Greenway Sound Bulletin Board

Seaplane to take Chuck to Hospital

Kwatsi Bay at Base of Mountain (note landslide)

Kwatsi Bay dock and Pot Luck "building"

Johnstone Strait

Greetings All:

Today, July 18th we are at Greenway Sound. If you go to http://www.greenwaysound.com/ you will learn about this location. But let me back up and start from where we last left off telling you about our journey.

We are working our way north along the East side of Vancouver Island. Other than the Strait of Georgia in the southern half, we are in quite protected waters.

We spent two nights anchored in Campbell River, which is known as the salmon capital of the world. There are many fish lodges here where you can go out for 1/2 day or more and have a high percentage chance of catching wild salmon. If you do catch one, they clean it for you, flash freeze it, and then put it into a box the airline will accept as luggage. Many many people enjoy this sportfishing.

We left there and immediately transited Seymour Narrows at slack water around 8:30 in the morning. Again, this is a narrow area where because of large tide swings, up to 15 ft., cause a current as high as ten knots with many whirlpools and overfalls, where the water literally stands straight up and looks like a cliff as you approach one of these. So, to be safe, you wait for slack water which happens either at high tide or low tide. After we passed through Seymour, we then head north about 10 miles before making a "left" turn into Johnstone Strait. Johnstone runs in a northwest to southeast direction and is about 30 miles in length. This body of water is about one-half to one mile wide and again runs along the eastern side of Vancouver Island. While there are no dangerous tides, if the wind opposes the tidal flow, this can create lots of waves and rough water. It is normal to see a minimum of 15 knots of wind on up into the 30 knot range during the summer months. There is lots of boat traffic, from fishing boats to large tugs towing barges, usually heading to or from Alaska. There are also cruise ships passing through these waters also to and from Alaska. For our trip the wind was about 20knots on the nose with about a 3 knot tidal current pushing us. There was lots of spray as the boat pounds into the waves but no real danger. There is also lots of "debris" in the water, mainly logs so we have to keep a sharp lookout for these obstacles. A few years ago we hit a log and it really bent one of our propellers very badly. That is a bad day on the water, if that happens!!

We stayed at a brand new marina called Port Harvey. There was no water or power at the new docks but a very nice Canadian couple have started this place. They will cook dinner for you and every day have fresh bread and muffins that they bake. Very nice

Then we moved on to our favorite place, Kwatsi Bay. Go to http://www.kwatsibay.com/ and you will see their web site. This is a couple with two children who literally live in the woods. There is NOTHING there but their docks and small home up on the land. But, very nice people, and some of the most beautiful scenery you could possibly imagine. We were docked on the back side of their docks. They had a pot luck meal, and while we were standing around talking about different things with the people we met, something came up about anniversaries. We asked, what the date was, and realized it was July 13th, OUR 24TH ANNIVERSARY! Margaret and I both realized we had lost track of dates and didn't even know it was our anniversary! What a great laugh we had.

Then we moved to our current location, Greenway Sound. Here, Chuck had an accident. He literally fell off the side of the boat through an opening in the railing and landed just below his left shoulder blade. Really dumb! The next day we chartered a sea plane to come in and pick us up to go to the hospital. It was about a 20 minute airplane ride to Port McNeill, a very small community. At the hospital it was discovered Chuck broke his 5th rib on the left side. We actually feel these was minor compared to what could have happened. No head, back, hip or leg injury, just the rib. Now two days later Chuck is doing better with the pain. There is nothing to be done for this, other than letting it heal on its own. It should take 6-8 weeks. All is well.

Tomorrow, July 19, we move to Jennis Bay for two nights. Go to http://www.jennisbay.com/ and you can check it out. Again, a young family living in the wilderness with two young children. They homeschool the kids. This is a delightful family! After Jennis, we will anchor for a couple days and then go to Pierres. Go to http://www.pierresbay.com/ and check it out. This next Saturday they are having a party called "Christmas in July" with roast turkey and Christmas carols. Should be fun.

We are doing well, in spite of the accident, and having a relaxing fun time.

Chuck and Margaret

REID HARBOR SHORE

SUNSET IN MONTAGUE ANCHORAGE

APPROACHING DODD NARROWS

We have worked our way up into British Columbia and tomorrow, the 12th we head further north where cell phone and internet connections are a rarity. Today, Friday the 11th, we sit in an anchorage across from the city of Campbell River. There is a channel in front of this town called "Discovery Passage". The currents can run up to 6 knots in this channel, so it is important to transit running with the current rather than against. Today we had about a 4 knot current pushing us. We normally run at 8 knots and today were making 12 in the passage.

Prior to arriving here we left U.S. waters and cleared customs into Canada on Monday the 6th. We then proceeded to a very good anchorage called Montague Harbor. The anchor set very well and it was a good thing as it blew quite hard up until about midnight. We had 30 knot gusts. Then all calm! We slept well, but we always sleep with "one ear open". We use our GPS system to create a circle of .05 nautical miles radius around the boat. If we drag anchor and go outside the "circle" we hear a loud beeping sound. If you anchor correctly it is rare for this to happen.

On the 7th we proceeded to the town of Nanaimo. To get there you go through a narrow passage called Dodd Narrows where you have to wait for slack water in the tides. The current can run up to 6 knots here but it is a narrow passage and whirlpools and turbulance are created. This could literally cause you to lose control of the boat. Timing is everything. Shortly after that we arrived at Nanaimo where we spent two nights at the dock

On the 8th we started up the northern half of the Strait of Georgio. This is almost like open ocean in that it is quite a few miles wide and the water can be over 1,000 ft deep. Paying close attention to the weather, in particular wind speed and direction, is critical. The weather was great, wind speed no more than 15 knots and we had a uneventful trip to an anchorage at Hornby Island. We went fishing here and I caught a 3-4 ft SHARK!!! I couldn't get the lure out of him because it was thrashing around so much, it was actually a bit scary. So, had to cut the line leaving the lure in the fish. It will rust away in due course.

Chuck and Margaret