Seawolf Corazon

Well I made it back to Shearwater via Vancouver to Bella Bella flight, then a taxi van to town then a water taxi over to the Marina.

The boat was not quite ready but they got the parts to fix the back stays the next day and got her in the water. Always a nail biter when they lift the boat. Yi yi yo!

I set off the next morning hoping to get to Klemtu and see a white “spirit” Bear.

Klemtu was where I met the sailboat Hermitage with captain Don and crew Paul. Paul is amazing sailor who sails all over the world on other people’s boats.

There was not much to do in Klemtu. Nothing but a small store. No hiking trails.

Verney Falls is gorgeous. I ended up staying 3 nights. Trapped by a low front that threatened 50 kt winds. Met some super nice folks in a 3 boat flotilla. Did a hike with them. They all had 14 year old dogs!

The rocks on the beach are an ancient fish weir. Eventually I decided to try to get further north and hoped for good weather. After three days my anchor line was wrapped around a rock and it was an epic struggle to get it freed up again.

Well I went all the way almost to Prince Rupert, but had to settle for Port Edward. Which was great because I met great people on Beggars Tune.

My new friend Nick Vogel, who built out his Westsail 32 from the inside out. He and wife Evy are retired school teachers. He taught shop for 25 years and can fix anything. They were so nice to me in Port Edward.

Well, Prince Rupert is where I finally got to get crew. My buddy Dennis Frederick flew up on short notice for the big crossing into the US, across Dixon Entrance.

Dennis flew into Prince Rupert airport, which is not in Prince Rupert, and took a ferry to town where I met him for dinner.

We ate a good fish meal and got groceries for the big trip.

No real good pics of Wrangell Narrows. Too busy plotting courses, dodging logs and other boats.

Or as near as I can get. I finally announced officially my retirement from Verizon this July. The whole process was like an out of body experience. I spent a week getting the boat ready (well technically I spent nine years getting the boat ready).. So now I’ll be taking a bunch of vacation time and trying to get as far north as I can. I started out in Tacoma on April 21.

After Poets Cove I motored north in pretty calm weather up to Silva Bay in preparation for the big crossing of the Strait of Georgia which can be a challenge.

Silva Bay was like a ghost town. There is another part of the bay that has a restaurant. I tried to walk to it but it was closed. It was a long way around in the dark and I was a little bit worried around about bears. And by a long way around I mean it was a 4 mile walk in the dark. An old dog came out and barked at me kind of lame but I was nice to her and she did not bother me too much on the way back.

After Silva Bay I woke up at oh dark 30 and crossed the Strait of Georgia. The wind picked up to about 30 kn and I got bounced around pretty well.

After Pender Harbor I sailed up the inside of Texada island to Gorge Harbour. Now in Gorge Harbour it was still late April and apparently they rent out the Harbour cheaply to hippies and people who have really derelict boats. So all those people were still in the harbor when I got there and they were all trying to get their boats up and running so that they could anchor them out in the bay and live a floating life for the summer.

My neighbors were on a very derelict catamaran. Their names were Sariya and Tina. And they had two dogs Yin and Yang. Saria is from Northern Quebec, a 12 hour drive north of Quebec City! He had nothing good to say about the northern Québécois!

I had to take the ferry to Campbell River to get charts. You start out hitch hiking 2 miles on Cortes Island to the ferry dock. Then you take about an hour ferry ride to Heriot Bay. Then you have to hitchhike 5 miles across Quadra Island. Then you take a 15 minute ferry ride to Campbell River. Going home it’s just the opposite. I can’t believe people picked me up hitchhiking. I would not pick me up hitchhiking.

After three nights in Gorge Harbour I finally shoved off to do the big crossing through the Yuculta rapids. This was a bit of a nail biter but I made it through fine and it was a lovely sunny day — last sun I’d see for six days!

After hours of motoring in very light winds I made it to Blind Channel resort

I was the only guest at Blind channel for a couple days while I waited out the weather. It began to rain. I went on all the hiking trails.

At Blind Channel it rained and rained for several days and the wind was pretty strong out in Johnstone Strait. So I hung around and eventually in came a gorgeous Leopard 48 catamaran, Laura Marie, with a lovely couple, Brian and Laura Denault. They invited me to dinner! Cod that they caught! So good.

They are from Bainbridge Island near Seattle so hopefully we can stay in touch. Such genuinely nice people!

But I had to keep moving so even though it threatened to blow 30 knots in Johnstone Strait, I set off in the early morning, figuring worst case I could duck into Port Neville if things got really rough.

Well it did not get rough but it was limited visibility with all the rain and missed so I did duck into Port Neville. I helped Walter and Laura Lett get in and tied up too. They’re on Braesail, a Moody 46.

So finally I had to leave Port Neville and I really did get 30 knots in Johnstone Strait. There’s no pictures because I was busy! It was 30 knots and raining and misty and the visibility was terrible. But I made it to Lagoon Cove Marina after transiting the Chatham Channel and the Blow Hole. Both these passages are narrow and the Blow Hole is shallow.

Lagoon Cove is really neat. Like Blind Channel, they maintain some hiking trails, and I hiked most of them. Kelly and her husband, who run the place, are super friendly and helpful.

Kelly made sure Brandon, her helper, gave me a Dungeness crab for dinner.

Braesail with Walter and Laura let came in here too and I think Kelly also gave them a couple crabs. I talked a little with Walter. He is a liturgical theologian doing research on how native peoples say I’m sorry versus medieval people say it and how this contrasts with how Canada is saying sorry about residential schools. I know, pretty deep.

Anyhow he said for the best example of native potlatch artifacts I needed to go to Alert Bay. So I set out for there next.

At Alert Bay I spoke with Steven, the Harbour Master. He was also doing customs for two National Geographic cruise ships, Venture and Sea Lion. He said these were the first cruise ships Alert Bay had gotten in for three years.

I had a hard time getting through Pearse Passage, as there were tons of logs. And the current was against me and slowed me way down. And it was misty and raining as usual. But I did see sea otters for the first time in 30 years. Pretty cool that they are making a comeback.

Alert Bay is turning out to be really cool. Today I’ll go walk some of the many hiking trails. The Harbour Master, Stephen Bruce, is a totem carver. He and his wife and their pup Sasha were very nice to me. They told me to go check out his latest work.

The Namgish people believe that they rode in on a supernatural halibut. The horn on any animal denotes supernatural ability. There is a stylized horn on the halibut.

Friday was sunny. I took the ferry into Port McNeill and got boat supplies. When I got back I had time walk around town and take some decent photos.

Along the waterfront are these huts called Awakwas with Namgish clan animals on each one.

After Alert Bay it was a long 13 hour day to Frypan Bay. I rounded Cape Caution in 2 meter seas from the West with a nasty cross chop from Southeast and got rolled around pretty good. After Frypan Bay I made it up Fitzhugh Sound to Bella Bella and Shearwater Resort. Again, incredibly nice people running the resort, and pretty amazing food for such a remote place.

Corazon on the dock at Shearwater Resort. Stayed here a few days and then got her hauled out for a bottom job.

The “Northern Lights” is one of the little water taxis that will take you to Bella Bella for $5. I spent a few hours in Bella Bella, met some nice people, returned to Shearwater.

The boat is now “on the hard” getting a bottom job – I scraped and sanded for one whole day and then Shearwater is doing the painting, as well as repair to minor damage.

I fly back up to Bella Bella on Monday, May 30.

This biggish brown bear was munching mussels at low tide. I kayaked right up to her, within about 50 feet. In the video you can hear her crunching the shells.

I paddled up to her until she starting getting fidgety.

Cortes Bay

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Got here on day 5. Two days solo from Friday Harbor. Spent a windy night at anchor in Silva Bay. Then anchored here in Cortes Bay. There’s pretty much nothing here except for the royal Vancouver yacht club and is Seattle yacht club who have docs to tie up to you but not for me. The first night I had checked into Manson’s landing and went to the food co-op there and got a sandwich. Yesterday I hiked to Hank’s beach which was a really beautiful and very few people there. Then I hiked in Kw’as park and went up to Hague Lake and went swimming there. By the time that I walked back around the lake to the co-op I was starving and had another sandwich. Then I walked the rest of the way home. 13 miles total. Summer is meeting me at Gorge Harbor tomorrow and so I’m going to motor over there today and try to find a safe anchorage.

Poet’s Cove,

South Pender Island, BC

Got to Poet’s Cove a little later in the evening than I had wanted. Cleared customs first at the customs dock, by calling into a number or a phone that was there. They asked a few questions and then gave me my registration number. Then moved boat around to the floats. You have to dingy in from there but it was roomier. After that I took the dingy and went up to the lovely resort hotel there at Poet’s Cove and had a wonderful meal. The next morning it rained cats and monkeys for about three hours. I found out where all the little leaks are in the new dodger. Rain slackened up right around 1130 just as forecast, and I went back to the restaurant and had the buffet for breakfast. Yum Yum.

Close to the hotel is the gravesite of one of the old Indian chiefs who was well known in the 1800s. It’s basically some rocks in a pattern. There is also a hike called the enchanted Forest Trail I took after the rain let up, to work off some of the buffet it was lovely.

On top of the hill where the enchanted Forest Trail is there’s another pile of rocks that looks to me like the grave of an even older Indian chief. Anyhow I untied from the floating breakwater and motored out at about 1 pm and headed for Gabriola Pass.

From 2013 till today, I’ve been working to fix and update Corazon.

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Wendi my lovely wife and I did 5 days up in San Juans in September. At times it was chilly. Best part was bicycle ride on San Juan Island.