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| Shearwater Marine Resort, Denny Island. |
Since
meeting up with our friends on Salubrious in Ocean Falls
When we arrived, a large
fishing boat was tied up at the southern end and a 45ish foot launch (it’s hard
to tell with motor boats, they always look so much bigger than they are) was
tied up where the float planes come in, leaving a gap in the middle (just off
the pumps) of about 55 feet, possibly more.
Cambria , including
the anchor, comes in around 45 and we need about 60 feet to manoeuvre
comfortably. Salubrious, which
has a long bowsprit, measures 52 feet.
But the launch refused to move.
David was at the helm, so it
was my job to communicate with the people on the launch (who were lounging on
their fly bridge at the time). When I
told them that we had two boats needing to fuel up, I was told we’d have to go
one at a time. David moved in closer to
see if we could squeeze in, and determined that we couldn’t. They asked how long our boat was, I told them
and they responded with a, “you’ll fit.”
David was furious. I (foolishly)
tried to explain that we only have one engine and no bow thruster, so we need
more space and asked if they could move down a bit. Their response was . . . NO! So we radioed the fuel dock, but nobody
answered.
Eventually the fuel attendant
came down and the launch had to move off the dock completely, hovering around
while Salubrious tied up and we followed behind. The whole process took about two hours and
Bill and Sylvia never did make it to the Big House. Come to find out, a group of First Nation
members were paddling down from Prince Rupert to attend a week-long gathering
in New Bella Bella (near Shearwater), which explained why the launch didn’t want
to move. Bands from all along the coast
were doing the same thing and they expected 4,000 people would be in
attendance. We dropped our lines and
continued up Klemtu Passage to make our way to Bottleneck Inlet for the
night. Along the way, we saw two dragon
boats and a canoe headed in the opposite direction – I guess the people aboard
the launch managed to get the best seat in the house after all.
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| Members of the Tsimshian Nation arriving in Klemtu. |
We took Friday off so David,
Sylvia and I kayaked to the head of Bottleneck Inlet and up a short stream,
something I’d always wanted to do in the past but was a little nervous about
attempting on my own in case of bears.
It was a really beautiful stretch of water that I’m sure David would
have enjoyed more if he hadn’t foolishly fallen over while trying to help
Sylvia off the rocks. It seems we
enjoyed our time up the stream too much, staying longer than we should have,
and didn’t have enough depth in some areas on our return.
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| David and I kayaking in Bottleneck Inlet. |
We had planned to leave early
Saturday morning to transit nearby Hiekish Narrows, where the current can run
up to 4.5 knots, but it was foggy so we all went back to bed and left in the
afternoon. With a later start, we
couldn’t make it to Bishop Bay Central Coast
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| The view out to Fraser Reach from Khutze Inlet. |
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