Sunday, July 31, 2016 Viner Sound

We had a very nice surprise this morning.  The sailboat, Shaunsea that is across the inlet is the same one we were with in Burly Bay.  Colleen must have the magic touch.  She came over today with four, fresh Dungeness crabs for us.  We had another loaf of homemade bread for her.  We cleaned and cooked the crab immediately.  It’s fresh crab for dinner tonight! 

Saturday, July 30, 2016 Waddington Bay to Viner Sound 1 ¼ hours 11.6 miles

The wind has never let up for any length of time.  The wind after dark was still 10-15 kts.  Fred stayed on anchor watch until 1:00 am.  He then felt it safe to go to bed.  When we got up this morning we had some decisions to make.  Currently our anchor is holding well but we are still in a part of the bay that has no protection from the wind and doing 180 degree swings.  We didn’t think we could tolerate another day and night like yesterday so we pulled anchor and headed east.  The further we went the lighter the wind.  We pulled into Viner Sound to see if there was a mooring buoy available.  There were and we headed for one of them.  Getting attached was rather difficult in an ebb tide and 10 kts of wind pushing us about.  Finally we are secure on the buoy and I think we will be much more relaxed here.  Fred saw some salmon jumping so decided to do a little fishing while he had his cigar.  The fish continue to laugh at him…

Friday, July 29, 2016 Waddington Bay

We are sorry we didn’t leave yesterday.  The anchor held yesterday so we were a little cocky in believing it would continue.  Fred took a nap and I was in the cockpit reading.  The wind was still roaring through at 15-25 kts.  Since this kept the boat heading into the wind, it was quite comfortable in the cockpit.  When Fred got up he thought a large rock at the entrance looked a little closer than it had.  Apparently some gusts of 30-37 kts pulled the anchor loose.  OK, all hands on deck!  We started the engines and I stayed at the helm while Fred handled the winch and anchor.  Waddington is a large bay but there were already about ten boats in there.  Our choices of a new spot were limited.  Normally re-anchoring is not a big deal.  However, with the wind and current in the anchorage actually causing whitecaps this was an ordeal.  I had a terrible time getting the boat in a good position.  In the middle of these maneuvers the port transmission control lever went slack.  !@#$  I hailed the other boats in the anchorage of our plight. Several folks came up to us in their dinghy’s but there really wasn’t anything to do.  I never worked so hard in my life keeping us off the rocks with only the starboard engine and high winds.  I still don’t know how we came out of this unscathed.  When Fred saw what was happening he ran into the engine room to see what was wrong with the transmission.  It looked good.  Of all the times for this to happen, Fred took a wrench and tightened the port transmission control and then it worked fine.  We re-anchored very nearly where we were before.  This was not our intent but the wind and tide had more control than I did.  We had a very anxious afternoon and night but the anchor held. 

Thursday, July 28, 2016 Waddington Bay

We had planned on heading out today but the wind is still 10-15 kts and it is very foggy.  We decided to just stay put.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Port McNeill to Waddington Bay 2 ½ hours 26.6 miles

I am not thrilled with this bay, although it is very beautiful, because it is always crowded.  We much prefer more isolated places.  Sure enough, it is crowded.  We anchored very close to the entrance of the bay.  We counted fifteen boats in here tonight. 

Sunday, July 24, 2016 Waddington Bay to Port McNeill 2 ½ hours 27 miles

We needed to go back to Port McNeill for a prescription that I forgot to get a week ago.  We were disappointed that there was no room for us at the North Island Marina.  We haven’t been to the municipal marina in a couple years and they don’t take reservations.  We were lucky and they had a nice 60 ft. slip for us.  This marina is actually better located.  A coffee shop, Mugz, is at the head of the dock.  They have great bakery items and lattes.  They also have pretty decent free WiFi. 

Saturday, July 23, 2016 Burly Bay to Waddington Bay 3 ¼ hours 33.7 miles

All we wanted today was to split the trip to Port McNeill in half.  This bay is well suited for this. 

Tuesday-Friday, July 18-22, 2016 Burly Bay

We did a lot of nothing but enjoy one of our favorite places up here. I saw a harbor seal floating nearby.  This is not unusual and they are sweet looking.  Next thing we know a little head popped up near the larger one.  We have never seen a baby harbor seal before.  It was so cute.  They stayed floating in our little bay all day.  One evening we heard thunder which echoed all over our little bay.  Then the show really started.  We had an hour of cloud to cloud lightning and thunder everywhere.  Merlin was beside himself with fear and I was close.  We rarely see such a show.  The clouds were all around us but it never rained.  Rather strange.  This is only the second thunderstorm we have seen up here in the twelve years we have been cruising.  Coleen and Lorne on Shaunsea were a little worried about their mast but there were tall trees everywhere so I figured we were pretty safe. 

Monday, July 18, 2016 Burly Bay

When we pulled up the crab pots there was nothing except some jellyfish.  However, all of the food was gone and one of the cans was actually pried open.  Something down there is very strong.  There is a sailboat, Shaunsea anchored near us.  This afternoon Colleen from the sailboat came over in her dinghy and offered us some crab.  She had more than she could handle.  We gratefully accepted.  Fortunately I had a loaf of fresh baked multigrain bread to give her in exchange.  Apparently they don’t have an oven aboard so she was thrilled.  We have an outdoor propane stove for cooking crab.  It is so handy.  No crab smell and steam inside the boat.  Fred cleaned them and we cooked them right away.  I see crab pasta in our future.  We had a crab omelet for dinner. 

Sunday, July 17, 2016 Burly Bay

Fred put down our two crab pots in what we thought was a likely location.    We didn’t have any crab bait so we used two cans of wet dogfood.  Fred used a church-key to open the cans around the edge.  We usually augment the inverter-charger with a 50 amp auxiliary charger.  As we were charging the batteries Fred noticed that we were not charging at our usual 170 amps.  Upon investigation the auxiliary charger doesn’t work.  Fred emailed the manufacturer asking for suggestions to fix it.  When an email was returned we couldn’t open it on our ocens email.  It was too big.  Fred emailed Pedro at Ocens and Pedro moved the email to Fred’s regular yahoo account.  Now we have to wait to reach a place with WiFi to retrieve it.  In order to efficiently charge the batteries in a timely manner Fred is using also the automotive charger.  We have this on hand to charge the dinghy batter, etc. 

Saturday, July 16, 2016 Burly Bay

Last night I heard some noise outside after dark.  It sounded like a humpft sound.  We know there are harbor seals around so I thought that was what is was.  What a wonderful surprise this morning.  There was a pod of Pacific White-Sided dolphins going back and forth in front of Hopetown Passage.  They stayed with us all day.  What a treat!

Friday, July 15, 2016 Port McNeill to Burly Bay 4 hours 39 miles

We love this place.  To get to MacKenzie Sound one has to pass through Kenneth Passage.  It is a rather narrow, dog-leg passage.  MacKenzie Sound is a fiord.  The walls are granite with trees sprouting out of them at the most curious angles and locations.  Long strands of Spanish moss hang from tree limbs and we are told there are many bears here (we didn’t see any though).  We always anchor in a cove behind Blair Islet.  We can see the soaring granite walls but feel cozy and sheltered.  We are anchored near the end of Hopetown Passage.  This passage is only passible at high water with local knowledge.  As the tide falls it creates rapids flowing overt the rocks at the entrance.  It sounds lovely. 

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Mound Island to Port McNeill 2 ½ hours 22.9 miles

Fred borrowed a ladder from Steve at the North Island Marina.  He is determined to resolve this issue.  The dome is high up on the radar arch and I held onto the ladder while he went up to remove screws and the dome.  Nothing looks broken.  He is able to move the antenna easily the fuse isn’t open.  He checked the 12 volt supply to every part of the device.  Still nothing.  He emailed the manufacturer of the dome.  He stated everything that he had already tried and asked for suggestions.  The email back from them suggested doing what he had already tried.  Did they even read the email? 

Saturday, July 10, 2016 Mound Island

We have become accustomed to watching the 5 PM BBC news on television.  Yes, we have a TV dome on the boat.  This evening when we turned the antenna for TV on nothing happened.  OH good, Fred needs another project.  I was somewhat thankful because we only hear news of terrible things happening in the world. 

Friday, July 8, 2016 Viner Sound to Mound Island 2 ¾ hours 25.9 miles

We planned on anchoring tonight at Crease Island.  Well, it was a beautiful but difficult passing through all the small Islands (big rocks with trees on them).  When we arrived at our intended destination the wind was 20 kts and the anchorage too small for our comfort so we had to find a new anchorage.  There are a lot of anchorages here in the SW area of the Broughtons.  However, most are rather exposed so we found a large anchorage on the south side of Mound Island.  The area is large and we felt comfortable in 20-25 kt. winds and 1 foot chop in the anchorage.  We followed a sailboat in and anchored well away from him.  After our anchor was set we saw seven more boats heading in.  I guess we were all running from the weather.  The problem was that in this huge anchorage they all placed themselves closely around us.  We were watching our position very closely. By afternoon we were sure our anchor was slipping and we were VERY close to our neighbors.  We quickly pulled up the anchor and moved out to the middle of the anchorage.  Although the wind stayed up, we didn’t slip a bit.

Sunday, July 3, 2016 Viner Sound

We were casually reading in the cockpit when the scene seemed to change.  I went out to talk to Fred and mentioned that the big rock near shore was creeping closer (do rocks move?). Oh !@#$  We found the mooring line had come loose.  We started the engines and reattached before any harm was done. 

Saturday, July 2, 2016 Port Harvey to Viner Sound 4 ¼ hours 44.6 miles

This is one of our favorite places on the coast.  Viner Sound is a beautiful fiord.  Anchoring is a challenge because of the silt at the head of the inlet.  There are 4 mooring buoys available.  They are free and wonderfully located.  Two on the north side and two on the south side.  We attached to the outside buoy on the south side of the inlet.   What a spectacular view!

Friday, July 1, 2016 Port Harvey CANADA DAY

There are activities planned and diner for free tonight.  The big game today is whores shoes.  Commonly known as horse shoes everywhere else.  The difference is that instead of using a horse shoe, one uses high heels (whores shoes).  One team had black heels and the other red shoes (Red Shoe Restaurant….?).  It is sunny and this game is actually quite fun to watch.  George and Gail then made us all hot dogs and chili.  After dark there was a bonfire and an excellent fireworks display.  The down side was that the lawn area between the dock and their home has and incredible mosquito population.  After walking Merlin I literally had to brush dozens of the nasty little bugs off his coat and my clothing.  Therefore, Fred went up to watch the fireworks and Merlin & I stayed on the boat.  I could see them through the trees and was very impressed.