Post Louisa, heading to Broughton's

We left Princess Louisa Inlet with regret.

Along the way, we would often see a tug pulling thousands of logs. They were moving along at around 8kts, amazing since the load was many tons..


This is a typical load of logs. Many of them get away, and become obstacles to avoid while enroute.

This place is so beautiful that we wondered why we didn’t spend more time there…but on to the north we must go! The 50 miles back out took us from 1:00PM ‘till around 6:00, and we pulled into the Egmont Marina.

They had space available, so we went for a long walk before turning in. The next day we were off to Lund, the home of the famous “Nancy’s Bakery”. Everyone who cruises this area called Desolation Sound talks about her food, so we immediately headed to it after docking. This was our first “rafting” so we were anxious about actually pulling up next to someone else’s boat. The Warfinger instructed us to dock next to another AT41 named Lucky Puppy. It went smoothly, with a stern entry between a buoy and the boat that was not much wider than we were.

Lund is scenic and laid-back, with three restaurants at the shore, and one hotel.

There were many “working boats” which used a parallel dock,

and it was fun watching them unload their crabs and prawns. We went for a run on the trails around the area, and wound up overlooking the marina...

The next day, we were off to Blind Channel. The route was to be through three sets of “rapids”. The problem is that the timing of the “slack” waters for each of the three was at almost the same time, thus there was no way to make them all at slack. We first went through the Yuculata’s early, encountering 5 to 7 kt head-currents with whirlpools among the edys. Although it seemed unnerving, it was safe. Then we docked at Big Bay Marina to wait for the slacks at Dent Rapids. The Lodge there is owned by the Nordstrom family and is a very high-end resort, with private planes in and out all day. We hit them at perfect slack and were on to Blind Channel.

This turned out to be a great meeting place for several friends. We met Ron and Kap on their Nordic Tug and they talked us into heading next to Lagoon Cove. What a choice! We headed there through the Johnstone Strait with trailing 5 kt currents that pushed us along ahead of schedule. On arrival at Lagoon, we were met by Bill and Jean, the owners, and they were great fun. The first thing we learned is that they provide fresh prawns at 5:00 social hour for everyone docked there. By that time, we had about 15 boats with a terrific group of friends. The best part were the “bear stories” that Bill is famous for (see video at end). I have a video of one of the “tales” and it was a “true tale” about a guest finding a dead bear on the trail near the cabin. He didn’t want to just let it rot there, so a few friends figured a way to dispose of the carcass. They would drag it to the water and tow it by boat to a slough far enough away for the eagles, etc to take care of it. Well as it was towed in front of the marina, several guests asked what was happening. They looked at the “tow” and exclaimed that it appeared to be a bear. Bill said that they have been working with that bear to learn to waterski, and he has almost got it!!

The dock leading up to the 5:00 Social Hour...we were the first to arrive! Note the air horn she carries...


Chris, swinging on the trail

Here is the end of a trail we walked at Lagoon Cove:


And there was bear scat all along the trail. In every picture of Christy taken here, she was holding an air horn as protection..

The totem here was to guarantee that you left no rubbage. Chris burned our trash here carefully.

Then this morning we headed further north to Sullivan’s Bay.

Here is a picture of the marina that is part of the "chart plotter" record:

As we rounded the final turn, we were greeted by this view:

It is renown for the floating houses around the marina. But the best thing about it were the hosts…Chris, Debbie, and Darcy. When I asked Darcy about crabbing and prawning, he took me to the crab trap, and showed me exactly how to extract them, tell the sex (only keep the males), kill and clean them, and within an hour Christy had them in a roaring boil! Now that’s an impromptu meal of the highest order.

Tomorrow is to get across the Queen Charlotte Strait to Port Hardy. There we will await good weather before crossing the Sound around Cape Caution. That is the site where the heaviest seas occur, and the place where the most war stories are born.

Undoc'd, feeling lonesome in Sullivan's Bay