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.

Muirhead Islands to Jennis Bay

We had a very short trip back down Drury Inlet to Jennis Bay Marina. They only have room for about ten boats here. There were five here. That is a nice amount for visiting. Allison & Tom, the owners, are not here. The caretakers, George & Phyllis, are very nice and interesting people. This is the place that their large dog was attacked by a wolf up near the building on shore. This happened last summer. Fortunately everything healed except the left eye. Phyllis also told us that a Portuguese Water Dog was walking on the shell beach (midden) at Blunden Harbour and the dog was grabbed by a cougar and disappeared. The BC coast is a rain forest and the woods and shrubs are very dense. Now, of course we are wary of taking Merlin in a place near the forest. We took him up to the head of the dock only. He did have fun running around on the docks. Of course we had Happy Hour in the Cook house. We ran into a couple who live in Alameda! George was very interesting. He comes from the middle of Canada. He told us stories about being a lumberjack and about his bull riding days in the rodeo.

Muirhead Islands

It started raining during the night. There is no wind and the water is like glass. How beautiful. Today is another day to catch up on chores and settle down for reading a good book. Merlin is funny. When we are anchor like this without a place to go for a walk, Merlin does “his business” on the foredeck. Well, not in the rain. He just poked his head out and had a few drops on his head and he was back on the sofa. Fortunately we have other options under cover.

Muirhead Islands

Well, no crab again in the crab pot. Fred moved it hoping for better luck. It is a spectacularly clear day. We took a ride in the dinghy to explore. We are close to another inlet that we have never explored. It is near high tide so we have plenty of water under us. We passed through Actress Passage and into Actaeon Sound. There are so many islets that I was turned around completely. Thank goodness that Fred has an excellent sense of direction. It is quite beautiful but not much different from where we are anchored now. On our way back to the boat we passed a rock that had about ten seals on it. I think they are harbour seals. It was interesting that they were several different colors. Some were dark and spotted and several others were a pretty brown. Maybe different ages? I will have to look them up. As soon as it was dark (about 9 PM) the moon came out. It is about half full and so bright it lit up the entire bay. The water was like glass and the mirror image of the hills and trees was lovely.

Burly Bay to Muirhead Islands - 3 hours, 20.5 miles

We planned out journey to arrive at Stuart Narrows in Drury Inlet at slack water. We passed Jennis Bay Marina and went back into the inlet and anchored in the Muirhead Islands.

Burly Bay

Today we are going for a dinghy ride in search of bear. We went down Mackenzie Sound to Little Nimmo Bay. We passed a very high end fishing lodge there. We didn’t see any action but they had a fast boat and a seaplane docked there. We went up to the head of the bay to check out the anchorage. The location is good but it is too close to the lodge for our taste. We looked everywhere but the bears are still hiding. Sunset is magnificent here. The way the sun lights up the granite walls and trees is really not describable.