Big trip to Canada Day 15 (CB)

CB 23 September, 2008
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Saturday 26 July 2008

We did’nt have very far to go today, so there was no real rush to get going all that early, plus we had to pickup the fresh cinnimon rolls we had ordered last night. They were very tasty! It was a little over cast this morning, but no rain. And as has been the case more times than not, no wind either. We motored north towards Teakern Arm with a final destination of Cassel Falls.

The scenery up here seems be getting wilder, if that makes sense. Probably just seems wilder due to the fact that there are less and less people, houses, boats…. The further north you go the less you seen signs of civilization. Which is very cool with us.

We did pass a tug boat pulling a freakin GIGANTIC boom of logs from some timber operation even further north. And as we turned into Teakerne Arm and made our way to the end, you could see huge log booms tied up to cliffs. The guide books say that tieing along side them is fine. And we did see one boat doing just that. But I could not see us doing it. Not so much cause it seem dangerous, but more becuase the tug boats that haul these things will show up when ever and unhook them and tug them south to the lumber mills. And I would hate to be woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of a tug boat and blaring lights and have to move spots.

So we continued on up Teakerne Arm till we found the area near Cassel Falls. There are a few little coves to stern tie in. Although call them coves is giving them a little to much credit. The spot we found was barely more that a small curve in the shoreline. But it worked just fine for us.

One we got settled in we hopped in the dinghy and headed for the water fall. Oh and we fired up the video camara to film the high speed approach.

The really cool thing about this water fall is, you’ll notice that it is set back in a sort of canyon. Along the walls of this canyon are a couple log boom rings. These have been here for years, but people will back their boat in this little canyon and tie thier boat in here. It’s actually to deep to anchor. So your just being held in place by four lines tied to the log boom rings in the cliff walls. A boat did it while we were there, but we did not think to take a picture of it.

This water fall was awesome, and super warm water. It was actual really warm water, but hurt like hell standing underneath it.

**WARNING** The following video contains pasty white boy with a beer belly **WARNING**

Actually, when I watch that video i’m reminded of that Bigfoot video for some reason??

After that little adventure we headed over to the marine park dinghy/float plane dock and followed the trail up to Cassel Lake. With the waterfall being that warm, the lake was even warmer and really clear. We did a little cliff diving and swam around a bit before heading back to the boat.

As we were getting ready to go to bed it started to rain. First time since we left, not bad for the PNW. It was not a lot of rain, but I went up on deck to just hangout and chill for a bit. It was insanely dark, but the rain drops were hitting the water and causing the bioluminescence to flash.

If you don’t know what bioluminescence is. It is basically, light that is created by a living thing. The thing most of you might know it as is the light that a lighting bug makes. But in this case the light is a light blue color and is created by billions and billions of little cells that hang out in the saltwater. And when they are disturbed, either by a fish swimming, splashing an oar in water, or like tonight the rain hitting the waters surface, they give off a spooky blue glow for a few seconds. It really is one of the coolest things you can witness. It happens more in the summer months than any other time of year. I guess that is due to the water tempature.

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Big Trip to Canada Day 14 (CB)

CB 17 September, 2008
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Friday 25 July 2008

MAP of trip.

We left Roscoe Bay on a rising tide, so we could get out over the bar at the entrance of the bay. Once out of the bay we tried to do a bit of sailing, but there was not a lot of wind. Actually, the wind started out not too bad, but quickly died to nothing.

Our final destination today was Squirrel Cove. But first we planned to stop off in Refuge Cove to pickup some supplies (Fresh veggies, Beer & Ice).

As we rounded Hope Point and entered Refuge Cove, the first thing that entered my mind was that old ’80s Robin Williams movie “Popeye”.Remember how that town looked? All the shacks built up aroun the waterfront. That is exaclty how Refuge Cove looked to me as we motored up to the docks.

We loaded up on fresh veggies and beer at the store. Had lunch at a little cafe up one of the boardwalks. This little outpost has a pretty sweet operation going. They pretty much provide all the boaters with just about everything you need to resupply while up here. Of course the prices reflect that, but not to bad.

So with the fridge and beer cooler topped off and our tummys full, we just had one more mission to accomplish. And this one is usually the hardest. We had a bag of garbage to get rid of. I fully realize that this does not really sound like a big deal, much less warrant the title of mission. But trust me, when cruising it usually turns in to a mission. Mostly due to the fact that anywhere that there may be a dumpster, you have to pay to use it or it’s locked up. This of course is due to the fact that somebody has to pay to have it hauled away.

Fortunatly for us, here in Refuge Cove there is a guy named Dave that will take your recycleables for free and charge you a nominal fee to take the rest of your garbage.

How do I know his name is Dave you ask? See below:

Prior to leaving Seattle we had planned for the difficulties of getting rid of garbage by unpackaging most of our supplies and getting rid of a crap load of cardboard boxes and plastic bags and shit. It was actually amazing how much extra crap there is in a months worth of groceries.

So with that out of the way and after Tawn rowed back to the boat. We headed over to Squirrel Cove. It was only 3 or 4 miles from Refuge Cove to Squirrel Cove. We were over there and anchored by 1pm.

As we pulled into Squirrel Cove we spotted Ghost anchored over near a small island. We motored around and found a little spot of our own to anchor. No need to stern tie here. Just a regular old anchorage.

An added bonus of where we anchored was a small, small floating blue house, that turned out to be a floating bakery….mmmmmmm! There was a closed sign on the door when we dinghied over. But the sign assured us they would be open again at 4pm to take orders for fresh cinniamon rolls and pies, that would be hot fresh and ready for pickup in the morning! So with a couple hours to kill we decided to head over to the Community of Squirrel Cove.

The main reason we went here was that while we were in Refuge Cove, I forgot to get fuel for the dinghy. We also stopped at the little store and got some bacon and licorice….both of which were total impulse buys. But who can say no to bacon? Not I! And as it turns out the prices at this store were alot cheaper than at Refuge Cove, but live and learn.

Now back to that little floating bakery.

The little blue building is the bakery, and the old beat down building to the left is the orginal bakery that has seen better days. We stopped and talked to the little old lady that runs/owns the bakery. She lives on the other side of the island and stays here in the bakery during the summer months. She takes bakery orders from 4pm till 8pm, then gets up ass early and starts baking so everything is ready to go around 8am for pickup. We ordered a couple cinnamon rolls from here. Ghost got a pumpkin pie. It was all very good. Doubly so, just due to the fact that it all comes from this super nice lady in her little floating house.

With our orders placed, we headed over to see what ghost was up to, and made plans to have a bonfire on shore. Scotty promised to make “hobos” on the campfire for dinner. After establishing we weren’t going to be killing and eating homeless people for dinner, we set about gathering firewood for the cookout.

We only spent the one day here in Squirrel Cove. Tommorow we break off from Ghost again and head north to Teakerne Arm.

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Big Trip to Canada Day 13 (CB)

CB 13 September, 2008
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Thursday 24 July 2008

The MAP

Yesterday, as I was swinging in the hammock reading a book and enjoying a tasty adult beverage I heard someone yell my name. I looked up to see our neighbor from back home in Seattle, going by on his boat with his wife and 3 girls. That was an unexpected surprise. They decided Prideaux Haven was to crowded so headed over to Roscoe Bay.

We decided last night that we would head over there today and meet up with them. Ghost had plans to go to Squirrel cove.

The trip from Prideaux Haven to Roscoe Bay is only about seven miles, so again, we took our sweet time getting our asses out of bed. Although we could’nt sleep as long as we would have liked due to the fact that the entrance to Roscoe Bay dries completely out at low tide! The bay becomes land locked. We both thought that was pretty cool. So we were up and on our way by 9am. Ghost was already gone by the time we got up.

Absolutly no wind today, so it was a reletively quick motor to the anchorage. When we crossed the bar at the entrance of the bay we had 3 feet of water under the keel. The tide was going out, so we timed it just about right.

The anchorage was a little crowded but we found a nice spot to stern tie to shore and went about relaxing. Actually, me and Tawn don’t seem to be very good at just relaxing. Almost as soon as we got the anchor set and the line to shore tied up, we jumped in the dinghy and headed to the trail at the head of the bay. This trail took us to Black Lake, which was very warm, but not as crystal clear as Lake Unwin was. After a bit of hiking we found a nice boulder haning out over the lake to jump from. On the way back to the dinghy we took a short cut and stepped in another hornets nest, but did not get stung this time. Tawn was behind me and had to take a  the long way around to avoid getting stung. I’m not sure how to score this round???? I guess I’ll give us one point.

Hornets: 3

Tawn & CB: 1

On the way back to the boat, we followed a little stream that feeds in to Roscoe Bay. The picture below was taken right were the stream and bay meet. You cannot see out boat from here, but you can see our Seattle neighbors boat “Split Crow”. I won’t try to point it out, just know that you can see it.

Anyway, Mick, our neighbor rowed over to us and invited us to his boat for drinks later that evening. When we got over there, he had also invited another couple from another boat (Mike & Lisa)in the anchorage to join us as well. They were from California, but lived in Hawaii. And had spent the last couple months sailing their boat down from Alaska.  We would actually end up running in to Mike and Lisa about two weeks later on our way home.

I like this picture too. It a dinhy parking lot! :) Basically taken at the same spot as the one above.

We only stayed here one day, tomorrow we head out for Squirrel Cove.

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Big Trip to Canada Days 11&12 (CB)

CB 12 September, 2008
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 Tuesday-Wednesday 22-23 July 2008

Short day today, no rush to get up early. No tides to worry about, we made a quick run out to retrieve the Shrimp and Crab pots. Got a few Shrimp but no crab.

The original plan was to head out and go to Roscoe Bay. Ghost left about 1/2 hour before we did and called on the radio to let us know that Roscoe Bay looked pretty crowded, and that they were headed for Pridieux Haven instead. Pridieux Haven is probably the most popular spot in all of Desolation Sound. And from what we’ve heard is alway full of boats.

There must be a reason that it is so popular and despite our desire to avoid crowds, we wanted to check it out. So we decided to go there with Ghost as well. The entrance is a little tricky to navigate, but with an eye on the depth sounder, one on the charts and Tawn on the bow sprite as lookout we got in with no problems.

Once inside it was crowded, but with our new learned skill of stern tieing we found a little spot in the northwest corner of the bay and made our selfs at home.

Pridieux Haven is pretty nice, and pretty well protected. And there are tons of tiny little nooks and crannys every where for exploring in kayaks and dinghys. Andlots and lots of power boats. I can see why it’s so popular. Not our favorite spot, but to each there own.

Another reason it might be so popular is due to the fact that a lady by the name of M. Wylie Blanchett wrote a book (The Curve of Time) way back in the 30’s about the area. She was a widow (Ye olde speak for single mom) with 5 kids. She would pack them up each summer and cruise around this area with them. The book was written about the places and people they met on there trips up here. The book is not a bad read, but it’s definetly made better if you have some sort of connection to the area. And after having spent a few weeks up here, I read the book on the way home and thought it was pretty cool.

While we were here we hiked on a couple trails that linked the different coves togather and are mentioned in the book “The Curve of Time”. And while hiking on these trails we had another encounter with our industrious little friends the hornets. Tawn did the stepping on this time, but luckily she did not get stung. I stand corrected, she actually did get stung.

Hornets: 3

Tawn & CB: 0

For no particular reason at all, I think I should give a mention to our little dink.While out cruising this little guy is our car, pack mule, entertainment… The list goes on.

Most boats have a name or nickname for their dink, we for some reason have not come up with a good one. We usually just call it Dink. I thought I should a least include a picture of it here since I seem to mention it so much. Oh and if you enjoyed that awesome picture of our beat up little dinghy, check out this action packed video of the Dink in action:

Just prior to that video I was out setting our crab and shrimp pots. I just got down watching the video I took while I was setting the crab pot, I realized just how retarded I am. I used hotdogs for bait…..?? That did NOT work, and a rock I had grabbed from the shore. Not sure why, but I’ll post the video here too, be warned, it is boring. :)

We also did some hiking while we were here and found a rope swing tied to a tree that we had a blast swining off of into the water.

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