Catching Up

Cruising through a big, beautiful area that doesn't have very good cell/internet access makes active blogging difficult! I LOVE to take pictures. And I love to share what we've been seeing and doing. But with no immediate internet, I am often going through pictures and writing about something we've done a week or more ago. It's often difficult to make sure I tell you all I want to.

I just always feel like I'm catching up. The last post only brought you up to July 1. So here's what we've done for the past week.

We went up Thompson Sound, scouting to see if we need to return another time. I chose this picture to show the lasting evidence of logging. Even though the ugly barrenness of a clear cut has been grown over and is lushly green, the slashes of logging roads are very apparent.

In a guidebook's directions to an anchorage area it said to look for a white X in the granite. We finally found it!

A rickety dock with a stand-up paddleboard or kayak on it, and tents INSIDE the structure. Al says 'A little bit of paradise!'

I zoom in to a pretty little waterfall.

It's at the end of a very large landslide!

 We end the days travel at Sargeaunt Passage, closing the ends of the huge circle we've made of 'the Broughtons. It is a month to the day since we were in this exact spot! June 3 to July 3. We saw a mama black bear with a yearling cub here before. Would we see bear again?

Sure enough, I see a bear on the east side of the passage, on the point of the narrows. It is alone, so I make the assumption it is a male. Wait, he's going for a swim! It is hard to see, but there is another bear on the other side. That one seems completely unaware, until the swimmer nearly reaches shore. Then he hightails it! And the swimmer quickly disappears from view as well. In the picture, what looks like a black log at the edge of the water in the center of the photo is the swimming bear. To the left, the black blob among the white rocks on shore is the bear who gets surprised.
SEE? I need a better camera!

 We had intended to explore the islands of Village Channel and Indian Channel before heading to Port McNeil for provisions, but rain is forecast and the cupboards ARE quite bare. We decide to head to port and hope for better weather in a few days.

We cross Blackfish Sound, known for whales and other wildlife doing fishing in the turbulent waters. We see porpoises. And then something BIGGER blows!

The mist of that mighty exhale hangs in the air!

We believe we have seen two, and the are travelling the opposite direction of us. But wait, one has turned and is coming back!

This is why they are called HUMPbacks! Getting ready for a dive...

And the tail waves to us! We won't see it again this time -- they stay down quite a while when they dive.

Boy, it's a bad day to be a fish on Blackfish Sound! They are at the bottom of the food chain, after fisherpeople, porpoises, whales, and eagles! There are 5 or 6 eagles of all ages fishing.

It is late afternoon when we reach Port McNeil, so we anchor in the bay for a miserable night of rain. We'll go in to the marina the next morning, and have that much more time to do business for the price of a nights moorage.

Three separate trips for groceries, a pizza supper, and a breakfast at the cafe restore our cupboards and our bodies to FULL status.  AND, a sunny afternoon followed by a sunny morning recharges our psyches as well.

City lights offer another option for roosting and surveying.

 Rain features prominently in the next WEEK of the forecast. And a strong SE wind is expected. We finally decide we will spend at least a few days in Farewell Harbour. Ships from Captain Vancouver's expedition anchored in this harbour in the 1790's, and this harbour was the last one they surveyed.

Blackney Passage is just outside the entrance to our anchorage, and it gets a lot of boat traffic -- fishermen, cruisers, tug and tows, and cruise ships!

Ugh. Grey dark dreary drippy clouds. July in the Broughtons.

There is plenty of wildlife to view here. There are at LEAST 8 eagles we saw fishing from the trees on the point, and yesterday afternoon I saw two 'blows' and a whale tail, just in front of the islets you see in the above picture!

There! You are now caught up. Well, for another week or so anyway.