This summer we embarked on our cruise without a particular destination or itinerary in mind. We just set out and felt we would figure it out along the way.
Here is a collection of photos of the trip to date – from Vancouver to Port Hardy.
But first, below is a Google map of our route. If you click on the “view larger map” icon at the top right, the map will open in a new window and you can zoom in for more detail.
Leaving Milltown Marina, we are chased down the North Arm by the River Rebel.
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Views up Howe Sound on our way over to the Sunshine Coast.
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Low tide at Halfmoon Bay.
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We visit Barb in Halfmoon Bay and tour her verdant garden. Barb generously provides us with a profusion of fresh, organic greens.
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On our way up Jervis inlet, we stop to admire ancient Native pictographs on the vertical shores. These are just around the corner from the ferry terminal at Earls Cove.
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Another stop along Jervis inlet. We anchored just a few feet off the shore at Vancouver Bay. Here we dug for clams, which yielded an excellent clam dinner that evening.
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Helicopter logging in Jervis inlet.
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View back through Malibu rapids as we enter Princess Louisa inlet.
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High tide reaches the trees.
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Anchored in Princess Louisa inlet, we go ashore for a walk.
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The moss embraces everything in the forest.
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At the dock at the end of Princess Louisa inlet, surrounded by waterfalls.
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Chatterbox Falls in Princess Louisa inlet.
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A mountain peeks out on our way back down Jervis inlet.
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Another pictograph in Jervis inlet, depicting a canoe and some very big fish. This one is about half way along the inlet on the west shore.
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We were in the middle of this summer’s June heat wave. It was hot, and completely calm. We took advantage of the calm to anchor off Savary island and go for a swim!
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Paddling along the Savary shore, we came across this piece of machinery on the beach.
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From Savary island we cruised out to the middle of Georgia Strait and stopped in at Mitlenatch island. We launched the kayaks and paddled around the island, seeing lots of wildlife.
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Oystercatchers on the rocks.
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Cormorants perched on the cliffs.
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Curious seals came by to check us out.
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Curious sea lions came to check us out too.
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This group of sea lions was excited to meet up with Jan!
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Leaving Georgia Strait, we headed north into the islands. This is early morning in the Octopus Islands.
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At Stuart Island, eagles are fishing in the tidal rapids. They are fishing for hake – small white fish which get boiled up to the surface in the rapids. Hundreds of eagles would show up every time the rapids ran hard. In addition to the eagles in the air, there are dozens sitting in the trees, waiting their turn.
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An eagle picks up a meal.
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From Stuart Island, we ventured up Bute inlet. The waters are glacial turquoise, but become murky and grey toward the head of the inlet.
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Further up the inlet, we encountered a lot of debris. This was right after the heat wave we had in June and all the rivers were high.
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A glimpse of a small part of the Homathko ice field at the head of Bute inlet.
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We anchored off the mouth of the Southgate river at the head of the inlet. The Southgate had experienced a large landslide during the winter, and was now sending down a steady stream of trees. Every few minutes another whole tree would come drifting by.
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Drift logs were all around us, and I tried to push off the ones bumping into the hull or rubbing up against the anchor chain.
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We had a rather rough night up at the head of Bute inlet. We wanted to explore the Homathko river but all the rivers were running high and it was too hazardous. So the next morning we got up early and cruised back down the inlet before the afternoon wind came up. Here we are bucking the current and dodging a drift tree in the Arran rapids on our way back to Stuart island.
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Eagle in the grass at Eagle lake on Stuart island.
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Back out in Georgia Strait, we stopped at the south end of Quadra island to look for petroglyphs. Apparently there are quite a number of petroglyphs carved on beach boulders. There are many boulders, however, and finding any carvings was a real challenge.
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After some searching, Jan managed to find a petroglyph. It was very faint, however. Almost impossible to see, Jan outlined the carving with chalk, tracing the figure by feel.
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The Cape Mudge lighthouse on Quadra island. We are on our way in to Campbell River for groceries.
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At Campbell River, we launched the bikes for shopping excursions.
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Jan gets a pedicure!
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Marina scenes: Wildlife on the right. And on the left, the kind of boat for someone who doesn’t want to get too close to the water!
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Beauty in the water, paddling around Gowlland island, across from Campbell River.
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Beauty in the sky.
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Leaving Campbell River, we cruised up through Seymour Narrows and anchored in Small Inlet at the north end of Quadra Island. Here we walked across to Waiatt Bay on this trail. We were in search of clams.
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It took a bit of digging, but we ended up with a bucket of clams for dinner.
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Jan dispatching crabs from Small Inlet.
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Leaving Johnstone Strait, we cruised inland to the head of Frederick Arm in order to try to get into Estero Basin. The entry to the basin is a reversing tidal stream, and was blocked by fallen trees. We portaged the kayaks around the trees and some rapids, then negotiated the log jam at the Basin itself.
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Inside Estero Basin, we had a nice paddle and a lovely swim in the warm, mostly fresh water.
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At Greene Point Rapids, we stopped to admire the pictograph of the sad Native chief throwing his ‘copper’ into the sea.
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Fishing from the dinghy at slack tide in the rapids.
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At Forward Harbour, Jan gets ready to make rubbings from the petroglyphs.
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At anchor on a sunny afternoon, I take the opportunity to smooth out the outboard propeller which got nicked up in our attempts to go up various rivers.
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Pictograph of a Copper in Sunderland channel, close to Johnstone Strait.
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A deer swimming across the channel in Port Neville.
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Re-visiting the petroglyphs at the narrows in Port Neville, Jan makes some rubbings.
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Jan finds a field of sea asparagus to harvest near the petroglyphs in Port Neville.
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Meanwhile, I wander the shore taking photos.
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Heading up Johnstone Strait, we encounter for the first time the marine cloud that tells us we are nearing the outer coast. No more t-shirts for us – it’s time to break out the sweaters!
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In Port Harvey, just off Johnstone Strait, we came across this barge construction facility. It’s unusual to find this kind of manufacturing somewhere with no road or power access.
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A little ways off Johnstone Strait, along the first access route to the Broughton Archipelago, is the marina at Lagoon Cove. There are a number of these little marinas in the Broughtons, serving the visiting cruisers. One of the features is the 5 o’clock Happy Hour, an appetizer potluck affair where we get to meet other cruisers.
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In Blackfish Sound I caught an 8.5 lb ling cod. We were pretty happy to catch the fish, and Jan was happy to have her new fish cleaning table.
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One of my favourite anchorages in the Broughtons is the bay behind tiny Goat island, on the left on the chart. From there we paddled over to the abandoned Native village of Mamalilaculla.
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When we got to the beach at Mamalilaculla, we met up with a group of paddlers in a huge canoe. They were doing excursions around the area from a base camp nearby.
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The last remaining House entrance poles at Mamalillacula, on the left. And on the right is their brand new dock with the actual Native name for the village. Plus signs indicating that visits need prior arrangement with an entry fee of $20 per person.
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First loaf of bread comes out of the oven. I am still working on this overnight method. The bread was tasty but a bit dense.
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In Blackfish sound we saw a number of humpback whales. No Orcas yet, as the salmon are only just starting to show up.
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Another one of my favourite anchorages is Dusky Cove on Bonwick island. It’s only good if the wind is calm, or from the east. We took advantage of calm weather to enjoy this scenic spot.
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A group of Dalls porpoises came by to play around the boat. It’s fun to watch them zipping around under water, but they are impossible to photograph – usually all I get is the splash!
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We stopped at Port McNeill for groceries and a few other things. Jan is calling the Harbour office for the code to get into the shower. And the bread – well there are some things you can get out here that are hard to find in the city. In Port McNeill they called this loaf ‘Homestyle Marble Rye’. When we were in Alaska the same thing was simply known as ‘Pumpernickel’.
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Raven Song tied up in front of downtown Alert Bay.
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A visit to the U’mista Cultural Centre – an excellent museum of Native Artifacts. Jan is wearing a cedar bark hat, and I am trying on a new face.
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A collection of masks in the museum, and a Copper. Coppers were traditionally a symbol of tribal wealth, and are depicted in many pictographs.
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A photograph from 1900 showing Gwayasdams village on Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago. There is currently a thriving village at this location, also known as Health Bay.
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In the museum is the front door of the former Residential School in Alert Bay. The painting of the ghost child was done by an unknown artist after the school was closed.
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A page from the book ‘Keeping it Living’ describing ancient Native gardens that were on an island in the Nimpkish River. The Nimpkish is right across from Alert Bay so we went over to explore, but of course by now everything is overgrown and we could find no traces of the gardens.
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Back out in the islands, we had a lovely sunset view at anchor. This looks peaceful but we had some excitement during the night involving tidal currents….
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More excitement the next day. Jan started in on her Sea Asparagus pickling project. When Jan is deep into a project like this, its a good omen for fishing. Sure enough, after a few minutes of trolling off Malcolm island, I interrupted the pickling project by catching a nice big Chinook salmon.
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Jan takes a break from pickling to try to figure out what to do with all that fish!
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Rock Totem on North Broughton island.
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Pictograph of a canoe with paddlers, on Sutlej Channel just across from Sullivan Bay.
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We stopped in at Sullivan Bay, looking forward to meeting other cruisers at another social Happy Hour. Sadly, it was not to be…
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Sullivan Bay, being owned by Americans, caters mostly to Americans. As the border was still closed, so was Sullivan Bay. The restaurant was closed, there was no Happy Hour, and the store’s shelves were pretty bare.
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Here we had the first rain on this trip. We had been away almost a month, with sunshine every day. Quite a change from the previous summer!
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The sun came out again the next day as we pass one of the many fish farms in this part of the coast.
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We had a very calm crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait, on our way over to Port Hardy. So calm that we left the driving to Betty while we worked on other projects.
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First stop in Port Hardy was the fuel dock, where we vied for space with the fish farm supply boats and numerous sport fishing boats.
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At the docks in Port Hardy, and out on our bikes fulfilling our shopping lists.
We stopped here for a couple of days getting ready for the next leg. Our plan now is to go around Vancouver Island, so the next grocery shopping opportunity won’t be until Tofino, which we expect to take 3 or 4 weeks. The weather has changed – it was pouring rain when we arrived here. We expect more changeable weather and lots of adventures on the next leg!
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