Day 52/August 21st – Un-named Cove to Europa Hotsprings to Bishop Bay – Double hotsprings!

Most interesting crab trap haul to date - massive periwinkle snail things and an octopus! I was in the head when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye – an octopus tentacle suctioning its way in through the window. Those things can move! It hauled down the side of the boat before Scott could get it back in the water. Pulled anchor and headed for the hotsprings.

Was a bit of a trek out of the way, but well worth it. Tied onto a mooring bu0y and rowed to the steaming hut that house two pools and a shelter for changing. The water was gorgeous and we sat and watched the rain come down and the tide come up. The spearmint green glacier fed water that crept up was too tempting to resist and I managed to dunk twice. Our own little heaven for a few hours. All clean and relaxed we headed back to the boat and off for Bishop Bay to test out the hotsprings there.

Came around and into the bay to find two boats and one empty buoy. Tied up just before dark and headed for the pools. It was apparent that this hotsprings sees a little more traffic and was a little more developed. Dozens of signed flashers, buoys, bumpers, fenders hung from the ceiling and the cement pools and hut were covered with blissed out sentiments and initials. They were a little less slimy too. Had a short but sweet soak and then headed back for the best night’s sleep ever. Crazy phosphorescence off the oars and we rowed back to the boat. 

Day 51/August 20th – Lowe Inlet to Un-named Cove up from Bishop Bay – double wolf/triple whale!

Woke up to the sound of the falls and Scott scrambling to put the long lens on the camera – a bear?! Nope, the wolves were back, this time they were on the other side of the bay working the rock weir. We watched them over coffee and breakfast and managed to get a few good photos and video. Amazing to watch them pluck the salmon out of the water with so little effort. They anticipate where the salmon is going and just open their jaws and the fish seem to fly right in.

After they left we got our shore expedition on. Walked around the weir and followed their antics – dead salmon with no face. Wolves are only interested in eating salmon brains and faces (an evolutionary adaptation to reduce the risk of parasites more common in the body of the fish). After marveling at being in the same spot the wolves had just enjoyed we headed up a trail towards the falls to get a different view of them. Enjoyed some of the biggest huckleberries we’ve seen yet. Back to Nordri and off into the next leg which we thought was going to be a bit of a slog – turned into gorgeous calm waters with fair weather clouds with patches of blue skies. Had a lovely encounter with some bubble-net feeding humpbacks. You could hear their calls as they came up with their mouths open filled with startled herring. We had a few big breaches too.

Took the autopilot remote to the bow with a thermarest and some snacks and enjoyed the end of the light. Our goal for this evening’s anchorage was to get as close as possible to tomorrow’s destination – Europa hotsprings! Found an un-named cove that would do the trick. Dropped the hook with a stern tie along with the crab trap for good measure.

Day 50/August 19th – Baker Inlet to Lowe Inlet

Woke up with some light tapping on the pillows. Drips. Rain. The first real rain we’ve had. We really haven’t had to worry about leaks this whole trip until now – nothing a few garbage bags over the hatch couldn’t fix. The diesel stove on the other hand was not so easy to fix. It had started acting up last week and Scott spent the better part of the morning taking it apart and putting it back together to make no difference. A cooler start to the day.

Pulled the prawn trap on the way out to find about a dozen nice sized spot prawns and headed out for part 2 of Grenville Channel. Caught the tide heading out the narrows at a more comfortable rate and down the channel we were able to get a nice 3 knot push. Steamed the prawns and smothered with butter for a snack as we passed by gorgeous layers of mountains with whisps of fog and cloud pulling up and down.

We came up to the entrance to Lowe Inlet and felt the usual excitement of not knowing if you’ll be lucky enough to have an inlet all to yourselves - was relieved when we came in to find an empty bay. A nice little falls at the north end of the inlet provided a constant current for us to anchor against – no stern tie required. After admiring our surroundings and the potential for bear viewing on either side – estuary to the right, an old rock weir to the left - we settled into getting the oven repaired and making dinner. We got a little side tracked when I thought I’d spotted my first bear on the beach! But it wasn’t a bear…it was another wolf. There were two of them playing around with each other and plucking salmon out of the creek. They were just young and it looked like they were practicing. We all ate our salmon dinners and enjoyed the company until it got too dark. Tried to make it an early night as the prospects for 7:30am super low tide wild life viewing seemed promising. 

Day 49/August 18th – Prince Rupert to Baker Inlet

Our intended early departure turned into a late afternoon departure after sending off some last minute emails, picking up a few last minute items and topping up the water. Wet and blustery, we headed out of the southern entrance of Prince Rupert. Wind over current flowing out of the Skeena made for some head on chop. Tried putting the sails up and that made things a bit smoother for the few moments we had wind. It died coming up to Porcher Island. Motor-sailed for a little ways and dropped the lines. Felt a nice sized fish on the line, but we never got to see it. Eventually dropped the main and motored up to Oona River for drive by wifi and then headed down into Grenville Channel for the first time. Once again so happy that we had the weather to come up the outside so everything inside will be new to us. Finally found our way to the Baker Inlet entrance and the current was running fast through Watt Narrows. We spun around the mouth, mustering the courage and wondering whether we should wait out the current. The quickly dwindling light forced us to bite the bullet and head in and it was fast. Too fast to check our SOG, but we had to be going at least 10 knots and the narrows were 60 meters at the widest spots. White knuckled it right out the other side and into the gorgeous inlet. Conditions looked perfect for prawns, so we dropped the trap and then headed into the head of the inlet in the dark. The moon tried to make its way out from behind clouds, but only enough to illuminate how many clouds there actually were. Dropped the anchor through the phosphorescence and went to bed.

Day 47&48/August 16/17th – reunited in Prince Rupert

Kim, Scott and Nordri are reunited at the government dock in Prince Rupert on the 16th. Spent the next day day catching up, doing laundry and had a nice dinner at the Cow Bay Café. Ready to start heading South!

Day 46/August 15 – Prince Rupert

Easy day with lots of internet time… trying to get caught up on the blog, email, work stuff, photos etc etc.  Walked up to the Java Cup coffee shop and set-up shop there for a while first, then off to the library to blog blog blog.  Rain came down in buckets for the first time since we left Vancouver it seems.  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of that stuff soon…

Did anyone notice the new blog banner? That is the question.

Days 45/August 14 – Prince Rupert

With Mark and Arran now gone back to the city, and Kim not due back until Friday, I’m working diligently on:

1. Relaxing

2. Sleeping

3. Boat projects

… in no particular order.

Spent the day wandering around Rupert and getting the lay of the land. I tucked the boat onto the inside of the government dock here (best spot in town says Hermit John!), did some fishing gear shopping, checked out the hardware stores, sipped a few coffees and generally just recovered from an intense/busy few days with Mark and Arran.  Also went to the library and checked out some books, which I will return in a few weeks either in Vancouver or some other library in the province.  Great system!  One of the books that I found is called ‘Calamity Harbour’, which was another recommendation from Hermit John; true account of an unfortunate grounding in 1787 of a British Explorer named Capt.Colnetts ship on the rocks in a bay on the South Western corner of Banks Island (looks really interesting!).

Highlight of the day was the snowbirds airshow that Kim had arranged for me to keep me entertained.  (Thanks Kim!)