Category: Inside Passage

We had a fun day just exploring the harbor. We love the way they decorate their electric boxes, each one shows a little of the history of Port McNeill.

In place of the seaplane landing this time we have a view of the helicopter landing pad for Grizzly Helicopters Ltd. The pictures were taken from our boat.

I think we found our next adventure. Today we saw a big fancy jet ski pull into port with three decals: Adventure Guide, Seattle – Juneau, and Dangerous Water Adventures. The adventure guide was talking to the dock hands, and we could only guess what was coming next. Sure enough, nine more jet skis came around the breakwater. The group is on a 10-day, 1000-mile jet ski trip from Seattle, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska. You might think that sitting on a jet ski for 10 days would be boring, but being out on the open ocean surrounded by nature can be an amazing experience. The group of 2 guides, 3 female and 5 male customers would disagree, they were happy, excited, and ready for a shower and some food. This trip can be a family adventure, as one couple brought their two adult sons with them. Check out their site and make sure to click on the video link:

https://dangerouswateradventures.com

To continue our adventure, we need to go around Cape Caution which is situated on the western end of a large unnamed peninsula. As the name reflects this area is known for its turbulent waters and rocky coastlines. Every Captain has a Go-No-Go list of when to leave a safe port. We are waiting for the next good weather window to make the 40 mile trip from McNeill to Fitz Hugh Sound on the east side of Calvert Island.

The shortest most direct route from Campbell River to Port McNeill, a northern community on Vancouver Island, is to take Discovery Pass north though Seymour Narrows to Johnstone Strait and continue up the Island on Queen Charlotte Strait. The alternative is to transit the inside route through the Broughtons, which is the most sheltered route.

Choosing the coastline of East Vancouver Island should not be done on a whim, you must be constantly aware of the wind, tides, currents, floating logs and other boats.

Below is a description of Seymour Narrows and Johnstone Strait from our Waggoner’s Cruising. You can never have to much information; we have several guide books with us.

Seymour Narrows

“Northbound vessels: On small tides, northbound vessels should arrive off Maud Island light an hour before the end of the ebb, or an hour prior to high water slack, before the ebb begins. Once into the narrows, steer toward the tongue of the current stream (east of mid-channel) to avoid the whirlpools and eddies north of Maud Island up to North Bluff. On big tides, low-powered vessels will find it prudent to be at the Maud Island light at high water slack or just a few minutes into the north flowing ebb.

If the slack is at low water, arrive at the pass before the end of the ebb. Slack on large tides is not very long, five to ten minutes at most. You’ll want to be past Brown Bay before the southflowing flood gets underway. It can be brutal in a slow-moving boat. You may find a back eddy along the eastern shore. On a large flood, Seymour Narrows can reach 16 knots, no place to be in any kind of boat…Stay on your side of the channel (i.e. to starboard) to clear of any tugs or large ships headed the other way. The good news about Seymour Narrows is that there are no obstructions and just one strong, main stream.”

Johnstone Strait

“Johnstone Strait is a seductive and difficult body of water. The strait begins at Chatham Point in the east, stretches 54 miles along the northeast side of Vancouver Island to Blinkhorn Peninsula. It is the shortest route up- or down-island. Especially when on the Vancouver Island side, Johnstone Strait bound by steep, high and beautiful mountains. On a clear day the scenery is awesome.

That is the seductive part.  The difficult part is what the wind and current in Johnstone Strait do to each other. The flood current flows eastward, down-island, toward Discovery Passage and Campbell River. The ebb current flows westward, up-island, towards Charlotte Strait, increasing the west-flowing ebb current’s strength and duration. In the summer the prevailing wind in Johnstone Strait is a westerly, often a gale-force westerly, funneled by the mountains. The result is a classic wind-against-current heaping up of the seas…Despite the potential problems, we have run the length of Johnstone Strait, both directions many times, and often had an excellent ride. But we listened to the weather and went when conditions were calm on near-calm. If the wind had come up, we were prepared to run for cover in a bay or seek out a friendly point to hide behind until conditions improve. We have always kept a bail-out point in mind. Conditions can change quickly.

Watch for drift in Jonston Strait. There’s considerable current activity and many shear lines where scrap wood, tree limbs, logs, and even entire floating trees accumulate.”

Rick spent hours studying the guidebooks and listening to weather forecasts before we made a decision ; we would go though Seymour Narrows spend the night at Blind Channel Resort and wait till the Friday morning weather forecast to make the final decision, Jonnstone Strait or the Broughtons.

Seymour Narrows (May 30-Thur)

Beautiful blue skies with wonderful billowing white clouds. Mother Nature certainly blessed us with a beautiful day.

Blind Channel Resort (May – 31 Fri)

Up at five on Thursday morning we checked all of our weather apps and they all agreed, it will be a good for traveling Johnstone Strait This was our chance, Johnstone Strait it is. Not so many pictures today, I was busy watching for markers, logs, boats, ferries. In the process I saw birds, seals, otters and a dead head (a log the is floating vertical and can cause a lot of damage to a boat). I was a bit surprised that the depth gauge bottomed out at 1,680 feet deep.

Johnstone Strait

Mother Nature may not have given us blue sky’s with billowing white clouds today but she certainly provide us with outstanding views of snow covered mountains.

Port McNeill (May 31-Fri)

Welcome Party

We left Comox at 7:00 am and made a 5 hour trip to Campbell River. Rain Showers followed us most of the day with 2-3 foot following seas. Campbell River has become a shopping mecca for the surrounding area; drugstore, groceries, clothing, gardening, marine supply, book stores, big-box stores and more.

After two days of Blue Skys and Calm weather the trip to Comox was a bit more challenging. Gray skys, intermittent rain, wind and 4 foot waves. At least the waves came from the stern, Paradigm Lost handles well in those type of seas.

We loved all the flowers in the marina and having our boat right in front of the float plane dock. A walk around the area showed us just how nautical the town is. In the pictures, Bella Jade and Makyla are real boat serving as balconies for their host. Tug Boat is a decorative sculptor for the town, I hope they give her a name.

We were excited when we learned that the Comox Glacier was only 19 miles from our marina and that we could see it from our flybridge. We are saddened to learn that scientists predict that the Comox Glacier along with the other sixty-five magnificent glaciers on the island, will be gone by 2050. In the 1970’s Vancouver Island had 170 Glaciers. In the glacier images below the first one is from the Internet so that you can compare it to the pictures we took.

Beautiful day on the water. After docking at the Saysutshun State Park Marina (formally Newcastle Marine) we took a short walk on the Island. On Thursday we took a bus to Woodgrove Centre to do provisioning. On our way home the bus became a little crowded. At one stop we picked up high schoolers, a few stops later middle/elementary school, and then younger elementary students and preschoolers with guardians . We were highly impressed by how well behaved and capable all of the students were.

Leaving Annette Inlet we traveled 23 miles on calm water under blue skies to Ladysmith B.C. Since our last visit the Ladysmith Marina has changed hands. It is now operated by the Stz’uminus First Nation, the new name is Oyster Bay Marina. For now, they are off to a slow start, the restaurant is closed and the 900-foot transit pier had no more than four vessels visiting during our stay.

Although the Marina seems to be struggling we really enjoyed our stay. The Cowichan Valley Trail provided a great getaway for some quiet contemplation. The focus of the town seemed to be the Old Town Bakery which opened in 1932 and are widely known for their cinnamon buns. They offer nine flavors daily, with a monthly special. When I was there the flavor of the day was Peanut Butter-Cream Cheesecake. The fun part is that it is more than a walk-in walk-out bakery, it is a place where the locals gather to chat as they consume irresistible pastry or a savory lunch. The lady decorating cakes told me that on Saturdays they often churn out over 1,000 cinnamon buns.

One of our favorite memories of being at marina will be of the Purple Martin’s serenading us each morning and evening.