Going Back South

Sailing South at 6.5 kts in Johnstone

Late night anchoring in Montague Harbor

Alert Bay

Graveyard at Alert Bay

Turnbull Cove

Did I mention that we saw bears again? Crazy but true

Sullivan Bay

Sullivan Bay Sign Post

Shawl Bay

There is a story that takes place here. It involves Capn' Clyde and a host of unsavory characters. Buy me a beer sometime and I will tell you. No way is it getting posted.

Greenway Sound

Corduroy Logging Road Near Greenway Sound

Lagoon Cove

Weighing anchor after a quiet evening and leisurely morning in Matilpi Cove, we headed to Lagoon Cove via Chatham Narrows and the Blow Hole. Lagoon Cove is suppose to have Internet connection. We are trying to stay in touch with our dear friend Lyn Hunt (his love of his life had just passed away) and I am trying to make arrangements to fly back to Colorado to visit with him. While waiting for slack water to get through Chatham Narrows, Andy headed Kalliope up Call Inlet to look for bears. I noticed that we actually had digital cell phone service (we get service in the weirdest areas - we think it has something to do with the logging camps & fish camps). I made some calls while Andy circled around the small hot spot of cell service.
Our window of opportunity for negotiating Chatham Narrows had come and we had to leave or wait for the next low tide. So I said my goodbyes and
we began heading for the exact coordinates to negotiate the channel. The channel is very tight, long and shallow. My job was to keep an astern sight for the range marker and keep Kalliope lined up on the range sighting until it falls away from sight and the forward range marker comes into sight and then keep Kalliope lined up with the forward range marker. We made it through the channel and it was tight, long, and shallow. As we made our way along the upper reaches of Chatham Channel, we spotted a bear on the northern shore turning big rocks over as easily as I might turnover a pillow. He was probably looking for some lunch that might be lurking under the boulders. This is when I wish we would have we have a zoom looms. We did try to take some pictures.

Lagoon Cove

Our destination is moorage at Lagoon Cove Marina. After coming through the Blow Hole, I radioed Lagoon and was confirmed moorage for our sailing vessel. Little did we know how tightly Bill (the proprietor and wharfinger) could pack in the boats. We came in on a port tie. Andy had a tight u-turn to make in between the two dock fingers but he brought her around and Bill and his assistant ________ were there to receive lines.
LAGOON COVE
A quirky, rustic place with a lot of personality. Shore power is available 7 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 10:30 pm. Water, boil before you use. I am glad that we filled our tanks with Blind Channel's sweet water. One shower sharing the room with a flushing toilet - I think the head and shower on Kalliope is bigger - definitely not as rustic. The emporium is filled with heavy fleece sweaters & jackets sized xxl and xxxl, a choice of 2 post cards. The store has some oil (which we should have bought since it turned out to be our last chance to purchase any), baits & lures, cold pop & candy bars. Diesel, gas, & propane are available. Well, well, well. And it was cloudy & trying rain to boot. Internet facilities, I had to laugh (a picture is worth a thousand words in this case).

So after our short and quick walk about we returned to the boat. Bill had told us that happy hour was at 5 pm at the "historic workshop" - bring an appetizer to share. So we were a hanging about the boat when this huge motor boat comes in for moorage. Bill decides to put the Christi Lynn behind us at the dock at a right angle. Well, here she comes with her bowsprit and anchor towering above bimini and she is heading right for our stern. She misses our wind vane by less than an inch. Her bow is touching the dock that we are tied to. Let's hope no one throws a wake, because it would cause quite a tangle of boats, docks and rigging. Billy, the cap'n of the Christi Lynn comes down from his flying bridge to check to see just where everything is laying. I don't think he realized just how close he came to Kalliope until he saw for himself. I took a picture of him resting his hands on our solar panels. (See the photo for proof). We moved Kalliope forward, moved the Christi Lynn back some. We now have a good six inches or so between our boats. Since we are such close neighbors, we thought the best thing to do is to meet for drinks after the happy hour in the crab shed.
Happy Hour at Lagoon Cove
Before Happy Hour we start meeting up with folks that we met at Blind Channel, Cree & Joe from SV MooseNose, Bert and Jan from the MV Berjango, and last but not least Marilyn and Alan and Peppi from the MV Top Dawg.
Andy also figured out how to catch prawns. About damn time!

Johnstone Strait and Matilpi

The day started out a bit foggy and pretty light on the winds. The previous night we picked out a couple of spots to bail just in case the weather got crappy. Mostly we had good luck, and didn't have to use any of them. We hit the rapids at Johnstone just right and managed to make about 10 kts over the bottom for about an hour. We even surfed through some big standing waves as we moved north. It isn't that scary when the wind isn't frothing. That night we anchored at Matilpi (or Indian Islands). We had the place all to ourselves and enjoyed exploring the white shell beach. We were a little bit nervous since our charts and GPS didn't seem to agree well. Just for kicks, I took the GPS to a couple of the exposed rocks and compared them to the chart. Not surprisingly, they were off by about 30' Of course that made me nervous since a rock was supposed to be awash and within our swing if the wind shifted on us. So as an added bonus I took the lead line out and did some impromptu sounding. I never could find the awash rock. So much for charts. It is a wonder that we haven't run into more rocks!

Entering Johnstone

The Anchorage and Beach at Matilpi (Indian Islands)

Andy and Bruno Going for a Row at Matilpi

Blind Channel - take two

We always like Blind Channel. They have a really nice marina and really great food. This year we stayed for three days and just relaxed and enjoyed the surroundings. We me quite a few different folks here. One of the employees had a kayak and let me use it on the reversing rapids. It was good to get out on the water. In the evening, they would have a little jazz combo going and sometime one of the waitresses would belt out a song or two. She was pretty damn good. Blind Channel is also the jumping off point for going north. Beyond it lies the slightly ominous Johnstone Straits. The winds really whip down through these straights from the north. It had been blowing about 40 kts for the previous week, but relief was supposedly in sight. Since this is a big jumping off point, you will meet all kinds of folks sitting about waiting for the weather. Of course everyone tries to talk you in heading north. Originally, Kathy and I planned on staying south and spending more time exploring the Gulf Islands. But the weather gods where extremely cooperative, so we decided to head up north into the Bush.

Kalliope at Blind Channel - Another Rainy Day -)

This woman rowed all of the way from Alaska! Kathy, don't complain about the size of our boat!