Friday September 1, 2017

Haaaaaaaallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Another fish! So exciting. The day got a late-ish start as there was a bunch of people on the docks enjoying good free coffee. And just stuff going on. Byron and Greg headed out with a plan to put a line in the water on their way out to pick up the prawn traps, and maybe drag it around a little bit too. As Greg was about to turn the dingy around, he got a strike and pulled in this 13.5 lb Coho. Then they went over and pulled the prawn traps, and between the 4 traps managed to pull in 60 prawns! The hunter / gatherers were successful!!

On SB, Bella and I did some email and did some computer work, possibly abused their internet connection, and I actually picked up some knitting for the first time this trip! The sky was it's usual grey and although it rained last night, it only spit a bit this morning. It was past lunch when they got back, but it was time to process. We put the prawns in the freezer since we were going to have "free" prawns at Happy Hour tonight. And Greg filleted the fish using the "new" method he learned, and then also did it in the way the Canadian regulations require. A new skill. Fortunately, he could use the fish cleaning table here and didn't have to figure out how to do it on Spellbound's swim step.



Greg kept a nice big fillet for dinner tonight, and then we put the rest in the freezer. Now it was time for Byron to catch a fish. So after a quick bite, they headed out for a short fishing session and to recheck the prawn traps before the octopus had time to set up inside and start snacking again. No fish this afternoon, but they brought back 26 prawns so still a reasonable haul. It looks like we might actually bring *home* some prawns after all.

Back slightly late but on time enough for the Boaters net radio call. Then Happy Hour again at 5:00. The provisions on SB are mighty poor right now, but I had saved a jar of "3 pepper blast" for just such an occasion. Had to raid Greg's crackers though. There were about 30 people I'd say again at the Happy Hour and the docks were reasonably full again / still. We had a nice chat with John and Jean from Nordlys.

Greg BBQ'd the salmon on EG and we had some coconut rice and somehow Sue still has some fresh veggies so we had broccoli and cauliflower so it was a wonderfully tasty healthy meal. We talked about staying an extra day here since the "fish are biting" and Byron needs a fish and the weather on Johnstone Straight is looking even better Monday than Sunday.

Thursday August 31, 2017

Missed the internet "window" last night so caught up this morning. Greg went and picked up the crab traps. Our plan so far was to go to Port Harvey on Saturday, and then go down Johnstone to Blind Channel on Sunday. Well of course the morning forecast for Johnstone on Sunday has now changed completely from "light" to 15-25 knots. Pffft. We'll keep an eye on it.

It took us a while to leave the dock and it was close to 11:00 before we got out of there. Lot's of visiting and talking on the dock. We had a nice ride down and even Knight Inlet was not really too bad to cross. EG still had her tach's drop out so the fuse was not it. When we arrived, they had room for EG as they had made a reservation. We had not and so had to stand by while they decided where to put us. In the end it was fine, and they even had room for 2 other boats that came in behind us. They put a 60' Seline on the other side of the fuel dock. A bit of a Grand Banks convention with an old Alaskan, Peachy Keen (Mark and Billy), at one end, and Nordlys (John and Jean) out front.

They have ice cream treats in the freezer on the dock here, including some pints of Ben & Jerry's. We all grabbed the chocolate covered mint chocolate chip sandwiches instead. Byron and Greg went off and put the prawn traps out. A somewhat quiet afternoon on the boat as I got things ready for dinner, and also Happy Hour. Mark and Billy from Peachy Keen came down and introduced themselves and we talked about boat stuff.

At 5:00, we all headed up to Happy Hour up on the deck outside the Shop. It seemed like there were about 30 people there and Lagoon had put out a large bowl of prawns. We ended up talking to the folks from the Seline who were also "techy" people. The event broke up around 6:30 but we were all too full from snacking to think about dinner. So we went shopping at the emporium! Last time we were here they had not put anything in it yet, but now - wow! They had a fair amount of stuff. Wouldn't you know it that they had this cool jacket that looks great on me, and a really nice light sweatshirt that Greg liked. Wardrobe updated.

Greg, Bella, Sue and I all went for a short meander around the property while Byron tested some electrical connections related to his tach's. As part of the property sale, there had been some updates to the tank storage and to the generator area that Sue hadn't seen yet. We also continued on to the "exercise area" where Greg chopped some firewood, and also tried out the "bean toss". It always was, and still is, a beautiful piece of property.

Although no one was that hungry, we made Chicken Chili dinner on SB anyway so that we weren't hungry later. Watched some "Suits". Really really dark here at night too - need a flash light to walk the docks.

Wednesday August 30, 2017

It was a lovely morning in the Bay, no fog. When we started up Tribune Channel though, the wind steadily increased which was very surprising. Of course the forecast said 5 to 15 and we did see a solid 15 and a few spots that snuck up to 20. EG saw even more. It was a little bumpy but not too bad though and as always, as we turned the corner into Kwatsi Bay, it all disappeared.

We had not seen Anca at all this year and so we wanted to go back for one more day. When we arrived, Dwayne and Lynn on Emerald Star were there as well as the regulars from before, Ulf and Beau-Dinky III. Sue declared that it was a "Lox and Bagels" lunch day and so who were we to argue.

Greg and Byron spent some time in the engine room trying to diagnose why Byron's tachometers would be intermittently going out while he travels. It seems random and no amount of turning more things on seems to make a difference. On this particular trip, there were "off" for the longest time so far. Greg came up with several theories and they did some digging and investigation and all theories were discarded. They did find a suspect fuse and replaced it though.

There was an impromptu pre-happy hour happy hour which Bella and I joined. When we arrived, Max said he was expecting 1 more boat. Over the course of the afternoon, 3 more boats arrived (Cuckoo's Nest, Cur-Ric III, Rendezvous), and then during happy hour and a huge rain pour, another arrived (Santana), and then at the end of happy hour and another huge rain pour, 2 smaller boats arrived and had to raft. They were completely filled up with boats!

Provisions on Spellbound are getting mighty light. Greg had the brilliant idea of bringing popcorn to happy hour. We haven't seem popcorn at a happy hour yet and thought it would be unique. We have the hot air popper on board and have some special "Dakota Dark" black popcorn and also normal popcorn with us. So we did a bowl of "fancy" popcorn with Kelp Sea Salt, and another bowl of good old regular. We arrived at happy hour with our bowls, and wouldn't you know it, *2* more boats arrived with popcorn as their contribution! We met many of the people on the newly arrived boats and had a great evening snacking on a lot of popcorn while it rained outside. And watched Anca and Max move their boats around so that they could fit more in.

Dinner on EG where Sue made a great pasta salad. It's really dark at night here - we needed our flashlight to get back to our boat which was right next door.

Tuesday August 29, 2017

It was bright and sunny this morning with no fog - a great day to be out on the water. It did get cold the night before though as the furnace came on sometime in the middle of the night - still cool nights up here. We headed out past Farewell Harbor and into Blackfish Sound. It was an incredibly beautiful day - sunny and warm, and the Sound was like glass. It was so nice, we moved up to the flybridge to drive the boat - our first time this trip we've had weather good enough to do so! As soon as we got out into the sound, we saw other boats sitting there doing some whale watching. That was our plan too, so as soon as we saw the whales, we just shut off the engines to drift in the sound and watch the goings and coming of the humpbacks. There were many of them around and they were doing a bit of feeding so it was quite the show. At one point, while Greg was on the flybridge with camera in hand, a humpy came and logged about 50 feet in front of the boat. He very slowly cruised past and then decided to do a dive - full frontal flukes!

Eventually we started motoring north. Greg decided to put a fishing pole in and try his luck again. Within a few minutes, we got some kind of strike on the line, but the pole broke and the reel came away from the pole, and the diving duck thingy tripped. So he brought it in and changed back to the other original pole. Within a few minutes, the diving duck thingy tripped again. So then he brought it in again and tightened it down. Then a few minutes after that, it tripped again and he said "not a good day for fishing". So we headed north again up to Screen Island to take a look at the seal lion rookery. We drifted around there for awhile and took some photos and just watched them splash around and make noises. Eventually we threaded our way through the islands and into Fife Sound. There were many squeaky passages to go through, and although there are very few boats around this time of year, we of course met one at the squeakiest spot. We pulled over to a small bay and let them past and then continued on our way. The whole way was sunny and hot - yay!




Upon entering Laura Bay, there was already one boat there - "Popeye", who we had met at Kwatsi the 2nd day we were there. It's a small "pocket trawler" that has been fixed up to look like a fire engine, the owner being a former fire chief. We eventually got the 2 boats anchored up and didn't have to stern tie as was recommended by some. After conferring with EG as to whether it was "oh-beer-thirty" or "dingy touring time", we all agreed it was oh-beer-thirty on EG. It was still quite warm without a breath of wind so it was nice to be outside. Eventually it was time for the radio call and then we headed over to SB after doing a little tour around. Turkey burgers for dinner on SB followed by some television shows.

Monday August 28, 2017

It was foggy this morning in the area, so we waited a while until it was clear enough. EG had a nice view from the channel through the Fox Island Group so once they could see the individual trees, we left - around 10:00. It was a lovely ride down through the small islands that make up the Broughton Archipelago. When we arrived at the docks, we called the Harbour Master and she said that we could choose either the front or side of the dock, whatever we wished. We originally went behind EG along the "side", but soon found out that the only power available was a 20amp plug. This is when we found out that you need an adaptor for a 20amp plug. Of course EG had one, but Byron couldn't remember why! So we moved around to the front of the dock where it was also empty and had full 30amp service. (Although later when we had a bit of trouble, Greg checked and it only had a 15amp breaker!). There was a gate across the top of the ramp and there were 2 lovely looking "wolf dogs" standing on the other side of it, looking like they wanted to welcome Bella properly. One even howled.

Shortly after we arrived, two young women, Alex and Eleanor, arrived in a skiff and collected the dock fee's, and told us there would be a tour at around 2:30 or 3:00pm. A boat would be arriving from somewhere else with people coming specifically for the tour. She also came back and told us that they had had a bear in the area the night before, and that the dogs were a little worked up right now as they had chased it off, and that we might want to just stay in the front area of the village. Check.

We had some lunch and then decided to go out for a short dinghy tour. The clouds had cleared and it was a beautiful blue sky and warm. Byron and SB decided to go around to what is sometimes listed as "Monk's Wall", but is really the old "Galley Homestead". Apparently back in the day, they had a large homestead with home and trading post and fruit tree's etc. It took us a bit to find it, but we did eventually. You would never know anything was there now except for the tumbling rock walls - the tree's have taken over. And then just up the hill the whole area has been logged up to the edge so there is tree bit's and debris around.



We arrived back around 2:30 and not too long afterwards a boat showed up with a boatload of people. It turns out they were from Farewell Harbour Resort, not too far away. Alex was the main tour leader and Eleanor was there too. We started out at the top of the dock where she did some introduction and history of the village. It is a very recent one and appeared to exist due to the dedication of her Great Grandfather. The land was given to the family as a dowry for a marriage, and he came back and cleared the land and built the big house. We could take pictures outside, but she asked us to not take pictures inside. Once inside, we saw many other items that her Great-Grandfather and Grandfather had built. There were some beautiful totems, masks, and a large bowl for fish oil (can't spell the kind of fish). Historically, the family came from Kingcome Inlet, but had been almost wiped out by smallpox. So they moved down to the Village Island group, but could never really make a go of it there and the village was abandoned. Alex's Great Grandfather was groomed from a young age to be the chief and to bring the tribe "back", so he did by bringing it back to this new location. There are about 13 year round residents and about 20 in the summer. Alex herself went to school in Campbell River, but the other kids were home schooled there. Alex is leaving tomorrow to return to Campbell to start college. After the tour, we went to the gift shop where everyone else got T-shirts with a lovely design. It was at this point that we found out that the tour was $30 each too. Yeah, a little dear, but good thing the moorage was good!

When we got back, we decided to all pile into our dinghy and head to the "MSomething" village on Village Island, the original abandoned village. We landed on the midden beach, but it was quite intensely over grown and it was hard to tell how to get up to the village area. Once we did, it was also completely over grown and we could just walk these "deer" paths or narrow paths through the area. There was a wooden arch and some dilapidated houses, but that was about it.



We did see though the remnants of the blackberries and fruit trees that were planted, as well other other non-native trees. We saw the coolest butterfly ever and Greg even found a "Grouse" sitting in a tree and waiting for us to look at him. (Sue was particularly happy about that). Mother Nature has pretty much claimed everything that was ever there.

Back to the boats for dinner on EG - BBQ chicken burgers and yam fries. Yummy!!

Sunday August 27, 2017

Kwatsi was sunny again this morning! Greg and Byron had to go out and pick up and put away all the traps so that took quite a while. But they did get *3* more prawns! No crabs. Everything was wrapped up and washed off with fresh water from the dock which was a nice treat. "Bob" even got a bit of a bath (I said Spellbound was probably jealous). Internet on and working well again this morning so I continued to support this 1 chatty customer. Then I paid the bill and checked us out with Max.




Just as we were about to leave, Greg reported that the aft head just stopped working and it might be the duck bills. We weren't really in a hurry at this point so he wanted to investigate while the engine room was still cool which of course was fine. Fortunately when he looked into it, it didn't seem it was the duck bills, but instead just the switch. So we, just for now, turned it off while we were not using it - no messy fix needed.

The ride down Tribune was uneventful, but the wind was up a little bit here and there. We were originally going to go directly to "New Vancouver", but along the way Greg suggested that instead we overnight in Waddington and then head to the docks in the morning. This seemed like a great idea all round, as nothing was probably going to happen there on a Sunday anyway. It was glassy when we entered Waddington and anchored up. It was also still sunny and quite warm so there was more flybridge sunning. Shortly afterwards though, the wind did come up and was a bit breezy.

Greg did some "mooching" off the back of the boat for a while, but then decided to take the dingy out and do some fishing in the channel. We had seen fish on the fish finder as we came in. It got a little too breezy where EG was anchored so they moved to in front of the island and got in a nice calm spot. Greg came back after about an hour of buck tailing but had had no success. He did say he was closer though to catching a fish as he had lost his bait!

Dinner on EG tonight. Cracked Crab appetizer from the day before and Sue experimented with a fried rice dish and Greg BBQ'd the 16 prawns for the top. Really good. We watched some TV after dinner and dishes. It was *really* black out as we dingy'd back to SB! Good thing we'd left the light on!

Saturday August 26, 2017

We've been sleeping in a bit lately as Bella has gone back to her "up early" schedule. It was cool enough last night that the furnace came on on it's own this morning as Greg got up with her the first time. Kwatsi turns the internet on from 8am to 10am and so I got up and when running to the computer! But Max was a bit late this morning and it wasn't available until closer to 9am. But when it was, there were some support requests for me that I needed to answer, and a few emails that I wanted to send and reply to. So I had my head buried in the computer for the morning (Max never did turn it off really) and then I had a shower.

I was only vaguely able to see the excitement of the RIB with the fisheries officers arriving. They arrived just before Byron and Greg were off to pick up the traps, so they decided to stay on the dock. Apparently Max had reported a set of commercial crab traps that appeared to be "abandoned" at the head of Kwatsi Bay. The RIB left the dock and then the Coast Guard Cutter "M Charles MG" went and picked up the traps. I didn't even get to see the cutter as this all happened during my shower. The RIB reported back that the traps were empty and the rot cord had "tripped". But the ID tags on the traps were from 2015 so they were certainly no legal. Max said he saw the traps go in in February.

Today was a cooler grayer day here - a traditional Broughton's day. Eventually Byron and Greg did get the traps - no crab but we got 13 prawns. They also got a dogfish, a baby octopus, and a small school of 10 sablefish! Back to the boats and we had lunch on EG - soup and leftover pasta salad. Can't remember how the afternoon went, but it went quickly. It was "Happy Hour" with just appetizers at 5pm and I made "cream cheese stuffed peppers". Greg had gone out to check the crab traps again and came back with a Dungeness! So we also cooked that up and put in in the fridge for later. We also wanted to make Sue "Birthday Halibut Taco's" for dinner, so we got a start on that as well. Cookin' up a storm in the kitchen, but it's sure a tiny kitchen.

More boats had arrived today so we had a larger crowd. I ended up sitting next to Beau, normally quite the talker. But he had had the hiccups for almost 24 hours and was a little under the weather, including from lack of sleep. So I gave him the "Cranna Sure Fire Hiccup Removal Method" and he actually got rid of them! For about 15 minutes, until he had some of the stuffed peppers I made. As he put them in his mouth he said "these will probably give me the hiccups back" - and they did. Sigh. Turns out he went back to his boat later and tried it again and was able to get rid of them.

Back on Spellbound we made Halibut Taco's for dinner and had another Sue Bday celebration, including the last of the chocolate cake. It was a nice evening.