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. 

Sailing Home

Fog, also known as arctic sea smoke, burning off over glassy seas!

 Heading down Fitz Hugh Sound...

 T-shirt weather again, wahoo!

 Kim modeling her flip flops on a deserted beach hike.

These are our neighbors (anchored next to us in Fury Cove).  They invited us over for cocktails, nice!

Jeff grills up the beautiful ling cod Wally Bolton gave us in Hartley Bay....

Stellar Sea Lions

 

Weather blew in heavy the night before we were supposed to leave King Pacific Lodge, courtesy of a big low-pressure system that came down from Alaska.  High winds, torrential rain and low ceiling prevented the float planes from coming in to get us, also preventing the incoming group from arriving (we had the better deal!). The day before we went into lodge “lockdown,” when no boats could go out, a few of us got a guide to take us out to a rock grouping where a colony of 70-80 Stellar Sea Lions watched us approach.  The big alpha males sat highest on the rocks with the most commanding presence, but there was great concern (and much bellowing) as we approached. 

 

As fearsome as the biggest 800 lb guys looked, they were easily scared. We nosed the small boat right up to the rock, took these photos, and watched their response.  The guide said that the sea lions were basically big chickens, then yelled at the group.  The surprise of that caused the less confident ones to jump for the water, unanimously soiling themselves, or the rocks, in their frantic effort to get away from us.  The sea literally turned brown as they landed, turned, then scowled at us. Within minutes, they all climbed back onto the rocks.  Big stink, big fuss. 

Over the course of the next few days of being stuck at KPL, the group got anxious about leaving. After three days of still not being able to get any planes in, the lodge organized our extraction by boat.  When those boats finally pulled up to the dock, the clamoring of the guests to get on a boat and get home was reminiscent of those lions abandoning the rock. That is, without the mess.

King Pacific Lodge... and the Spirit Bear!

We made our way back down to Bella Bella, left Heron tied at the Shearwater docks, then flew north again to the  King Pacific Lodge, where Kim had an assignment. Jeff was happy to tag along, especially since guests are flown in on these cool 1948 Grumman Goose amphibious planes.  We swept in, banked a tight turn, and landed with a splosh, floating right up to the KPL docks...

Kim bumps into Standup4Greatbear founder, Norm Hann. 

View of Barnard Harbour from the lodge...

Hiking on Campania Island.

Meeting National Geographic photographer, Thomas Peschak.

Welcomed by a resident humpback feeding right in Barnard Harbour....

The best part of our King Pacific Lodge stay was having such access to the spectacular wildlife and marine environments of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the few places left on the planet where wild land meets completely wild ocean.  Because there is no industry, the  ecosystem is alive and flourishing.  You can see whales, wolves, bear, salmon, bald eagles, all in the same day.  This remarkable place has been the backyard of the Gitga'at First Nations culture for centuries. We were lucky enough to spend a second day bear-watching with local guide Marven Robinson, and this time encountered three female black bears (two with pairs of young cubs), and a magnificent male black bear.  It was mesmerizing to spend hours watching them hunt salmon in this fish-rich stream...

The highlight of the day  - and indeed, a life highlight! - was when this beautiful spirit bear showed up.  Spirit bears (black bears with a recessive gene that causes them to be born white), are elusive and shy.  An estimated 400 of them live in the Great Bear's moss-draped rain forest... and they are extremely rare to see.  We'd met people who had spent weeks trying to sight a spirit bear, with no luck, so this one was a rare gift!  Like something out of a dream...



The Spirit Bear comes out of the brush...



Fishing for lunch.

 

And heading upstream, too soon gone.



Kim is pretty happy about the sighting!

  
As if the bear wasn't enough, as we were hiking back out of the forest, Jeff spotted a Northern Spotted Owl.   Marven had only seen ONE in his life, and the wildlife guide at KPL had
never seen one.  They are nocturnal animals, and rarely out during daylight hours. It is estimated there are less than 30 nesting pairs left in British Columbia's old growth forests, and that there will be none in BC in a few years, so this was really something...

Northern Spotted Owl camouflaged in the alders...

Northern Spotted Owl.  Wow!

Meeting more humpbacks on the ride home...

Canadian Coast Guard ship sitting in Barnard Harbour, storm front approaching....

53 Degrees 32 N, 129 Degrees 00 W

Having traveled 700 miles, we reach the apex of Heron's 2011  Journey:
53. 32.27 North, 129.00.70 West, (90 miles south of the Alaska border),
motoring on a chilly, stunning morning up Wright Sound to Verney Passage...

This late in the season (August 30th), we see few other boats, just the occasional fishing vessel. Ahoy!

Although beautiful, it's our coldest morning yet,  maybe 50 degrees on deck...

As the sun rises, we watch islands of mist float off Gribbell Island, which has stunning dark granite bowls scooped out by glaciers eons ago.  Even in late August, snow patches cling to the highest bowls, and waterfalls tumble from the island's rocky flanks.  Binoculars out, we scan the shore, ever-vigilant for a white "Spirit Bear," but still no luck...

Rounding the northern tip of Gribbell Island, we make a run for Bishop Bay Hot Springs,  natural springs with 100-plus degree water.  At 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, we're the only humans for miles in any direction.  We grab towels, sprint up the trail, and slide into the steaming-hot springs. Nice!

Heron tied up at Bishop Bay Hot Springs...

Anchored later amidst the granite peaks at the head of Khutze Inlet, a lovely estuary rich with sedge grass, lovage, and angelica -- the main plants that make up a grizzly bear's diet -- we scan the shores for grizzlies and wolves.  We are the only people here, but there is plenty of life:  a highly entertaining colony of 50-60 seals encamped on a mudflat off the bow,  resident eagles, and when Jeff checks the crab pots, 27 crabs in less than an hour!!

Jeff determines which crabs to keep for cocktail hour...

 

Sails up, wing and wing, and flying south again...