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| 2010 CRUISE REPORT, WEEK FOUR
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July 6, 2010.
The days disappear. Suddenly we’ve been out four weeks and our minds are filled with new experiences. This week we visited the marinas in the Broughtons, ending up in Port McNeill, where we provisioned and fueled for the trip north.
Kwatsi Bay. We’ll visit Kwatsi on the way south. Anca and son Russell were still in Port McNeill, and we’d like to see the entire family.
Pierre’s at Echo May. New dock space has been added to the main marina, so more boats can be accommodated. And after some clever engineering, cell phone reception is good, although confined to area up by the store. You can’t get cell phone reception anywhere else in the Broughtons, so this is important. Saturday night pig roasts have begun, and Wednesday night theme get-togethers. For good reason, Pierre’s is the busiest marina in the Broughtons.
Billy Proctor’s Museum. People are flocking through Billy Proctor’s place, and Billy seems never to tire of explaining the stories behind the collection of coastal artifacts he has gathered. His separate “gift shop” has a superb collection of local books for sale.
This winter Billy built a reconstruction of a typical hand logger’s cabin, circa 1900. It’s complete with a little wood stove, wash basin, and bunk. All the wood came from a single five-foot-diameter cedar log Billy found floating. He said it must have been a tree felled a long time ago but not skidded into the water. He figures a slide did what the hand logger couldn’t. The boards that make up the walls and roof were split from the log, and all the furnishings from lumber milled from the log. Billy says it “took a couple weeks in March” to do it all. Two weeks seems a little short. I’m not sure he always sticks strictly to the truth in matters such as this.
Billy says he’s planning to go fishing this year. Warm water on the outside of Vancouver Island should be diverting the salmon runs through Queen Charlotte Strait and down Johnstone Strait. Happens about every 20 years, he said.
Billy is 75 this year but you’d never know it.
You can tie the boat or dinghy at Billy’s low, crude float, or hike the somewhat challenging trail from Echo Bay. However you get to Billy’s, be sure to do it. You won’t be sorry.
Greenway Sound. We happened in at Greenway Sound on the night of the first full restaurant dinners. The date had been moved up by three days at the last minute. It was something of a scramble to get everything together, but they did it. Our suppers were good. The store is stocked and all the services are running.
Shawl Bay. Lorne, Shawn and Rob were there, and the boats were coming in. Rob might be leaving after this season, so Lorne is working the two of them hard, rebuilding some of the old floats. The party area has a new roof, several of the buildings have been repainted, and flowers decorate the docks. Carol the Bead Lady’s gallery is filled with interesting local offerings. Shawl Bay is old, but looking pretty good. Don’t forget the complimentary pancake breakfasts in the morning.
Did you realize Rob is the fourth generation of the family to live at Shawl Bay? Roots run deep on the coast.
Sullivan Bay. Managers Chris and Debbie (with fierce guard dog Buddy – woof-woof) continue to make Sullivan Bay into a first-class stop. The restaurant has a good chef this year. The docks are excellent. The laundry and shower room have been re-done, and are inviting. The liquor store is well-stocked. Golfers, the 1–hole Sullivan Bay golf course has been re-established. I tried it, but the front of the tee box was too close to the water for me, and I sort of tensed-up. Chris says I’m the only one who has had this problem. A selection of clubs is out at the tee box. Distance depends on tide and wind, 100-140 yards. Whack away.
Jennis Bay. We arrived at Jennis Bay on a Tuesday, and made the fifth boat needed to celebrate their Tuesday Cajun night there (Tom Allo is from Cajun country). Mardi Gras streamers were hung in the float house, and the tables were decorated with festive hats. Colorful bead necklaces and masks were handed all around. Allyson’s traditional Cajun dishes were excellent. Visiting boaters’ potluck contributions were terrific (how do the ladies do it?). Nice stop with a welcoming family.
Sointula. The morning after we arrived, I found Lorraine Williams, the harbor manager, on her knees, scrubbing the shower. When I teased her about the boss being the janitor, she said, “With three sons, I had a lot of training. They can shoot a rifle straight, throw a ball straight, cut wood straight. But they had no aim in the bathroom!”
It’s been a cool spring with more rain than usual, definitely more rain than 2009. Remember, though, that 2009’s spring and summer were exceptional. As I walked down the dock, two middle-aged fishermen were chatting. “When’s summer coming?” I asked. “I don’t know,” came the answer. “We had April showers yesterday and the day before. We’re getting there.”
Sointula is completing 600 feet of new moorage. That’s 1200 feet if you count both sides of the floats. The pile driver is waiting, and electrical will be installed in two weeks. Everything is a little behind the hoped-for schedule. I’ve learned that here on the coast, any project completed within five years of the target date should be considered “on time.” Being a few weeks late is nothing.
This morning I met David Ridley, who was out for a walk. David Ridley is tall and straight, with white hair and a disorderly white beard, matched by massive and equally disorderly white eyebrows. He had an ornate walking stick, which had caught my eye. He told me a man in Lake Cowichan, down near Victoria, makes them. As the limb is growing, thin branches are wound around it to create a design, and the limb is bent to form a handle. At the appropriate time the new walking stick is cut from the tree and aged for two or three years. Each stick is unique. The one I saw was beautiful.
David and his wife moved to Sointula four years ago after a short visit, during which they were captivated by Sointula and Malcolm Island. Within a month of that visit they had bought a house in Sointula, sold their house in Victoria, and were moving in. Partway through move-in an 82-year-old neighbor woman brought out a plate of freshly-baked muffins. “They’re not for you, they’re for the men unloading the moving van,” the woman announced, and fed the workers.
A short time after the Ridleys were settled, the neighbor woman knocked on the door. “I’ve invited ten people to your house for a party tomorrow,” she said. “I hope it’s all right. It’s time you got to know people here.”
David said the people on Malcolm Island are wonderful. Then he cautioned, “Just don’t get involved in the politics.”
From 11:00 to 3:00 on summer long weekends (this was the July 1 Canada Day weekend) 75-year-old Dan Klingbiel gives blacksmith demonstrations in a small shop across from the Sointula museum. The Klingbiels relocated to Malcolm Island after he retired as a metal shop teacher in Southern California. His standard demonstration product is a hook, pointed on one end, neatly curled on the other, made from a straight length of iron, which is given to the visitor. The forge throws sparks when the air is added, the hammer pounds one end to a point, the other end flat, the red-hot iron is bent into shape. The final step is to hold the newly created hook with vice grips and gently heat it over the hot coals. Then, as the iron cools, bee’s wax is rubbed onto the surface. The bee’s wax amalgamates with the iron and renders it rustproof. We’re going to give our hook to our grandson Zachary (Zachary Rock, Ganges), who has developed an interest in blacksmithing.
We really enjoy Sointula. It’s the “un-resort.” The docks are interesting, with commercial boats coming and going, and the people are friendly.
Port McNeill. Port McNeill is the traditional shopping and fueling stop for boats headed north or headed back south toward home. The town docks used to be the only place to tie up, but the recent fuel dock expansion has changed all that. The fuel dock moorage is magnificent, wide and strong, with lots of power for even the largest boats. It’s not quite as close to shopping, but okay. We stayed at the town docks, and had our “traditional” first-night-at-Port McNeill supper of “the works” pizza from the pizza joint across the road. A medium pizza fed us, with some left over for lunches. We do it every year. IGA had everything we needed to stock up for the journey north. We’d already filled the water tanks at Sointula, but Port McNeill water is fine. We were told that Gus’s Pub, across from the marina, had completely remodeled, with new carpet, new fixtures, and everything else. We didn’t visit, but we had a good supper there a year ago.
Weather and crossings. For boats in the Broughtons, Queen Charlotte Strait can be a challenge. Queen Charlotte Strait, you see, separates the mainland, where the Broughtons are located, from the northern end of Vancouver Island, where Sointula, Alert Bay, Port McNeill and Port Hardy are located. Listen to the weather forecast. In general, don’t cross when the northwesterly is blowing. Often that wind is only in the afternoon, but not always. We crossed in the morning. By afternoon the wind had filled in. When in doubt, ask others. Ignorance means you don’t know something. Stupidity means you’re unwilling to learn.
Next week. There was one day to get around Cape Caution, and it was the day we hoped to go. This is written from north of Cape Caution. Tune in next week. (Preview: I bought gumboots, which please me and bore Marilynn.)v
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