The sun! The skies! The scenery! Since leaving Bella Bella we took a slight detour and headed up Princess Royal Channel rather than taking the (only slightly) more direct ocean-side route north. It was been breathtakingly beautiful. We've seen far more waterfalls cascading down steep mountainsides than spirit bears, but we’re still confident that they’re out there…somewhere.
Solar panel still charging the batteries at 9pm! The long days have been a dream!
Sprits have been high, for sure. It was certainly a good decision - the variety of geology, wildlife, and social interactions was new to us.
And we got some seriously yachtie shots, for sure. Here's Lisa in Nowish Cove, an incredibly protected anchorage (albeit with a stern line as it's super deep in most coves) off Finlayson Channel.
Even Seb is turning into a sailor...He insists that when we want to go fast, all we have to do is put him at the tiller. 2 weeks later, and we've taught him all we know!
Here's the little town of Klemtu, where we stopped for an hour to pick up some fresh veggies (and a banana popsicle for the crazy Cpt. Erdle!).
Heading through loooong inlets instead of taking a more coastal route has meant more motoring than usual, with the associated time below reading, perusing charts, and identifying plants and animals that we come across. Here Seb is trying to see if we can eat some TINY mushrooms that he found. Eeeps!
Thankfully, our belief that Cetaceans do actually exist was renewed over the past week. While departing Bella Bella after some successful re-provisioning, we spotted a small pod of minke whales, whom we were able to sail along with for several tacks out through Seaforth Channel.
Sadly, Nakusiak was too speedy for them, and they fell back to rest in a small cove while we raced onwards to Princess Royal Island.
We also saw a couple of humpbacks, and had an incredible experience with a small group of orcas while cozying up at a hotspring up in Bishop Bay. I highly recommend the combination of morning sun, coffee, hot spring lounging, and orca viewing. All at once.
The cruise up Princess Royal and its various reaches was generally amazing. We’ve been lucky enough to get some southwest winds, enough to enable some good wing-on-wing downwind cruises, and we’ve timed the tides just right for the most part.
We’ve learned a few things:
- The forest here is really thick. An attempted hike consequently turned into hopes of ziplining through the canopy, rather than try to tramp through the underbrush, while singing (very loudly) all the campfire songs we could think of, along with numerous shouts of “Hey Bear!” to dissuade any hungry carnivorous beasts.
- Peanut and Seb are long-lost partners, halves of the same coin. Morning wrestling matches often result in Peanut destructively gnawing Seb’s heavy fishing line to bits. They kiss, make up, and then Peanut spends part of every day perched on Seb’s laptop while he tries to work. Marital bliss at it’s best!
- Pressure cookers are the best thing ever! Our daily bread has taken on a whole new meaning, as Lisa and Char trade off kneading dough for tasty loaves and buns. Sourdough (yes, we made a starter), cinnamon buns, sundried tomato loaves...You name it.
Other wildlife interactions have surprised us. We came across this unexpected sailing friend while motoring up the early reaches of Princess Royal. He didn't seem to mind us approaching as he passed directly in front of our (clearly intimidatingly fast) vessel.
Other wildlife also took Lisa and I by surprise. Crazy Chileans!
We’ve also met some great folks. Kate and Karl of Mom, a sturdy homebuilt sloop, first befriended Lisa while at the wharf in Sointula, and are now following a similar route north. We’ve traded baked goods, and are now hoping that they’ll find extra prawns one day in their highly productive traps. Jamie of Isis, a wandering soul aboard a gorgeous Ingrid 38’, has become an anchorage buddy as well, having traded stories and ‘jokes’ well into the evening a few days ago.
Some new fishermen friends even gave us a beautiful fish! We ate halibut for 3 days straight, every way possible - ceviche, steamed, fried, in green curry, as sashimi.....
"Nakusiak, Nakusiak, Nakusiak," we heard on the radio. "You folks left without saying goodbye. You want some halibut or a snapper?"
Fishermen friends!
Fish from our friends!
An abandoned cannery in Butedale, with our friends on "MOM" with the red hull
Lisa bowling in the old cannery
More to come! We're currently nestled in Queen B's, a seriously funky cafe in Queen Charlotte City, while uploading photos, recuperating, and emailing. We're spending lots of amazing time with some family of Char's, Kathryn and Greg, going hiking, sauna-ing, and generally catching up.
Til next time!
A big BIG BIG thank you to Kathryn and Greg. Your generosity has warmed our hearts (and our bellies). Thank you soooo much.
