July 15th – 26th 7 Days in Nootka Sound and Esperanza Inlet furthest point north. Make that 11 days due to “gale wind warning in effect”

 July 15^th – 26^th  7 Days in Nootka Sound and Esperanza Inlet furthest point north. Make that 11 days due to “gale wind warning in effect”

With only weak cell coverage for my phone hotspot, I will have to add photos later for this post, maybe not for another week or so.

I feel like I have written a book for this segment given that we are here longer than planned. Meanwhile, I finished reading my book, “Voyage to Crusoe,” by Leif Beiley, his first novel.  We met Leif and Lisa years ago when we cruised from Mazatlán to Barra de Navidad off the coast of Mexico.  We befriended each other along the way.  When we got off “Captain Bligh’s” sailboat (another story into itself) they and another cruiser bought us rounds of drinks while having us explain how we had been able to survive on Captain Bligh’s boat for so long.  We stayed in touch, and they had us over for dinner when we were in Costa Mesa looking at sailboats.  We told them we thought we had found our next boat and proceeded to tell them about the 38 Islander Freeport that we were going to make an offer on.  Leif showed a slight, shy grin and said, “I had a little bit to do with that boat.”  It turns out the Leif was the engineer for Islander Yachts who worked with Robert Perry in the design of the Islander Freeport cruising model.  Our s/v ExTerra is officially an IF38C, 38’ Islander Yachts cruising design sloop.  Modest Leif did not expound on his expertise but it is fun for us to know that someone we know and have come to enjoy visiting with had a part in designing the boat we call home a couple of months a year.  Pam and Lisa stay in touch via Facebook and she will let Lisa know that, as planned, she enjoyed reading Leif’s first novel while swinging on the hook and looks forward to his next novel. They still enjoy boating, land cruising, design work and hopefully, writing. 

Leaving Santa Gertrudis we head on up Nootka Sound to our next stop, Bodega Bay just off Princesa Channel, above where the Tahsis Inlet comes into Nootka Sound.  We plan to hit the highlights of this northern area and then start our return to the south.  In this area we actually tie up at local docks to help support these distant areas and have a couple of favorite anchor spots.

We see the Uchuck III.  It is a converted mine sweeper that now serves as a critical link ferry service between Gold River, Nootka, Esperanza and Kyuquot Sound, bringing supplies, kayakers, sightseers, and others to very remote locations in this northern island area.  It even goes through the narrow, crooked Princesa Channel, something that would be interesting to see.  

 

We see our first bear, who manages to use its powerful paws to turn over gigantic rocks along the low tide shore, looking for all kinds of delicacies.  Bodega Bay is peaceful, easy to enter, and offers us a wonderful spot to simply sit, read and watch the tide ebb and flow.  Carl sets the crab pot and we will have crab in the pressure cooker in the next day or so.  We explore with the dinghy, doing a little fishing and using our phone “chart” to document an uncharted rock at the entrance to Bodega.  We will provide the lat and lon to appropriate folks so that hopefully it becomes common knowledge that it is there, guarding the entrance.  

 

A real treat today as well, we have Sun! and blue sky and Pam finds the Oreos finally!  She has been searching for them for days and unearths them when we decide to move our 3 containers of stainless-steel nuts, bolts, etc., to the port side to help balance the gimbaled stove.

After 8 nights on the hook, it is time to drop a little money at a few places further around the “circle.”  The West View Marina at the head of Tahsis Inlet is our first stop.  Once a booming logging town there are now very few residents and amenities.  With use of the complimentary car from the Marina we are able to stock up on some basic groceries and also take in the local museum that we missed the other times that we have been here.  Tahsis at one point, was a thriving town, proud of their young athletes be it the swimmers or the ball players.  They mix cultural history of the First Nations people along side the history of the white settlers and timber barons and the small museum is a very nice stop.  This was the summer home of Maquinna, Chief of the Nootka who met with Captain Cook when he ventured into the area.  As late as the late 1980’s the lumber mills put out 2 million board feet of lumber per day.  Today, no mills exist.  The last operator modernized the mill but then closed it completely due to lack of close timber, a casualty of their own practices.  

West View Marina is a bustling small fishing boat marina that hits all of our checkpoints.  Laundry, showers, a good burger, fresh water, book exchange, cell and WIFI, and of course, ice cream.  Alas, no dark beer but we make do.  Lunches both days are our fresh crab, cooked in the pressure cooker from memory, thankfully, since I don’t seem to have brought the right cookbook.

 We chat with staff from Paris, southern France and Mexico, all happy to be here.  We watch the fisherfolk come in with their boatloads of fish and the cleaning station along the café is a very busy place!  The bald eagles enjoy all of the fish entrails that are collected and placed at the far end of the breakwater.  Frustratingly, a crow has decided to snatch a fish carcass and use ExTerra’s deck to leisurely make quite a MESS!  We may never get the stains out of the nonskid.  We watch the Coastguard cutter “Cape Kuper” and the RIB search and rescue craft go in and out daily. We use the WIFI to update the blog and get in touch with Carl’s eye doctor as Carl is having trouble with his right eye.  Emails back and forth and a call to an advice nurse, all indicate that it would be better if Carl could check into urgent care and have his vision examined.  We explain our dilemma indicating that the closest urgent care is at least a week away and most likely longer, given the consistent, persistent gale force warnings between here and there.  We leave a message for the ophthalmology nurse but she does not call during our window of opportunity and we are now out of any cell range until the gales cease and allow us safe passage south.  After a couple of nights at Tahsis it is time to head out.

Next stop, Esperanza Mission fuel dock in Esperanza Channel.  Two folks from the docked research vessel help us tie up.  They are aquatic biologists researching a variety of aquatic related critters in the area.  We always get our diesel here as it is one of their fund-raising opportunities and they are very welcoming people. They still operate as a mission with overnight “camps.” This week they hosted young people who took off in canoes headed for Friendly Cove.  There is also ice cream and sometimes fresh produce.  No such luck this time on the produce.  Pam enquires about a photo print that we had purchased here years ago, called “Nootka Sunrise.”  The one on our boat has been misplaced and we had hoped to find a replacement.  They no longer have it available, but they are able to give us the name of the artist and it turns out he is in Portland so we will check in with him upon our return.

 

Tanks topped off and the nice ladies help us untie and we go down the Hecate Channel and up the Zeballos Inlet to Zeballos, another tiny burg.  Zeballos was also heavily timber dependent as well as mining, gold and iron ore through the 1930-1949s.  Each time we come here more and more of the small amenities are closed.  This time it is the restaurant closest to the dock.  Last time it was the second small grocery.  

The Cedars Inn and Restaurant is still a going concern and we opt for dinner there.  The same woman chef comes to our table as last we were here, and we order her lasagna and a chicken dinner.  Her homemade dinner rolls are to die for and we kindly ask for a second.  The Cedars is often used by kayakers and sport fisherfolks.  Tonight, is no different.  The table of people behind us are excited to be getting ready for their kayak adventure and the table inside the window from us are talking about their upcoming fishing adventure.  We visited with them on the dock.  They have been coming to Zeballos since the 1970’s and plan to take their small fishing boat down to Rosa Island to a fishing resort.  We dine on the deck, our backs to the setting sun.  Our view is the immediate steep mountain, rising dramatically, nearly straight up.  What looks like rock in the photo is actually the fire scar from the 2018 fire scare(!) when the raging fire came very close to burning through the town.  We only spend one night here.  As Pam goes up to try to find Connie, the Wharfinger, she sees that Connie has dropped a bill on the deck of ExTerra.  We gather together $36.10, put it in a Ziplock with our filled-out moorage slip and get underway. 

With an ear to the weather regularly we opt for the failsafe anchorage in Queen’s Cove.  Along the way, with Pam on the wheel she happens to spy out of the corner of her eye, whale spout with water spouting over our BOW!  A quick turn to starboard, boat shift to neutral but not before hitting the throttle the WRONG way.  Needless to say, Carl is up off the settee in a hurry and Pam is checking the depth finder to see if the whale is under us or not.  Thankfully we did not hit her as she skimmed across the top of the water, nothing showing but a tiny dorsal fin and thankfully, a spout at just the right moment.  Well, a spout 5 minutes earlier would have been much more appreciated!  Climbing back down off the ceiling now.

 We tie up in the tranquil, well sheltered, very large Queen Cove anchorage and settle in.  When last here we had a mama bear shoo her two cubs up into the tree while she spent considerable time foraging not far from our boat.  This time the mama bear comes in the form of an angry woman trying to defend their anchor spot.  We have been here about an hour when she and her captain pull into the anchorage, head for our boat and go in front of us.  Carl is off in the dinghy so Pam heads to the bow and waves and then points out where our anchor is.  With hand signals Pam indicates that they need to move their shallow draft power boat further in, plenty of room to do that.  They don’t heed the hand signals so I go down to the VHF radio and try to hail them.  They do not reply.  They basically turn broadside to us and hover and she finally comes out on their deck, hands on her hips and fuming.  “We were here last night!  We expected to anchor right here again tonight” (then perhaps you should not have left?).  I look around.  Nope, I don’t see any floating sign that says “anchorage reserved for the angry lady in the powerboat.”  “We like this spot.  We want to stay.”  Count to ten, well at least 5.  “We like this spot too,” I say.  “Maybe we should have left our dinghy anchored.” Well, maybe you should but it might have been moved….as my thought processes begin to deteriorate.  I finally tell her, “You are right over our anchor, you should move in further.”  They opt instead to huff off further into the (very ample) moorage and anchor 100 yards or so from us.  ExTerra occasionally swings us around to see their boat, one time showing dark brown liquid sluicing out of one of their discharge vents.  Lovely.  Next swing, she is shaking out a black garbage bag into the bay.  Wonderful.  To add insult to injury, Carl sees an Oregon tag in their window (not on the hull as required) and we are sorry to say that this poor excuse of a cruiser is from our home state.  They roar off fast and close making sure we get a good wake.  Hours later they roar back in and thankfully anchor much further away from us.  The drone of their generator will not be heard this evening.  Next morning, they roar out again, never to be seen again thankfully, hopefully.  

 

Again, listening to the weather, the gale warnings are still in effect with potential for 40-50 mile per hour winds.  We had hoped to actually try the Nuchatlitz anchorage but given the wind predictions we opt further in.  We decide to head for another storm hole, Mary Basin.  We pick our way through the reefs that line the entrance to Nuchatlitz Inlet in some pretty sloppy swell, glad when we make it through the rock entrance and move up into Mary Basin.  We see 7 kayaks as they come up the inlet and then transit over to Laurie Creek.  We visit briefly with them as they come back by.  They too have been listening to the weather.  They plan on leaving Monday, if the weather allows.  As we settle into our routine, off comes the dinghy, out goes the crab pot, Carl is happily paddling around the perimeter while I am here in the cockpit catching up on the blog.  

Having, thankfully, the gifts of patience and time we once again relax through many tide cycles.  We watch off and on, a group of at least 100 Tufted Puffins, a real treat.  We usually only see 1 or 2.  At any given time 20 or so disappear as they dive below to forage.  Up they pop en masse as another group dives.  This keeps us busy for a while.  We also do a short dinghy excursion up Lauri creek to the beautiful multi-tiered waterfall.  

As Pam lays in the chain Carl rinses the chain and anchor with the washdown pump system that he installed years ago.  It is a great addition to the boat.  We choose to “lay in the chain,” with Pam below at the chain locker neatly crisscrossing the chain until Carl thumps on the cabin top, “anchor up.”  Pam then returns to the helm.  This makes the anchor chain (we are all chain) sing out of the locker then it is time for Pam to drop the anchor next time.  This works well in all settings except if there is imminent danger of a nearby rock or we are in a crowded anchorage.  Hardly ever an issue.  Off we go to Port Langford.

 

Port Langford is simply the name of the body of water, no “port” to be had.  It is a decently protected anchorage closer to the mouth of Esperanza Inlet, setting us up for a departure two days hence, as Tuesday it looks like the gale will not be upon us for a brief time.  Here we watch bears at the head of the inlet and read.  Fishing is closed in this area and the crab trap has been empty for days, given the number of sea otters we continue to see.

 

Tuesday morning listening to the 4:00 AM weather report and glory be, NO GWIE (Pam’s acronym for Gale Warning in Effect).  We pull anchor and head out for our 10-hour journey outside, along Nootka Island, passing Estevan Point and then back into Baseball Cove, Sydney Inlet.  This northern chapter is closed!