Thursday, June 23, 2016

Finding Nimmo

We don't 'watch TV' while cruising. We 'watch shows'. This summer, one of the shows we are watching is Boston Legal. And at the end of Season 1, Denny Crane talked of a resort in British Columbia in Little Nimmo Bay. In Season 2, Episode 3, Denny and Alan Shore actually go to the resort. Hey, we should go check it out!

We'll call this part of our cruise, departing from Booker Lagoon 5 days ago, 'Finding Nimmo'.


We head up Wells Passage and this many-peaked mountain is peeking through the clouds.
We learned later that it is Mt. Stephens, but it remains 'the pokey mountain' to us.
Five days later, this is the best shot I will have of it.

We spent two evenings in Claydon Bay, where we found Red-throated Loons. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America says that their voice is 'quacking or gull-like wailing'. We learned that yes, they do quack. But the wailing seemed much more like SHRIEKING! Al even thought they were coyotes or wolves howling. Across the water and echoing off the mountains it was quite unnerving. And this is also the best picture I have of them.

Roaringhole Rapids IS roaring. This short passage has only 3 feet of water in it at low tide. NO, we are not going to attempt it. Another reason? Slack only last for 5 minutes and there is no anchorage above in Nepah Lagoon to wait for the next slack.

In Turnbull Cove we were one of 10 boats, the biggest number we have seen gathered in one spot,
except for marinas, since heading north. This is facing AWAY from the boats. The bright green area on the left marks an old landslide. The bigger, newer (2005) one is on the north shore. And oh, I wish I'd told the sun to come back soon!

Next day, we head down dramatic Kenneth Passage. The current creates whirlpools and boils in the water, and the foggy/rainy mountains remind us of the Columbia River Gorge.

We enter Mackenzie Sound and turn right, and I look back at the sheer granite wall of Annie Point, and see 'the pokey mountain' through the rain.

Burly Bay has its own granite wall. We are hopeful for bear on the beach, but we don't see any, and we haven't even seen many birds. And we had thought the forecast had only talked of one night of rain. Nope.
 After a night in Burly Bay, and hearing that strong winds are forecast in a few days, we want to find Nimmo and travel to the end of Mackenzie Sound and find a sheltering anchorage to wait the winds. So, when the rain stops for a bit and the clouds seem to be lightening, we pull anchor and head out.


The guest cottages

Kitchen/dining room/communal area?

There are even tail-wagging greeters! There was a third, but he lost interest before these two.

Appears to be staff accommodations.

DO check out their webpage. This is a VERY luxury resort, but they will welcome boats, with reservations. Being quite frugal, we didn't plan to stay.  But wow! You can arrive/depart by helicopter!  We think THAT trip may be worth the price....http://nimmobay.com/packages/welcome-boaters/


This is a pretty picture of the head of Mackenzie Sound. But to be honest, we were quite disappointed. Because just to the right of this is a dock and landing for a logging operation. There were several vehicles, fuel tanks, storage containers, and a big boat, with people on it. Anywhere we would have anchored would have been in sight. Blah. So we headed back to Burly Bay.

Next big destination is Sullivan Bay where we will be getting a few groceries and practicing our people skills again.  How soon we get there depends on the weather.

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