Alaskan Sea-Duction: Chapter 27 The Broughtons

We met up with the Pairadice (John and Tracy) in Port McNeil. After we fueled up, got water and dumped trash we headed over to the other side of Queen Charlotte Strait to Turnbull Cove for the night. John led the way at 6kts. This is a little slower than we are used to, but nicer in the fact you see a few more things. We also noticed increase boat traffic when compared to the northern BC coast. Turnbull Cove was a muddy little bay with 40 feet of water but to get there you go through small rapids and this place is in the sticks!

The next day we pulled anchor for the long cruise of 6 miles to Sullivan Bay. This is a friendly little community and they treat cruisers with excitement and the "ask us what we can do to make your visit better!" Kay and I love this place. She was happy as she could halibut fish from the dock at 165ft. John became the "Skate King" of Sullivan Bay as no matter how hard he tried there was no halibut that would sacrifice its self, but skates on the other hand.......hence the king. After 2 days it was time to head over to the other island and Eco Bay for prime rib and a pig roast!

Just as Pairadice and ASD were tying up at Eco Bay, we see Chris and Bridgette from Endless Times. We are now a 3 ship flotilla! While here we went to Billy Proctor's museum and the ladies went back over the next day to get their books sighed. Eco bay is a neat place, Fire pit and hot tub on the hill (hot tub was shut down, I was disappointed). We spent 4 days here and on two of those evenings, a guy across the bay played on his trumpet for a bit at the delight of all the guests. He ended with the playing of Taps. Then it was off to Kwatsi bay to anchor. Docking is nice, but we enjoy anchoring more.

Kwatsi Bay is a small protected bay with lots of fish and a few bears. There is a dock there but we all decided to raft up. Pairadice in the middle with his anchor and ASD, Endless Times on either side. This turned out to be our preferred way now. Roxy the dog would let us know when a bear came around with a simple, single "woof!" Oh and there is no fishing in the bay. Opps. Good thing we didn't catch anything. Outside the bay Chris did get a few shrimp. On to Thompson Sound.

On the way to Thompson Sound we went slow and put out the downriggers in the hopes of catching a salmon or two. I caught a small pink back at Sullivan bay but that was it. The locals were complaining that there were not any fish. We had the same luck and no fish. At the end of Thompson Sound there is a little cove at the end of the bay was barley big enough to accommodate rafting our three boats and was the anchor man. The current is really bad here for about 5 minutes each time the tide changes. A little scary but the anchor held. while we were there we took a dinghy ride up the river. Nice clear water with salmon, bears, cougars and deer. What a beautiful area. Next stop Port Neville.

To get to Port Neville you have to go through Chatham Narrows to get to Johnstone strait. On the way Endless Times and I went through a little narrow crack in the mountains called Sargent channel. We saw a couple of black bears eating grass and searching for fish. By the time we made it to Port Neville the NW winds were building bad on Johnstone Straits. We stayed at the government dock. Pairadice was able to get to the down wind side by using his bow and stern thrusters. Endless Times was able to tie up on the other side and ASD oh so carefully sided tied. I am glad we stayed at the dock as it was really windy that night. Next stop would be Shoal Bay then the rapids.

We started down Johnstone strait early the next morning and even then it was windy and building. We had to get to Chancellor Channel while fighting the currents around Hardwike Island. It was good to get off of Johnstone. As we made the corner to Shoal bay it looked way full. As we approached, a lady told me the fishing boats were leaving in about 10 minutes. Once cleared, Pairadice took the dock, ASD side tied in the wind and Endless Times found space at the end of the dock. Just in time as a bunch of boats came around the corner and saw a full dock. Cocktails at 5 PM on the porch of Mark's house. Then the planning started for the rapids.

The 3 rapids, Dent, Gillard and Yuculta have to be timed right. A mistake here can sink your boat. The three of us looked at the data and charts and showed we needed to be at Dent rapids at 0650. Then we would hit slack at Gillard at 0710. Meaning it was an early morning. We pushed away from the dock at 0515, then went to the bay to warm up the engines as we didn't want to wake anyone. It was still dark when we left, but arrived at Dent at 0615. So we had to wait until the correct time. This was Endless Times first time through the rapids so we wanted to make sure we had it right. No worries we had guessed the slack current right!!!! Off to Desolation Sound!