We left Hartley Bay on an incredibly low tide. The tide have been really low and really high. It's that time of year. We were so close to the breakwater. We had about 10 feet under the boat and not much room to move around!
There are not many places to anchor along the "Inside Passage". And it is a long passage for a boat that does only 7.5 knots so we can't travel the whole way in one day.
The BC ferry -- The Northern Expidition traveling south as it goes past us.
It is a very narrow passage with great high mountain peaks on either side. The passage is a deep as the mountains are high. And the shore is just straight up rock and trees right at the tide line. There are only a couple of places to stop. Butedale is one. Butedale is a former cannery sight that has fallen into disrepair.
Khutze Inlet is another place to stop and anchor up. It is very deep, and about 5 miles in to the anchorage.
Butedale has been purchased by someone who is hoping to get it cleaned up and have an "Inside Passage Marina and Eco tourism" business set up there.
From this photo you can't tell there is actually a useable dock there.
A couple of boats pulled into Butedale and tied up at the dock just before us. We went in for a look around and contacted the caretaker on channel 66A. It looks a bit of a mess but the docks themselves were pretty stable and good enough to tie up for the night. The other two boats stayed for a bit and then left to go to anchor in Khutze Inlet.
Phoenix Hunter at the dock -- kinda useable!
The caretaker's house.
Cory the caretaker had a dog named Buddy. Who really wanted to play with Jenny. And Jenny!! With her bad knee decided she really wanted to play with Buddy -- an un-neutered male.
And Cory had a car named Tiger - an un-neutered male. Tiger serenaded Lilly with the most wonderful sounds and songs for quite some time before he stopped singing and just settled on the dock to keep watch over Lilly as Lilly kept watch over him through the a porthole in Jenny's stateroom.
And the the swallows! Dozens and dozens of swallow under the big wharf. Lilly watched them all night too. There were so many birds she didn't seem to know what she was supposed to do with all of them!
And then there was Ed - the kayaker. He was 70 years old and was planning to Kayak from Shearwater to Prince Rupert along the Inside passage. He had come to realize that it was not a good idea - there was no beaches to camp along the way - the current was too strong and the tides too high. His iPhone had died and his VHF radio was able to receive but he couldn't send. He was the kayaker that the coastguard had been checking on the previous day. He was saying that he was hoping he could continue but by the time he got to Butedale he had come to realize he was not able to keep going. He was hoping to get to Prince Rupert in 14 days and he had been already been travelling 8 days and would never make his 14 day goal. He had maybe traveled less than 1/4 of the way. He had a story where he could not find a spot for his tent and was able to get on to a bit of shore and string his hammock up between two trees. He was making a video for his wife and as he crawled into the hammock one of the cedar trees crumbles and broke and fell on top of him!! He looked pretty exhausted and even a little confused.
He was looking for a way back to somewhere that he could connect with the next ferry to Port Hardy which was where he left his car. We were able to send a Delorme message to a friend and found out the ferry schedule. The next ferry left from Bella Bella in 3 days. We were heading that way and thought we could take him with us but it would be 2 days before we would get to Bella Bella/Shearwater travelling at 7.5 knots.
Luckily a small tour group from the Spirit Bear Lodge in Klemtu arrived by boat for a short tour of Butedale. They offered to take Ed to Klemtu. From there he could take a water taxi to Bellla Bella and catch the ferry on July 22nd. Jim helped get his kayak on their boat. It was a small aluminum water taxi boat that would go 20-25 knots. They would be in Klemtu in under 2 hours. We think it was a very good idea for him to get back to somewhere he could sleep in a bed and have a good rest and a hot shower. So off he went with the group from the Spirit Bear Lodge in Klemtu.
And we finished the night off with BBQ'd salmon thanks to Kyle!
Jim took a few photos of Butedale as we were leaving in the morning.
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