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. 

Ocean Falls BC - July 6-9

We left Shearwater and motored a bit of a "back way" to Ocean Falls through a passage called Gunboat Passage. Gunboat Passage runs along the north side of Denny Island. Between Denny Island and Cunningham Island. Shearwater is on Denny Island. 

Gunboat passage has a couple of really narrow and shallow spots and there are some range markers and pillar bouys for navigational purposes. Good for us Power Squadron graduates!!

It was a very pretty little passage to travel through. 

One of the range markers from the back side of it. 

 

The water was like glass most of the trip. 

There is a helicopter logging operation in Cousins Inlet just before Ocean Falls. 

Ocean Falls BC used to be an industry town of up to 5000 people.  Due to the closure of the Crown Zellerbach pulp and paper mill in 1973 and the failure of a provincial run pulp in the early 1980s the town has become a ghost town. 

http://www.oceanfalls.ca/blog/about/

It has an very interesting history and it's worth a read. 

We did not go to Ocean Falls last summer. It is a popular boating stop. There is a small marina there that is run by the Ocean Falls Harbour Authority. The price is very reasonable. There is power and an abundance of fresh water.  It rains A LOT!  And the fishing and crabbing is very good. It is a popular stop for boaters. 

Part of what remains of the town. The big building is the old hotel. The marina is just to the left in the photo. 

A close up of the falls. 

There is a huge under utilized hydro dam in Ocean Falls. 

Ocean Falls requires more than one post I think. 

Shearwater -- July 4th and 5th

Back to Shearwater for a bit of 3G and to pick up some groceries. I can't seem to find the canola oil that I thought I brought!!  Seems we left a few things behind!  And time to restock the fresh produce. The grocery store at Bella Bella is a pretty good little shop!  

We anchored up in the bay right ooutside the Shearwater breakwater. The moorage at the Shearwater Marina is the most expensive in the Central Coast. There is no need for us to go to the dock as we can just take the skiff to the dingy dock and tie up there while we are on shore. 

We stayed two nights. We ate dinner in the pub both nights. The first night we had dinner with John and Kitsi from KK42 Sunbreak.  We saw them last in Port McNeill. The brass band Fish on Five was playing -- it was the July 4th holiday.  The last time we were in Shearwater Fish on Five was there and they played on the deck and we sat out on the deck in the sun.  This year we were all inside!  

We did a load of laundry and took the skiff to Bella Bella and bought groceries. That worked really well. Instead of waiting for the water taxi - we came and went in a lot less time. There is no dock for moorage in Bella Bella. Just a small boat dock and the fuel dock. 

When we were on our way back from Bella Bella a giant yacht called Felix came and anchored up just outside Shearwater. I tried to take a few photos of the yacht from the skiff but they didn't really turn out very well. We were bouncing along at a pretty good clip!  

A lovely Shearwater sunset.  

July 3rd Dodwell Island North Anchorage.

Dodwell island North Anchorage. 

The weather got a bit better - the gale warning ended! We decide to go to another recommended anchorage in the Dodwell Island group.  It was a "favourite" anchorage. 

It was also in the James and Jennifer Hamilton's book -- "Cruising the Secret Coast". A book we highly recommend for anyone travelling in the Central Coast. The other books we have are the "Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia"  by the Don Douglass and Reanne Hemingway Douglass. 

 It was a tucked away little spot - really only suitable for one boat. We were not too sure about it when we first arrived. It was a pretty little spot. But we had trouble finding a good spot to drop the anchor. It was full of big rocks and quite deep where we dropped the anchor. We ended up pulling the anchor and moving forward quite a bit.  

Looking around it was hard to see a spot to take Jenny to shore as well.  Jim took the skiff out and went for a little tour about and took Jenny to shore at a spot quite a ways from the boat. 

At high water slack Jim got all set up to head out to a little reef to try and fish for some halibut for dinner.  No halibut -- but he didn't lose his hook - so that's progress. 

As the tide dropped we noticed a nice little slopped "beach" very close to the boat that was perfect for taking Jenny to shore.  

Jim took Jenny to shore after dinner. The shore was covered in fucus -- also called rock weed.

There was a little creek there and Jim counted 62 Abalone shells in and around the creek.   He suspected they had been taken there and eaten by River Otters.  

We only stayed one night. But in the end we decided we would come back to this spot. It was very pretty, and nice bit of shore for walking Jenny.  

Abandoned Cove. June 30 - July 2

Abandoned Cove ( John Harper anchorage ) 

We left Swordfish Bay because there was a gale warning - winds to 35 knots expected from the south - south east - and Swordfish bay was pretty much open to the south. 

There was a very protected anchorage in the McNaughton Group that a fellow Krogenite recommended. It was also in the Hamilton's book - they called it Abandoned Cove. It was only a short distance away - 7 miles north.  

Once we left the Swordfish Bay the first 15 minutes or so were very VERY lumpy!  We were bouncing all over the place. Lilly went quickly from the crate to her spot and we were quite concerned she would barf. I felt a little woozy - but we got in the lee of some Islands and the seas settled quickly. 

We thought Abandoned Cove was a nice little spot. Very protected from almost any wind direction. 

There was a sailboat already anchored up when we arrived. 

Jim was able to find a place to take Jenny to shore. 

The first night we expected a lot of wind because of the gale warning but there was very little wind in the cove. Great! That's why we are here! 

The gale warning continue for three days. The second day we pulled the anchor and moved the boat because we were quite close to a rock wall and it was starting to blow harder. It was a fairly small anchorage for two boat because there were a number of rock hazards around.  Some of the rocks were uncharted. 

A very large rock in the channel coming into the cove. 

Now you see it ......

Now you don't .....

And the discussion was -- when does a rock become a reef?!! 

July 2nd it was really windy and raining - heavy at times!  Full wet gear day!  Jim was going to go fishing but it was gusting up to 19 knots! 

And then at 5 pm the rain stopped the wind died down we saw a bit of blue sky came out!  Gale warning ended!  

That was a bit of a teaser though it started pouring and blowing again around 9:30 pm. But the with the sun out the solar panels got a bit of time to solar!  

We spent 3 nights in Abandoned Cove because of the gale warning. The sailboat had been there for 7 nights!!  We were ready to go. They said they had been ready to leave a while ago! But we pulled up anchor and motored out around mid morning and they were still there. Another big boat was on its was in as we were leaving. 

We saw a big raft of sea otters just outside the anchorage.  We got a few photos but they weren't very good as we couldn't get that close.