Ready to GO!

Today finds us at the dock in Shearwater, B.C. With only 1-2 miles visibility due to fog and rain, we are taking this opportunity to relax and catch up on correspondence and laundry!

Yesterday we took the water taxi 4 miles to Bella Bella where the bi-monthly supply barge had arrived on Sunday with fresh food, fruit & vegetables. (At these remote stores, it is best to shop 1-3 days after the barge arrives to get "some of the good stuff")

AT Note: We travel with a large cooler on the Sunbridge so that we can stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables. Each morning we empty our ice maker into the cooler to keep our produce cool.

First Fish!!

We left Shelter Bay (LaConner, Washington) on May 19 with stops at Deer Harbor on Orcas Island and Port Sidney on Vancouver Island to clear Canadian Customs. While there, we went for a long walk with Cassie, started to provision and bought fishing licenses.

Then we motored on to Montague Harbor on Galliano Island. We stayed here several days to work with our Golden on "dinghy etiquette." While at Montague, we met up with Bob and Judy Bales (M/V "Last Class") to review their trip to Alaska in 2001. Over coffee, the Bales gave us some new ideas for several new anchorages in B.C. and Alaska.

After clearing Dodd Narrows at "slack," we overnighted in Nanaimo to shop, fuel and prepare for the next day's crossing of the Strait of Georgia. (Nanaimo has invested heavily in their Waterfront making this one of our favorite stops)

Greenway Sound

Departing Nanaimo we enjoyed a sunny, calm passage up the Straits, past Cape Lazo to arrive at Campbell River at 1 p.m. We spent the afternoon "provisioning".

AT Note: The boat's storage capacity is exceeding our expectations in its ability to stow all the food and cases of "adult beverages" we are buying!

The next day included a beautiful trip around Quadra Island and up Calm Channel past the entrance to Desolation Sound. Powering through the Yuclata & Dent Rapids we arrived at one of our favorite stops- Shoal Bay on East Thurlow Island, the site of a Government Wharf, an abandoned gold mine and a burned down hotel.

Relaxing at River's Inlet

The next day we traveled up the Johnstone Straits, past Minstrel Island (so named for the traveling entertainment in the logging heydays), down Knight Inlet and up Retreat and Cramer passages to Bob & Nancy Richter's Echo Bay Resort . We stayed here for a couple of days to wait for weather to lie down in the Queen Charlottes. Meanwhile, we caught a 14 # Salmon and 8 Dungeness crabs!

We motored on to see Tom Taylor at Greenway Sound Marine Resort. Tom and his staff are just getting the docks ready for the summer. We gave them a loaf of bread Eddylee baked on the way up. The next day we made a beeline for Port Hardy in preparation for crossing the Queen Charlotte Strait.

Hakai Resort

Fortunately, the Strait crossing was unremarkable. As this is one of the "least liked" and "most dreaded" legs, it always feels good to turn into River's Inlet. We stayed at Dawson's Landing, bought a box of jumbo shrimp from the local prawn boat and visited with Rob, Nola and their 11-year-old daughter, Amber. They have fuel, a well-stocked store, a liquor store, Post Office, 3 rental cabins, a picnic area and their house - all on floats!

The next day we went to Pruth Bay, the epicenter of the world renowned "Hakai Pass" fishing area. Here we made a visit to the Hakai Resort and took a walk 1/2 mile through the woods to a 3 mile-long, white sand beach fronting on the Pacific Ocean! The resort does not open until mid-June so the caretakers invited us to moor at their dock.

Beach at Hakai

We left Hakai Pass at 11:30 a.m. after breakfast, picked up our crab pots and 7 crabs in an adjoining bay. Then we dropped our anchor 30 minutes later to fish for halibut at "slack tide" (no luck). Even with a relaxed, yet jam-packed day of many activities, we still managed to arrive in Shearwater at 4:30 p.m.

AT Note: We are really beginning to appreciate the flexibility and speed of this boat. We seem to be spending more time enjoying our anchorages and less time at the helm on long legs. The boat is really adaptable: easy to explore, fish and crab. Also, we have the option of running "trawler" speed or "moving on out" at 16-17 knots when we are trying to make our destination.