2018 Inside Passage South

Did you get the Don Douglas/ Renee Hemmingway Douglas guide to the North Coast of BC? Even though it is a bit dated now, it is probably the best guide to the area around B C. There is a separate guide to Alaska and the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
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Great books. I use them along side the Waggoners for differing descriptions of everywhere I go. I have the 3rd edition of the Guides, North Coast and South Coast. I don't expect to use the North Coast this trip, as all the spots I was going in the Broughtons is in the South Coast book. I also have the SE Alaska Guide, and the San Juan and Gulf Islands Guide, which was a bit duplicating of the BC South Coast Guide when it came to the Gulf Islands. Waggoners is a good guide, but the Douglas guides seem to have a bit more specifics. For now, I'm planning on these areas of the Broughtons later next week:
Lagoon Cove, Echo Bay (and Pierre's), Sullivan Bay, Alert Bay (and the First Nation's Museum along with Lacy Falls), and Deserted Bay where I hear the beach combing is fun. Colby
 
Odd, they must shut the power off here at Refuge Cove at night. 7:30p and the power on the docks went out. However I seem to remember when I checked in, he did not charge me for electricity as I believe he said it would only be on during the day anyway... No matter, batteries all charged up. Just caught up on uploading photos. A few new pages added. Colby
 
Power turned back on around 8am. I wonder if they cut the power at night during the summer high season? Covered a lot of territory today, as the water was fairly calm, nothing worse that some 1 ft chop in some areas. Before lunch, headed up to Teakerne Arm and tied up at the dingy dock to hike up to the top of the falls there. Looks like an old cable winch of some sort up there, with some of the cable still laying around. I'm assuming this has something to do with logging, but wonder how the hell they got the machine in there. One other very large yacht anchored just off the falls. His smaller dingy was about the size of my 22. :shock: The larger one, a Protector, even had radar. Headed back to Refuge Cove to take on 20 gals of gas and make lunch. (Glad I got the gas. I used all that up in my next jaunt.) Then headed up to Toba Inlet. Stopped briefly at the Toba Wilderness Marina looking to tie up for about 15 minutes, but they would not allow that. You have to be an overnight guest. Mind you they had plenty of room and only a few boats. I had thought about possibly stopping for the night when I came back, but with the attitude no temporary tie up allowed with that much space, I just wasn't interested in giving them my overnight business. Went up just a mile or so past Brem Bay. Beautiful sights of the high mountains and many waterfalls cascading down from the top. The water is a little more milky green from the silt. There is a working logging operation at Brem Bay. Waggoners mentions two Pictographs just north and south of Brem Bay, but I'm not sure I saw them. There was some coloring on the rocks north of Brem Bay, but that looked more like stains in the rocks. After a few hours in Toba Inlet, I headed back towards Pendrell Sound. Ran up to the end of that, and found a large marine farm at the end. Finally, headed back to Prideaux Haven, where I am for the night. Think I've seen what I need to see, and plan to head back to Campbell River tomorrow, pull out, and trailer up to Telegraph Cove. Desolation Sound is very scenic. No doubt about it. And I'm sure one could spend a lot more time here, just exploring and relaxing. But I'm not one to sit still long, and when it comes to scenery, we have a lot of that back at home on fresh water.
 
A stop at Heriot Bay on your way back to Campbell River is rewarding. Two marinas, great protected anchorage, pub, great walks.

Martin.
 
"It's Tuesday, must be Belgium." Colby, it is not just the sights, but the wild life, and especially the people.

How they got the winch up to the top of the hill--they basically used donkey engines--and pulled the winch up on its own skids. The loggers would set a deadman at the location or used trees/tree stumps. Modern loggers cut roads, and are far more destructive. Of course there are the helicopter logging operations--more dangerous for the pilots, but not as much forrest impact. We saw logging in AK where the logs were basically taken to the water and then loaded on a Japanese freighter right there. We were told that these old growth trees were especially valuable, and used in some of the shrines and temples. The logs were taken back to Japan, and sunk in fresh water lakes.
 
6/3. Another rough day on the water. Made my way from Prideaux Haven back to Campbell River. A good part of the ride in the more open water was 2-3 foot chop. Pulled the boat out and trailered to Telegraph Cove. This is the kind of place I want to see more of! Got the boat launched again. This is a great place to cruise out of. Good launch, plenty of parking ($8/day or $35 weekly) and a wash rack at the ramp. Saw one other 16' C-Dory launched, but didn't get a chance to talk to them, and they are not in the marina. At least I don't see them among the few boats here. Last 20 or 30 miles of road was a bit rough. Not so much the pavement, but just a lot of rolling bumps like frost heaves. Bob, the people I've come across thus far have been an enjoyment to speak with. But for the most part, Desolation Sound was mostly about the scenery. Seems like I saw more critters earlier in the Gulf Islands. I am looking forward to seeing more of the communities during this part of my cruising. And perhaps pick up a few more crabs. I'm almost afraid to put my fishing line out. There are so many restricted areas around here, and hard to understand the descriptions online, even when I can get a connection. Crabbing is a lot simpler. I put some "marine gas" in the boat at the Husky station on the way out of Campbell River. 144.9, while regular automotive gas was 145.9. Some of the Canadian stations have "dyed" gas for marine use only. Also stopped at a car wash to clean some of the salt off the boat. Probably wasn't necessary, as I hit some rain off and on driving up here. Filled the truck in Sayward at 146.9. In the marina tonight, and off to Sullivan Bay tomorrow. Hoping for smooth water. Think rain is in the forecast, which I don't mind so much. (Keeps the salt washed off the boat. :mrgreen: ) Bob, thanks for the info on the winch engines. So much was accomplished in yesteryear, with a lot less destruction. Martin, I trailered the boat between Campbell River and Telegraph Cove. Plans are to pull out of here on Friday and catch the Saturday Ferry and start the long haul back home to Wisconsin. I know there is so much more to see. But I still have a lot more to see in my own neck of the woods, and in fresh water. :mrgreen: The truth is, I have traveled so much around the US and Canada in my short 60 years on earth, that the "wow" factor is much more flatter than it use to be. It's the small rustic communities that I'm searching out now. Thus why I had initially decided to do the north half of the Inside Passage rather than the south half. Just didn't work out for this year, so decided to just do an example of what the south part had to offer. No regrets I'm here, but no need to spend the extra time out here away from home either. If the weather works out, my plans are Sullivan tomorrow, then Echo Bay on Tuesday, probably checking out Lacy Falls first, then Lagoon Cove on Wednesday, Alert Bay on Thursday, and back here Friday to pull out.
 
I was wondering if you would Gene. It's tempting. But I still have a pretty wife to get back too, (she had to get back home this past week to work), and some other plans boating closer to home.
 
Colby, there are some narratives of the days in the system of inlets, etc., you are entering now, when almost all the logging was done from the water, typically by small crews, working off a barge or two, anchored adjacent to shore (sometimes winched ashore). Essentially no logging was done distant frim shorelines. This would have been roughly from about 1910 through about 1940.

Billy Proctor at Echo Bay would know the titles. Lots of adventures in those old days!
 
If you get a chance, check out the Whale Museum across the cove from the boat launch. The boardwalk around the cove is nice and the Whale Museum has interesting stuff besides just whales. If the parking lot at the head of the cove is close to empty, pull in and around to get a spot that allows for an easy escape. Otherwise, once out of the boat ramp area parking gets complicated.

Mark
 
Mark, I’ll have to check that out before I leave the area. I walked around to the Whale Resturant last evening for dinner sounds like maybe I just need to walk past that.
 
Monday, 6/4. Motored across a very calm couple of passages and channels to Sullivan Bay this morning. Right near Donegal Head saw quite a few Dolphins off in the distance. Could just make out their fins coming up out of the water as they rose and dove along the way. Then just north of that saw a large whale surface, slap his tail and go back down. This too was a ways off in the distance. Talking to one of the staff members here in Sullivan, he said there are quite a number of whales and dolphins in that area. It's still quite dead here in Sullivan, but quite an interesting place with all the homes floating on the water. When I pulled in there were two larger trawlers and a 31' Ranger Tug. However they all left soon after, before lunch, so I'm currently the only one here other than a few staff members. I spoke with one of them asking about the homes. She said all but two are owned by Americans. (Those two are owned by Canadians.) No one is here right now, but they do come up to live during the summer. Several of the homes have nice boats docked along side them. One home had a floating porch with nice garden! A few off and on rain showers pass over. I can imagine this place, as are the others, can be quite busy during the middle of their season. This is also another place that shuts the generators (power) down at night. At least during the off season, unless they have more than a few boats that need power. There is no cell service here, but the internet is ok. (I pretty much own all the bandwidth here right now being the only boat. :mrgreen: ) Colby
 
6/5. Today involved some more rough water. 1-2' confused chop and howling winds as I made my way to Echo Bay. Decided to pass on Lacy Falls, as that would have been 10 miles farther, and I was ready for a break. Ok, I know it wasn't all that bad, as I was still running at 10 kts, but since I had to pass Echo on my way to Lacy, it was just too easy to call it a short day again. Two of the same boats that were in at Sullivan, joined me here as well. Also met the owners of C-Pal, a 16' C-Dory. They had put in at Telegraph Cove just ahead of me, but I didn't get a chance to meet them there. They are diving somewhere near here, and had come over to get some gas. Just before pulling into here, I stopped in Proctor cove to meet Billy Proctor and see his museum. Quite interesting. Also, while joining one of the other boaters in seeing if a Fishing boat that came in could sell off a few Prawns (he couldn't) learned a bit more about their fishing operation. They put out 6 lines with 50 pots each. At 7 kts, that's a pretty full day setting and pulling pots. They also get a fair amount of Octopus in the Prawn traps. Marina owner Pierre was having some issues with the gas here, as one of the fishing operations reported an over abundance of ethanol in the gas they got here and said they suspect the last barge load was the problem. If this was the case, that could create some issue for much of the area as the same barge supplies all the marinas. This is still early in the season, so the store here doesn't have much yet either, (as the case with the other island marina stores I've been at). Other than the fishing boats, I have not seen many others out in the channels. Seems like there are only a few of us cruising in the area right now. Colby
 
6/6. Well after reading Hunky Dory's and Reef Madness's blogs, I'm thinking mine are probably pretty boring! And wishing I would have just said the heck with it much earlier and planned on heading north after the Friday Harbor gathering. Sometimes plans shouldn't need to exist, and it'd be better to just head out and see where you end up! Alas for me, not this time. But it does make me reconsider just how much planning I might skip doing for next summer if Alaska comes together.

Back in Telegraph Cove this evening. Spent part of the day in Alert Bay, walking through town and over to the U'mista Cultural Center, or First Nations Museum. Enjoyed seeing all the Totem Poles as well. Rather than going to the newer Marina, which looked rather full and not all that new, I just pulled up to the inside of the Government dock. And had the entire dock to myself. Seems like it's a ghost town in most the places I've been north of Desolation Sound. And even in Desolation Sound, other than the Prideaux Haven, there were very few boats.

No more plans of cruising in this area, but rather just spend the day tomorrow seeing if I can catch some fish and crabs, and enjoying Telegraph Cove. Still need to see the Whale Museum. I'll be back on my way home Saturday, so pretty much done writing here. I've had mostly good weather, and enjoyed the short time I've made of this. It is a very beautiful area, but I would invite some of you west coasters out to our Midwest waters of Lake Michigan and Superior. We have some very good cruising waters as well, without the salt spots! :mrgreen: Colby
 
Thank you Colby for all your postings about your trip. I enjoyed the read, especially as I am familiar with most of the ground you covered. I know there is only so much you can cram in to a limited time frame, and you did good. There is still a lot more to see in our neck of the woods. Maybe another time?

Martin.
 
Yes, thanks for giving us updates on your travels. We were in Tofino last month (no boating unfortunately) and enjoyed the scenery. Just got back from a long weekend in your old stomping grounds - - Apostle Islands. Thanks for the tip on the book of the area for background. It was quite cool and deserted - - only one boat in our anchorage at Quarry Bay.
 
Did manage to catch my limit of Greenlings (only 3 allowed) along with 3 Red Rock crab today. Boat is on the trailer now, but I'm still in Telegraph Cove. Really is a neat place here. Also stopped into the Whale Museum today. Another interesting place. Got everything rinsed off with Salt Away, and then it's been rainy most all day, so think most the salt is washed off now. Not sure if I'll get back to this particular area again, as my plans for next summer involve the SE Alaska portion of the Inside Passage. Thinking about launching from Skagway, but could end up at Prince Rupert. However, I could see coming out to Friday Harbor and the San Juans again sometime. Just never know. :mrgreen: Still a lot of other places on my bucketlist to boat! Since I'm done with the boating in this area for this year, if anyone is interested in my 2018 Ports and Passes book, let me know. Didn't make too much use out of it, but there were a few times it came in handy! Just pay the shipping to get it to you. Colby
 
Colby, I enjoyed your sharing here of this trip from planning to execution & now all wrapped up except the drive home. I wished more would do this as it does help those thinking of doing similar & enjoyable to follow. We visited Telegraph Cove, while driving our truck camper around much of Vancouver Island & Telegraph Cove & Victoria were our two favorite places on the Inland & the whale museum & boardwalk to & by it a good part of our enjoyment there. This was over 20 years ago, so I imagine there have been changes since then.

Jay
 
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