Sept 12 2009 need for speed

This is what 55 Miles per hour looks like from the driver seat over my left shoulder in the F16

September 8, 2009

Sept 8, 2009

Had a lovely breakfast at he coast hotel then we went to the wine making store and ordered 60 bottles of “home Made white and red wine for our trip next year.

It seems that if you have the wine made then you put it in containers it is classified as food and you avoid some rather substantial taxes. We got Lodi California Cab and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

At the crack of noon we shoved off for Montague Harbour hitting Dodd narrows at High slack tide. It was a real traffic jam with sail boats going as slow as they possibly could like 4 .5 knots through the narrows.

I made reservations at the Hummingbird restaurant which involves a wild and crazy ride in an old Ford school bus. They pick you up near the dock at road side and the bus can barely make it up the hills to the restaurant. Coming back was a different story careening around corners way to fast and coming to a screeching halt in a cloud of dust at the same place he picked us up. Frankly I was scared
s---less during the ride back and imagined the bus driver was either crazy or had had a few too many. Guess I am showing my age.

Wed, Sept 9, 2009

We headed for Roche Harbour which is only 18 miles away.

Fueled up lucky and got in the outstation.

Had a nice two days in Roche Harbor including a killer clam, mussel and oyster dinner on board. We went with the Timm’s to Westcott Bay Oyster Co and purchased all the fixings. We also visited English Camp where the British and Americans had the Pig War in a boarder dispute.


Friday Sept 11 2009

Left Roche Harbor and cruised to Lopez Island Fisherman Bay to try out the RHYC Outstation. It was empty so we decided to spend two days there. The weather is wonderful in the high seventies and the restaurant at this resort is very good.

Sept 12 2009

Went into town (Lopez) today to the farmers market and to see all the shops and the local Museum. Lopez is a very nice place to visit and the folks there are very friendly. The Bay is large with good anchorage and the view is stunning looking toward the west end of the Bay.

Tuesday September 1st

Tuesday Sept 1st 2009

We moved to Elworthy Island yesterday in Waddington Channel about 8 miles from Toba Wildernest.

There are wonderful clams, Oysters, Prawns and good cod fishing here and it is a very pleasant view from our anchorage. Within a mile of this anchorage there is a very large oyster farm.

Early this morning we drug anchor and awoke to Gary pulling our anchor up a bit. We reset the anchor and when out to pull our prawns pots. While we were out pulling our prawn pot and catching Ling cod Gary called to tell us we need to come back and reset again
After resetting the anchor the wind came up again and Noon Balloon moved off of our anchor and set their own because we were still swinging too close to shore.


Thursday Sept 3rd

Today we will move Prideaux Haven.

We relaxed in this peaceful Bay in the rain for two days.

Sat Sept 5 2009.

We moved to Squirrel Cove and went to the general store to get supplies.

Sunday September 6, 2009

Moved from Squirrel Cove to Pender Harbour. The seas were rough and we were thankful to have a heavy boat with stabilizers.

Monday Sept 7th Labor Day

Pulled anchor early and steamed a crossed Georgia straights to Nanaimo.

Arrived by 10 am.

Put on 200 gallons of fuel which should be enough to gat back to USA and lower fuel prices.

Spent a quiet afternoon with Gary and Cheryl in the Muddy Water Pub drinking Sleemans beer.

Then…..

A dinghy trip to have a dinner party at the Dinghy Dock Pub with El, Ruth, Herb, Mary, Gary, Lenore Cheryl & Jim.

Monday August 31 2009

Sunday August 30, 2009

Today we will head for Double Island Toba Wildernest Resort which is near Forbes Bay in Desolation Sound.

We passed through Dent Rapids and for those of you familiar with Big Bay on Stewart Island you will not believe the construction of multimillion dollar mansions and corporate retreats. Denny Washington, Nordstrom, Ritchie Brothers, PACCAR to name a few have all built very large retreats including a golf course. This seems strange to me in such a beautiful area. My first trip to Big Bay was as a PACCAR employee entertaining customers on their 97 foot company yacht. Since that time in the late 1970s this place has changed from a wilderness fishing area to the place to be seen in the megabuck corporate world.

Monday August 31st

We arrive at Toba Wildernest Resort about 3 pm and it is a wonderful little place with docks a few rental cabins and some hiking trails all tucked in behind Double Island with a sweeping view of the sound.

Young Kyle Hunter is the owner and he is very friendly. I would recommend this place for you to visit for a nice change of pace on the water.

Kyle took us to the water turbine power plant and it is really cool. Water comes down a pipe about 1000 feet from snow pack melting and generates up to 30 KW giving power 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

The cabins are very nice with a German motif and a wonderful trail along the rock laden beach.

This is a must stop for future trips to this area.

August 30 2009

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wed, Thursday, August 16 – 20

Sunday at noon we left Sullivan Bay and headed for Echo Bay where we attended the Echo Bay Yacht Club annual rendezvous cruise. We have been sponsored by Gary and Lenore Timm to join this club. Sunday evening was a pot luck dinner Monday night a barbeque Tuesday night chilly cook off and Wed night a prime rib dinner with baked potato, wine and all the fixings to die for. This is an amazing club made up of dedicated boaters that have been coming to Echo Bay for many years. It was a pleasure to meet this very diverse group of boaters.

We went fishing and caught nice Salmon every day but struck out on Halibut.

Echo Bay was sold two years ago and is now called Pierre’s at Echo Bay. The new owners have made great improvements with new docks, power and of course the famous Pierre’s pig roast and now added a wed night Prime rib dinner. It is truly a wonderful place to visit

Friday Aug 21

We left Echo Bay and headed to Port McNeal to get our oil changed on the main engines, fill up the fuel tanks (2300 liters), check the alignment on the starboard engine, fix a small oil leak on the port engine, drill tap threads in the base of the new steering cylinder and attach a bonding wire onto the base of the new steering cylinder and get a new radiator cap for the 20 KW generator set as it is leaking.

All was accomplished with the fine help of Dan Clair owner of Black Cat the local Cat Marine service center from Port Hardy.

Sat August 22, 2009

Sat morning August 22nd we left Port McNeal to rejoin our boating buddies Gary and Lenore and soon we were anchored at a small inlet called east of Eden.

This is a very small anchorage with room for two boats at the most but very cozy and beautiful water totems as you can see from the photos.


East of Eden is a very cozy anchorage indeed.

A nice dinner with Lenore’s smoked ham scalloped potatoes dripping with mozzarella cheese, and Cheryl’s famous cottage cheese pear and grated cheddar cheese on top and to bed early for the long 8 mile trip the next day to Laura Bay.

Sunday August 23rd 2009

We made the 8 mile trip at 8 knots to Laura Bay and set the prawn pots soon after we arrived then went out salmon fishing and caught only a medium sized Sea Bass which is really good eating.

Monday & Tuesday August 24th & 25th 2009

Got up at the crack of ten and went out to haul up the prawn pots and got a nice catch.

We will stay another night for more prawns.

Had a wonderful “Tequila prawn” dinner prepared by Lenore on Noon Balloon with lots of prawns for appetizers and wild rice for our starch.

It seems we have been reduced to sea food eating slugs devouring every ounce of crab, salmon, cod, sea bass and prawns in sight. What a way to end the summer.

Today we will pull the pots again and then move to Cypress Bay for crab hunting and we will probably leave the prawn pot out one more night since Cypress Bay is only 4 miles away. This is the site of a large fish farm raising salmon and is said to be excellent Crab country...

Cypress Harbour

Wed August 26th

We decided to leave the prawn pots in place and move to Cypress Harbour which is only 6 miles away and run back with the F 16 to pull the prawn pots.

It was an easy trip and upon entering the harbour you are greeted by an enormous Salmon farm.

We worked our way through a narrow passage into the head of the harbour which is a stunning scene of still water, rocks small bays and islands. The water is shallow in this area so we had to find a spot for Sea Jay to be clear of the bottom at low tide and after setting the anchor twice we settled in for two days. The crabbing was good except the over night set was pulled and emptied by some one who needed the crab more than we did. We suspect the construction crew at the fish farm that was working on a large floating house.


This was a good anchorage for taking photos of water totems and relaxing so we decided to stay another night.

Wed August 26th

Cheryl and I took the F 16 to Laura Bay and pulled the prawn pots. The catch was small but still would make two nice meals.

Gary and Lenore took Noon Balloon out of Cypress Harbour and pulled the already emptied crab pots while we ran back to Sea Jay and headed for Simoon Sound and McIntosh Bay. We found the exact spot that we anchored 12 years ago when Manny or Standard poodle and my Brother Doug and his wife were with us.

12 years ago we stern tied here with two Canadian boats and Urologist from Vancouver Island and the head Chef of the BC Ferry system. 12 years ago the prawn fishing was incredible pulling 5 gallons of prawns at a time. Now we are very pleased of the get 30 to 60 prawns in a single pull. Any way this brought back many pleasant memories of that anchorage 12 years ago. As you can see from the photos this area has its own individual beauty.

The first afternoon we went for a cruise of the area and got to see a very large barge landing at a logging site. The Tug driver was a pleasant woman who guided the huge mass of steel to a very small landing site where they dropped a draw bridge and unloaded all of the equipment. She said they were preparing to log at this site for many years and that it had been logged 20 prior.

Thursday August 27th

The black bears were out for their morning meal turning rocks over on the rocky shore line and we did get some photos of this action.

Friday August 28th

Today we head for Watson Cove on Tribune Channel where we have been told there is a nice anchorage with a waterfall.

Watson Cove was a disappointment so we forged on to Cutter Cove near Minstrel Island. Spent a windy night at anchor.

Saturday August 29th.

Pulled anchor at 6:30 and headed for Cordero Lodge down Johnstone Straight.

Arrived at 9:45 and tied up for a long nap.

Cordero Lodge is a wonderful German restaurant and we have been coming here since 1990. They have wonderful German dinners and it is a very pleasant and relaxing place to hang out.

We had a great dinner with Dick & Donna, Happy Wanderer, Gary & Lenore on Noon Balloon and it reminded us of the time 12 years ago when my big Brother Doug and his wife were here with us on Sea Jay II and we had a great evening with a couple from Courtney, their two daughters, and a wonderful guy named Blackie and his wife Carol that sang, played the piano and told jokes until the wee hours of the night. Sadly Blackie passed away in 2007 but Carol was here this time and I visited with here about our fun time with them years ago.


Sunday August 30, 2009

Today we will head for double Island which is some where south of Big Bay.

Lauren and Emmy

Tue Wed Thurs Continued

Tuesday Wed, Thursday, August 16 – 19

Sat at noon we left Sullivan Bay and headed for Echo Bay where we will attend the Echo Bay Yacht Club annual rendezvous cruise. We have been sponsored by Gary and Lenore Timm to join this club. Sunday evening was a pot luck dinner Monday night a barbeque Tuesday night chilly cook off and Wed night a prime rib dinner with backed potato wine and all the fixings to die for. This is an amazing club made up of dedicated boaters that have been coming to Echo Bay for many years. It was a pleasure to meet this very diverse group of boaters.

We went fishing and caught nice Salmon every day but struck out on Halibut.

Tuesday, Wed, Thursday August 16-19