Pierre’s Echo Bay to Monday Anchorage

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Pierre’s Echo Bay to Monday Anchorage

Cinnamon rum French toast with imported Berkshire bacon, now that is the way to start the day. I slept in until 8:30, and then got to work in the galley making the aforementioned breakfast. Slowly, one by one, the other boats let loose their lines and departed Pierre’s.

Although our new acquaintances in Morveren had left as I fired up the stovetop, they returned about an hour later. They had run into a wall of fog on their way to Port McNeill. They hovered alongside us and asked what we thought. All we could do is tell them the pattern we have been seeing the past three days: the fog starts to lift around noon, an hour from now.

So off they went again to get it another try.

It was a little after the check-out time of 11:30 when we cast off. I topped of the dinghy fuel, fileted a salmon and paid our moorage. We both spent a half hour under the WIFI antenna downloading messages and sending more. It will be three days before we might have cell or WIFI.

While the fog had lifted some, visibility was still less than a mile and in some locations it was a quarter of that. Our plans are changing constantly. We were going to stop at some middens between Insect Island and Eden Island and do some exploring before moving on to a funky anchorage Karen found in the Dreamspeaker book between Fly Island and Eden Island.

Since the anchor spot was essentially in what could be considered a small pass where boats could transit, we abandoned that idea because of the fog. We did not want to be sitting exposed to traffic in dense fog.

A quick look at the charts and we set our course for Monday Anchorage. It got its name from the novel, Curve of Time, where the author was blown from her anchorage one Sunday night (now known as Sunday Anchorage) to this anchorage now known as Monday Anchorage. It was a fairly tense journey, as the fog had come down almost completely and Karen was out on the bow looking and listening for a boat we saw on radar. Turned out to be a small fishing boat, no AIS.

PLAYING pee-a-boo with our neighbors in the anchorage

With the fog forming a white blanket with no signs of dissipation, Karen and I spent the afternoon in the boat. Karen worked on reports for her clients, and I woredk on pictures and text for our blog and took care of “boat chores”.  We really didn’t get to see any of the anchorage, or explore the white beach behind the second island. Oh well – there’s always next time.

Waddington Bay To Pierre’s Echo Bay

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To no one’s surprise, it is foggy this morning. Waddington Bay provided us with a peaceful night. I don’t think we moved more than one boat length in any direction in response to the coming and going of the tides.

We were the first to depart, about 11am. Our plan is to go drop the hook in the Burdwood Group and do some exploring before backtracking a little to Pierre’s.

Clouds paint the landscape

There are not many places to anchor in the Burdwood’s, and we wanted to go back to the ledge we found between two islands so many years ago [insert link to old blog entry].

Our travels are uneventful, but with the big tides, the waters are rich in debris. An “as plotted” course never works for long, as we end up dodging all manner of logs.

"hairy" logs are the easy ones to spot

As we round the small island that guides us to our chosen spot, we find a sailboat already there. We figured there was a 50/50 chance it would be occupied. So reverse course, and off to Pierre’s.

Pierre’s at Echo Bay is one of few success stories for a marina in the Broughton’s. It has become a destination spot you must visit when in the area. Pierre and his wife Tove have continued to build facilities and innovate with interesting events that are a major draw for the boating community. Tonight is Prime rib night. The prime rib is roasted in the huge BBQ pit made famous by Pierre’s pig roast. Karen is not a fan of prime rib but she says she is doing it for me. Really it’s just how the schedule worked out that we were here on a Thursday, one of two prime rib nights; the other being Monday.

Pierre's iconic "lighthouse"

great dinghy tricked out for salmon fishing

Our assigned spot on the dock was behind Morveren, a boat in the same charter fleet as ours: NWExplorations. We said hi to the people on board and later joined them at the prime roast feast.

full house for prime rib dinner

the houses on the other side of echo bay

How was dinner? Exceptional. Even Karen liked it very much. I got my “end cut” which is the only way I enjoy prime rib; it was tender, juicy and full of flavor. The BBQ pit makes this the best prime rib I have ever had. Along with the entrée, you get a baked potato with every topping, two vegetables, bread, salad, and dessert; all fresh and well prepared. We were amazed at the efficiency of the operation. With 55 for dinner, they did a marvelous job of getting everybody fed in only one hour, but you did not ever feel rushed.  In addition to Pierre, Tove and two staff they had 3 volunteers that served the crowd with cheer. If you’re going to be in the area, check out the schedule of activities and meals at Pierre’s [link] and make it a point to stop. You will not be disappointed.


Pearl Pass to Waddington Bay

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As the weather report predicted, we awoke to fog again. It matters not since we have a lot of “real work” to do this morning. Most of my projects seem under control today, but Karen has multiple reports to write so we’ll sit tight and try to make some progress in fending off the real world.

From our calm anchorage, we work and listen to the whale watching boats on channel 07A. Our plan is to divert to see some whales if we can locate them on the radio. Our initial destination for today was Dusky Cove [click here to read about our last visit], but that was changed due to the forecast winds of 15-20 out of the North West tonight. Dusky is open in that direction, and even though Dusky is one of our favorites, it could become a less than pleasant night if the winds and fetch roll in.

Compare this low tide view with the next picture

High tide and the rocks are almost "gone". An important lesson in the Pacific Northwest.

Therefore Waddington Bay will take the place of Dusky. A perennial  favorite, we expect not be alone. With good protection and lots of room, we think it will be a place many boaters seek out tonight.

Finally around 2pm we put our computers down and weighed anchor. The fog had started to lift around noon and now was clear beneath a scattered layer of clouds. The afternoon winds have not yet made their appearance, and in the protected passes, the water was calm. We poked around and checked out a few coves along the way to see any one of them could charm us to select them over Waddington Bay.

They did not, so we motored on. As expected, we found three boats already at anchor in the bay and one attached to the bottom just outside. The M/V Cowabunga was a tiny Nordhavn, sharing the bay with a sailboat and a cute-as-you-know-what all aluminum version of a NW trawler measuring about 42 feet. I’d love to check out its interior layout. For some reason, I’m attracted to all aluminum boats like Silver Star. I guess its their no-nonsense exterior and rugged good looks.

If I ever get a second boat, it might look like this


Port Hardy to Pearse Islands

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Our departure day is upon us and we have tons to do to get ready. We have to provision our fresh foods and those few items we forgot to get yesterday. A couple of six packs of beer are on the list,  along with propane, and getting the rental car gassed and returned to Budget. On top of all that, we have to load everything onto the boat.

We make our first boat run early, before breakfast. It was a low tide; is it not always a low tide when you have to load up? There is only one small dock cart to be found, so I unloaded my large wheeled duffel on the boat and then transformed it, using it as a “cart”. Turns out that worked very well. Throw everything you can into it, zip it up and you’re  good to go. I can see this technique will get used again.

Breakfast was back at Cafe Guido.  It is simply a great place. The added bonus of WIFI caused us to stay a while and field a bunch of emails. I also download some weather GRIB files for the next 7 days.

Back to the cabin we then went, to load everything in the car and check out. The Overwaitea was next and, after another full cart and an empty wallet, it was back to the boat for another 20 trips up and down the ramp. At least now the tide was up and the travels were less treacherous.

our cabin was cute and comfortable

Strange name, great store

I would go back and forth from the car to the boat, Sherpa-style, and hand off the goods to Karen, who would find a place to stow our provisions and gear. We usually take the time to remove any extra packaging and wash, dry and bag anything fresh, but this time it was simply a matter of finding a temporary home and we’ll deal with it later.

Everything on the checklist being complete, we cast off at 2:50pm. Beautiful clear weather and smooth seas were waiting for us. It was nice to have perfect conditions as we reacquainted ourselves with Alaskan Dream. After being away from her for two years, everything was familiar but different. The owner has added some new electronics and we needed to learn some new “buttonlogy”, but that came easy.

We were last in the Pearse Islands in 2008. Not much has changed, in fact, nothing has changed. A narrow entrance opens up into serene, protected anchorage. The current still marches its way to and fro with the tide. The only problem here is that with the strong current flow comes a lot of debris. Kelp is the usual culprit that finds a home on your chain and stabilizers, and occasionally you have to endure the banging from a log bit that runs down your hull. But today was special - a 30 foot tree decided to hug our anchor chain, balanced perfectly abeam to the current.

One log held fast by the current

With the current pushing hard on the log, there was nothing we could do with a boathook to free it. Karen would go out at regular intervals to push at this perfectly balanced tree to no avail, and I kept telling her that until the current changed, there was nothing we could do.  That we’d wake up in the morning and it would be gone (hopefully).

KAren DESPERATELY wants to cast off that log

With good holding, you still feel secure with the 2-3 knot current running past. You go to bed at one end of your anchor circle and wake up at the other end.

The fair weather did bring forth a grand sunset and Karen and I both spent an hour taking picture as the sun touched the horizon, fell out of view and the sky illuminated with a flourish of oranges, red and magentas on a background of deep blue.

OceanFlyer enjoying the sunset

Pearse Islands sky on fire

We feel like the Broughtons were welcoming us back. 

Pearse Islands to Pearl Pass

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We awoke very early to dense fog as predicted. We really don’t care, because Karen and I are both still doing “real work” and given that we still have a cell signal here in the anchorage, we are both on the phone sending and receiving text message and emails.

In between juggling work projects, I made us breakfast: a French Omelet with tomato, sautéed onions and red peppers with a great English cheddar topped with a balsamic glaze drizzle. Karen was happy.

Lots of protein to start the day

Just as we were about to weigh anchor, a nice Tollycraft joined us in the anchorage. I bet they were happy to see us leave. Now they had the place all to themselves.

Clean anchor...almost

Clean anchor...almost

When we did get underway, most of the fog had lifted with the occasional blanket still hugging to the coastline here and there. The fishermen are out in force doing their racetrack back and forth along the “hot spots”. Our goal today was to “catch” a whale or two: humpback, Orca or whatever came our way. Blackfish Sound is usually good for spotting these mammals. I guess that why it is named Blackfish, the native American name for Orca.

We did spot four humpback doing their thing,  but no Orca. On the commercial whale watching boat channel we heard that most of the activity was in Johnstone Strait around West Cracroft island. Not on our route, so we settled for what we saw. A Dalls porpoise and a few harbor porpoise did round out our mammal spotting for today.

Because it’s the height of summer cruising, Karen is determined to find us anchorages with little or no other boats. That is how Pearl Pass became our destination. Showcased in the Dreamspeaker Guide, it’s ust a little break in the land, choked with kelp on one end, so we should not see much traffic through this “pass”! We set the hook in a spot with great views all around and settled in for the afternoon.

A local fisherman came in to inspect and pull his crab buoy. As it turned out, there were three crab pots on the string, marked by only one buoy. Good lesson learned: give the crab pot buoys an even wider berth when anchoring because you never know where and how many pots are sitting on the bottom ,waiting to tangle with your ground tackle.

Busy checking crab pots

After that excitement, Karen and I both went back to work for the afternoon. We still have three bars of cell coverage and we knew it wouldn’t last later in the trip, so we crammed to get a bunch of loose ends under control for when we lose all connectivity.

The evening was calm, quiet and peaceful. I think we saw one lonely boat go by, but no one joined us in this anchorage.

Fog lifting