Saturday, July 16, 2005: Kokwina Cove to Winter Harbour, Quatsino Sound

We tied up to the long dock at Winter Harbour. Winter Harbour was once a commercial fishing outpost with a large cannery. We rafted up at the large public dock and went hiking to discover the town. It is a cute little town with a very nice high school and a large fishing lodge with room for fishing boats and several RV’s with trailers for fishing boats. We saw several boats come in with salmon catches so this area attracts fisherpeople. We all had our picture taken in Coal Harbour in front of whale bones that were reminiscent of whaling days in the 30’s and 40’s.

Had a nice potluck dinner as a farewell for John (from Yachting Magazine) who was leaving the next day on a float plane. John had been staying on "Further" with the Calverts, who are vegetarians, so he loved our potluck (the photo of the potluck was taken by Neil Rabinowitz and also accompany's John's article). Bob and I invited him over for a final breakfast aboard “Kasekuchen” the next morning. Bob made him crab benedict which insured him the name of “SIC” (Selene Iron Chef). The article was to appear in September or October Yachting—but ended up in October Motor Boating Magazine.

Note from the blogmaster: Click HERE to see the online version of "Going Outside: Six new Selene trawlers test the waters of Vancouver Island’s rugged western coast." The article, by John Woolridge, says this about Bob and Cheryl: "They are great cooks and bakers."

Friday, July 15, 2005: Sea Otter Cove to Kokwina Cove, Quatsino Sound

We left Sea Otter Cove around 9 a.am. heading for Quatsino Sound. The weather was beautiful. The boats had to split up as we entered the sound as there was not enough room for six of us in one area. Three boats went to Varney Bay and three of us anchored in Kokwina Cove.

It was peaceful and quiet except for this strange sound and water boiling in a small patch. We discovered a seal was apparantly chasing a school of herring and the herring would leap out of the water causing the water to boil. It was an interesting show.

I got the kayak down and peddled over to Varney Bay to visit the three boats over there, then went around the little island near our boat. It was a beautiful kayaking trip with lots of oysters and clams and eagles.

Bob and John went fishing. Then Bob and I took the dinghy on our own fishing trip and Bob caught a 29 pound chinook. What fun!!! We took it back to Kasekuchen to fillet it – sure that we were the greatest fisherpeople around.

A couple of hours later a canoe comes by with a couple and their three beautiful children asking us if we would like a salmon that their 5 year old son caught on his little Zebco pole. We really didn’t have room for any more—but after talking to them we found out that they were tent camping and were afraid the bears would be attracted to the fish. It turned out to be 32 pounds!!!! Really deflated our egos. Bob kindly filleted the salmon, gave them as much as they could use, and split the rest up between the boats.

We had dinner on "Mystic Moon" with Brad Pilz from Sterling and the Tilden’s. There were seven of us and Mystic Moon’s large table (they are a wide body) was perfect.

The next morning we all met with our dinghies to go up the Marble River. The water was shallow so Bob and I led the pack since we had a depth sounder on our fish finder. John, the writer from Yachting magazine, and Sasha were in kayaks. The scenery was spectacular with high rock walls and beautiful foliage along the shores. We floated back down the rapids and just rafted together and soaked up the SUN on this beautiful day. It was one of those days I’ll always remember.

Thursday, July 14, 2005: Port McNeill to Sea Otter Cove

We left Port McNeill at 4:00am to a beautiful orange sunrise over the mountains on Nigei Island to the east of us on the mainland of British Columbia. I was very nervous as Cape Scott can be very nasty and we did not have stabilizers. We met three more boats at Port McNeill for our journey. We had a writer from Yachting magazine with us for a few days chronicling the first Selene Rally.




We had a smooth ride to the northwest cornor of Vancouver Island and the dreaded Cape Scott. We went between Cox Island and Cape Scott through Scott channel and turned southeast along the Vancouver Island coast. Sea Otter Island has a very shallow entrance with rocks around it. Brian on “Further” (one of the owners of Friday Harbor Yacht Sales) went in first and ran aground (no damage). We all were cautious after that and each found some space in the same area to anchor or tie to buoys. We were tired after getting up at 3:00am to leave at 4 a.m., so we stayed on our boat and went to bed early. The “dreaded” Cape Scott had not been a problem on this day.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005: Port McNeill

We spent the day in Port McNeill, just resting and provisioning. Port McNeil was named after Captain William Henry McNeill of the Hudson Bay Company's SS Beaver, the first steamship on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Monday - Tuesday, July 11-12, 2005: Kwatsi Bay to Echo Bay

We left Kwatsi Bay at around 9 am for the short trip to Echo Bay with a photo op at Lacey Falls. Yes, that is a beautiful waterfall in back of "Mystic Moon" with the colored rock . Echo Bay has great docks and is a well kept pretty marina with a large general store, good fishing and their breakwater is a part of the old Lake Washington floating bridge. The Richters have the resort for sale along with 25 acres and are anxious to retire. We felt their anxiety to move on -- the resort did not have the welcoming feel of the other resorts we’ve visited.

Across the bay is Windsong, a separate resort, with floating docks, an art gallery/gift shop and some float homes that looked as if they might fall into the bay. We drove our dinghy over to Pierre’s Bay where we were welcomed by owners Pierre and Tove who are a kick. They have a lovely floating resort in a beautiful bay where Pierre has built floating vacation homes for his friends and has room for many boats at his docks. He is famous for his pig roasts in the summer.

We also hiked to Billy Proctor’s museum at the end of Echo Bay. He is quite a famous personality in these parts and has had several books written about his life. Along the path we found the school house and community center both of which are still used by children on the island and others close by. Billy came out to talk to us as we toured his incredibly neat museum. Billy doesn’t throw anything away and his “junk” is an amazing history of the islands. His opium bottle collection was really fascinating as it told a story of the Chinese brought to these islands as cheap labor and the use of opium to keep them docile.

I will not soon forget the stories Billy told us of losing his father when he five years old. His father was the island postman and after one severe storm they found his boat but didn’t find his body until weeks later. His haunting tale of his unique friendship with a humpback whale that ended when a whaler came through one summer dragging the carcasses of his friend and several other whales. His life is chronicled in several books and it was fascinating to meet and talk to a living legend and a stout environmentalist.

We said good-bye to our friends John & Bonnie at Echo Bay and headed to Port McNeill to meet other Selenes for our rally around the west coast of Vancouver Island.