On our way north, we meandered and did our best to get off the beaten track. On the way South, we have we have a lot of miles to cover over a relatively short period of time--so our plan has been to go as direct as possible, while keeping to the inside passage. Our intent was to visit some of the places that we missed on the way north, and visit our favorite places perhaps again, if time is permitting. In the last seven days we've gone 269 miles and covered most of the North BC coast.
The tides going through Grenville Channel and Princess Royal Channel were dictating our days. Although we tried to time them right, it seemed that wind and tide were usually annoyingly not quite right. We ended up doing Grenville Channel all in one day. It was a LONG day. 12 hours. We had fog, sun, rain, wind and calm...
In Princess Royal Channel we visited Butedale. This is an old cannery site, that is now looking for investors (see https://faithwilson.com/listings/butedale-bay/) After requesting permission from the current owners, we tied up at the dock, and were soon joined by 5 other boats either on their way North or South. We went for a hike on the grounds. We did not see any spirit bears, although apparently there are some that are supposed to live on this on island. If you want to learn more about these bears and the rainforest, I'd recommend watching this video, it is some amazing photography!
From Butedale, we continued down the Princess Royal Channel, to Tolmie Channel, to the village of Klemtu.
From Klemtu, we left early in the morning. It had been warmer the last few days, so on this morning, the fog was thick. REAL thick. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen it so thick! I could not tell where the water started and stopped. I could not see the water at the bow. (so less than 50' of visibility).
We passed from Finlayson Channel, into Mathesion Channel via Oscar Passage. We used radar, our chart plotter, AIS and observation of any ripples on the water to assess other boat traffic. By 10 am, hen the fog lifted just as we reached Perceval Narrows. It was one of the more exhausting days at the helm. Interestingly, just as the fog lifted, I saw a kayak passing in front of us about 1/4 of a mile. I'm sure hoping they were keeping an eye for us -- as there is no way I could have seen them or heard them over the engine noise in that fog!
After an evening at Bella Bella, Shearwater, -- with again an empty grocery store, we continued our journey south through Lama passage and spent the night at Namu Harbour. We could see salmon jumping out of the water around the boat -- but we had no luck. Namu Harbour is the site of another cannery, although this one is in a state of ruins and looks largely unsafe!
We are now planning our weather window for the next crossing of Cape Caution which we hope to do in the next week. We start to plan well in advance, observing the weather patterns, checking the consistency of the forecasts and planning our timing with tides. The forecast right now is for SE winds for the foreseeable future--as usual we have an uncanny skill at having the wind always being from the 'wrong' direction. Only time will tell. Onward.
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