Pruth Bay to Kittyhawk Group

It was a slow morning. I did not get out of bed until 8am and we did not depart until 11am. But that’s OK, we’re on vacation, and today is a short travel day. Our plan is to anchor in Lewall Inlet, only 8 miles away across Hakai Pass. And hanging out in Pruth Bay longer allowed use to use their free wi-fi to update our blog.

As we were pulling up our 200 feet of anchor rode, the chain started to foul in the hawsepipe as it entered the chain locker when we had about 15 feet or so left to pull in. Sometimes you can prevent this by paying out some chain and then bringing it back in. Not this morning. So down to the chain locker I went to un-pile the chain and re-flake it on board so there was no fouling. This requires laying prone on the forward V-berth and using gloved hands to wrestle the anchor chain. Karen remained at the helm, ensuring we did not drift anywhere undesirable. Problem fixed, we started to head out.

View of the Institute from Pruth Bay

We went slowly, only 4.7 knots to enjoy the reduced sound levels. It was a beautiful morning with high clouds, and light and variable winds. We saw our friends on Island Mist fishing in Hakai Pass when we entered. We headed across this often swelly pass with minimal swells to speak of. After passing the Breaker Group (aptly named islands), when then took the narrow southern entrance into Edward Channel. When we arrived at Lewall Inlet, it did not offer any great kayak opportunities or inspire us to stay (otherwise it was a fine anchorage with lots of protection from most winds), so we left this anchorage and made our way out Nalau Passage and set a course to the Kittyhawk Group.

The Kityhawk Group is a rag-tag bunch of little island and islets. Not many anchorages, but lots of good exploring either by dinghy or kayak. We found a spot in the northwest that should give us good protection from the forecast SE winds. The group as a whole is littered with debris on its shores, the results of the pacific storms that roll in through here. As a result, there is some floating junk that you need to dodge. There is also a fair amount of kelp, but at low tide (when we entered) the kelp “edges” help make the fair channel visible. We found a 33 foot ledge in the large bay and set the anchor there. The bottom must be very rocky, because as we spun around in the variable winds, we were treated to the growling of the anchor chain being pulled over the bottom.

Karen took her Nook and went up to the flybridge to read and enjoy the view, protected from wind by the canvas enclosure. I stayed down in the salon and worked on pictures. It was a nice afternoon, and the sun actually came out for a while, though the winds remained fairly active (as did the anchor chain noise).  Tonight’s meal was cheeseburgers on the grill with brown sugar glazed baked sweet potatoes, chased by a nice beer. By this time, the wind was calm, though we knew it was forecast to change to the SE 10-20. We watched some Satellite TV and saw the trail of destruction the tornadoes had left in Joplin, truly a disaster for those folks. The pictures were sobering.

At 9:30, we listened to a weather update that forecast lighter SE winds overnight and headed off to bed, confident our anchor was well set.

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

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.

Ahclakerho Islands to Geetla Basin

I hate to start every blog post with a weather report, but it is so spectacular today that it cannot go without reporting. Clear skies and calm winds, a real treat for this time of the year.

What a beautiful morning, you just know it is going to be a good day

We are off for Geetla Basin, which means we need to head back down Smith Sound and round up into Rivers Inlet, while avoiding any ebb issues. We think we have the timing right, so we’re not concerned, and the wind is benign. This time, on the way out, Karen saw the pictograph. It makes you wonder – what does it mean, that “bug”?

I love the way life clings to even the smallest opportunity. We call these bonsai islands.

Beautiful ride up the channel under the Northwest Exploration burgee

Currents in the channel reflect in the sun

The current was running almost two knots on our stern as we departed the Ahclakerho

Today is the day we try the watermaker for the first time. One tank is down a little more than half, owing to the two loads of laundry we did enroute to Fly Basin. Alaskan Dream is equipped with a Village Marine water maker that produces about 20 gallons per hour. The only downside of this installation is that there is no remote operating panel in the salon, which means you have to go into the engine room to operate the unit. And, of course, you only operate water makers when you’re underway. Not a big deal, when you consider the flexibility it gives us in planning trips to areas where water supplies are scarce. The owner did a great job of writing up the operational instructions and with a turn of a valve here, a flip of a switch there, check the flow, turn another handle and lo and behold, we’re making fresh water.

After a couple of hours, it seemed the fill rate, which one can monitor with the water tank gauges in the salon, had stopped. When I went to check the water maker, it had switched itself from normal to “dump/cleaning”, and the psi of the outflow had dropped well below the desired target. Inspecting the 5 micron filter, it was completely encased in a 1/6 inch of green slime. That was a surprise, given that we were running in large open channels and the water is so cold (46F). I changed the filter, and all was well. Tomorrow we’re moving to different waters and we make some more water in earnest and see what the filter captures as we travel.

Green slime clogs the watermaker filter

The big excitement for the day was spotting a small pod of Orca. As we were entering the mouth of Rivers Inlet, Karen spotted the fin of a female. As we continued to scan the area for more activity, the larger fin of a male appeared and later another small fin. They were traveling in a straight line in the opposite direction with a sense of purpose. We watched as they departed Rivers Inlet while we began making our way up. Our destination was Geetla Basin. But on the way up, we took a short detour to check out Duncanby (a high end fishing resort that was not yet open), and we enjoyed winding our way along the small islets. We also saw the Cannery under renovation at the end of Goose Bay, but did not go down to tie up and go ashore.

Just off the open and sometimes challenging Rivers Inlet, you’ll find Geetla Basin. A quick turn in though a narrow entry and then some rocks, and you’re rewarded with a wonderful small anchorage that can handle two or three boats with ease. It was very well protected and offers good holding…and we were again alone, with the exception of a frolicking seal. This anchorage is recommended by the Hamiltons in The Secret Coast, and it’s a great spot.

Immediately after securing Alaskan Dream, we launched the dinghy to explore the east/west oriented lagoon that is at the end of Magee channel. According the Hamilton’s Cruising the Secret Coast, you can take the dinghy in there on higher tides. They were right as always and we explored, looking to the float house that they reported at the west end. It was not there, but we did find that it looked possible to go through the cut at the west end into Darby Channel. Certainly only something to be attempted in a dinghy or Kayak, but at this high a tide, it was doable.

The dinghy is a great way to do a quick overview, before launching the kayaks

We swung by the entrance to Geetla Inlet, where the kayaking was supposed to be good. The tide had to be above 10’ at Bella Bella to allow entry. Saw that the dinghy path was blocked by a downed tree, so we went back to the boat to get the kayaks and wait for the tide to rise a bit.  The challenge here is that about one third of a mile up the narrow inlet channel is a section about a quarter mile long that dries.. To complicate matters further, one must manage the currents flowing in and out of the two large lagoons to avoid fighting the current on entry and exit. We left about 5:19, knowing high tide at Bella Bella was at 6:08. Our plan was to ride the current in, and then ride the current out.

We did ride the current in.  The base current was about 1.5 knots in the wider entry section, which made for a great ride. However, in the narrow, shallow, rocky sections, the current would pick up a couple of knots and some small rapids made us pay attention as we navigated between rocks and fallen trees.

We paddled into the first large lagoon and came upon twenty five or so sea gulls making the most ungodly racket. The only thing we could think of is that it was mating season, because no one was fishing.

Bob backlit in “Gull Lagoon”

I decided that it was time to head back, because it was about 6:15 and the current should be changing soon to run out the inlet. Well, Karen and I fought our way up-inlet for a while and finally had to take shelter in a spot out of the current behind a fallen tree to wait for the current to slow and then reverse. We clearly did not use the correct current info! We had to wait, with me holding onto a rock and Karen holding on to my kayak, for an hour for the adverse current to slow and then stop. Karen was so impatient, she wanted to go anyway, but I convinced her to wait, and it was a good decision. We cast off at 7:21 and had a lovely paddle back to the boat, without having to fight any current. We were happy to get back to the boat, that’s for sure!

Waiting for the current to go slack

After stowing the kayaks and the dinghy, we had an easy meal of Chili and homemade drop biscuits. One more episode of The Good Wife later, off to bed at 11pm…and it’s still sort of light out.

Ahclakerho Islands

Ahclakerho Islands

The Northwest weather has returned: cloudy, overcast, a little fog in the morning with a dampness in the light breeze. It has been declared by Karen “a lay day”. I did not get up until 9. Karen was up at 8 and I found her reading her Nook, drinking her second cup of coffee, nestled under her blanket on the settee. It was a perfect morning for her.

Breakfast scramble, lots of veggies and yummy on a sleepy morning

I did not make breakfast until 11am, after we looked at our planned schedule and decided that we would just stay here, tied to the shore and comfortable, rather than head further down the channel to Broad Basin. After a week on the go, it is good just to stop and recharge and slow down.

The stern tie masterfully set by Karen. It's a lot of work, but well worth it for all the small anchorages it opens up to you.

Karen had asked me to buy Season 1 of The Good Wife, and we watched the first two episodes which were quite good. I made some chili for future consumption and worked on the blog and pictures, while Karen continued to commune with her Nook.

Dinner was marinated and glazed pork loin with hoisin sauce and maple glazed carrots. Even Karen’s sweet tooth was satisfied by those carrots!

 Karen loves all things glazed; glazed carrots, glazed pork tenderloin

 

 Sun starting to set, no wind turns the water into a mirror. What's out your window?

The clouds are still playing with the tops of the mountains after sunset