Trail Blazers

Tuesday July 31st – The hot weather just keeps rolling. Day after day now of high 80’s to low 90’s has us in the water swimming a lot. So, we decided to stay in the warm Desolation Sound and headed to Tenedos for a few nights.

We made the short run then anchored tucked into a little cove. Some cliff jumping was calling us, so we all hiked to Unwin lake to cool off. The water was super warm. All of us jumped the cliffs, Skylar and Zach were the bravest, going the highest. A fun way to cool off.

Then next day we all took a 30-minute dinghy ride to Refuge Cove for lunch then Zach and Skylar wanted to blaze their own trail up to a peak just above our boats. They had a plan and gathered their trail blazing tools. They disappeared into the woods. After about 20 minutes we heard some rustling, yelling and a quick escape down to the water. They got into a bee’s nest and poor Zach got the worst of it! He must have got stung at least 8 times, but Skylar somehow escaped the swarm. Zach was a tough trooper! He held it together and kayaked back to the boat and received some medical attention. Needless to say, the trail blazers were done, and the peak was never conquered.

However, there is a different peak close by that someone at some point in the past braved the bee’s and made a trail. Trail is not actually quite the right word, it’s more of a scramble with ropes to help you up. It took some convincing to get Ava to go. A couple years ago she got stung quite a few times doing the scramble, actually we all did, except Skylar (I see a trend here). She finally agreed. You can’t tell by looking at her, but Ava actually loves doing hard hikes and climbing. After getting over the bee fear she loved it! And no one got stung.

Thursday Aug 2nd – Finally some cool weather! We woke up today to clouds and much cooler weather. A very nice break from the 90-degree days we’ve been having. Everyone just relaxed on the boats, doing small projects and soaking up the cool weather.




Back in Time

Christmas Day 2018– Truly, this post is about going back in time, in more ways than one. Yes, it’s winter now and I still have to finish up our boating blog from this summer! So, while it’s a miserable 42 degrees and raining, sit back and dream of the coming summer on the water. More posts to follow.

Sunday July 29th – We woke up to the sound of the falls at the stern of our boat and drank coffee overlooking the calm, secluded beauty of the area. After pulling anchor we slowly motored southwest back down the channel headed for Malaspina Inlet’s Isabel Bay 34 nm away.

This summer has been extremely hot and today was no different. Todd found a cozy little spot to anchor then we tied up to him. We all swam and relaxed in the sun. Julie and I took the dinghy out fishing to a spot where Skylar and Zach have caught some nice Lingcod in past trips. Skylar was a little pissy about being left behind but we need some time away from the kids so sorry kid.

Julie and I zipped around to the main channel and dropped the line in some water that was still running fast from the tide. It was a nice relaxing trip but no fish. Once back at the boat I couldn’t tell if Skylar was happy or sad we didn’t catch anything without him.

That evening we explored a huge shallow inlet by dinghy. It was kind of creepy and eerie. In the flat calm water with nothing around we kept going deeper and deeper into the inlet. Just when we thought It ended we found a small creek that kept us pushing further up the flats. Motoring up the creek the feel turned into something you might see in Florida. It felt like at any moment a crocodile would take the boat out. Todd turned full bayou redneck for about 5 minutes never getting out of character. There could have been a little alcohol involved. It was hilarious and a fun adventure!

Monday July 30th – We needed some groceries and to get rid of some stinky garbage. Todd devised a plan to dinghy over to the small government dock on Malaspina Peninsula then take a taxi to Lund. Lund is a tiny little town on the other side of the peninsula. By boat it’s a long way but by car its only about 5 miles.

After researching taxi services, he found one, the only one! Upon meeting the taxi at the head of the dock we learned this was not your ordinary taxi. A 1940’s (I think) Mercury that had a long history of taxi service in Chicago, was now the only taxi in Lund and the owner sure had a lot of fun with it. He told us all about the history of the car as we cruised the 5 miles across the peninsula at about half the speed limit. Once in Lund we stocked up then made the reverse trip back to our boats.

That evening we all cruised back to the government docks for dinner at the Laughing Oyster. What a fantastic restaurant looking out over the water with nothing else around it. We all ate dinner relaxing in the warm evening then realized it was getting dark, so we raced back to our boats for the 10-minute fast dinghy ride back home.




Don’t Leave Me

Saturday July 28th – Today we are leaving the marina headed up Toba Inlet. Toba runs inland about 22 miles with steep forested walls, waterfalls and snowcapped peaks. Its remote, nothing around except the occasional logging camp. Todd and I were hoping to find a place to anchor for the night somewhere up the inlet, but everyone said it’s not a good idea due to sudden winds that can come up and poor anchorages.

The cruise was incredible! With almost no other boats, it felt like you were really in the wild, and we were. Multiple waterfalls, sheer cliffs, and water that was so turquoise it felt like you were in some other land.  Defiantly one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.

About 3/4s of the way up we found a large exposed rock face with a waterfall. I thought it would be a great place to have lunch, so I tried anchoring in 140’ of water just in front of the falls then backing our stern up to the rock face. With about 250’ of anchor chain out and a line to shore off our stern, we set the hook. Todd tied up alongside us and we had a great lunch watching the falls just off our stern.

At some point we just decided to stay the night. The kids messed around in the waterfall pools panning for gold (I think they may have even found some) and we sat on the back deck watching and listening to the falls. It was fun to be so remote, we never even saw another boat after we anchored. Lilly, Todd and Tami’s dog, even thought it was a remote location. Skylar and Zach dropped her off on shore to poop then took the dinghy to the other side of the falls to fix the shore line. She did what was asked, then got really nervous about the dinghy not being there to pick her up. She looked like she was going to jump in and swim back to the boat, but Todd and Tami said no way, she would never do that. Sure enough, she got real nervous and lept into the water swimming back to the mothership as fast as she could just to make sure she was not left behind. We all laughed and cheered her on!

We had an amazing evening all alone in the wilderness.

(Another side story)
I gotta say my friend Todd is a smart dude. He knows more about boats and boating (and a lot of other things) then anyone I know! We have a lot of fun boating together every summer and I have learned so much about boating from him, but this may not have been one of his better decisions.

So, the story goes, I anchor as stated above in Toba Inlet. Todd ties up to me, then decides that if we are going to stay the night he should probably put out an anchor as well. Smart thing to do, except that his anchor markers that tell him how much chain he has out were all out of whack, or at least it seemed that way at the time. After pulling back on the anchor and tying back off to me it became evident that the anchor was not fully deployed as intended.

A little frustrated, he decides that rather than untie the boat again and re-anchor, he would take the anchor out on the dinghy (still connected via chain to the big boat) and drop it in the water. It’s a great thought but an anchor and 200’ or so of chain weighs a LOT! The anchor dropped in the dinghy no problem, Zach let the chain out as Todd motored out away from the boat. With the dinghy in the right spot and all the chain out, Todd and all his strength lifted the anchor out of the dinghy, then chucked (tried to) it off the side of the boat. It almost made it except for that darn pointy end of the anchor just barley snagged on the inflatable side ripping a huge gash in the side of the boat!

With a look of Ohhhhh…. Sh*t, what did I just do on his face, he tries to lift the anchor off without success. In defeat he motors the dinghy back to the big boat and lifts the anchor off with the windless. Luckily the dinghy is made up of many air chambers so only one was popped. We made due with one anchor that night.  Wont do that again!

 

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