came back to Vancouver for a week to be with Sheila, meet friends and have a couple of biotech meetings. The weather is fairly nice, but today was very windy and I had to sprint across a section of the seawall that was sprayed with waves.

Seawall at Siwash Rock

Advertisements

Sointula

I am still on Malcolm Island, but moved to the harbour in Sointula, a small Finnish town with an interesting history. I walked out to Bere Point, a beautiful park on the East coast of the island and watched some humpback whales feeding close to shore. From the harbour it is two kilometres to the town centre (ferry dock), but the cold beer at the pub tastes good.

Mitchell Bay

An early start with boat chores, laundry and cleaning. I then came over to Mitchell Bay on Malcolm Island. I walked to the end of the road from the public dock, about two hours return. The people in all five cars who passed me waived, and even the deer came out to have a look. Very friendly! The morning was cool with high fog, which burned off and the afternoon was sunny and warm.
http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.630802&lon=-126.858512

Cormorant Channel Marine Park

I watched a bear on the beach again this morning and then came to the Plumber Islands. I am anchored in a very small enclosed bay, surrounded by seals sleeping on rocks, bald eagles making a racket, humpback whales feeding to the South, orcas going by to the North, and the occasional cruise ship on both sides. The sun is shining, but there is still quite a bit of wind.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.593528&lon=-126.803008

Mound Island

A short trip across Indian Channel today to the anchorage behind Mound Island. This is very protected and the weather was cloudy, windy and a bit chilly. Tomorrow the sun is supposed to come back. I spent the day kayaking, watching bears on the beach and bald eagles fishing.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.588782&lon=-126.653227

Bear on beach

Goat Island

Short motor through Beware Passage and now I am anchored between Crease Island and the Goat Islands. I kayaked again in the afternoon and walked around one of the Goat Islands. This took about 10 min at low tide, at high tide it would have been quicker. No goats in sight, just a lonely tree. The weather was mostly sunny again, but breezy in the afternoon.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.615308&lon=-126.644108

Kayak & crabs

I spent another day in Potts Lagoon, because it is such a beautiful anchorage, and I met some nice people here. This morning I went for a long kayak trip through the lagoon, and then picked up my crab trap. There were two nice keepers in it, which made a great lunch (after a bit of work getting all the flesh out!). The afternoon I spent again on the kayak and saw a bald eagle eating a fish it had caught. The weather turned sunny and warm, just great to hang out here.

Big, male Dungeness crab

Red Rock crab (again a large male)

Bald eagle eating fish

Potts Lagoon, West Cracroft Island

I watched a black bear eating grass this morning, and then moved on to Potts Lagoon. This is a cute little anchorage with some floathomes and remnants of logging operations. There is a boat here I have met before and they invited me to happy hour. Yesterday and today was cloudy with showers, tomorrow the sun is supposed to come back.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.560653&lon=-126.452565

Seals on a rock on the way

Boughey Bay

It ended up being a late night last night, with pizza and talking, but I still left early this morning and came far north. There was no wind in Johnstone Strait, ideal to travel on. Now I am in the Broughton Archipelago, anchored in Boughey Bay and looking at the anchorages I want to visit next week.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=50.523497&lon=-126.183898

Shoal Bay

A very early start today, as I had to traverse three sets of tidal rapids. Just before the first one, Yuculta, there were two humpback whales feeding, a mother and calf, but I was too busy with whirlpools to take a picture. In Gillard Passage there were sea lions but again I needed both hands to steer. Dent Rapids, the most difficult ones, I hit right at slack with perfect timing and shortly after there was a large pod of white sided dolphins, too fast for a picture. I stopped at Shoal Bay on East Thurlow Island and hiked up to an old gold mine, and the bluff close by was a perfect spot for lunch. The picture shows the view, the white blob is Ancient Murrelet. And then, Mark and Cynthia, who manage the place, have a pizza night to night. Great to recover from a strenuous day!