Saturday August 15^th –  Today we are headed back south to Dent Island Lodge.  We’ve never been to this luxury fishing resort that’s extremely expensive, but everyone says you have to experience at least once.  This resort is owned by the Nordstrom Family and has a beautiful setting right in the middle of Dent and Yuculta rapids.

Once again we had to hit slack water at Dent rapids.  We are the slow boat so we took off first from Blind Channel headed for the rapids.  Smooth motoring through the rapids then we tied up on the nice docks at Dent Resort (14.44nm) right in front of the Boeing Co. corporate boat (pretty much a ship actually, it’s a 150’ Delta Marine named “Daedalus”).  We could have easily been their dinghy!

We all went up and had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant.  Ava and Brianna explored all the grounds by themselves and found the resident resort dog named CC.  They were in love playing with the dog all afternoon.

Todd, Keith all the kids and myself decided to take Todd’s 17’ dinghy out fishing.  Surrounded by rapids we didn’t feel comfortable going very far but got close to Aaron rapids while it was in full swing.  The water was running incredibly fast as we poked the boat into the flowing water just to test its strength.  Just as we pulled away we could see a couple Pacific White Sided Dolphins playing in the surf.  We all got excited and headed that direction to get a closer look.  As we got closer our boat was surrounded by them!  At least 50-100 dolphins all playing around our boat.  They were in our bow wake and leaping in the air all around us.  At one point I reached out and got within a couple inches of touching one.  Todd was snapping photos of some in the distance and at the very moment he hit the button one just happened to leap up out of the water right next to the boat.  We motored back to the dock with no fish but one of the coolest (accidental) photos ever!!

All 12 of us had a fantastic dinner in the lodge that night!

Trip Log – 336.15nm

 

 

Friday August 14^th Pendrell to Blind Channel – Today we are making the 43.65nm run to Blind Channel, Northwest of Pendrell Sound.  We’ve never been that far north so were excited to see new some country!   We left and hour earlier than the others because we are the slow boat and we need to hit the Yuculta & Dent rapids close to slack water.

Yuculta, & Dent rapids can run like a river up to 9 knots.  Large whirlpools can form and steep standing waves can be very dangerous.  We are not taking any risks so we planned out arrival near slack water.  At 30 minutes before slack the water was still running 4 knots in places as the current whisked us through the channel.  The other two boats we were with hit the rapids a little later than we did.  They were on the other side of slack so the current had changed, going against them.  At one point they hit a strong current and their boats suddenly and sharply turned 45 degrees.  All the dishes drying on the counter in Todd’s boat went flying on the floor, breaking most of them.  This is not an area to mess around with!

We got tied up at Blind Channel Resort and took all the kids on a hike to see an 800-year-old cedar tree.  It was a beautiful, fun hike through the woods and the tree was massive!

We decided to try our luck Lingcod fishing and our dinghy and Todd’s across the channel just before slack water.  No luck at first but then the fish really started biting!  We all had fun taking turns bringing in the fish.  Between all of us we caught our limit – 9 Lingcod total!!  We filleted them up then vacuum bagged and froze them for a later date.

Each night for dinner we’ve all been gathering on Bruce and Gloria’s boat.  They have a beautiful 66’ Tollycraft that has plenty of room for the 12 of us to have dinner and socialize.  Bruce and Gloria have been very welcoming and fun, we are so thankful for their hospitality!

Trip Log – 321.71nm

 

 

Thursday August 13^th – Our friends took Skylar and went around the corner to a secret beach to go clamming.  They came back with a huge bucket load of nice clams!  Our destination today is Pendrell Sound (15.76nm).  Pendrell’s claim to fame is the warmest water in the area and we were all eager to check it out.  Our friends have cruised this area for many years and we have only been here one other time so we were excited to have a tour guide for the next few days.

We stayed at Squirrel through lunch then we all took off for Pendrell Sound.  Todd and Tami’s friend Keith and his son Kelton were coming up on a ferry to spend some time in the islands.  They needed to be picked up in Lund but cell service up here is not the best so they were not sure what time they would arrive.  After waiting around in Refuge Cove for a while they left and joined us in Pendrell.  Just then the messages came that Keith was waiting in Lund.  Todd and Tami took off in their 17’ dinghy to run the 40nm round trip to Lund – quite a distance in the little boat and it was getting late.

We all swam in the warm water and had dinner while waiting for our friends to return.  As the sun started to set we all got a little worried about them.  Based on our calculations they were about an hour overdue.  I called them on the VHF radio – no answer, but just then we could see them arriving in the distance.  Everyone felt relieved!

Trip Log – 278.06nm