Just outside the harbour! Forty-eight knots of wind! Seas of 4-5 metres! Yes, we're still here. Who wouldn't be? It's WILD out there. The weather forecasts say it will calm down by tomorrow -- as much as we've enjoyed Rupert, we will be glad to get off the dock. (It has been over a week, after all.)
Yesterday we took advantage of a lull in the storm and took the bus to the North Pacific Historic Fishing Village and Cannery Museum at Port Edward. Very impressive. But boy did it blow last night! Don't think I've ever heard wind howl like that -- and we were on the dock. Can't imagine what was going on on west coast of the Charlottes.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
Comments [1]
Although the commercial fishing is devastated, compared to what it once was, and thanks in part to our very own billionaire who did not make his money being fair or generous to his employees (you know who you are) -- in fact, so widespread is the discontent here, one could use it as a verb -- to be pattisoned, and everyone would know exactly what you're talking about -- but that's another story. The point is, despite all that, there are still fish bits being thrown in the water by the docks and the eagles are all over it.
It's worth a trip to Rupert just to watch them soaring and diving and the aerobatics are truly amazing. Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!
There's one tree in Cow Bay where we counted almost a dozen the other night, right at an intersection. What do they care? Dinner is right over there!
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
We had two great looks at grizzlies. One was the small female, who stars in the video and the other still shot here. Then there was the great big male. We couldn't get as close to him, but maybe it was just as well.
He was munching away on sedge grass surrounded by delicately coloured wild flowers -- lupins, Indian paint brush, and buttercups -- and off to the side was a beautiful cascading mountain stream. But man, was he big. Don't-mess-with-me-big. BIG.
All this and was solstice, too. Pretty darn cool.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
More grizz shots. This little female was not bothered at all by us gawking at her and went about her business of eating and eating and more eating with grace and aplomb. We were able to watch from fairly close for a half hour or so and left her as we found her, eating, eating and eating. (Hmm, perhaps something to consider for my next incarnation ... )
The tour we took, just in case you're coming up this way, was with Prince Rupert Adventure Tours. (www.westcoastlaunch.com 1-800-201-8377). We were very pleased. A family run operation. Nice folks.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
What a day we had! It was Father's Day and we decided to take a tour to grizzly land -- the Conservancy at the end of Khutzeymateen Inlet. We'd been thinking of slogging up there on the boat, but it's a l-o-n-g way up and the anchorages are iffy, so the big fast power boat was definitely the way to go. As well as 6 or 7 grizz, we also saw humpbacks and 2 transient orca pods.
We had one up close and personal sighting of a small female grizzly, doing her business, literally. As you will see from the mini-video posted here. (It was taken from the boat, so it's a big jiggly.)
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
We've been looking for the fish on our way up the coast, but as far as we could tell, no one has been catching much of anything. Then we arrive in Rupert! And oh my goodness! They're hauling them in by the wheelbarrow load!
This was a charter that had just landed at Atlin Pier in Rupert and the customers were smiling ear to ear. A good day on the water.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
We really had no intention of coming here, or at least making this any more than a stop along the way, but it appears to be our destination! Funny how that works out.
We came up yesterday from Kumealon Inlet on Grenville Channel--a l-o-n-g leg on a foggy and rainy day. Fortunately the wind was resting, so the water was calm. And it was a teasy kind of fog, lifting for 10 minutes, then swooping back in, then lifting again, adding a little rain, then a lot of rain, then some blue sky, then repeat. Nobeltec only concked out once, but it was during the pea-est of the pea-soup fog, and it was only trying to help by building our confidence. Hah!
We had met Fulford Girl, a lovely converted fishing boat in Shearwater a couple of weeks ago, and when they pulled in beside us at the anchorage in Kumealon (photo) we finally got to chat. Fortunatley for us, they left before us the next morning, and had the docks all scoped out when we chugged into Rupert two hours after them. It's a busy place, this Rupert, and it appeared it was going to be a bit tricky to find a place to tie up. But they managed to find a small opening at the dock at Rushbrooke and once we were within shouting distance, retied some boats making a spot for us magically appear! Voila! It was a demonstration of boaters' camaraderie if I ever saw one. Last night we repaid their kindness with a Prawn Pasta dinner, with prawns from Kumealon, prepared by Ron!
So here we are in Prince Rupert -- and it's not raining. Right now. We will spend a couple of days here, doing laundry, getting some cabbage and carrots, and relearning how to walk on land. We are cleverly gleaning fishing tips from whoever we meet on the street, so we may even bag a few salmon when we leave. So far, the fishing has been pretty dismal, but then if there are no fish, you can't catch them.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
As we were coming into the harbour after slogging through fog and rain for 20 miles or so at the breakneck Erramus speed of 5 knots, we found this little piece of loveliness dogging our tail. Eventually she sped by us, causing a certain amount of wake as befits a woman of her stature.
She is the mv Archimedes, just one year old and worth $100 million! (At that price, why not pass everyone on the lake?) I looked it up on the internet: 222 feet, a crew of 14, takes 12 passengers, has 2 2000 HP engines, cruising speed of 15 knots. Made in Holland. Owned by someone from NY. (Not Johnny Depp as one site says.) Our friend Robert O says she has a swimming pool on the top deck. I couldn't see up that far.
It's good to see these things every once in a while. It's crazy out there!
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
The Bay of Plenty didn't turn out to be all that we had hoped--as an anchorage it was pretty exposed and it shallowed up pretty darn fast! But it was lovely, we did get some crab for dinner, and we had a lovely dinghy trip up the river.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
Now this was something to come across!
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
Lunch stop.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
We've slowed down our pace a little so we could explore this area. We've been rushing rushing rushing to get someplace and decided to enjoy where we were. What a concept! So the past few days we've been sampling some of the anchorages on the West Coast of Princess Royal Island.
This is almost open ocean, with only a few low-profile islands between here and China. The trees are stunted and stick out at wild angles. The rocks jut straight up in the air and dare you to try to navigate between them. And every once in a while there is a little cove or an inlet where you can tuck in and feel safe. Sort of. The wind has ways.
Yesterday we had a lunch stop in Fifer Inlet, up Laredo Inlet, off Laredo Channel, not far from Laredo Sound -- (do you sense the theme emerging here?) It was a beautiful day and it is a truly charming place with a handful of small islets guarding the entrance, a shoreline with enticing ins and outs and a sparkling creek at the head of the bay. And just as we were setting the anchor, I saw a deer crossing the creek. It stopped and looked and then kept on going, not a care in the world. And then, we noticed a grizzly on shore, schlepping his way toward the creek, pulling at grasses and nosing around in the dirt for delicacies. We stopped for an hour watching the grizz -- a youthful 400-500 pounds, I would say, cinnamon coloured, with dark feet and ears: what a treat! Our first bear sighting this year.
Today we stumbled upon an old longhouse in a beautiful forest, mossy and green. The huge posts and beams were leaning against each other, some had trees growing out of them, and it was evocative as hell.
And to top it all off a small group of Dall's Porpoises came barrelling down the channel at us, did a 180 when they got to the boat, and played in our bow wake for 10 minutes or so, splashing their way back the way they'd just come.
Then, just to make sure we were paying attention, god had us ride right over a rock on our way into this very protected, but rock-strewn little anchorage (photo). Not to worry, we had at least two inches under the keel. (Yikes!) I'm not sure the depth sounder is ever going to recover. It made her very nervous. Once we got settled, we dinghied back to the entrance and marked where the rocks were, just to make sure we get out in one piece in the morning.
Wild, I tell you, wild.
| 2009: BC Coast |
|
