Geetla Basin to Fury Cove via Dawson’s Landing

It’s happening again. The sun is up, the skies are clear and the winds are light. Today’s route is planned with two legs. The first stop is Dawson’s Landing, and our ultimate destination is the popular Fury Cove near the junction of Rivers Inlet and Fitz Hugh Sound.

The boat has been running great. The only problem I have not resolved is that only two of the three burners on the stove work. I have a couple of ideas to check out, but as I have been getting along fine with two burners, I have not been motivated to start taking things apart.

Dawson’s Landing is only a two hour hop from Geetla Basin. It has a full store with everything, and I mean everything, you could want. From fuel, to parts, to food, it’s one of the best stocked groceries you’ll find in the hinterlands.

The store, et. al., at Dawson's Landing

Fuel dock is just to the right of the store

Other cabins, fishing lodge and who knows what, line the docks at Dawson's Landing

The official “greeter” on the docks. Super nice. I wonder how many boats he has seen come and go in his day?

It is Victoria Day today, a Canadian holiday, so we did not know if they would be open. We approached the docks, which were cluttered with overwintering docks and miscellaneous floating stuff from fishing lodgings in the area, but no visiting boats. It looked quiet. We easily found an open spot for Alaskan Dream and tied her up. Nora was kind enough to open the store for us and we were able to fill some needs in utensils and food, and I even found a great fleece vest. Like I said, it’s a great store, and Nora is extremely nice.

One amazing wilderness store. The other half, full of marine and fishing supplies, is to the right.

We also took on water, and as the tanks, filled I walked around and took some pictures of the environs. Nora said that only six of the nearby fishing lodges were opening this season. The economy has been tough on the industry. Some went bankrupt, some fell victim to the health of the owners, and others suffer from the reduction in boating and fish.

As I mentioned there were a multitude of random docks and structures that were overwintering or being repaired after the winter. It seems a never-ending job to keep all this floating equipment, lodging and whatnot in working order and good repair. It seems there is 9.5 months of maintenance for a 2.5 month season. Such is the life out here.

Winter storage, winter projects. Soon to be gone from the front of the docks, ready for the season to start.

Exploring the docks, looking for stuff to photograph

How's this for a helm station

I thought the herb garden was a nice touch

After the tanks were filled and we checked out email by using Dawson’s WIFI, we set out for Fury Cove down Darby Channel. It was a bit windy, and when we joined up with the Sound, we did see the Disney Wonder cruise ship headed south to Vancouver. Fury Cove is a popular anchorage for those enroute to Alaska this time of year. Its claim to fame is a white shell beach. Sure enough, as we pulled into the cove, you were rewarded with a view out to the West overlooking the white beaches. There was a kayaker’s area with a set of stairs that could be seen from the anchorage. We were the first to arrive, so we had our pick of places to anchor and took a spot overlooking the gap out to the West.

The view back into the anchorage at Fury Cove

Fury Cove panorama video

One of the cuts between Fury Cove and the ocean

Karen searching for shells

Driftwood makes a good prop for this portrait

It did not take long for use to make our way to the beach in the dinghy. It was lowish tide, so we timed our exploration well. There is a lot to explore. We walked the beaches and even checked out the rather luxurious kayaker’s cabin just in the woods.

Welcome to the Clam Shack. Humble, but I bet it looks like the Ritz after kayaking in the rain for a couple of days.

We then just sat on some driftwood and enjoyed the plentiful sunshine, watching a family of Long Billed Dowitchers (2adults and 12 babies) foraging along the shore.

Yummy! Bugs!

Dad always keep himself between me and his chicks. But for the most part, they cared little that we were there watching.

One suggestion given to us, which we did not do, was to make our way to the other side onto the southwest beach and build a bonfire and watch the sunset. Sounded like a great idea -- maybe on our next trip!

As the day wore on, we were joined by three sailboats and one other trawler. We were on the flybridge, enjoying a beer and the sunshine, watching the anchoring dance.

Karen could eat this every night. Not certain I could make it every night.

I made Karen’s favorite Pizza (with gorgonzola, caramelized onions and flank steak), and two episodes of The Good Wife kept us entertained until bedtime. All 5 boats in Fury Cove enjoyed a still night at anchor.