M/Y Iron Lady

My last post detailed Deb’s and Diane’s encounter with a adolescent grizzly bear during an evening walk. Next morning, we spotted the same fellow down on the beach. Guess he must be part of the Official Lagoon Cove Welcoming Committee.

We watched him for about half an hour as he flopped rocks on the beach. He was totally unconcerned about our presence. In point of fact, we were making a lot of noise and he seemed oblivious to it.

He then proceeded up into a berry patch and we could hear him ripping the plants apart to get at the berries. After which, he appeared at the top of the ramp to our boat (see the first picture).

He then proceeded to walk down the path toward the marina (the same path that we walk) where Bob was waiting with the chain saw to scare him off again.

While this was all very entertaining to watch, there is a significant problem with all this. This bear is entirely too comfortable being around humans and occupying the same spaces as us.

Case in point. I was just about to walk over to the marina to check out. If no one had seen the bear, I would have been returning back down the path just about the same time that the bear would have been coming the other way. Encounters like that have the potential to end badly – especially if you surprise the bear.

Not sure what the solution is but the chainsaw doesn’t appear to be a strong enough deterrent. Craig at Nimmo tells us that they need a dog – a big dog – as bears do not like dogs and avoid them and the areas they occupy. We also have heard stories about bears like this that are trapped and then relocated – only to see them swimming back to the spot where they were trapped.

At any rate, something will need to be done if the bear doesn’t move on.

After dropping off our daughter Kim and her friend Daria in Campbell River, we had a few days to put Iron Lady back together before our friends Ron and Diane arrived. Iron Lady got a well deserved exterior water blast, windows cleaned and stainless polished. We vacuumed and dusted and wiped down all the wood work and hit the local stores for some new shelf liner for all the galley lockers and drawers, spares we needed and a round of provisioning for our next leg. Iron Lady never looked better and it was good to have her standing tall early in the day the Lanes arrived.

After a 14 hour slog, Ron and Diane arrived at 1700 on time which is about the best you can hope for in air travel today. We hated to rush them but we had reservations at the Angler’s restaurant at Dolphin Lodge at 1845. Just time enough to throw the luggage aboard and have a quick cocktail before leaving for Anglers which has superb food and the surrounding grounds are beautiful – I will try to do a future post on it.

Back aboard Iron Lady it was off to bed as Steve and I had to toss the lines at 0700 to catch the last of the outgoing tide (current running north with us) thru Seymour Narrows. We saw an added 5 knots from that and decided that at its max flow of 17 knots, eddies and whirlpools, Seymour would be no place to be.

That meant that most of the rest of our trip to Lagoon Cove in the Broughtons would be against the incoming tide. In various places like Chatham point and Ripple Shoals, we had an opposing current of up to 5 knots.

Our route took us thru Seymour and up the Discovery Channel to Johnstone Strait and thence to Havannah Channel and around to Lagoon thru the Blow Hole.

Along the way, we told the Lanes that we had a good chance of seeing lots of the major wildlife attractions up here. In Johnstone Straight we had routinely seen Orca and Humpbacks – the big two of the watery world. Once in Havannah Channel there could be seals, otters, and eagles along with several varieties of porpoises. Along some of the narrower channels, there was also the possibility of black and grizzly bears flopping rocks for shellfish on the beach. The other two major critters up here that live higher in the food chain then us are cougars and wolves. Wolves are a rare sight and you do not want anything to do with cougars as they actually stalk humans.

As fate would have it, the lines went on at Lagoon at 1500 – very good time from Campbell River considering but none of the above made their appearance – so much for us gushing about all the things they would see.

Once the lines were on, we were quick to throw Beer Can (our dink) in the water and Deb, Ron and Diane and I motored across the channel to put out our prawn trap in 300 feet of water. It would stay there until the next morning when we would retrieve it – hopefully with a load of prawns and no crabs, fish or prawn eating starfish.

Then it was back to Lagoon Cove for the Potluck at 1700. We were tied up at the Honeymoon Dock (their name) which is just across from the marina and is a short walk thru old growth cedar forest.

Simply lovely.

We had a nice chat with Jean, the owner of Lagoon Cove and our new friends Rick and Jan aboard Roam’n – a Westcoast 46.

Steve stayed behind and by the time we got back around 1900, had prepared a marvellous lemon risotto with baked filet of salmon that we had caught in Sullivan Bay. The salmon was topped with a delicious sauce.

After dinner, Ron and I enjoyed a glass of scotch and Deb and Diane decided to go smell the roses – literally. Jean’s house overlooks the marina and has a beautiful flower and vegetable garden.

They took along a couple of flashlights as a precaution. As they were exiting the woods on to the boardwalk to Jean’s house, Deb heard something in the woods. Pushing onward towards the garden, Diane heard something too and when she turned around, there was an adolescent grizzly bear chomping on apples under an apple tree close by. Fortunately neither Deb or Diane panniced and ran but they did set off at a brisk pace toward Jean’s house with the bear following them up the path.

Once they were inside the house, the bear proceeded to come up on the porch. Not a great shot as it was getting dark and Deb was shooting thru the window but you can tell how close the bear is.

Jean tried to call for help on her cell but the cell service was out. They tried raising us on the VHF but we didn’t have it on. They finally raised Bob who works at Lagoon and he grabbed a chain saw and headed up the hill to the house.

The purpose of the chain saw was not to hack up the bear – apparently bears are scared of the noise and this one was no exception.

Bob was kind enough to bring the girls back to the boat in his dink so they did not have to walk thru the woods.

So Diane did get to see a bear after all – unfortunately it was a close encounter of the wrong sort.

Next morning – our friend the bear was back – this time flopping rocks just off the Honeymoon Dock – more pictures on this next time. Ron had intended to get some shots of the old growth cedar along the path – but we decided that the bear could have the path and we would pass.

Neglected to cover it in Part 1, but Nikki showed us some early First nation pictographs on a rock wall on the way up Bond Sound.

One appeared to me to be a turtle and the other a sun. The thought is that some of these pictographs were used to mark divisions between early First Nation territories.

After lunch, we took Nikki’s skiff further up the river on a rising tide. From there, it was all hoofing it. There was a trail of sorts – Nikki said it was a grizzly bear trail that they use year after year. Makes sense. The bears don’t want to spend energy crashing through the bush any more then we do.

Parts of it were wide open through beautiful old growth cedar forest.

Along the way, Nikki pointed out various things including this immature bald eagle.

While parts of the trail were open, significant parts of it were also dense brush and salmon berry plants- not much fun.

We also had to cross the river. Options were to wade or walk over this log which was actually over 7 feet off the river.

We decided it was better to wade then risk falling off the log.

Several years before there had been a slide and large trees came down the mountain side and were piled up like toothpicks. It would not have been good to be there when that happened.

Bear sign was everywhere along the trail including fresh bear poo and tracks – not black bear but the grizzly kind.

There were also thousands of pink salmon in the river.

All of which argued well for seeing Mr. Bear. No such luck as we reached the waterfall which was as far as we could go. The waterfall was spectacular and the photos do not do it justice – it was probably 150 feet high.

The salmon in the pool were bound and determined to try and make it up the falls but it certainly seemed futile to us. Some made it around the first lower stretch of white water only to be washed back down.

We sat and enjoyed the beauty of the place for about 1/2 an hour.

It was time to start back and as we were about 1/3 of the way back, Nikki quickly motioned for us to get down. There across the river not more then 100 feet away was a large grizzly working his way up the river foraging as he went. He did not spot us and we were down wind from him so he was completely unaware of our presence.

It was absolutely magical watching a bear just being a bear completely unaware and unaffected by our presence. As he moved up stream, he crossed to our side and continued to move up the trail and we quietly slipped away down the trail.

Quite the day- if you get up this way you should definitely sign up for a day with Nikki – her website is EchoBayEcoventures.com

Best

“Becoming Wild” is the name of a book written by Primitive Living Expert Nikki Van Schyndel. For over a year, she and a friend gave up essentially all modern conveniences and lived a completely primitive life in the Broughtons. After her sojourn in the wilderness, Nikki built a cabin near Echo Bay and now hosts eco adventures.

We signed on for a day trip with Nikki and arrived at Pierre’s Echo Bay the day before in time for Pierre’s Monday night barbecued roast beef extravaganza. Deb, Kim and Daria hiked over to Billy Proctor’s Museum and stopped by to say Hi to Nikki.

Billy is a legend up this way and has hunted, trapped and fished up here for almost all of his 80 plus years. This is a shot of an authentic turn of the century loggers cabin that Billy built from a single cedar log.

This is a shot of Nikki’s cabin overlooking Echo bay.

While visiting, Deb got tips on preparing seaweed for a facial from Nikki so it was also spa day back at the boat. The seaweed is first rinsed and placed in a pot of fresh water.

It is then boiled and the seaweed is removed from the pot.

After the girls, it was Steve’s turn (yes – I did it too) The process starts by putting a towel over your head and steaming you face over the pot the seaweed was boiled in for 10 minutes. Basically, is smelled like dead fish. (And this is supposed to be enjoyable – people actually pay for this?)

After the smelly steaming, the nodules on the seaweed are crushed and the goop is applied to the face. The only thing good I can say about it was that it wasn’t green. The most pleasant part of the process was washing the goop off.

We all had glowing faces as we headed off for our roast beef dinner.

The next morning after the fog lifted, Nikki picked us up for our adventure. We traveled in Nikki’s small skiff from Echo Bay to the upper end of bond sound where we prepared a lunch of wild edibles that we harvested.

I do not recall all the names of the things we harvested but it included wild mint, a plant that tasted like coriander, sea asparagus, and something like a wild spinach. It was amazing how many wild edibles were available just along the beach area. We also learned that Old Man’s Beard is a natural antibiotic and a number of other plants were antibacterials and anti fungals.

The plants we harvested were coarsely chopped and other items were added.

This included dried bull kelp, sun dried salmon, wild berries and rice.

The blue water bottle was used to make sun brewed mint tea.

As Nikki was preparing things, Kim and Daria cooled off in the ocean. It was our hottest day yet at 85 degrees.

The view up Bond Sound was lovely.

In true primitive fashion, we gathered cedar wood for a cooking fire. Nikki started the file with her fire bow.

A small ember is created from the friction and that is used to start a small nest of cedar tinder.

Once the tinder is burning, small pieces of wood are added to build the fire.

The meal is then cooked over the fire in a cast iron skillet. It is appropriately served in clam shells with smaller shells used as spoons.

And I must admit, it was delicious.

After lunch, we planned to walk the river that feeds into Bond Sound in the hopes of seeing wildlife including bears. The river was lovely and already had substantial numbers of pink salmon entering to spawn.

More about all that in my next post.

Its always nice to have family and friends aboard. Our daughter Kim and her friend Daria joined us in the Societies in French Polynesia and flew up to join us in the Broughtons this year.

We were fortunate on the way up from Campbell River to come across two bull Orcas feeding along the Johnstone Strait. Sorry for the quality of the pictures but is was the best I could manage as they were feeding and not breaching at all. Still a treat for the girls to see them on their first day here.

I have talked about the tides and currents up here before and I took this shot of the Maretron screen to give you a better idea.

Note that we are running at our normal cruise RPM and are making 9.5 knots thru the water but only 4.7 speed over the ground – that translates to a current of almost 5 knots. If you look at the graph of speed over the ground you can see we were doing in excess of 12 knots (actual speed was over 15 knots but the graph didn’t go that high). And that variance occurred over a 4 hour period.

Also managed to see a few humpbacks on the way as well.

They seem to be congregating at the entrances to passages and channels around tide rips which concentrate the bait they are feeding on.

Our first night was spent in Lagoon Cove and took the girls pawning but I will cover that in a later post. We only spent one night and it was off to Sullivan Bay where I had arranged a fishing charter with Chris – the manager of Sullivan Bay. We were off to Queen Charlotte Straight past James Point as soon as the fog lifted.

Kim was the first to hook up with this nice sized pink salmon.

Daria was next with this sockeye.

The weather was perfect and the scenery looking back up the inlet was spectacular.

I was next with this small king.

Mixed in were some great views of the locals.

Kim with a nice silver and Daria with the big guy of the day.

Couldn’t imagine a better way to spend the day.

All told 9 nice fish to stock our freezer.

One filet from the big silver joined us for dinner marinated in soy and brown sugar and pan sautéed with brown rice and stir fired veges. Yum.

Best

For about a month now, we have been missing connections with Avatar – FPB 64 hull 1 – with Mike and Carol Parker aboard. We finally caught them on the AIS as we were heading back down to Campbell River to pick up our daughter Kim, her friend Daria and Deb who flew home to see her Mom about a week ago (97 and not doing well).

Avatar was also headed to Campbell River and we were both on the same schedule to make Seymour Narrows at slack water. Currents in Seymour in the vicinity of Ripple Rock can reach 16 knots on big spring tides and that is no place to be.

We were running early as we were getting a big push down Johnstone Strait and Discovery Passage from an incoming tide so both of us pulled off into to Kanish Bay to wait. Carol took some pictures of Iron lady and I took some pictures of Avatar.

Seems Mike and Carol had have been hitting many of the same spots that we have which has created good bit of confusion with the locals. Added to that, Sarah Sarah (FPB64-2) also lives up this way and we have frequently been confused with them.

Three boats which look alike and are as distinctive as the FPB64 creates a lot of dock side conversation. Of all the places Iron Lady has traveled, the level of dockside interest in the boat is orders of magnitude higher here.

A sample of the comments:

• What was she before – a military patrol boat?
• If she was built in New Zealand – how did you get it here?
• Followed by blank stares when we tell them on her own bottom.
• Didn’t some guy named Dashew have a boat like that?
• You really need a 50 caliber machine gun on the front deck.
• What are those big booms for – fishing?
• Where is the sail?
• Why don’t you polish or paint the hull?

Anyway, out to dinner tonight with Mike and Carol and our gang and then off to the Broughtons again tomorrow.

Cheers

We left Port McNeill for Booker Lagoon which involved crossing Queen Charlotte Straight. The guide books all suggest it is no place to be with high winds opposing big tides and that is precisely what we had so it was interesting to see just how bad it got and how Iron Lady would deal with it. We crossed on an outgoing tide at mid tide (highest current flow) with 25 to 30 knots of breeze opposing the tide. While we could see how it would be uncomfortable in many of the boats we have seen up here, Iron Lady made light work of it. We even slowed her way down to make a pass at Booker on slack water – still no bother.

Booker Lagoon is our new favorite anchorage in the Broughtons – and there are some great anchorages in this area. The entrance is a bit daunting the first time you go in. Our guides suggest that the current can race here up to 7 knots and this entrance is no place to be in that kind of current.

You enter through Cullen Harbour which is a nice anchorage in its own right.

This is the entrance to the pass which begins with a hairpin turn to starboard followed by a hairpin turn to port.

As you exit the port turn, this is what you see.

WHile the tight section is short, it is extremely narrow with no room to turn around so no place for a mistake.

Once thru, it opens up into a beautiful lagoon with four or five natural arms that are impervious to any wind – just pick up and move to the best.

We actually toured all the arms and stayed at anchor in two of them. In the first, we saw this beautiful baby dear – you have to look closely.

Steve and I put our some berries and dead fish in the hopes of tempting a bear but with no luck. Another lagoon in the bay said they had seen one.

This is a shot of a meadow above our first anchorage which was full of wild flowers.

Another shot of our first anchorage as dusk settled in.

Overnight, the rains came – and boy did it rain. Nonstop for 36 hours. Judging by the water in the bucket on the back deck, we had over 6 inches of rain. The dink was a bathtub. The rain did make for some spectacular pictures however.

The sky the following morning.

And a nice rainbow to wish us on our way.

And by the way – pawning. We filled half of a 2.5 gallon the first night and got a coupe of dozen the second (thanks to a prawn eating star fish that gorged on the rest).

We hope to get back to Booker with our guests late in July and August. We are beginning to wend our way back to Campbell River to meet our first set of guests but we will spend a few nights in Lagoon Cove before transiting down Johnstone Straight and on thru Seymour Narrows.

On the way to Lagoon, we did manage to spot a few humpback whales in the distance.

Cheers

Tides run big up here – especially around the spring tides (full and new moon). Especially as the moon nears its closet point of approach to the earth and that is happening now.

Canadian charts and tide tables are a bit different then the US and I actually like the system. The Canadian Hydrographic Charts – electronic and otherwise are based on the lowest astronomical tides of the year. Thus the published depths can be directly read as the lowest water you will see based on the lowest tide of the year. Thus, when the tide tables show a 0.0 tide, that translates to the lowest water of the year and corresponds to the depths you see published on the charts.

We are currently on a full moon and the other day we had a 0.0 tide. The top of the tide for the same day was over 18 feet and that rise occurred over a six hour period for an average of 3 feet per hour, but at mid tide, the rate is twice that or 6 feet an hour. That creates some very impressive effects in the narrow passes with the inrush and outrush of water from the larger bodies on either side.

Leaving Nimmo and proceeding thru several narrows that are typically benign, we had whirl pools and current flows of up to 4 knots. Places like Devil’s Hole, Whirlpool, Green and the other rapids that must be transited if one wishes to avoid Johnstone Strait would have been impassable to the point of being suicidal at anything other then slack water – and then you only have 10 or so minutes to work with.

Areas like the Seymour Narrows have current races that run at up to 16 knots and that is no place to be.

No good pictures at the moment but will put some up in another post.

Cheers