Immense, Wild and Quiet

Immense, Wild and Quiet

Leaving the safety of a dock is part of the adventure of cruising to new destinations. Such is life, I suppose. We become explorers in a wilderness that we’ve not encountered before. The waterways, inlets, bays and anchorages are all new to us. It’s part thrilling and exciting, part scary, and part heightened sense of awareness, all wrapped into one.  Kind of like a wilderness funhouse, not sure what to expect next but looking forward to it.

What jumps out first when boating through the north coast of British Columbia is just how vast and towering the mountain ranges are compared with our tiny little boat. Ruthie Jeanne was in water 1800 feet deep, 50 yards from the shoreline and the cliffs would shoot out of the water almost straight up with some of the peaks on these islands reaching the 3000-5000 foot range or more.

And it’s wild, that’s for sure. Like having your very own aquarium or zoo, sans the glass or fence. Dolphins playfully danced in and out of our bow wave. Eagles were everywhere. Looking for water spouts to spot whales is always on the list of things to do.  We saw our first two humpback whales yesterday as they rolled over and dove with their huge tails following them down. Then they were gone. There are waterfowl, seals, and sea lions galore. Bears are next on the list of things to see.

And all things being equal, it’s so very quiet in this part of the world that you can hear the birds, waterfalls, rain and the sounds of nature without the drone of background noise found in the city. It is very peaceful and calming out here in the wilderness. It reminds me why I love being on the water. I was hooked the first time I sat in my first watercraft, an innertube, and floated lazily down the Little Big Horn River where I grew up in Sheridan Wyoming.

(Shearwater ramp and dock in the early morning before we headed to Rescue Bay.)

We found our way from the small fishing village of Shearwater into Seaforth Channel, north through Perceval Narrows, and ultimately to Rescue Cove, a safe anchorage out of the wind and seas, just like its name would suggest.  Early the next morning we headed out through skinny Jackson Passage and out into Princess Royale Channel on a long day to Bishop Bay. Princess Royale Island has the most Spirit Bears in all of Canada.  Spirit bears are brown bears that have a white fur and have great spiritual meaning for the First Nation People in the West Coast of BC.

                                     

(Rescue Bay on a pretty evening)

Waterfalls were everywhere. There were so many waterfalls in the mountains and cascading down into the saltwater I lost count. I stopped taking pictures of them because they seemed to be everywhere I looked.  Who wants to see 30 pictures of waterfalls? If I was lucky, maybe a couple of my family members would endure something like that but not many others.

(Here are 3 waterfalls. I have 27 others if you're interested.)

We traveled 8 hours out of Rescue Cove so we could enjoy the hot springs that overlooked Bishop Bay. The information about the Bay suggested there were three buoys that could be used in which to tie up instead of anchoring. Anchoring in this bay is somewhat difficult because it’s deep. We were a little worried about getting a buoy because some of the boaters we talked to in Shearwater were also headed to Bishop Bay to enjoy the hot springs.  We rounded the corner into the bay and saw one buoy and to our luck, it was empty. We seemed to have missed the crowd.

(This is the immensity of the mountains surrounding Bishop Bay. Big doesn't describe it.)

We tied up to the buoy and headed for a warm soak.  There was a bath pool and a soaking pool. It was so relaxing we almost melted after traveling many hours in a rocking boat. 

Two humpbacks swam into the bay but I couldn’t get a picture because they were so far away. So, although we’ve seen them, we’ve had no close encounters. 

When cruising through the inside passage there are frequently long stretched without cell or wifi availability.  Being so connected all the time it’s easy to forget that there are places with no coverage. Not having coverage kind of gives me the Heebie Jeebies.  It’s a strange feeling not being able to grab the phone whenever or wherever you are and request any information you might want. It’s been a long time since I’ve been more than 6 feet away from Siri except for a recent knee replacement surgery.

Like most of my friends and family my phone is within reach 24/7. I’ve been thinking it’s possible that Siri is not my best friend after all and I don’t have to respond immediately every time I hear the ding of an email, text or voicemail that just landed. Do I really have to get back to someone within minutes? It’s aggravating not being able to use the phone for any variety of reasons, but maybe that’s ok and I might be the healthier for it.

Day 22.  Still in Bishop Bay due to weather. Gale force winds are where we want to go. So, we sat safely in the bay. This is day 3 here and I imagine we’ll be here at least one more day before the weather improves and we can move.

Raining constantly. And the cold isn’t any fun either. There are mountains on all sides, that’s part of why we are protected.  The one across the bay is dusted with snow or what the Canadian weather forecaster calls “ice pellets”.  It looks to be at the 1000-foot level. Burrrrrr.  But I’m not complaining. Being stuck out of the wind and choppy seas in a beautiful place with a hot spring nearby and a waterfall 50 yards from the boat just doesn’t seem worthy of a complaint.

The Canadian Mounties cruised by, then stopped to do a “courtesy visit.”  They requested all manner of information about us and the boat. Passports, boat registration, title, etc. Then they wanted addresses and phone numbers. Then, why we entered Canada, how long we’ll be here, where we’re headed, and when we would be leaving Canadian waters. And lastly, what brand of Canadian Maple Syrup was our favorite. Just kidding about the syrup, ‘eh?

As irritating as their stop was, cloaked as a courtesy visit, they have a job to do keeping tabs on cross border crime and if we needed help in this neck of the woods where there are literally no services for miles on end, they’d probably be the first ones here to assist. 

                                                       (Ruthie Jeanne in Bishop Bay.)

Day 23. Rain. Gale force winds in the areas we’d like to go today. Storm and hurricane force winds where we’ve already passed through in the North Vancouver Island area. Looks like tomorrow will calm in our area, the central coast of British Columbia, so we’ll be able to take our leave and happily head toward Prince Rupert.  

Actually, no. Unfortunately, we woke this morning to issues. The head didnt work well, (but everything came out ok). Batteries are low. Engine won’t start. The heater was connected to the starter battery for some unknown reason. It was chilly last night so the heater was on quite a bit which ran down the battery. Normally, nothing is wired to the starter battery so it has enough juice to start the engine. We’ll rewire it in Prince Rupert. Luckily, our little Honda generator was able to top off the batteries enough for a start. Big relief. The only thing we couldn’t fix was the cold and rain, so no problem really.  We spent the day problem solving boat issues with our onboard mechanical engineer, Scott Wilson, then made our last voyage to the hot springs for a soak.  It was a good one.

The following day we left Bishop Bay behind, finally.  We turned into Frasier Reach and headed to Kumealon Inlet for a long 10-hour run. Terry, Scott and I were all in the upper helm looking at the snow on the mountain tops when a humpback whale jumped entirely out of the water. It was shocking to see that such a massive creature had enough energy to move that body clean out of the water.  We all saw it. We all shouted “WOW” at the same time. The huge splash when the whale landed back into the water was almost as impressive as the jump. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 seconds but I’ll remember it for a long time. Then, we watched the whale roll once and didn’t see him again. What a great way to start out a long day. 

We arrived and found a safe anchorage in Kumealon Inlet, anchored for the night and hit the hay.

Day 25

    (Leaving Kumealon Inlet on a calm morning.  This picture taken with an iPhone when it was dark.)

Up early to catch a good tide and calm waters, we travelled 5 hours to Prince Rupert from our protected anchorage in Kumealon Inlet.  Nearing a major port, you would expect to see increased traffic and we did.  There was a tug towing a fishing lodge on a big barge. Connected to the barge were 17 aluminum fishing boats, one after the other like a mother hen followed by 17 offspring in a single file. The barge will be towed to wherever the fish are running, anchored and the guests flown in by sea plane.  There were water taxis, fishing boats, shrimpers, container ships, BC Ferries, tugs towing a little bit of everything, pleasure boats and an American Coast Guard cutter, probably headed to Alaska. The oddest thing we observed was a “houseboat” that seemed to be out of place in an area where weather and water conditions can be severe. It’s the type of boat used in relatively protected waters like Lake Roosevelt or Lake Coeur d’ Alene. And it came complete with the fiberglass slide off the back end which would be a thrill until you hit the 50-degree water. Yikes.

All for now.

Ed out.