Lagoon Cove

It rained in buckets last night. After lunch the clouds looks better so we went off in the dinghy to explore. We don't always travel light. We each had a travel mug of coffee, bottled water and Merlin. I wore a poncho so I could keep Merlin & I dry. Halfway down Hole-in-the-Wall, the heavens opened up. Merlin & I were fine but Fred's coffee leaked and then his hat trying to blow off. Not fun anymore. The rain kept up so we didn't go to Happy Hour tonight.

Port McNeill to Lagoon Cove - 5 hours, 32.3 miles

We went up for a latte before leaving port. We headed over to the fuel dock. We took on 200 gallons of diesel @ 4.04/gallon. The price was a shocker. This is much higher than we paid in Anacortes in June. The sun is out and we are heading back into the Broughton’s today. We are taking a new route that will take us off of Johnstone Straight and into some lovely, small waterways. The weather was so nice that Merlin & I sat upon the bow and watched the world go by. About an hour from our destination we caught up with six trawlers that appeared to be traveling together. Sure enough, as we got closer to Lagoon Cove we heard on the radio that numerous boats were having a yacht club rendezvous there. As we entered the cove we really couldn't see how much, if any, dock space was free. Since this is a nice peaceful cove we decided to anchor instead of going on the dock. I made a fruit salad and we went over to Happy Hour at 5 PM. We had a nice time and sure enough the place was packed. We had a wonderful dinner of cheese, fruit, meatballs and fresh shrimp. As most of us were done eating, Bill got up and was telling some of his wonderful stories. Then it started to rain. We hung around until Bill finished one of his stories to pack up and leave. The rain was coming down harder so the party was pretty much breaking up. We were pretty wet when we got back to Aquila. However, we had a nice warm boat to dry us off.

Port McNeill

We were up at O-dark-thirty to board Code 3 for our fishing charter. The sun is out and the seas are flat. We have no idea if that is good or not for fishing. What we do know is that we will be relatively warm and definitely dry. Merlin stayed aboard Aquila as our guard dog. We dressed warmly and brought our fishing poles that John gave us last year. Barry gave us quick orientation to this 26’ boat. The boat is great because it has heat inside and a stand up head. It was fascinating watching Barry showed us his gear and he explained why he used each gadget. He used salted herring as bait. He has two downriggers and rod holders all over the boat. He placed three lines in the water, each at a different depth. We just sat back and waited for a tug at a line. It wasn't too long before Fred caught our first fish. Unfortunately it was a small flounder that got thrown back. The second tug turned out to be a small rock fish…he went back in too. We waited…and waited and finally got a really good tug at a line. Fred reeled the fish in as Barry got the other lines out of the way. This was a beautiful wild Coho salmon. It is not allowed to keep a wild Coho in this area, only hatchery ones. This fish had a small dorsal fin which is cut off on hatchery salmon.

Shawl Bay to Port McNeill - 5 hours, 36.6 miles

No journal.

Burly Bay to Shawl Bay - 2 ¾ hours, 16.5 miles

No journal.

Jennis Bay to Burly Bay - 2 ½ hours, 14 miles

Fred pulled the kayaks up on to the dock and emptied the water out of them. In between the rain clouds we took a nice long kayak trip at low water. It is easier to see the starfish, crabs and little fleeting fish at this time. The seats in both our kayaks stayed damp but we ignored this discomfort. Merlin was a perfect gentleman in the kayak today. I hardly knew he was there and we were out for 90 minutes. On one of the islands we say a mink scurrying on the rocks and then disappearing. A mink looks like a ferret, but a little bigger. We were waiting to leave the dock for the high slack at Stewart Narrows at 2:30 PM. Phyllis came to say good by and to take our photo with the boat for Allyson's album (Fred warned about his ability to break cameras). We couldn't decide where to go next so we went back to Burly Bay. This time we anchored near the outlet of Hopetown Passage. The water was like glass the entire time. It was particularly serene.

Jennis Bay

This is a very nice bay for kayaking. Merlin was my copilot as usual. The most interesting thing we saw was near the area where a stream enters the bay. There is a huge amount of broken dishes in the water. Apparently in the old days of lumbering the folks had a habit of using the beach as a dump. The water is clear and beautiful now but interesting pieces of the past remain.