Bull Harbour
22 July 2011
We've made it as far north as we'll ever be in a boat, or car, or on horseback or by camel for that matter. We are anchored in Bull Harbour north of Vancouver Island waiting for a favorable weather window to cross Nahwitti Bar and round Cape Scott. Tomorrows forecast is for 30 knot winds but Sunday looks like 15 knot winds are predicted so we will wait for Sunday to head out.
We found our first ocean swells this afternoon. They were small, maybe 4 feet every 4 seconds. It was a totally new boating experience for us. I'll take some Dramamine before heading back out just in case. There are swells much bigger than that out on the Pacific, 15 miles west of here.
We are now calling Port McNiell Port McBumpy. We were anchored in the harbour for a week and when the boat faced certain directions we really felt the wake of the ferries and all the pleasure boat traffic. It was nice to be in civilization for a while though. We've heard people refer to Port McNiell as Port McGarbage but I don't know why. The town only has 2,600 people in it but it had 2 nice grocery stores, 2 stores that sold marine supplies, a couple of banks and two hardware stores. There are restaurants and a laundry mat so what else could a cruiser want?
Bull Harbour is located on Hope Island. The entire island is a First Nations Reserve but I've only seen one person. There appear to be about a ½ dozen homes. Ken and I are going to walk around tomorrow so we'll see if there is more to the area or not.
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