Lyn's Log, 3rd July 2008
Echo Bay to Vancouver.

Vancouver
N49º16', W123º08'
17,978 miles.

Our next destination, Echo Bay, where we arrived on 26th June, was a return to civilization. In this bay and surrounding area were many floating homes where people have lived for a hundred years. There is a small school at the head of Echo Bay. There are two marinas in the bay, the southern one being a resort with hotel, store, post office, Internet, laundry, and the other usual marina services. The store had a fair amount of stock, and for the first time in weeks we could buy fresh milk, frozen meat and bread. There was butter and eggs but no cheese or cooked meats, and no vegetables except apples. Delivery day as always is in another couple of days. It is as well that we still have plenty of tinned food.

The new owners of this marina had moved in just two months prior to our arrival, and were doing it up. The owner’s ‘lodge’ had been towed there from a couple of bays away, and was looking very smart. Pierre, the owner, had just got the water working and allowed me to use the laundry facilities. “It is going to be a jewel of a place”, he said, and maybe it would. The bay with a sheer rock face on the northern shore, creating the echo for which it is named, was a pretty spot.

Summer had not entirely arrived. It rained most of the night and the morning, though without any wind it seemed quite warm. The rain stopped and we left Echo Bay around noon. Driving around the islands shrouded in low clouds, it was misty damp. Gradually the wind got up, blowing icy cold from the southeast when it could reach us between the islands. The rocky islets had short, vertical sides going down deep into the water making them look like they had been cut out with a pastry cutter, and then had a competition to see how many trees could be got on top. We found an anchorage for a late lunch and then motored through Blackfish Passage and down Johnstone Strait to Robson Bight to whale watch. These are places said to be favoured by the orcas, and everyone said we would be sure to see them. On our way north we were too early in the year, so this was surely going to be spectacular. In Blackfish Passage we saw another humpback whale, but from then on there was no sign whatever of a black fin or a spume. They just did not want to come out to play in their favourite spots - perhaps the weather was too cold?

Going southeast down Johnstone Strait the cruise liner Veendam passed us slowly. I wondered if Simon was on board and if he saw us. Simon is our friend Ruth’s son, who has been training as a cadet officer on board the Veendam. There seemed to be someone in a yellow life jacket standing on the end of the ship’s bridge watching us.

The next day we left Johnstone Strait and turned into Cordero Channel, where there are rapids that we could take at slack water around six in the evening and then anchor behind some islets just beyond. That afternoon the weather hurned sunny and hot. I spent a while in the evening rowing around the anchorage with the bottomfish hook and line. There were little fish jumping all over the place. But there were also quite a number of seals. Sometimes one of the seals would jump and splash the water, probably as a warning. It seemed that two seals in particular closely monitored my movements, so if I had managed to catch a fish, I expect they would have tried to get it off my line before I could.

What a surprise it was to find it still sunny when we woke up, and warmer outside the boat that in. We could have happily had breakfast in the cockpit. Not only that, but there was not a cloud in the sky all day. The views were so much better in the sunshine. Instead of greys, there were the snow-topped mountains against the blue sky, the lower mountains covered in a variety of green pine trees, some sheer rocks, and the water either an emerald green, or beautiful blue. We traversed a set of three rapids just after midday at the slack period, with many boats coming the other way as the peak holiday season gets under way. Sunday was another great summer’s day where I could wear shorts and sandals all day from the time I got up till I went back to bed. When offshore from the village at Squirrel Cove I got a signal on my mobile phone for the first time in nearly a month. I confirmed there would be room for us at Discovery Harbour at Campbell River for that night, and then phoned Jim and Jan and arranged to meet them for dinner at a restaurant at the harbour. After dinner, they drove us to a place by the shore where there had been the annual chainsaw wood carving competition. The final carvings were spectacular. Some had a vanished finish, some had paint, and others were just plain wood. There were several bears and eagles, and a very life-like pile of books, along with people and various creatures, real and mythical. The carvings are auctioned for charities and then left dotted about town until they rot. It is a popular annual event.

The consensus of opinion is that summer has now arrived and will last until September. Records are now being broken due to it being hotter than usual. Monday, the last day in June, soon hotted up so that we were glad to get out on the water. It was quite hazy but not a breath of wind all day. As we motored down stream from Campbell River with the current, we touched 11.2 knots over the ground. We bought a new fishing reel and tried it out when we were nearer our destination, but still caught nothing.

We anchored in Sturt Bay, near the northern end of Texado Island, opposite Powell River. It was perfectly calm until we went to bed, and then the wind suddenly blew up from the south-east and the swell poured right into the harbour. We were close to the rocks, so with the motion of the boat Andrew kept anchor-watch for a while. In the morning we were the only yacht left anchored there. Even we moved early and motored slowly into the wind and waves, trying not to make too much spray. We decided to make for Pender Harbour, sixteen miles into the weather, and later against the current. It took us four hours to the harbour entrance but trying to sail against the current would have been impossible. The harbour was well sheltered and the sun was warm. After we anchored, more and more boats arrived filling every available space. This was Canada Day, July 1st, and we thought, something special will happen like fireworks on American Independence Day. But no, not even any patriotic display of flags. There was the usual large Union Jack flying on the island in the centre of the bay, several yachts were flying the old defaced red ensign flag of Canada before full independence. Around six o’clock it went quite quiet - I think it was dinnertime. After drinking our G&T’s, we rowed over to the pub, but nothing was happening there either so we saved our money and went back to the yacht for dinner.

A couple more days saw us back in Vancouver. It was almost like returning home after a two-month holiday, coming into Fisherman’s Wharf again. Here we were to meet up with Andrew’s sister, Helen and her husband Des, on a holiday to the West Coast and who would be bringing us out one or two things from England.