Barkely Sound
14 August 2011 | Joes Anchorage, Broken Group, Barkely Sound, West Coast of Vancouver Island
Julie
Yay! We made it to Barkely Sound today. I've been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time. We are anchored between 4 or 5 islands right now and it is very peaceful.
The trip from Tofino was uneventful but slow going. We had about a knot of current going against us the whole way.
Yesterday afternoon we got together with 4 other cruisers who we've been bumping into all along the west coast (there are not many of us making the trip down the coast so it's easy to keep seeing the same few people over and over again). We took our dinghies over to an island and took a 2 hour hike on the Big Tree Trail. A short portion of the trail is on a rickety boardwalk and the rest is a slightly rugged trek through the woods. There are several old growth trees along the trail.
I had expected to want to spend more time in Tofino but the anchorage was tormented by STRONG currents which made for bumpy and noisy nights. It wasn't easy for me to sleep. When the current changed directions, which happens 4 times a day, the boat would change directions, dragging the anchor chain across a rocky bottom. We could hear that noise throughout the boat and at times the boat would jerk making you feel like the anchor was dragging. We didn't drag anchor, it just felt that way. I'm happy to be away from Tofino and back out in the islands.
I spotted a humpback whale on the way into Barkely Sound. It was doing it's typical hump the back and raise the tail before diving thing. This one was pretty close to the boat. After it dove, we never saw it again. I wonder how long they can hold their breath.