Laura Cove to Booker Lagoon

Low clouds greeted us this morning. Not too cold and an occasional mist and light rain. We made the most of the morning by doing nothing. About 11AM we begin to muster for a Kayak around Laura Cove at low tide.  

While not the best Kayaking grounds, we nevertheless made the most of it by exploring the shallows and taking a few pictures. Karen made certain she got one photo of me in the Kayak to quench the cries of “where are the pictures of Bob?!?” that typically accompany our vacation photos. 

Bob poses for a picture  

Our neighbor returned from one of his fishing expeditions and was busying himself on the stern swim step of his Uniflite Cruiser named Rockfish. Karen and I paddled to his boat to investigate. He was busy cleaning a 25lb Ling Cod. An ugly fish for certain that hangs about on rocky ledges. What it lacks in looks it makes up for in taste. We hung around the stern of the boat getting a lesson in fish filleting – then low and behold, we were offered a filet of our own. Lacking any fresh seafood on board, we did not turn down the generous offer. 

What a big Ling Cod! 

Heading back to Arctic Star 

 Our departure to Booker Lagoon was dependent on the proper time to enter the lagoon through Booker Passage. This narrow passageway has currents that run strong and is best traversed at slack water. Therefore, we set the power low and had a leisurely cruise off to Booker Lagoon. As we departed, we radioed the vessel Rubenesque, offering up our just-vacated prime anchorage. 

As we approached close to Cullen Harbour and Booker Lagoon, we started to feel some swells from Queen Charlotte Strait. The Lagoon itself is massive, and a favorite spot to wait before crossing this oft-windy and swelly Strait. We waited for “slack”, and although the guidebooks told us to wait for 30 minutes after slack at Alert Bay, it was clear that we could enter sooner, which we did. The passage is narrow but fairly deep. As we moved into the passage, we saw a large group of porpoises chasing baitfish inside the Lagoon. 

Booker Lagoon is so massive that it took us a while to find a spot to anchor that was cozy enough for our taste. We poked our bow into a couple of coves but they were just too open and ordinary. Finally, we found the perfect spot in a cove on the North side. 

The views don't get any better than this 

Anchor set and beer in hand, I’m off to determine how I’m going to prepare that fresh Ling Cod. 

Greenway Sound to Laura Cove

Low ceilings greeted us again this morning. We are on our leisurely schedule timetable which means we’re not going anywhere till early afternoon. 

I walked the docks and took some photos of the marina. Karen continued to devour all matter of books. Originally we talked about going for a hike up the old logging road on Ick Mountain, but that plan fell victim to the desire to “rest a bit more”. We did a little provisioning in the marina store and spent some time with Tom and Ann. Today was the last day for the marina’s helper, so we talked with her as she waited for the floatplane to take her back home. 

The beautiful docks at Greenway Sound 

The main "highway" at the docks 

We way farewell to Tom and Ann and their summer helper  

Life on the Greenway docks  

As the morning turned to afternoon, the skies cleared and the sun made an appearance. That was our signal to bring in our lines and set the bow toward Laura Cove. 

Not much more than an hour later, we were snug in the little cove, stern tied to Broughton Island. There was one boat in the Cove when we arrived. It was an older cruisernamed Rockfish, made by Uniflite . It was anchored in the center of the cove. This presented no problem, as stern tying is the custom when it is crowded here and we had plenty of room to do so. 

The trick with this stern tie is that it was high tide. It is always preferable to stern tie at low water so you get a good look at the rocks, but that is not always possible. I poked the bow in close, taking note of water depths and comparing them to the amount of water we were going to lose at low tide. This computation gives me a target as to where I want the boat to end up and from that spot, I can calculate where to drop the anchor. 

Since it was not low tide, Karen did not have to do her usual “Mountain Goat” act of scampering up the rocks to find a suitable spot to tie to. Rather, she could reach our intended dead tree trunk from the comfort of the dinghy. 

We carefully watched the rocks as the water receded and later took up some anchor rode to move the boat 20 feet further from the rocks, giving us an extra margin of clearance. The nice thing about Laura Cove is that the rock ledge drops precipitously, giving you a nice line of demarcation between the obstructions and clear water. 

Dinner was followed by Karen reading and Bob working on photographs for the blog. All is well today and we look forward to exploring Laura Cove tomorrow.