InsidePassageNews.com

Duncanby – July 6 and 7th There is a new Duncanby! The ownership was transferred about three months previous and the new owners have been busy. All the buildings have new roofing and most of the siding has also been upgraded. The buildings are still pretty much the same but sure look a lot better. They are being maintained and getting better instead of worse. The docks are much improved with new decking and shore power and water fixtures. The bull rails are all new too. More improvements are planned which may include some trails.

The staff is enthusiastic young people who are eager to make sure you are satisfied. There was one older scruffy looking fellow running a weedwacker. After he got into his Beaver and flew away I found out he was one of the four new owners.

The store was still pretty bare but it was only the first week since they opened to visitors. The restaurant has been remodeled and the kitchen is updated. We had two good meals. My hot water for tea looked like it already had the bag in it so it’s the same water.

A major emphasis is fishing. They have a small fleet of fishing skiffs for self-charter. There is a fish processing facility right on the dock consisting of cleaning tables and a building where the staff can wrap and flash freeze your catch.

They are glad to have visiting boats but like several other moorages we had sticker shock. The charge was $1/foot and 30-amp power was $15/ day. (We found about the same at Shearwater.)

Emily Bay, Briggs Inlet – July 18th Winds and currents are very variable and cause nearby boats to swing different directions from their anchors. It caused a close encounter. I suspect the stream current meandering in the bay causes this. Winds also came from every direction.

There is a trail to the lake that starts from a small building at the head of the bay. The building is a “Salmonid Stock Enhancement” facility according to the sign. Right behind the building there is a sturdy new bridge across the stream. If the effort that went into the new bridge continues, the trail should be very nice in the near future. We found it rather rustic.

Wigham Cove – July 20th Followed the dotted line to the anchor symbol today. We noted two boats in the bay on the south side and it looked like the better spot as it is protected from the southwest afternoon winds. The depths looked more manageable too.

Reba Point – July 23rd Didn’t stop but noted nets and buoys on the west side and across the head.

Stryker Nook – July 23rd Shared with a sailboat. Cozy but comfortable. We wonder about the bay just to the west. It looked like more room and probably just as sheltered.

Kayak Cove – July 24th Sandy beach indeed is used by kayaks. There was the start of a trail we were told went across Superstition Point but it was pretty overgrown so we didn’t try it.

This is a great base for fishing the point. There were many charter fishing boats about. Some were based on a large boat in the inlet to the north and some came all the way from Calvert Island. I even caught a 24# Chinook from our dinghy.

Only down side is that swells rocked us when the wind died in the evening. The second day I put out a stern anchor to hold our bow pointed to the inlet and it was comfortable then.

Spitfire Channel – July 27th We found two boats anchored in a nook on the south side of the channel about 200 yards east of the narrows. There are lots of anchoring opportunities besides the ones published.

Any place in this area makes a good base for fishing with a fast dinghy.

Fury Cove - July 30th We experienced some frustration with the weather forecasting.

We pulled in early afternoon of the 29th. It was very calm and forecast to stay that way until a front passing the area late on the 30th. Rather than a long day on the 29th we planned to enjoy a day at the cove and get an early start for Port Hardy the next morning. Getting up at 0430 the forecast was different calling for something like “ SE winds increasing rapidly to gale force in late morning as the front nears”. Well, we didn’t want anything to do with gale winds as we neared Port Hardy so went back to bed.

We spent all day on the 30th watching steady rain and zero wind. The forecasts kept talking about the wind but it never came all day. Then the forecast at 1600 said the front would pass overnight. Queen Charlotte Straight area stations were all reporting less than 10kts until 1700. At 1950 it started with West Sea Otter reporting E at 18kts and 0.8 meters. Scarlett Point had gusts to 30kts. Just before dark the rain let up and I could see clouds scudding over Calvert Island but it was still calm at the cove. About time to turn on the anchor light the treetops started moving. For several hours after that we danced on the anchor rode and hoped it would hold. Ours held and the others all did as well.

Early the 31st it was calm again. West Sea Otter was 1.4 meters. We figured it would be settling down quickly as the wind didn’t have a lot of time to work it up. We left a little before 0900 and had a lumpy start but it did get better as we went to Port Hardy.

Réanne's Comment: Fury Cove is Don's and my favorite place to wait out a gale. Through the "window" at the west end of the cove, it's fun to watch the white caps in FitzHugh Sound.

BC weather: Overall, the BC weather forecasts are superior but they too can frustrate us with the timing. Almost the same thing happened as we went north and waited out weather that was a day late in Duncanby. Both times the first forecast was correct but the winds were delayed. What can we do? Nothing different. Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound is one of the times where you can’t duck in someplace.

Réanne's Comment: We find that hugging the mainland shore from Fury Cove southward avoids a lot of rolling in heavy weather. We've developed an "inner route" that takes us inside Dugout Rocks, Table Island and Egg Island. The first time we did it, I was apprehensive, but now, it seems like a piece of cake (we follow our previous track on Nobeltec). However, you have to be alert, as always. Millbrook Cove, Jones Cove, and Miles Inlet are "duck in" places for us.]Reference: Exploring the South Coast of BC

Tracey Harbour – July 5th Anchored in Napier Bay in about 35’ in the north end just south of the pipeline on the chart. We found good holding in mud and clamshells.

Dickson Island – August 3 & 4 The anchorage in the bay on the NE side is a good base for fishing in Wells Passage. It probably isn’t a good spot in a blow but you don’t want to fish then either. The bottom appears to be rocky but we observed five boats at one time in the bay. One anchored and stern tied in the narrow bight at the head of the bay. He had to wait for the tide to come up enough to recover his anchor the next day though. We noted two heavy shore ropes for stern tying and there may be more.

Réanne's Comment: This is a good place to anchor before heading north across Queen Charlotte Sound. We left at 0530 and were anchored in Fury Cove by 1400.

Turnbull Cove – August 5th There has been a recent landslide on the south shore near the west end.

Réanne's Comment: See Bob and Shearlene Duke's experience—they were anchored in Turnbull the night of the avalanche!

The trail was excellent. It took us 30 minutes for the round trip plus some time to stop and enjoy the views. At the lake end there was a tent platform and an outhouse in addition to a nice float. All that was lacking was the canoe rental.

There is a logging show in progress near the Roaring Hole. There are no recent clearcuts visible from the water.

Cullen Harbour – August 7th Waves from summer NW winds rocked us a bit. It is another good base for fishing by dinghy. Started to take the dinghy into the lagoon but realized we would be stuck for a few hours. The entrance needs to be transited at slack or in a high-speed boat.

Joe Cove – August 9th Could find only one submerged rock at the entrance to the inner bay with the float. The rock was marked with a milk jug. We had three boats on the float one night.

Mamalilaculla – August 11th A lucky connection with Tom on VHF 79A resulted in a tour at 1130 vs. 1100. At low tide we ended up ferrying his customers to the float for him and then enjoying the tour. Tom indicated this is probably the last year for village tours. Elders (spirits) have told him it is time to let the village go back to nature. Tom also alluded to problems with kayakers and others moving in and offending the natives.

Réanne's Comment: We talked with Tom by VHF around the same time and he told us he wouldn't be doing any more tours. Taxi service and other tour business has increased.

Farewell Harbour – August 11&12 Lots of room to anchor and lots of boats too. Another great base to fish Blackfish Sound by dinghy. (We did well there too.)

Minstrel Island – August 15th It is stripped and abandoned. The floats are still in good shape and we tied free. The fish camp next door still is occupied but we didn’t see any activity. The buildings are all open now. Anything of value has been removed including some vehicles we saw in the woods two years ago. There are many old batteries and oil containers strewn about. The buildings are rapidly falling apart. Pretty sad now and a big problem for any new owners.

Réanne's Comment: We just heard rumors that it has sold. We hope that's true. Anyone have any late-breaking news?

Knight Inlet in General —There is traffic from two major activities—logging and fishing and bear watching operations.

We saw four areas of logging activity. Helicopter logging is going on at Lull Bay. Regular logging is near Rest Islets. Tsakonu Cove has a large dry sort and booming operation taking up part of the head of the bay. At the head of the inlet on Dutchman Head is another dry sort and booming operation. The logging there was not visible and probably up the Klinaklini River valley. All this logging activity produces junk in the water. The helicopter operation causes limbs to strip from the trees as they're dropped into the inlet makes a hazard for boats navigating. You have to keep a sharp eye out in the whole inlet.

Those high-speed aluminum crew boats are zipping up and down the inlet with either logging crews or tourists. They are out there in the fog too so watch out.

The only notable waterfall is at Cascade Point but it’s a nice one.

Glendale Cove – August 16 & 17 There are limited anchoring possibilities. We anchored on a sloping bottom on the west side just north of some old pilings. The second night there were four pleasure cruisers there. Every place else seemed to be less than a fathom or over 150 feet. The resort on the east side has a prominent sign saying “No Moorage”.

The resort, I think the name is Knight Inlet Lodge, was running bear watching excursions at the head of the bay. There were at least two other companies running tours too. At low tide we could see some bears by binocular from the boat as they fished the stream across the drying flats. As the tide rises they move upstream and the tours follow. The guides sometimes got into the stream with waders and pulled their boats with customers up the stream. We, along with our friends, joined in with our two dinghies. The idea is to be real quiet so you don’t upset the bears. We rowed. It seems to work as the bears would glance toward us once in awhile but otherwise we were ignored. It was fascinating to watch them as they tried to catch salmon and argued about territory rights. At one time there were four within about 100 feet of us. I felt there was strength in numbers. We wouldn’t go alone that close to big bears.

Wahshilhlas Bay – August 18 & 19 It was settled weather and both boats anchored in the northwest corner just off the shoal. There were some snags to avoid. If we expected any winds we could have moved away from the shoal a little and anchored with stern ties to shore or some old pilings. It is far from “bomb proof” but we felt secure with the weather we had.

The setting is beautiful with mountains and snow patches in August. There was not much life in the bay though. We saw no sign of salmon or eagles or bears in the stream. We did watch a brown bear on the beach one afternoon. We thought we could explore the Sim river by dinghy but it was only inches deep right by the mouth. Perhaps a kayak could work up the river with a few portages. There are two abandoned cabins next to the mouth of the river on IR land.

Thurston Bay – August – 25th We anchored in the northwest corner. There is a large area around there to chose from with depths of 40 to 60 feet. We could see shipping in Johnstone Strait and some of their wakes could see us too. A little rocky at times but generally OK. If we were farther east it might have been smoother. We watched a very large brown bear on the beach one afternoon. This is another good spot to base for dinghy fishing.

Gorge Harbour – August 26th A very good dinner at the restaurant. New ownership is taking over but no indication of any changes.

A good spot to get off the boat and stretch your legs. We walked to Whaletown and also up a trail to a land development with nice views and blackberries.

Beach Gardens Marina – August 28th A small but nice marina with good facilities. Not much to do besides walk to a convenience store about a half-mile north. Apparently the facility has had a succession of owners. The current ones are making some rapid progress on the buildings and a restaurant and bar should be open by next season as well as a spa and the usual hotel facilities.Reference: Exploring the San Juan and Gulf Islands

Friday Harbor – September 1st Customs clearance was done at the dock by phone and video camera. It was not the personal experience we expected but went OK. If customs personnel were on the dock it would have saved some time, as we had to have the other persons on the boat come out to be viewed by the video camera. That was to compare the passport picture to the person. We were also stopped briefly in Spieden Channel by a small patrol boat that said just “Police” on the side. The person who spoke to us had a US Customs patch on his shirt.

At the Customs dock there are huge cleats spaced about 100 feet apart. They must be for the tour boats and Victoria Clipper but were not much use for most pleasure craft. We improvised by tying around the chains holding some long tubular bumpers.

Thatcher Pass – September 2nd This was Friday of Labor Day weekend. What a culture shock compared to our weeks north of Cape Caution. We were tucked in safe in our slip by 1PM with only one minor collision at the Friday Harbor fuel dock. (That’s three times we've been hit while tied up and minding our own business).