Sirius Sailin'

15 August 2009 Browning Inlet to Winter Harbour

Underway to Winter Harbour (N50 30.9 W128 01.7), a distance of about 3 miles from where we were anchored in Browning Inlet, we saw an amazing array of wildlife: a bald eagle battling a Canada goose; a sea otter floating on its back, munching a clam; and a mother bear with her cubs exploring the shoreline. Several times, we brought Storm Petrel to idle speed, enjoying the opportunity to observe the animals closely through binoculars as they went about their pursuits.

Just after weighing anchor, we saw a sudden motion on shore. It turned out to be something neither of us had ever seen; an adult eagle and a goose of equal size engaged in a tussle. Fraser had seen the lone goose floating down the inlet earlier that morning and wondered why it was not with the flock we had seen the day before.
As we passed by the battle scene, the eagle flew into a tree, leaving the bedraggled goose at the shoreline. We lost sight of the pair before the outcome of their struggle was determined. Rooting for both birds, we experienced the angst of bearing witness to the age-old dance for survival in the wild. It helped to realize that a healthy goose probably would not become prey for an eagle.

Leaving Browing Inlet, we entered Forward Inlet, which has relatively high boat traffic. It is the major body of water connecting Quatsino Sound with the community of Winter Harbour. Sport fishing is a huge business in this area. Small powerboats (trailerable-size) zoom through the water at high speed during daylight hours. Therefore, seeing bears on the narrow strip of beach along Forward Inlet in the middle of the day was quite a surprise. The sow, a small black bear, looked a bit like a rock on shore when we first saw her, until she moved to look beneath a pile of kelp. Soon a cub materialized and could be seen climbing on the rocks a short distance away. Another cub came out of the woods and began to forage under rocks exposed by the low tide, while the mother disappeared from view. We were too far from shore to take good pictures but had a wonderful view through the binoculars. The bears seemed to take no notice of us watching from the boat. As we enjoyed observing the bears, an adorable sea otter at rest in the kelp floated nearby.

We anchored off Winter Harbour, within a five-minute dinghy ride from the public dock. Shopping for fresh provisions at the Outpost, a general store with everything from groceries to hardware was a priority as was finding a receptacle for the week's accumulation of garbage we had stowed in our cockpit locker. In the isolated communities of British Columbia, it is common to pay a fee for garbage collection but happily, this public dock had a free container. Internet service was not available nor was cell phone service. We did locate the two public phones next to the miniature library, enabling us to call home. Fortunately, we remembered to get rolls of "loonies" from the bank in Port Hardy to feed the insatiable phones.

We all enjoyed a walk through the settlement and along the picturesque boardwalk, which spans the waterfront. Back aboard Storm Petrel, we were delighted to see sea otters drifting by on the currents through the harbor. The O. R. Griffin was at anchor not far from us, so we dinghied over to wish her captain 'fair winds" as he completes his circumnavigation of the island.