Fury Cove to Pruth Bay

We awoke to a lovely morning in Fury Cove. Our powerboat neighbors had already departed, but the sailing fleet was still in the anchorage. It looked like a good day to head north to Pruth Bay up Fitz Hugh Sound.

Another variation on my egg scramble holds us until dinner

A beautiful day  -- all is great in Fury Cove

The famous beaches at Fury Cove

The contrast between sea, forest and sky continues to fascinate

We departed at a leisurely 9:45am, and went out through narrow Breaker Pass rather than leaving Cleve Island to starboard. Karen worked on editing previous blog entries while I took the helm.I chatted briefly with the BC Ferry Northern Explorer on its way to Prince Rupert, just to clear up that we would parallel his path until he was ahead of us and we could then turn behind him toward Calvert Island.

B.C Ferry Northern Explorer makes its way north

As we made our way up Fitz Hugh Sound, sighting two Dall’s porpoise frolicking along the way, the ferry suddenly did a 180 degree turn, about 5 miles ahead of us. He continued around until he was abeam the Sound and stopped dead in the water. We had no idea what he was doing…and are still uncertain.He was just abeam Addenbroke Lighthouse, and we saw a dinghy come charging out to the ferry, and a high speed dinghy from the ferry head off to the north, and we suspect that they rendezvoused out of our sight to exchange either crew or supplies. Very unusual…and that hard 180 degree turn certainly made it look like it was a last minute decision. Still, very fun to watch.

Addenbroke Lighthouse looks like a great place to be a light keeper

We continued on our way to Pruth, and as we turned into Kwakshua Channel, the winds and waves were more evident. We had decided to head to the end of the bay, where the Hakai Beach Institute is located, to see if we could pick up what is rumored to be free wi-fi so we could check email and post blog entries. There were 4 boats in the bay already, 2 sailing vessels, the Nordic Tug Sandpiper and a power boat from Bellingham, WA named Island Mist.We dropped the nook quite a ways back from the Institute’s docks and decided to head for shore to take the walk to West Beach, a true sandy beach on Pacific Ocean. Sandy beaches are hard to come by out here, most are made of shells at best!

The docks were super, and we tied up our dinghy and chatted with some Institute staff who were waiting on a float plane to take them to Port Hardy. They said the Institute was privately owned by 2 well-off scientists who wanted to create an ecological center and attract lots of scientists to come and study. They apparently bought the place from the previous owners who ran it as a high end fishing resort. The entire property is 215 acres, and has numerous buildings: welcome center, two lodges, staff housing, and a hard hat area with lots of equipment. Seems pretty self-sufficient, and was being very well landscaped when we arrived.

Karen greets and is greeted by some of the staff waiting for the float plane

Pretty nice facilities at the Hakai Beach Institute

The view of Pruth Bay from the Hakai Beach Institute

The walk to West Beach was super, flat and fairly short through the forest. You could hear the sound of breaking waves before emerging from the forest on to a very large and flat sand beach, reminiscent of the beaches we saw at Cannon Beach, OR (without the tall towering rocks).

Along our walk to the beach we found new life cascading down from an old-growth downed cedar

Bob's ready for action. The next photo awaits.

Instead the view oceanward was framed by several islets. We went for a long walk in hard sand, Karen looking for shells and other treasures while I took pictures. We walked to the south end and spent time in some rock cliff formations checking out tidal pools full of interesting creatures, including these odd green sea cucumber or sea anemone type critters.

What a beach!

Pruth Bay Beach from Robert Minkus on Vimeo.

It was completely sunny, warm and so beautiful, it was hard to believe that we were at the beach in the sun and yet could see snow-capped mountains when we turned back toward the head of Pruth Bay.

Beach, forest, snow-capped mountains. You'll find this nowhere else.

A group of kayakers from Bella Coola were on some sort of trip, and were camping on the beach. This was a huge camp, and these teens seemed as if they were having a lot of fun.

Weekend at the beach and kayaking day trips

Nature is an amazing artist

Karen looks through the wave cut granite

Sea star is such a perfect name for this critter

We saw the trailhead to North Beach, but were ready to head back to the boat. Next time, we’ll mountain goat our way to North Beach as well. This is a jewel of a stop, and definitely a must do in sunny weather.

Along the path to the beach, someone with a sense of humor created this long art. We call him “Stumpy”

As we headed back to the docks, we met the couple who own Island Mist, Frank and Margo. They recognized our boat, Alaskan Dream, as having been previously Samaria, owned by “slip neighbors” of theirs in Bellingham. It is a really small world. They boat for the season, and Frank was born in Petersburg, AK with a brother who lives north of Craig. They were really nice and quite happy to see Samaria again.

Back at Alaskan Dream, we uncapped two beers and sat up on the fly bridge to look at the lovely view. Two more boats arrived and the Nordic Tug left, making for 5 boats in the bay plus us. A veritable crowd for this time of year!

Herb garden on the Nordic Tug

I made pizza again, this time with some sweet sausage and red peppers as well as the flank steak, gorgonzola cheese and balsamic glaze. This is Karen’s favorite meal, and she was happy to have it two days in a row, which was necessary because I made enough dough for two pizzas the night before.

Another variation of my pizza recipe

We wound down watching 2 more episodes of The Good Wife, and headed off for a peaceful night’s sleep.

The sun starts to set on Island Mist in Pruth Bay