North from Hakai!

Here we are, anchored in Pruth Bay just off Hakai Pass.  One of our favorite spots on the planet!  Although 25 knot winds were predicted, we opted to anchor in the middle of the bay for these sunset views, but paid a price that night.  Heron swung wildly on her anchor chain... but held fast, somehow.

  Here was our path, etched on the GPS the next morning.

We made our way farther north to Shearwater, and Klemtu... the weather alternating between dramatic rain storms and clouds.  In Shearwater, we laid over a night, as Gale Force Winds were predicted again. When they never materialized, we were the first to leave...

From Shearwater north, we encountered few other boats.  Just the occasional fishing boat headed south from Alaska... 

But, we did bump into WHALES and MORE WHALES!  Perhaps the reason why the chief mate is smiling.  It's indescribable, really, being surrounded by humpback breath all day...

 We met this fellow right off the bow...

 Such a graceful tail flip...

 Like whale ballet!

 Skipper Jeff in six layers... grateful for Starbucks.

And the Chief Mate... happy to be headed north again, where the wild things are.

Nikki's EcoVentures!

Nikki

 

Meet forest-dweller Nikki van Schyndel.  One of the most memorable BC coast days we've spent in a long time was with Nikki, who provides  customized eco-tours through her one-woman company:  Echo Bay EcoVentures.

When we told Nikki we were interested in learning more about the B.C. coast's native plants,  she took us to this lovely Broughton islet, where we spent the next hour crawling around munching on  sea asparagus, red and green-leaved orack (good in salads), arrowgrass (grass that tastes like cilantro), and spoonwart (spoon-shaped leaves, tastes like mustard)!

It was fascinating to realize  how many plants growing here are delicious (and handy when your boat-lettuce is rotting). We had a great time foraging and listening to Nikki's astonishing stories.  Before we shoved off, Nikki took out her knife, and we pried some barnacles off the rocks to cook later for lunch. 

Next, we sped off in Nikki’s skiff to the deserted First Nations village at Mamalilaculla.   

We hiked across the island with Nikki... 

Arriving at the immense support posts of this ancient First Nations Long House, and adjacent abandoned cottage.

Wolf carved on  ancient mortuary pole

The art of fire...

For the day's grand finale, Nikki started a fire on a deserted beach, using nothing but cedar strips. We were blown away...

Our  Lunch...

And even more so when she cooked up a late lunch of rice, dried salmon, dried kelp, cranberries,  bolstered by all the foraged greens and wild mushrooms we’d collected earlier.  It was both lovely and incredibly delicious. Then came the barnacles...  which Nikki  simmered in a pot of salt water.

Jeff wasn’t sure about eating a barnacle. “Let me wrap my head around this one a minute…,” he said. " I can’t believe I’m going to eat a barnacle.  I’m from New Jersey! I like hot dogs!!”  But in the end, he slurped down two barnacles, claiming they tasted kind of like clams.

We can't to read Nikki's book, Becoming Wild, due out this spring. Thanks again for the amazing day, Nikki.

Nikki and the Barnacle Eater, headed home.

Islands and Clouds

 
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So what, you might wonder, does the eagle see?

Fish...

Islands and clouds.

Islands and clouds and mist and trees. Always trees.

A tall island with blue sky, the water still.

Low islands, with shaggy trees and clouds.

Low brown islets surrounded by glassy seas and puffed white cumulus.

Red-roofed lighthouse, tip of an island, silver gray clouds.

Annoying and nearsighted interloper spooking my fish!

Back in the Broughtons

 

After an easy passage up Johnstone Strait, we dropped anchor behind the Indian Islands, (also known as Matilpi), bordering an ancient shell-crushed midden beach, one of our favorite spots in the Broughtons.  We slid both kayaks in the water and paddled around the islands' edges, where western red cedar, alders, hemlock, salal, fir, spruce, gooseberry, red elderberry, salmon berry, and more than 100 varieties of moss (!) grow in crazy profusion.   

Here's Heron anchored off the “midden,” or former front porch of an abandoned Indian village. The beach is layered with white clam shells – castoffs from shellfish collected here for decades.

Skipper Jeff

We had a beautiful passage the next morning, cruising up the bottom end of Knight Inlet to Echo Bay.  With a rare southeasterly off the stern, we even put up the sails briefly – a rarity in the Broughtons!   It was an invigorating day with big bright clouds, and lots of drama in the sky. Squadrons of auklets flew past single file.  Plump brown murrelets dove. Dolphins sliced through glacial-green seas off the beam...

... could be the Caribbean!

Except, it's not.

With the wind whipping up to 25 knots we finally took down the main to navigate the Broughtons' narrow channels.  The sky lowered and milky clouds settled in.  With barometric pressure falling and the sky darkening, we realized it was blowing 35 on Johnston Strait and were grateful to be tucking into Pierre’s at Echo Bay.

The chief mate's herb garden...

Head in the clouds!

Destination: Desolation

Captain enjoys the view!

 

Heading North, Heron encounters uncharacteristically warm, sunny days for the Northwest.  Even en route to Desolation, the captain and first mate are living in shorts and T-shirts underway.  A first in five years of Northwest cruising...

Desolation dead ahead...

Desolation Sound in front of us, ending in a high wall of mountains that are part of the Coast Range running all the way to Alaska.  Awesome!

Motor yacht Montego.

Tens of thousands of years ago, massive glaciers smoothed these rough peaks – except for the summit of Mount Denman. Again and again it was shattered by frost, until only the present horn was left.  You can see it here, looming (to the right), like a granite incisor over  the vintage 1960s motor yacht:  Montego, above. 

Good friends, Robbie and Pauline, joined us at Cortes Island for four days (one with sails up briefly!),  exploring Teakerne Arm, Mink Island, and Dent.  Living in bathing suits, swimming, and kayaking.  Summer the way it should be... fantastic.

Headed North, 2013!

Heron Adventures setting sail here (well motoring mostly), north to Desolation Sound, the Broughton Islands, and beyond. Provisioned for six weeks at sea, Heron pushed off from Seattle’s Elliott Bay August 3, with Kim and Jeff aboard under lightly clouded skies. 

We are thrilled to have last season’s addition secured to the bow: two sturdy Seaward Kayaks with plexiglass bottoms, made on Vancouver Island.  They are so light that even the First Mate can slip one over the side of the boat and paddle away…

Stops along the way en route to Cortes Island: Friday Harbor, Ganges Harbor, Newcastle Marine Park, Garden Bay.

Help! Torture by Post-It.

At Newcastle Island Marine Park

On watch.