GRUMAN GOOSE AT DAWSONS LANDING

NAMU CANNERY PIER IN RUINS

ABANDONED NAMU CANNERY

OLD SHIP DERELICT AT NAMU BRITISH COLUMBIA

ECHO BAY, BROUGHTON ISLANDS

KWATSI BAY BROUGHT ISLANDS

KWATSI BAY BROUGHTON ISLANDS
Our trip through the Broughton Islands and around Cape Caution, our open ocean crossing, was blessed with wonderful weather. The winds were relatively calm as were the seas. Cape Caution can be a very rough place if the wind and currents oppose each other, but not this time. After rounding the cape we proceeded to a dock called Dawsons landing where a husband and wife and their children carve out a living in the wilderness. This is a second generation family. Really rough living. For example, besides people like us paying moorage, he collects loose logs from the waters, and then sells them to people who need logs for whatever purpose. It is agains the law to just go and cut down trees which are of course everywhere. Then we moved on to Namu, an abandone salmon cannery where hundreds of people worked and lived at one time. The canneries were prolific up and down the coast and then disappeared with the advent of refrigeration being added to fishing boats. With that technology, the fisherman were able to take the catch back to the cities to sell, vs. stopping at the closest cannery. The coastline is riddled with cannery debris, most of which have been absorbed back into the environment.

We are now sitting in Ocean Falls, British Columbia, literally at the end of the road. This place is almost a ghost town, as only 50 people live here vs. years back hundreds if not into the thousands lived here. This used to be a paper mill town until the mill closed. Of note here is the huge waterfall as there is a lake called Link Lake. This waterfall has electric turbines which power the area as well as a few very small communities downstream. There is no way to reach here other than by boat or plane. Yesterday we went to the "grocery". A place about the size of your living room. Canned goods only, some frozen meats, and only eggs and carrots for fresh produce. It was a 1.5 mile walk each way (needed the exercise) fighting the bugs most of the way.

But, prior to this, back to our last post, we traversed the Broughton Islands, still my most favorite area of cruising. Just pristine, almost no people, beautiful calm waters. Upon leaving the Broughtons we started the open ocean portion of our trip, broken into two days. Carefully watching the weather, we had no troubles, anchoring one night. The second day we passed around the large Cape Caution. There was about a 5 ft. swell in the water but light wind. The boat was pitching fore and aft, up and down, but we counted ourselves lucky. We went to a place called Dawsons Landing which was up a dead end fiord. The husband and wife carve out an existance here, living on floating homes, nothing on land. They have a very nice store, and fresh water. But on the dock there are no amenities so we were entirely self sufficient, providing our own water with our desalination system and electricty with our diesel generator.

We then went to a place called Hakai, which used to be a luxurious fishing resort. After about a 3/4 mile hike through the woods, we came to a beautiful white sand beach similar to something you'd see in Hawaii, but NO people. This faced the Pacific Ocean and waves were crashing. Really something being alone.

Then on to Namu. You must google this place. This is an abandoned fish cannery that closed many years ago, I think in the 70's. There are a man and a woman who are the caretakers of it. Not sure what that means, since this place is literally a ghost town and falling into ruins. She commented to us when we inquired if we could walk around, "don't walk next to each other so if one of you falls through the wooden planks the other one can pull you out"!!

Next, on to Shearwater where Lee's son Todd will arrive on Saturday. We will take him with us up to Prince Rupert, just south of Alaska, where he will go home a week later.

One of the strange things about these places we go, we can usually get internet service. We have had no phone service for over a week. The internet we get however is quite slow, dial up speed, so will post pictures when I have a better connection. For now, all is well, boat running perfect, and expect to be in Alaska by the end of the month. We are moving slow, we could literally be there in three long days from where we currently sit.

Hello All---We are now about 180 miles north of Bellingham Wa. where we left on Tuesday. Each day is a relatively short day of about 40 miles. Today we did 60+ miles. Keep in mind our average speed is 8 or less, so 40 miles is 5 hours. How many of you could stand going this SLOW!? We have been traveling the east side of Vancouver Island and were in a city of about 32,000 people called Campbell River last night. This city is often referred to as the salmon fishing capital of the world. The weather, for this area is quite good. We have not had any significant wind ( a bad thing in the boating world) and have had warm temperatures in the low 60's. Upon leaving Campbell River today we have left any real civilization. There is one more city of about 8,000 people about 60 miles north of here, and then nothing more until Alaska. So, we will travel about 500 miles with almost no civilization present. The desolation and beauty of the area is spectacular. When we reach the north end of Vancouver Island we will have about a 60 mile open ocean passage around an area called Cape Caution. This can be very rough so has to be crossed with a very careful eye on the weather. It could be downright dangerous. Once around there we will be traveling what is called the inside passage which is quite protected waters most of the way to Alaska. That is about all for now, as we don't have any new pictures to share.

Hi Everyone:

We are off to ALASKA for our third time. We just love being up there in the summer as the scenery is just breathtaking. But, along with everything good, there is often things that aren't so good. In AK that is the weather. Usually rainy, I would say, about 70% of the time. Did you know South East Alaska is a rain forest? We usually think rain forest as being tropical. There is very little if any logging allowed in S.E. AK, so the forests, which come down to the water are very nice. Another wonderful thing about AK is the fish. If you like to eat fish, AK is the place to go. I often fish at the docks. Let me explain. I walk up and down the docks and visit with the commercial fisherman, sometimes offering a beer or two. Before you know it, fresh fish, salmon, halibut, red snapper is placed into my hands. I guess you can tell I'm not much of a fisherman. However, I am quite good at "crabbing". We place a trap with bait in it and within a short period of time, sometimes just an hour or two, you have more dungeness crab than you could possibly eat. Let's put it this way, we could eat crab every day, 3X a day! That is not on the weight watchers diet, at least not to that extreme. Speaking of weight watchers, the last 12 months Chuck has lost 38 pounds!! Sleek like a race horse now! :)

My brother in law Lee and I left Bellingham Wa. for AK, a trip of 700+ miles on May 4th. We will arrive there around June 1st when Margaret and my sister Annette will fly in and join us. Then the four of us will tour around S.E. heading from Ketchikan to Juneau. After a couple weeks Lee and Annette will depart and my brother will arrive and we will take him to Glacier Bay. That covers all of May and most of June. Not sure what will happen in July, but we'll keep you posted.

With this I have posted a few pictures of our boat being taken out of the building where we store it during the winter months.