Tuesday August 7th – Skylar and his two friends ran ahead of us in the dinghy to do some fishing at the entrance of Pendrell Sound. We got the boat ready and pulled anchor for our cruise to Squirrel Cove. The boys had about 2 hours of fishing before we arrived to pick them up. Skylar caught a really big Yellow Eye Rockfish but that was it.

Skylar’s friends Jonny and Carson both live on Lake Tapps so they are no stranger to watersports. Wake surfing has become a popular sport on the lake but here in Desolation Sound ski boats are non-existent. Ever since we got our current boat Skylar has been talking about wake surfing behind it. Skylar noticed at about 12-13 knots the boat makes a pretty big wake perfect for wake surfing.

So, with some experts onboard, and the dinghy in the water for quick retrieval of a down surfer, we decided to give it a try. First up, Carson enthusiastically jumped in the water to give it a try. Skylar and Jonny followed along videoing in the dinghy as Carson got right up and we adjusted our speed for the best wake.

It was awesome! Watching these kids wake surf behind a 52’ boat in the middle of Desolation Sound was quite a sight!

Arriving in Squirrel Cove we found a nice spot and stern tied along a wall where stern tying is the nom. After settling in I looked over at a moderately close boat that was not stern tied. On the back of the boat stood a guy, arms crossed, staring right at me. He didn’t look happy with our position. We were too far away to talk (that should tell you something) so I got in the dinghy to go chat with him.

I asked if he was comfortable with our position. He said, “not really”. I was anchored, and shore tied, and he was just anchored without a shore tie, so he would swing around but I would stay in position. After some friendly get to know you talk that was really awkward, I asked him how much anchor chain he had out. He said, “I have no idea”. Really, no idea! How can you safely anchor without knowing that? I thought we were fine, so I told him that if at any point he wants me to move (its customary for the person who anchored last to move if things go south) I would. The boat stayed plenty far away as we swam in the water and the boys took turns on the rope swing.

Wednesday August 8th. 5am, I wake up and look outside to make sure all is well. It was too dark to really confirm but it looked like the boat that “has no idea how much anchor chain they have out” was gone. They must have left really early I thought and went back to sleep. Julie got up about an hour later and found the boat. She said it looked like the boat had moved and sided tied to another anchored boat a couple hundred yards away. Reality was that they drug anchor across the bay past our boat and almost hit another group of boats. Soon there was some rustling around the boats and the anchor dragger slowly motored out of the bay, hopefully with their tail between their legs.

The boys and I embarked on a 6-mile dinghy ride up to Tekern Arm to see the falls and swim in the lake. We had a great swim then back at the dinghy dock a lady said, “hey you guys are anchored in Squirrel, right?” She then explained she woke up this morning to a drifting boat that almost hit their boat. She had to bang on their boat to wake them up! I told her the story about how they had no idea how much anchor chain they had out, and we all laughed about our narrow miss.

We fished for a bit on the way back then pulled anchor and took off for Tenedos.

Sunday August 5th – Skylar has two friends flying in tomorrow to Pendrell Sound, so we need to get to Pendrell today to be ready for their arrival. Pendrell is perfect in the heat. It has the warmest water in the area you can swim all day.

We set the shrimp pots on the way in then tied up to our friends who had already claimed a spot in the busy bay. Busy because Sea Ray was having a rendezvous. One raft had 23 Sea Ray’s all tied up together! With it being Sunday, we figured things would clear out tomorrow, but we were wrong. Monday was a Canadian holiday, so things stayed busy. No problem we had our spot in paradise.

The heat has returned in full force. Thankfully the water temperature hit 79 degrees! so cooling off was not a problem. Ava and Brianna discovered night swimming and we couldn’t get them out of the water. The boat never really cooled off. Even at 1:30am the air temperature was still 75 degrees.

Monday August 6th – Today Skylar’s friends Johnny and Carson are flying in by floatplane to stay with us for the next 5 days. They arrived right on time via Northwest Seaplanes and we picked them up with the dinghy in the outer bay. Almost immediate swimming commenced to cool off then the boys took the dinghy out with the wake board for some watersports.

The rest of the day was spent swimming, shrimping and relaxing in the heat and the new kids had fun exploring the area.

August 3rd and 4th – After pulling anchor and leaving Tenedos we went just around the corner to a little place we call The Cut (not an official name). It’s right off Otter Island and we call it The Cut because if you are brave enough to take your boat through the very narrow (but deep enough) passage you can shave off a little time by not going around Otter Island. But for us, The Cut makes a really fun small anchorage where you can watch all the boats go by as they slow down for the narrow passage.

It’s also a great spot to stay out of the more popular and very busy Prideaux Haven. Prideaux Haven is especially packed this weekend while everyone funnels in for the concert. Every year on the first weekend in August, an 80’ boat hosts a concert off their stern. It’s amazing how many dinghies all raft up together for the concert. We were excited to go but wanted to stay out of the chaos of Prideaux Haven. The Cut was perfect because it’s still within a short dinghy ride of the concert.

First task after getting anchored was to get some shrimp pots soaking! Then we all jumped in the dinghy and ran the distance to Refuge Cove for some lunch, ice cream, groceries, dinghy fuel, and to give “Garbage Dave” our trash, which he gladly accepts for $1 per pound.

Stern tied to Otter Island, Skylar and Zach said they kept hearing some type of animals in the woods just off the stern of the boat. As night fell the noises increased. At one point we all thought for sure a bear was calling us. Todd had the perfect call back, but the bear was not interested. We never did confirm if it was a real bear or not but it sure was entertaining.

A Mink! Skylar spotted it with a high-powered flashlight. He would run down the bank from some sort of home burrow thing in the woods then slide in the water emerging a minute later with a fish in it’s mouth. It was super fun watching him in the pitch black with just the light shining on him. He didn’t seem to mind much. A very fun evening in the wilderness.

Saturday August 4th – A lazy day at The Cut just relaxing on the boat, sitting in the sun and pulling up the shrimp pots with mediocre results. That evening we all dinghied to Prideaux Haven for the concert. Amazing how many people were packed in there and how many dinghies were rafted together. Fun to see everyone having a great time. Todd’s parents braved the crazy and anchored in the bay a couple days before. We all had dinner on their boat before the concert then joined the raft of boats.

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.

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.

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!