Handfield Bay to Blind Channel Resort

Handfield Bay to Blind Channel Resort: 14.5NM

A leisurely morning finds us leaving around 11 for our next stop, Blind Channel Resort.

Welcome to Blind Channel Resort.

The weather was nice, the seas were calm, and our 6 nautical miles of Johnstone Strait (notorious for nasty seas when winds blow against current) were peaceful. The entrance to Blind Channel (also known as Mayne Passage) is hard to spot from Johnstone Strait, hence the name. Made sense to me. We got to the “resort” and were the only boat there, soon to be joined by a host of others, though it wasn’t crowded in the least.

It’s a lovely spot owned for 30+ years by the Richter family. They have a store so you can re-provision (hard to find stores up here), fuel (very important and also often hard to find), potable water to refill our tanks (a precious commodity, also very hard to find), washer and dryers, and….a great restaurant, the Cedar Post Inn. We were there on the second to last night of the season for them; they close the restaurant just after Labor Day. Their “high season” lasts about 6 weeks. It is hard to imagine making enough money in six weeks to keep you going all year. The Richters also have a lovely home, and as we were walking toward it, we saw an amazing display in the middle of the channel. A group of about 50 porpoises were frolicking in the middle of the channel, not just swimming but actually breaching like whales and flying high out of the water and then back into it with a resounding splash. We watched them for 15-20 minutes before they decided to move on.

 The Richters convinced Interfor (the tree guys) to maintain some nice walking paths at the resort.

Karen on footbridge to Lookout Point.

We took the easy one out to a nice lookout spot, accompanied by the Resort dog. I was happy for the company, as there are bears in dem dere woods, and I figured the dog would be a good alert system. Despite several forays off the path, the dog did not spot a bear and that was fine with us.

Karen at Lookout Point

Blind Channel Resort from Lookout Point.

We chatted up a lot of nice people at Blind Channel. One small boat of fishermen went out to catch some salmon and said they would give us a “pink” (one of the 5 types) if they caught any. They came back flush with fish and walked down to our boat to see if we wanted a fish. We traded them 3 beers for it and all came away happy with the exchange.

At dinner in this lovely inn that overlooks Mayne Passage, we met a wonderful couple, Ann and Doug, who own a 52’ Ocean Alexander. They had been out since May and were working their way back from Alaska to Seattle. I asked if they would adopt me, but that didn’t seem to strike a chord. Still, we had glorious conversation over dinner and were invited to their boat for a post dinner glass of wine. Their boat, Mokoro, is absolutely lovely and best of all, they had a cat! I was nearly rendered speechless when I found out their cat, Koko, was just diagnosed at age 10 with Chronic Renal Failure, the same disease Aspen has. I spoke at length with Ann about how to give the fluids and our challenges with Aspen. I think she enjoyed talking with someone who was going through the same thing.

Best of Times at Blind Channel Resort.