13Aug09 Civilization, or reputed to be so

(50'35.823N,127'06.243W)

We zipped across Queen Charlotte Strait in some moderate westerlies to dock at the Fuel Dock/Marina in Port McNeil. We'd stayed at the public marina on the way up, and were not impressed with the security of the outer docks (in 20 knots of wind, the floating dock was swaying so badly that it was hard to stay on our feet). So this time we tried the Fuel Dock, which has added floats and created their own marina.

It was first class, with excellent new docks and friendly owners and staff. Power was the usual (for BC) of 208v/50amp instead of 230v, but we are used to that and use our aux chargers and inverter to keep the 120v appliances happy. No problem. We stayed for a couple of nights, restocking and walking the docks to meet folks. It had been a long time since we'd tied Serendipity up, so this felt like a novelty.

Restaurants in Port McNeil are pretty poor, but we made do enjoying a meal that someone else had to cook and clean up from. But it was good to get back to our own cooking, especially with a freezer full of Alaskan salmon and halibut to toss on the Barbie.

Comments [0] | | More

12Aug09 Caution in the fog

(50'54.336N,127'17.599W)

We headed south with Crossroads to round Cape Caution, bound for Blunden Harbor on the north side of the Queen Charlotte Strait. The fog closed in and took us down to 50 yards or so of visibility for most of the trip around Cape Caution.

One of the scourges of modern navigation, with all of us plopping waypoints down on our chartplotters or PC's is that when traveling around a protruding point of land and an infamous weathermaker like Cape Caution, we all seem to drop our waypoints in the same places. We look at the depth contour and pretty much pick the same spots, minimizing distance along the route. Then we navigate unerringly to that exact spot, plus or minus thirty feet or so.

As it turned out, a handful of southbound yachts all seemed to converge on the same point in the water just off Cape Caution, where naturally the fog was pea soup.

But once we got yacking on the radio and learned who everyone was, our little flotilla managed to keep from running into each other. I had my little 4KW radar zoomed into a 0.25 mile range (while the big 12KW radar on 3 mile range) and was threading my way through slower boats (there really are such things) by maintaining a 0.1 mile clearance, per the radar. Yet we still didn't see or hear the other boats, other than foghorns. That was mighty close in the fog, but we were all going the same way with relative velocities of less than half a knot, so it wasn't really dangerous, but it was nice to be able to spread my elbows and dry out the pits after getting past there. In the future, I'm going to set a course for 3 to 5 miles off any obvious turn point like that, not close in like everyone else does, and enjoy the ride a little more.

Of course, someone else might think of this radical idea and do the same. Scourge of GPS and chartplotters.

Blunden Harbor was clear and pretty and Crossroads rafted up to us there and we enjoyed a great evening with them and their guests.

Comments [0] | | More

9Aug09 Ghost Town -- Almost

(51'52.404N,127'51.323W)

Exiting Codville Lagoon, we ran into a squall line and 35 knots of wind blowing up the channel, so had a bit of slop to slog through, but it only lasted for a couple of hours and settled down.

We met up with Stan and Diane and guests on Crossroads, anchoring in Rocky Cove in Whirlwind Harbor behind the almost ghost-town of Namu. Too a while to find some mud to set the anchor in, but after we did, it was a great anchorage.

The town of Namu, located in the outer section of Whirlwind Harbor, was home to a flourishing packing plant and vibrant community until the early 1970's. Then the plants closed and the town declined to its current population of exactly three people. But the town if full of huge factories, with most places looking as if people had left work intending to return, but never came back. Kind of Post Apocalyptical looking place. Pete and Rene Darwin live there. I didn't get the name of their third resident.

We gazed through the window at the 1950's style café, with the daily menu still chalked up on the overhead board, the round stools and tables still in place. We walked through the old general store when Pete opened it to find a plumbing part for a visitor, and it was filled with forty year old merchandise, including some flour and other dry goods from that era, magazines in the racks, you name it. There wasn't any power, so it was kind of dim inside, which contributed to the eerie atmosphere.

Pete and Rene have maintained a couple of docks and a float that has a roof and some tables and a huge firepit in the center that they keep stocked with split wood. For a few dollars a night, boats can tie up and share a pot luck and stories.

We preferred to stay back in Rocky Cove, given one boat that was there said they'd had 50 knot winds at the dock a couple of nights earlier and it had been a touch and go situation as to whether they could escape damage. The dock didn't look all that secure, and I figured that Serendipity would likely rip the whole thing out if we got caught in that kind of wind, its very exposed out there, so we were glad to hang on our own hook and out of the wind. But it might be interesting to 'camp out" on that dock sometime in fair weather.

We had fish jumping all over the place, mostly Cohos, but once again, didn't have the right gear to catch them. Apparently pink spinners work.

Guests on Crossroads dropped a hook off the back of their boat at anchor and caught a 22 pound Halibut. Very tasty at our shared dinner that night. Those little chicken halibut are the best.

Comments [0] | | More