Leaving the Bunsbys for Kyoquot!

Location: Bunsby Islands Part Two
West Coast Vancouver Island Date: Thursday, August 20,2007 Last Post (LP): August 16, 2007 Time: 1500 Location: N 50 15 33
W 129 44 03 Dist. Since LP: 0 nm Total Distance: 1809.1nm ---------------------------------------

Just a few more words about Thursday's fishing extravaganza...after vacuum packing Jim's latest catch, we headed out to his "lucky" spot and caught another spring, a coho and a pink. It was a beautiful evening and we motored quietly in the calm swells. A curious sea otter watched our progress back and forth through the jumping bait fish in our path. We thought of our friend Avon and wished he was here to enjoy the fishing with us. The sun warmed our souls and our bodies as we fished peacefully along the coastline. We were buoyant with our fishing success and looked forward to a good dinner of fresh salmon. Our freezers are very full!

The next morning the weather was overcast and the water was flat calm. We set off in our dinghy for a little tour of the area. It is a lovely group of islands and islets and we loved exploring the winding waterways. Two hours later as we were heading home, the skies opened up and rain fell on us in a fury. It literally came down in sheets. We were well protected in our rain gear and very thankful we were in the dinghy and not our kayaks. We hunkered down and waited out the rain aboard the BurntSand. Later that afternoon Jim went fishing again and caught a really huge chinook. He was using his new reel and was getting used to a different pole. He missed landing about 10 coho and was quite frustrated...though secretly I was glad he only brought home one fish...I'm now yearning for a good steak! I settled down on the settee with a great book, happy and content.

Saturday morning Jim set off to fish and I relaxed with my book, happy as a clam. At noon, we headed off together in our kayaks. Kayaking is one of my favourite passions,especially in such a wild and beautiful setting. Within half an hour we were paddling in gentle five foot swells on the outside of the islands, inside a barrier of little islets,Deb spotted a humpback whale floating on the surface nearby. It moved to within 75 metres of us. Several times it put its head perpendicular to the water and held a "spying" pose. It seemed to be watching us. It had a lot of barnacles on it and was rubbing up against the kelp. At times it surfaced draped in kelp. It may have been trying to rid itself of some of the barnacles? We floated in the water watching this amazing giant roll and float on the surface. The noise it made blowing on the surface was loud and hoarse. It sounded and then broke the surface head first making a deep gurgling sound as it fed on plankton. We watched spellbound as it repeated this feeding frenzy. It was eery. The encounter lasted for about 20 minutes. It was an awesome experience. Such an intimate encounter with a giant of the seas is magical. As the great whale finally disappeared out of sight, we continued our paddle. We saw sea otters hunting in solitude and then once in awhile we discovered a pair hanging out together on the surface of the water. I was disappointed not to encounter any little families all rafted together as we had in Quatsino Sound. We paddled through False Gay Passage which is strewn with rocks and forests of kelp and made our way out into Checleset Bay. We spied a narrow waterway through the island and hoped to find a shortcut back to our boat. It was like a micro Dolomite Narrows. It was very shallow but the tide was flooding with us and the waters were teeming with sealife. Starfish of every type and colour studded the pebbly bottom. It was extraordinarily beautiful. We made our way through the shallow waters, at times negotiating our way between large rocks looming near the surface. We made our way down through a weedy lagoon where the tell tale air holes of clams perforated the muddy estuary. Waterfowl of many types gossiped in the trees lining the lagoon. A crane took to flight startled by our sudden appearance in his kingdom. We went ashore to see explore the possibility of a portage to the other side but decided to return. We spotted some bear skat on shore. Paddling back we discovered a waterfall of the swirling flooding waters blocked our passage and we had to portage our kayaks past these shallow rushing waters. It was a great adventure and we were glad to have made this detour. At about 1800 hours that evening Peter Bonner and Peter Lustenburger arrived and rafted up to us. They brought us a new coffee maker Heather had kindly picked up for us as well a fantastic six pack of wines a gift from the Merseys! Thank you so much Heather and Avon! We had a feast of shrimp and steak and enjoyed the camaraderie of the two Peters very much. Pete's dog Sophie was aboard and we both loved having the company of a dog for a couple of days. She is a springer spaniel and she loves to swim.

Sunday, August 19th we went out fishing and prawning with the "boys" on Rampage. It was another stellar day. We returned for lunch and then Jim and I headed off in the dinghy to explore Battle Bay. We anchored the dinghy and wandered off to explore the beach. We came across two native teenage boys who had arrived that morning by water taxi with a programme called Rediscovery which attempts to bring native kids back to their roots and culture. A group of 15 had made camp further along the beach. The boys had spotted a black bear eating salmon berries at the edge of the forest and we spent some time with them as we admired the bear and took pictures. We returned to our dinghy and made our way upriver until the waters became too shallow to navigate. It was quite an adventure threading our way around sunken logs. The tide was flooding, so we were confident about making our way back. The water was very clear and we could see small bait fish darting to and fro below our dinghy. It was definitely bear country. Berry bushes were abundant as well as sedge grasses lining the river. A bit further upstream is a beautiful fresh water lake where the other members of the Discovery group had gone to swim. We cruised back out into Checleset Bay and made a little reconnaissance trip in and around the barrier islands. It was a sunny day and the seas were calm. We returned to the BurntSand and Jim in our dinghy and the two Peters aboard Rampage set off to have a private fishing derby in Jim's lucky fishing grounds. Jim ended up winning by one fish. All fish were released. We had a BBQ aboard the BurntSand of fresh Chinook Jim had recently caught and everyone contributed to the feast. Afterwards we played "Mexican Train" and "Lusty" is now the reigning champ.

We woke Monday August 20th to rain showers and spent the day organizing pictures and cleaning the boat inside, waiting for a break in the weather to pull up the anchor and head to Kyoquot Sound. Rampage left around 1000 hours to pick up the Bonner Clan and Peter's wife Jane and settle them in the fishing lodge in Walter's Cove. We plan to rendezvous with them in a couple of days. We need some supplies and we plan to be at the government dock in Walter's Cove when the Uchuck comes in on Thursday with the weekly supplies for the general store at the head of the dock. We plan to leave our anchorage by 1530 hours rain or no rain!