Leaving Queen Cove we motor out into the Inlet, destination the village of Zeballos. The engine is sputtering off and on which can always raise the blood pressure a few beats. We make it safely into Zeballos and tie up to the village dock. The 2009 guide book mentions numerous pubs and restaurants. We find only one still in business and enjoy wonderful fish and chips. The boom and bust village has seen gold and iron mines and logging. Now it is primarily logging and only has about 200 people. It does however have nice interpretive signs that take you back to the 1930's hey day and explain where all the original building were.
We are able to take nice long hot showers for only two loonies. The tiny laundromat allows us to wash all the salt air out of our clothes. The nice find is the tiny grocery store with fresh from the garden vegetables. We have a nice long chat with the owners. She tells us that the locals don't know what to do with her bok choy and some of her other vegetables. She hesitates as she asks "would you like some fresh swiss chard?" We leave with a huge bunch and two different ways to enjoy it, her version and his version 
. She lets me have my small ginger root for free and tucks in a small fresh garlic bulb as we walk out the door.
Now it's back to boat chores. We spend a few hours cleaning the air filter, air drying it and oiling it. We lose track of time and get to the pay phone to late to call our oldest grandson and wish him happy birthday. Happy birthday Aiden!!
July 13 - The village office is open today so we walk to town to pay our fee. She says "I know that the sign says 50 cents per foot but the new by-laws raised it to $1.00 per foot." OK I say with a question in my voice. The man behind her says" if the sign still says 50 cents then that is all we are going to charge. " We thank them kindly. I wonder if that topic will come up at their next Board meeting. Of we go towards our next stop. ExTerra plugs along nicely, happy with her clean air filter.
With brisk wind we are able to use both sails for some decent amount of time then the wind dies as we round up into Hecate channel. We stop at the Esperanza Mission fuel dock to fill up, preferring to throw our fuel dollars to them as it is a source of income for the Mission. The Nootka mission was founded in 1937 as a hospital; it continues today with non-denominational camps for kids. We buy an ice cream and head out again, destination Tahsis.
For us the trip up to Tahsis is just to know that we have gone there. We cannot anchor and the small town is in the bust side of boom and bust. However we are guided into the bustling Westview marina by their competent staff on VHF 06 and they help us tie up for the night. Westview has kept itself alive by being a top notch destination for the large crowd of small fishing boats. They have an extremely busy fish cleaning station that you can watch from their outdoor bar and grill. I did not get photos but as we enjoyed steak, chicken Alfredo and fresh peach cobbler we watched wheelbarrows full of halibut, ling cod and salmon come in to be cleaned. We then retired to the boat for the mundane changing of the oil.
July 14 - 15 leaving Tahsis we head back to the Esperanza Mission to retrieve our credit card after receiving a hail from them over the VHF. We see a speeding motor boat that flags us down and there in the middle of the Tahsis narrows they pull up beside us, she hangs on the rail of their boat, credit card in hand while Carl hangs on the rail of our boat. Their skipper and I keep the boats from colliding, the card is retrieved and off we both go. Our goal today is to reach Princess channel and muster the courage to navigate through to anchor. With paper chart in my hands and Carl's eye on the electronic chart we make it through. It looks tame but each book mentions all the underwater rock hazards so we pay close attention. The reward is two nights in a beautiful anchorage between Tahsis and Kendrick inlets.
Tonight some of that fresh swiss chard will compliment our ling cod. Messing about in the ship's galley I am reminded how well thought out the galley is. It is compact and everything is in easy reach. It makes you think to plan ahead. Otherwise once you have all of your vegetables chopped up and covering the countertop that steamer that you need for the vegetables will be buried in the deep counter pot locker under all your chopped up veges. Steamer retrieved and dinner proceeds. After dinner it is fishing once again since this area is closed to all fin fish starting tomorrow.
With fishing closed Carl continue his quest for protein by setting up our alien spaceship collapsible crab trap. We found this gem at Kim's well staffed and stocked Columbia Marine Exchange. A shout out to you and your staff. I don't have Joe's email but tell him the teak work he did is holding up well.
July 16 - 18 we actually get to sail some today as we move to Hisnet Inlet Bay. This will be one of my favorite spots, peaceful and private. We enter the bay to the woeful call of the loon often a sign that you have moved off the beaten path. Other than old clear cuts on the hillside there is a feeling of remoteness right down to the cry of the wolf that we hear each day. We retrieve an abandoned crab trap and two hundred feet of line that has washed up near shore so it won't wrap around anyone's prop. We release the two nearly starved crabs.
In my overzealous effort to thoroughly rinse the new to us line I manage to get enough water on my side of the berth that I have to string sheets, blankets and foam pad over all the lifelines. As we take off to find oysters at low tide ExTerra looks like the laundry Junks that we saw on the rivers in China. Since this area is safe for oysters (no red tide) we fill our buckets easily and throw in some mussels and clams as well. We walk the old logging roads and wonder what the road work we hear in the distance will be for. An invigorating (read somewhat colder than we hoped) sponge bath in the fresh water creek and then fresh oysters and the rest of our swiss chard for dinner. In the morning we retrieve our empty shrimp pot and head for Bligh Inlet Cove.
July 18 - 20 leaving Hisnet we make a short move to Bligh Inlet Cove. I appreciate that many of the inlets and coves are named for those who plied these waters early in our known history, both the first Nations tribal members and the white settlers and explorers. Enroute we cross the open expanse of water where Nootka sound meets the open ocean. We see a lone kayak in the middle of the open copy waters. He disappears regularly in the deep swells. We slowly motor close to him to see if he is ok and he gives us the OK signal and keeps paddling frantically towards shore. We find our quiet anchorage, alone once again. The next night our anchorage is full with three sailboats and five small, rafted together fishing boats. One of the sailboats is Madrone, a 43 foot Taswell that moors in Hayden Bay. We visit with Angie and Mike when they dinghy over after seeing our Rose City burgee.
July 20-22 next anchorage is Friendly Cove. This Yuquot First Nations village is one of the earliest populated sites on the West Coast Vancouver island. We make this stop so we can visit the church that has been converted to a community center and small museum. It has beautiful stained glass windows donated by Spain. The windows depict the transfer of the Cove from Spain to England and the other shows a Franciscan monk giving a sermon to the natives. I am glad to see that the natives have chosen to use the building as their community center and display history and some of their beautiful tribal significant carvings and totems.
Next we hike up to the Nootka lighthouse and talk with the light keeper. They have staffed the light for twelve years. They host a small crew of coast guard who travel the area in an inflatable boat, the only cost guard presence since the latest reduction in coast guard staff and locations.
We watch the converted gunship Uchuck III ferry arrive and depart. She is loaded with many Yuquot families who have journeyed from their Gold River village to gather at Friendly Cove for a few nights of camping and visiting.
After a very rolely night and not much sleep we depart. We troll for a couple of hours with the salmon fishing fleet. We don't catch salmon but we do get to watch a pod of Orca whales for quite sometime. Then we hoist the sails and start back south since the predicted winds are northwest. We sail for hours in winds that are southwest instead of northwest being able to stay just enough of the wind to make our way around Estevan point. One hour short of Hot Springs Cove the wind kicks up to a steady 25 knots and we struggle to get our head sail in. Reef sooner next time! Somehow our alien crab put flies off the boat. I think we have lost it until I see it frantically bobbing along behind the boat on its fifty foot line. Images of wrapping our prop with our own crab put flash through my mind. After much heaving and pulling I get it back on board. Store it's rope inside it... next time! This is how we learn.
We finally make it into Hot Springs Cove and invite Angie and Mike over for snacks. We have a nice long visit. They depart for the hot springs and we settle in for a much needed good night's rest.
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