Weinberg Inlet

July 17th and 18th. 

In McMicking Inlet we were anchored in the most northern part of the inlet.  We had hoped to anchor in a small cove on the east side but it was occupied when we arrived the first day. The most northern cove is open to south winds. And there is a rock/reef ( as the debate continues) right in the middle of the anchorage which needs to be avoided and managed. 

The Rock was some distance behind the boat when we first anchored. And then when the wind changed from Southeast to Northwest, the rock moved a little closer. Never too close. But we watched it. 

Weinberg Inlet 

We decided to travel the short distance of about 10 miles to a little inlet north of McMicking - still on Campania Island.  We had heard it was a nice little spot. 

It was a quick trip and we finally got to see some Orca Whales. First sighting we've had in a couple of years!  

Weinberg Inlet is a lovely little spot. And we were able to anchor up right where we wanted.  Which was a bonus!  

Just outside the inlet we noticed a few fish jumping so we decided to stay two nights and Jim could try his hand at fishing again.  No luck. The fish of British Columbia continue to live and swim free.  

We took a little dingy ride about the inlet. It is quite large and has lots of little islets and coves and such. 

Large granite hill in one of the coves on the south side of the inlet. 

Phoenix Hunter at anchor. Such a lovely spot. We would come back here. 

We noticed there were some commercial crab pots around so Jim put out the crab pot. 

We ended up catching a couple of small King crab. 

Too small to keep but the pots were re-baited for King crab in hopes of getting a couple of big ones.  No luck. 

We stay two nights instead of one.  A sailboat came in the first night and anchored around the other side of a little island. And then a couple of other boats came in but never stay - I think we were in "the spot". 

July 18th was my Dad's 80th Birthday!!  We had a lovely stir fried chicken dish and a beer in his honour! 

Lilly sitting down to dinner.  Happy Birthday Dad!!!  From all of us. 

McMicking Inlet

McMicking Inlet 

July 12 - 16 

Five nights in McMicking Inlet.   Jim said he wanted to spend more time here this trip. It is a beautiful spot - white sand beaches,  Mount Pender towering overhead - hemlock and cedar and spruce - all miniature and craggy and old. 

After the second night there was a gale warning for Hecate Straight - NW 30-40 for Friday.  We thought we would go back to Chapplel Inlet which is pretty much land locked and would be good in a gale. McMicking is pretty open to the south.  But we decided Thursday morning to stay where we were and see how it went.  We never did get 30-40. Friday evening we got it gusting to 20 for an hour or two and that was as windy as it got. 

We could have moved the boat to a spot around the corner - which was occupied when we arrived. But we have a very good anchor - Rocna - and all chain rode. And we have never had a problem with dragging - knock wood. So we just stayed put. We were anchored up in the very far south end of the inlet. There are a couple of spots close by there to take Jenny to shore. McMicking is a large anchorage and there was at most 4 boats in there at the same time as us. 

We had some beautiful sunsets. 

Some great trips to shore.  The first couple of days it was grey and drizzly. 

And then the sun came out. 

We had a picnic on a beach - sitting on a log beside some wolf tracks. 

 

We ate some beach peas. Well Jim ate them. I tried one. We never died!  

Rides around in the skiff 

Phoenix Hunter from the skiff with Mount Pender in behind. 

Jim caught some rockfish. 

Happy Hour on S/V Koukla with Donna and Cosmos. A beautiful old 56ft sailboat. 

Jenny did a bit of a tweak of her knee running around the beach!!  She was hobbling around on 3 legs for a couple of days but we gave her some Meloxicam and Tramadol and she is doing better. 

 

Lilly found yet another cupboard to climb into! One day I'm going to do a blog post just about all the places Lilly needs to go! 

It was sunny and breezy most of the time we were there. Beautiful. And the solar panels happily did their thing and we maybe ran the generator once or twice in 5 days. 

Shearwater and Kelmtu

July 9th and 10th. 

Shearwater and Klemtu 

Left Ocean Falls after the crab fiasco!  Spent one night in Shearwater.  Once again we anchor out. That really works great for us.   We saw a couple of Krogenites there -- Ocean Psalms and Skookum. 

Got up early and watched Milos Roanic play in the Wimbledon men's finals. Unfortunately he lost but it was wonderful to see him in the Men's Finals at Wimbledon! 

We left right after the match and made our way to Klemtu. 

 As we were traveling along in Finlayson Channel we hit a Humpback whale. What a big thump!!  Not a hard crack like a log but a soft sort of thud. But big - shock the boat!  Woke me from a nice nap! We circled around to see if there were any logs in the area - no logs but a couple of Humpback whale spouts in the near distance off the stern. We slowed down and then continued on our way to Clothes Bay.  And not long after we started back up there was another whale off our port side -- very close. 

 Jim reported to coast guard. DFO phoned later in the evening. Jim spoke at length with the Whale biologist. ( a bit of a biology bonding session it sounded like to me ). But she agreed that it was likely a humpback whale. 

Stayed one night in Clothes Bay.   There were two other boat in there besides us. It was quiet and calm at anchor. And good 3G in there as well. 

 

The small dock at Klemtu.

We left in the morning for Chappel Inlet. 

Lovely trip through Meyers Passage. Saw some kayakers going along.

They were hugging the shore waiting for us to pass. The passage is quite narrow and shallow in spots. 

Lots of kelp in the passage and along the shore. 

And then we got into Laredo Sound and it got very rolly and bumpy with some big rollers on our beam!  

Stuff crashing onto the floor!!  Stuff crashing about the boat!  Nothing broken! 

We should have had the poles down!! But I said no - it looked okay!!  Ha. Well Lilly didn't barf. She has been pretty good actually. 

We saw a big cruise ship the Noordam - they were probably wondering what the heck we were doing out in these swells and weather! 

We spent one night in Chappel.  We went there last year. It was the inlet where we came very close to an uncharted reef/rock.  

When we left in the morning for McMicking we decided to get the poles out and ready to put the fish in the water. 

Last year the open area in Estevan Sound was very rolly and Lilly barfed. So we decided to be ready.  So of course it was pretty much flat calm all the way to McMicking!!   

It was grey and misty but not a roll or a swell to be felt!! 

The Great Escape.

Ocean Falls is well know for the abundance of crabs. Great big Dungeness crabs. Everyone who there put down a crab pot or two. We were no exception. 

The first morning we were there Jim got out the crab gear and put a pot out in "the spot". A few hours later he came back with a couple of couple of crab. 

 By late afternoon he had 4 good sized crab.  A couple of them were what he calls "dinner plates". Big crab!! 

We were having Bob and Louis over for Happy Hour - so deciding it was too late to cook them at 4 pm  Jim had put them in a live bucket - which has a tight lid and holes to let the water into the bucket. And we put them behind the boat. We have done with with crabs last year in Bay of Plenty. 

The next morning, Jim pulled the pots again -- 3 more large crab. We got the water boiling and cooked the first three crabs -- shucked them and had a nice bowl of crab meat. 

Pulled up the live bucket to cook the next 4 --- EMPTY!!  Lid pushed partially open and crabs no where to be seen!  So disappointing!!!  But there were more crabs to be caught.  Back to the crab pot. A few crabs in the pot but only one legal.  Ok. Pot back and we will try again later. 

Our plan was to spend the day getting a few crabs caught and cooked for future dinners and then leave the next day. 

Jim decided to put out the prawn pots as well. He had heard there might be a few prawns about. 

Last pull of the day. Crabs are a lot of work!! Pulled the crab pot -- only a couple of under sized crab. I turned off the water I was starting to get to a rolling boil.  

Jim went off to pull the prawn pots. One measly Humpback shrimp!!  

We had a very nice dinner of crab cakes and salad and one Humpback shrimp. 

Jim had rebaited the crab pot and moved it. He left it overnight and pulled it the next morning.

15 CRAB!!

FIFTEEN CRAB!!   FIFTEEN!!  All large. Almost all male and legal. 

We were packing up to leave and decided not to change plans or try to cook crab and then leave so we threw them all back. All of them! Sigh!  Maybe we could have figured out a way to keep a couple or cook a couple. But..... If only we had caught them the day before!!!   Crabs are a lot of work. 

We may go back to Ocean Falls on our way south at the end of the month. See if we can catch a few more crab. 

So of a total of over 23 crabs caught 19 were allowed to live another day thanks to us!  Well 4 took it upon themselves to live another day.   The great crab escape! 

Nearly Normal Norman

Norman is a local that came to Ocean Falls 28 years ago. Long after it had mostly been demolished. 

He has been collecting memorabilia and keeping it on display in a series of room in the old marine ways building. He is happy to take visitors on tours. 

He has quite a huge collection! 

Items left behind from the Ocean Falls Lions club 

He has all kinds of things from toys to tools. All items that we abandoned in the town. A lot of items from the old pulp mills as well. 

A couple of old postcards of what the town used to look like before it was torn down 

This was a large painted map of the town. 

Nearly Normal Norman doesn't like to call it a "museum". It was quite the place!  He was quite the character and he had a few fascinating stories to tell -- one about his frog collection. Haha. Too long to repeat. 

Ocean Falls.

We went for a walk about what is left of the town. 

Old abandoned house some from the 30s and 40s around the town centre. Yards all overgrown. Houses are in various states of disrepair. Some in good shape. And some with people still living in them.  Fruit trees and berry bushes were everywhere - apples and cherries and raspberries. 

The abandoned hotel 

One of the abandoned stores. The old Hudson Bay store had partially collapsed. This building was still in pretty good shape. 

The hotel and the old Hudson Bay store on the right.  You can sort of see how the Hudson Bay store has collapsed this is pretty much all that is left of the shops in the town centre. 

The court house and post office. Still in use. We mailed a postcard off to my parents from the post office. 

Some buildings we almost complete intact while other were mostly destroyed.  There is a group of residents in the town that have formed a society to try to restore the town and the buildings. 

Then we took a tour of the more residential area about 2km down the road. 

This house is For Sale. 

 

 

The battery on my camera died on our walk about so I didn't get as many photos.