Tolfino, July 17th

July 15, 2011

We are now securely anchored in Queens’s cove in Esperanza inlet. We had to duck in here when we suddenly developed an unusual vibration. The waves were on our nose and fairly short and steep with a 15 to 20 MPH wind out of the SE, on our nose of course. We decided we needed to figure out what was going on before continuing on for another 30 miles so we took the only escape route open to us into this anchorage. It is quite beautiful and secure, And very isolated. There is a house at the end of the cove but it looks vacant. Just down the bay a bit is a fishing lodge and another one is around the corner from us.
We used Fran’s go pro camera to check under the boat after Jeff had done a complete check for problems inside the boat. We found a strand of kelp wrapped around the prop and by the looks of the scrapes on the hull we had been dragging a large amount of the stuff for a while. Jeff donned my dry suit and swam under the boat and freed the prop. It is pretty obvious that was what the problem was so we should be fine tomorrow, nothing broken.

Tomorrow we will make a long run to hot springs cove bypassing Yuquot which was one of our planned stops. Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit. Even if it just stopped raining it would be better out in the open water. The rain has been fairly steady and heavy for the last three days and everything is gray and wet but it is really very beautiful. I can only imagine if it were blue sky and sunny.

Jeff and I took the dingy for a run up Esperanza inlet to the end and found a little black bear on the shore and got some great pictures. It is a very pretty inlet with very different geology and foliage. The trees on the south side are small the land is very rocky with large granite boulders and formations all along the shoreline and small streams cascading into the quiet little coves. There were a couple of very nice secluded anchorages behind a small island just past Queens Cove. At the narrow part of the channel there is a small floating cabin from years past and just beyond that is a new floating fish camp.
Other than that the entire area has a feeling of remoteness and isolation. I would love to spend about three days in this area just exploring.

We left Queens Cove and motored down to Hot springs Cove. Yes we motored, once again no wind or at least not the right wind. More grey and wet sky. We did raise the sails to try and get a little push from the wind because now fuel is becomming an issue. Jeff did not plan on motoring the entire way and there is no fuel until we get to Tofino.
There are more boats in the area now and lots of small fish boats. Everyone is catching fish excpet us. My fishing license has expired so Fish 5 Tom 0.


The hot springs are typical wilderness hotsprings, hot and the pools are natural with virtually no enhancements by man such as the ones we found in Alaska. Not sure where the 100 or so people we passed on the boardwalk trail were able to squeeze themselves in but by the time we got there the visitor population was down to half a dozen people, it still felt crowded in the pools that were barely big enough for one or two of us.

We had salmon for dinner!

The boardwalk is cool, 2 killometers of 2 x 8 inch by 4 foot cedar plank boards with boat names carved into them. Salpare and Rendevouz now have their names to add to the collection. Yep Pete, we left your boat name there as well since you are with us in spirit even if you cannot be here this year. You can see it when you visit next year. We got up early this morning before people started arriving by float plan or tour boat and pried up two old boards and replaced them with the new ones I had purchased and carved our names in. Boy you need a large wrecking bar to get those large nails loose and Jeff's little claw hammer was barely adequate to get it done.

Left Hotsprings cove on the low tide hoping to get a push from the incomming tide, anything will help the fuel situation. Again no wind, not a breath of it. The sea is flat calm, like glass with small swells from the west. Seeing whales off in the distance, Fran is ecstatic but none have been very close up.

Well, Jeff checked the tank, were going to run out of gas before we reach Tofino and we have no wind and the rocks are just off our port beam. Hmmm! Ok he is doing the engineering McGiver thing and has taken the inspectio port off, inserted a plastic butter dish under the intake hose and is hand feeding what remains of the fuel into the cup. Still not going to make it. Sails up, anchor at the ready, we call for delivery of 5 gallons of gas. The Tofino water taxi pulls up with five gallons of diesel at the small price of $125.oo for delivery. Oh well, expensive but well needed since the wind came up but is not enough or in the right direction to let us sail into Tofino. It is a narrow channel anyway so that would not be a good option. As it is we are sweating the last mile or so as the fuel is again just at the bottom of the intake hose and ready to start sucking air. We made it .

Were docked in Tofino which is a busy little place. The locals tell us however that the tourism business is way off this year and things are relatively quiet for the busy season here. Same story all around the island, not good for these people.

Off to Bamfield tomorrow.

Pictures to follow when I have a reliable connection.