Kayaking with friends in Prideaux Haven. We left Walsh Cove just after lunch Tuesday afternoon and motored south down Waddington Channel to Prideaux Haven – our favourite destination in Desolation Sound – where we met up with our friends, Jeff and Karry, Wednesday. They arrived around noon and we took a tour of their new boat, Fantasy, before taking Sally for a hike from Melanie to Laura Cove.  The...

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Walsh Cove Provincial Marine Park (left). We left Shoal Bay late yesterday morning to hit slack tide through the final set of three rapids, Dent, Gillard and Yuculta, and made our way to Walsh Cove Marine Park along Waddington Channel for a few days of rest and relaxation.  I chose Walsh because it’s a nice place to kayak and relatively quiet compared to other Desolation Sound anchorages but...

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We left Forward Harbour early yesterday morning to time our passage through Whirlpool and Green Point Rapids arriving in Shoal Bay by ten o’clock.  A boat was already anchored in the area we wanted to drop our hook, so we moved over to our usual spot which was littered with crab pots and had to drop a little farther back than usual.  We couldn’t get a good set...

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Johnstone Strait and the damage she's incurred from logging. The past few days have been a blur of activity.  We left our anchorage in Pruth Bay on Monday for Blunden Harbour which then turned into Beaver Harbour which quickly became Port McNeill, travelling more than 85 nautical miles in 11.5 hours.  The conditions were ideal.  There wasn’t enough wind to sail but the seas were flat with a...

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West Beach, Calvert Island. As it turned out, the forecast for the weekend didn’t materialize.  What was supposed to be sunny and warm turned overcast with thunderstorms both yesterday and today.  It was a little disappointing, spending so much of our time hiding from rain showers rather than exploring our final anchorage of the Central Coast.  But more disappointing is that we’re beginning to see changes in the...

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The Hakai Institute, Pruth Bay We got up early Wednesday morning and went into Shearwater to fill the propane tanks, buy some groceries and take Sally for a well-deserved walk before upping anchor and moving on – the sooner the better as far as we’re both concerned.  The place holds no character, or characters, and simply isn’t for us.  But Sea Otter Inlet is, so we motored for...

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The Big House in Klemtu We’re here, but we’re not there.  We left Fifer Cove yesterday morning in light rain and managed to get through Meyers Passage before we were hit with 28 knot winds from the southeast. The rain and wind persisted and visibility was poor, which can be quite tiring, so we tucked into Jorgensen Harbour for the night and were given a first-hand lesson on how...

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Fifer Cove, Princess Royal Island We gave Pine Creek in Bay of Plenty another try yesterday, or at least I did.  I spent much of the afternoon paddling around the bay in my kayak in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive spirit bear, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Not there, anyway.  So we upped anchor this morning and moved four nautical miles up-inlet to Fifer...

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Cambria anchored in Bay of Plenty. After a day of rain on Wednesday, we left Bottleneck Inlet yesterday morning and moved 13 nautical miles to Jorgensen Harbour where we spent the night to wait for slack tide at Meyers Passage.  The word “narrow” doesn’t begin to describe Meyers.  For one nautical mile, you have to work your way through a shallow fairway that constricts down to less than...

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Bottleneck Inlet. The problem with the windless still exists so we decided to stay in Windy Bay yesterday so David could take another look at it, cleaning the contacts and changing out the connectors in the process.  It performed well for the first ten out of forty metres this morning as we were upping anchor, but then it was back to business as usual.  It seems we have...

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Oatswish Bay in Mussel Inlet. The plan for the day was to travel up Mussel Inlet, the western boundary of Fiordland.  Our expectations weren’t high.  By all accounts, we’d seen the best of the best yesterday in Kynoch, but Mussel Inlet has merit beyond what’s described in the cruising guides:  Whereas yesterday the word “amazing” fell short, today it was “spectacular”.  Regardless of the superlative, the hundreds of...

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The head of Kynoch Inlet. We left Rescue Bay this morning and motored north along Mathieson Channel.  The landscape continued to be fairly ordinary until we crossed the “line” into Fiordland Recreation Area where everything suddenly seemed to change: The mountains grew steeper and more beautiful.  The forest more lush and green.  And the wilderness more wild and complex.  A couple of miles beyond the park border, Mathieson Channel...

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Mathieson Channel -- The road to Fiordland It was foggy in the channel this morning but finally cleared before we had to leave Wigham Cove to reach Perceval Narrows, the main route into Mathieson Channel, near slack tide. The narrows look a bit daunting on the chart but were much easier to transit than they appeared, especially in calm conditions.  Our biggest obstacle turned out to be a...

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The mountains catching the clouds along Return Channel It rained again yesterday and the wind was blowing from the south, so we stayed in Boukind Bay one more night before moving on this morning.  The wind is forecasted to come from the northwest today and the barometer has risen to 1022 MB, signs of improving weather.  Coupled with the fact that we woke up to sunshine and pieces...

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