July 8-14
We left the Gorge Sun AM not sure where we were headed. We just knew we had had enough of the mega yacht Gorge atmosphere. We had talked about the Octopus Islands or Von Donop Inlet which were both about 3 hours north of the Gorge. Von Donop won the coin toss primarily because a lot of the folks we had met on the SSB net were there. Great choice!!! The inlet is about 2 miles long and quite narrow at places. Once inside there are numerous small bays to choose from. We decided to go all the way in since we had not been here before. Another good choice. When we got to the bay at the end of the inlet we met 4 or 5 other boats from the net. Folks are all on their own schedule with usually one organized event each day. And like us, a few of the boats have boat chores that have to be addressed. On Tue. There was a hike we turned down and then a potluck at 1800 on shore. What a beautiful spot. And the food was great, including a freshly picked and home made salmonberry pie. Cruising life is hard to take. The icing on the cake was the guitar and singing of a guy named Ziggy from Summer Wind, which had showed up only a couple of hours before. I invited him to the potluck...and his contribution was the music, heavy into Paul McCartney and Wings.
We stayed at Von Donop far longer than we had expected primarily because we were enjoying the location and the company we had met there. On 3 separate nights we had pot lucks with 2 being on shore and one on the tri-hulled Riki Tiki Tavi owned by Clark and Nina. A couple of the guys went out to the main channel and brought back a small Ling Cod which was shared at the potluck. What a treat that was!
One evening we were challenged by high winds, but the protection afforded by the bay was enough to keep all but one boat firmly at anchor. That particular boat had to reset their anchor a couple of times. Don't know if it was technique or bad holding where they tried.
This particular group of boaters have been coming to Von Donop for a bunch of years and have organized a lot of hikes in the area. We resisted that feature however. One of the hikes is a 3 mile trek to a small store on the opposite side of the island. If you take that hike you are allowed to be a member of the "Von Donop Hiking Club" with your boat name on a large 3x5 ft sheet acting as a flag. Another of their regular hikes is up a small peak nearby. Apparently it is a bit strenuous so as an inducement there's a cairn at the top with a log for signing and a hidden jar with chocolates inside. My question was why hike all that way to eat stale chocolate and then leave some fresh chocolate on top? I guess you have to be there to appreciate it!