after the storm

July 31, only one more month left

Buck and Lisa drove up from Seattle to Port McNeil and joined us yesterday. They were a bit later than we thought, not that it really mattered, but I was headed up to the Laundromat to check emails to see if they had left a message for us since there is no way to call us on a phone up here. Glen has the only working phone and he and Liz had already headed out and we were going to meet them after picking up Buck and Lisa. As I got to the head of the dock, they pulled in and parked and I think it took them both a few moments to recognize the bearded one, I look a bit too much like a local right now.

They had a few things they needed to shop for and had to arrange for someplace to leave their car for a week and then we were off. We only had a short run down across Blackfish Sound to meet up with Glen behind Mound island. It was uneventful on calm water under gray skies. It is quite cool right now with rain forecast for the next couple of days but no wind of significance is expected. That will be good.

I had to replace my windshield wiper motor on the fly bridge for the Seaview window insert. Lucky it was a standard part and the marine store had several in stock. I turned the wiper on during the heavy rainstorm we passed through yesterday but forgot to turn it off as we were navigating between rocks and things. As I docked I began to smell something hot, not quite like overheated wires but close. I started checking wires on the bridge, under the command console, under seats, and I finally touched the wiper motor I nearly burned my hand it was so hot. The wiper had stopped in mid stroke on the dry window and the motor burned up trying to move it. Lesson, don’t run the wiper on a dry window. Gil Fetzner had warned me about that problem before I left, as he did the same thing with his new Seaview window just showing people how his new window insert worked.

We docked next to Dave and Janet Robinson on Ashanti, other club members who were just hanging out at Port McNeil. Shortly after we arrived, Jim and Marcia Krell on Chinoo, another club member arrived and docked just across from us. We had first run across Chinoo at Ketchikan on the way up back in May. They too are headed home.

Buck brought up more fishing gear and says we are going to catch fish this week. Were going to give it our best and see what happens. The fish seem to finally running so just maybe there is a salmon out there with my name on it. We even pulled out the fishing for salmon made easy book and read it to find out how it is supposed to work. Stay tuned for more fish stories.

We joined Liz and Glen as planned at the Mound Island Anchorage. It rained all day and then it rained harder. We moved up to Joes Cove on Eden Island after a slow run through the many islands that make up the Broughtons. We tried fishing for a while off Mamalilaculla, the old Indian village on Village Island; again the fish won another round.

Joes Cove is a nice secure anchorage but there were several other boats that we shared the anchorage with. We went out in the Dinghy’s for another try at catching a fish and once again, the fish won. We tried numerous different lures and bait none of which seemed to entice the fish to nibble. It kept raining and after a couple hours in the rain in the dinghy and as the rain got even harder Buck and I decided to retreat and let the fish win this round.

Next morning the rain let up, there were patches of blue sky and as it turned out we were finally going to see blue sky and sun in the afternoon. Glen got reservations for us at Pierres at Echo Bay for Friday and Saturday for the pig roast so we pulled the empty crab pots and near empty shrimp pots and trolled our way towards the next stop. The fish won another round today and Buck is now convinced that there is really something to the Miner Curse which prevents us from catching anything significant.

Pierres at Echo Bay is a great place and our first real social event since leaving home. There are dozens of boats and there are a number of old acquaintances here. I spotted a boat headed in to the bay just ahead of us and the captain looked amazingly like Larry Claiborne and the first mate much like Kathy. At lo and behold it was. So we spent a pleasant afternoon at happy hour talking to them and recounting our various experiences and voyages. We found a couple other boats from the yacht club, Ray and Sue Biggs and Richard and Merlyn Symms were here as well.

Katie said you all wanted to know if we survived the storm. We did but it was a was a dark and stormy harrowing night and for a while we were not sure we would make it. The wind blew 60 plus, the waves were an epic 18 feet high and the rain came sideways. We had extra lines out, double the fenders and prayed the docks would survive the night and that we would not have to seek refuge in the fish cannery next door.

At least thats what it was like somewhere near us but fortuneatly for us, not at our dock. We spent a perfectly calm and quiet night with nary a ripple on the water. The fish smell did blow the opposite direction all night so at least we were relieved of that ominous threat. We were quite comfortable in Port Hardy as was most of the fishing fleet that came in to wait out the storm. We could see the waves out in front of the harbor a mile or so out in the strait but the trees did not even sway on the hills around us. It did rain a bit but not enough to keep us from walking to town again. I would not have wanted to be out in the straits however because it was as I described above out there just a mile from us and at Cape Scott just 45 miles to the north they were reporting 60 mph steady winds with higher gusts. The 18 foot waves were reported in the area we crossed the day before.

Today we are in Port McNeil, 16 miles tot he south after Sherm and Nancy left bright and early this morning to fly home we shoved off and went in search of the elusive salmon. They are still elusive and the score remains the same Tom 0, Salmon winning.

We got some more advice on how to catch salmon so we spent some more money on different lures and frozen anchovies. Yep were going to try fishing with Anchovies.

Port McNeil is a much nicer place than Port Hardy, smaller however but it does not have a smelly fish cannery.

Glen and Liz continued on south a bit and will wait for us in the Broughtons tomorrow after we pick up Buck and Lisa. Hopefully they will make it here by early afternoon so we can shove off and get back to our search for the wild salmon.

One positive thing about last nights stay at Port Hardy is we caught about half a dozen crab right off the docks in about an hour and had crab and steak for dinner. Funny thing is that I left the pot down all night figuring I would have a full pot by morning. Nothing in the pot at all when I brought it up. Go figure. 6 in an hour and then nothing. Even the crab are getting the upper hand on us.

Right now I am sitting in the laundry mat doing the wash with Chris and using thier free internet connection so this one is comming your way without any photos.

And yes, my official return date is still September 2. My budget for fuel is gone so I may be rowing the last 300 miles and will have to go back to work to pay off the second and third mortgage I had to take out for fuel. Hopefully Buck got the message to bring long oars with him.