More Windy Travel

Nanaimo Harbor to False Bay, Lasqueti Is

High wind warnings continued; NW winds smacking into opposing strong ebb currents made for rough water in Georgia Strait on the run north. False Bay on Lasqueti Island offered a comfortable anchorage with calm water for an overnight stop between Nanaimo and Campbell River. A passenger ferry from Vancouver Island services this small island community twice daily, but during our stay we counted more deer than people around the shoreline.

One large old waterfont estate captured our attention, its shabby, weathered exterior and sagging steps presenting a sad contrast to an intact shingle roof. Was this a lingering work in progress? or perhaps a suspended restoration attempt? What’s the history of this once grand house and its inhabitants? 

False Bay to Discovery Harbor, Campbell River

I was totally awake at 0230, anticipating the 0330 wake-up alarm and ready to get moving. A rising wind stirred the water inside False Bay, creating wavelets that rocked the boat with increasing vigor. We pulled anchor and departed in early light at 0430, eager to reach Discovery Harbor Marina. Once again strong winds and some interesting currents created changeable conditions. Speed over ground ranged from 5.7 knots, intentionally slowed to minimize pounding in choppy seas, to 11.6 knots, pushed along in smoother water by a favorable current.  

How windy was it? windy enough that a seagull decided to land and grab a free ride on our bow, pausing to rest and entertain us for a few minutes with his nonchalant attitude.

Grab the Bird Book

"Who are those guys anyway?"

                                   Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Photo: Bufflehead, drab females and striking males, in winter plumage.

"Quick grab the binoculars... pick up a camera... find the bird books", and then poof! at some sudden unseen/unheard signal, an entire flock suddenly dives and disappears. Some days I'm lucky. I have my camera in hand when a sea bird pops back up, close enough to the boat to grab a shot or two before it dives again or speeds away. Those little guys are fast!

I can identify a Barrow's Goldeneye on the water with some certainty, it's distinctive spots and yellow eye provide major clues. But a quick glance at a black and white pattern on a fast-moving bird in flight might make me think "loon" instead. 

Cormorants have a distinctive shape, their silhouette alone identifies them in flight and at rest. There's no question who has claimed the red buoy below as their temporary hangout.

From a distance I still hesitate over some birds that should be easy to name. When seen through a telephoto lens, the vibrant coloration on the head and neck of this bird clearly shows it's a Bufflehead. Sigh. Identification isn't that easy when birds won't stay still. 

B is for Bait

A bag of 2012 bait, filled with chunks of salmon carcass, gave rise to a fun photo op when I cleaned out the freezer.

One gull spotted me walking out the salon door with ziploc in hand. Was he sitting at the fish-cleaning station across the fairway, waiting for a free lunch? 

A second seagull arrived to drive off gull #1 and bullied his way up to the defrosting salmon frames.

Mmmmmm, tasty.

Then the air filled with squawking, diving, feisty birds as they all asserted their claim to this fishy treasure.

No contact or actual combat occurred - it all appeared to be posturing and complaining as the dominant birds swooped in and the others scattered. 

Hey!!! who invited the seal?

That did it, one seal mouthful and the party was over.

A Sudden Eagle Flyby

Scores of eagles hang out around a fishing harbor, ever alert to an easy meal whether it be a herring swimming too close to the surface, an unwary duckling or small pet, scraps tossed away from a boat or the fish cleaning stations, whatever.  These large birds perch high up in unlikely places, scanning the water with an "eagle eye", ready to swoop down and grab an easy snack. How do they keep balanced atop sailboat masts, trolling poles or stabilizers while they wait?

Yesterday, after the departure of the seine fleet, the near-empty harbor seemed unusually quiet. Only an occasional raucous cry of a seagull or cackle from a seagull pierced the air, until.....

WHOOSH! 

A large eagle flew past at boat level, followed by an entire eagle squadron in screaming hot pursuit. They wove in and out among the masts and piling, over a dozen of those big guys eager to snatch a herring from the beak of the group leader. No tight formation for this group, they twisted and turned in complete disarray as it was every bird for itself. And then they were gone. Out of sight past South Harbor, heading toward the ferry dock, their shrill squawks faded away and the harbor returned to a quiet state.

Typically it's the ravens task to harass an eagle, hoping to catch a dropped morsel. Not today. Today the ravens settled for raiding the unattended buckets of Petersburg herring left by unwary fishermen. Well, I don't think I'd mess with a squadron of eagles either.

Petersburg: Around the Harbor

June 25-29

Petersburg

This was a rainy stay in town, with time to enjoy some good conversations with old friends and meet new cruisers, visit one of my favorite SE bookstores, and check out the changes in town.

The harbor seemed quiet and empty when the seiners, gillnetters AND crabbers all had openings at the same time. The eagle tree at the top of the south harbor ramp was anything but quiet!

This noisy fellow, a Stellar sea lion, was a frequent noisy visitor. He checked in with each fishing boat as it docked, looking for snacks. He ate well but didn't really need handouts. He did just fine on his own, dining on the local herring and salmon.

Do you think your local electrical inspector would approve this creative 440 volt "fix"?!

The Great Blue Heron

Our Noisy Dock Neighbor

We have a very noisy neighbor here in the harbor, loud and obnoxious, yet I miss him when we leave. This large blue heron makes his presence known at all hours of the day and night, when someone or something startles him, or wanders too close to his perch, or flies overhead, or whenever, just for the hell of it. His raucous squawk is at odds with his rather dignified appearance, a well-groomed, serious-looking dude until the wind ruffles his feathers. 


What a surprise that he ignored me today as I walked out on the boat deck to snap his picture yet again. He was perched atop a piling across the main pier, but the tide was high so we were eyeball to eyeball, sort of, at a distance of 20 feet or less. He must consider me a nuisance not worthy of a squawk. How annoying. The heron in Seattle are so nervous around me that they take flight as soon as I open a door, more than 60 feet away. This big guy just dissed me as harmless. Perhaps he enjoyed posing while I clicked away, frame after frame... unlike all of the other times when he turned his back just as I had the perfect shot composed. 




  

Desolation Sound part 2

It finally happened, I've run out of words. So here's a photo tour of parts of the week's family cruise in Desolation Sound. (Click on any photo to view it full screen.) 


Cast of Characters

Photo: Mom is happy to be aboard as we ham it up in our hats.

Photo: Happy Hour in the sunshine always brings smiles

Cruise Locations 

Photo: no story here, just an intriguing dead madrona tree on Hernando Isl.

Photo: sunset in Prideaux Haven, with a few neighbors

Photo: Refuge Cove hasn't changed too much over the years,

Photo: ...but what's with the vehicles in the brush?

Photo: Pendrell Sound pictographs or maybe just graffiti? What do you think?

Photo: A full dock in Squirrel Cove dock, so we anchored in the back bay.

Photo: Sister City Paris (France)? for real?

Photo: All alone at the Shoal Bay dock - a very long walk to and from shore.

Photo: Mom checks out the honeysuckle at the Shoal Bay Pub

Wildlife Sightings

 Mitlenatch Island housed hundreds of birds, including black cormorants, 

scores of black cormorants everywhere you looked,

except where there were large colonies of seals,

which was pretty much everywhere

along the entire shoreline.

Photo: Seals bask in the suns at mid-tide

Of Special Note

Photo: Mom is the day's Mexican Train champion.

Photo: HMS Calgary, was impressive making a tight 90 degree turn around us to head into the passage we had just vacated, outside of Chameleon Bay. This frigate really listed!

Photo: Foggy challenge for our morning run back to Campbell River.

Farragut Bay

What an amazing place, and how could we have missed it during the past ten years of cruising in SE Alaska?! We usually cruise the southerly side of Frederick Sound, hugging Kuprenof Island, for a more direct route into Petersburg. This year we explored the mainland side of the channel, following a handful of whales and poking into new coves and inlets.

Farragut Bay felt huge, wide open to south winds from Frederick Sound and north winds and williwaws whipping down the mountains and through the river valleys. It was sunny and calm during our stay, but “just in case” we were securely tucked inside a small cove behind an island.

Our skiff excursion around Farragut and up to the river estuary was thwarted by extensive shoaling and scattered rocks that turned up in unexpected places. We found one other cruising boat inside the bay, and a storage raft for a crabber’s supply of Dungeness pots.

Just look at the boundary where the ice-melt freshwater pours out of the river and meets the salty seawater in the bay. It was pretty dramatic. Ron did a taste test, and confirmed that the river outflow was fresh water and the bay water was salty.

The water was milky, an opaque celadon green, and I’m using that as our excuse for not hooking a halibut or a salmon. Hmmmm, cloudy water didn’t stop the hundreds of surf scoter and white-winged scoter from locating and feeding on baitfish.

The hundreds of scoter were not interested in participating in my photo op.

Sunset was spectacular, and it was tough thinking about heading back into town the next day. Sitka to Petersburg via Peril Strait is a 160-mile trip. We cruise at 9 knots, so that distance translates to three comfortable cruising days, or a bit longer if we choose to linger along the way. This year it took exactly two weeks, and it was tempting to spend even longer. Two weeks in Paradise! Was it the sunshine that put a smile into each day? or perhaps the frequent whale sightings? or the relaxing stretch of carefree cruising without any weather challenges? It was all of that and more.