Day 6: Broughton Archipelago Adventure

Saturday, September 2, 2017

7:55 ferry from Sointula to Port McNeill to Alert Bay

When I got up at 6:15 this morning, there was a rainbow of clouds over one of the mountains on Vancouver Island. Maybe from one of the fires? Last night, when I got up to pee there was a bright light shining on the water — the moon! The clouds had dissipated.

I parked my blue-flower-decaled VW in town today, pink and black underwear hanging on a bungee cord strung across the back seat. I was one of two walk-on passengers, and I have the sundeck to myself.

A deckhand named Decklin just told me there’s a memorial potlatch happening a the Big House. Visitors go in and sit on the right. He said he gets off at 15:00, and I’m welcome to stay at his waterfront home tonight. : )  Or there’s a ferry that goes directly to Sointula at 20:25.

Evening

I waited outside the Big House with many other people, but the potlatch had started early and they were only letting in people who were directly involved with the ceremony or part of the family. After an hour and a half, I left to walk through town before catching the ferries back to Sointula. Alert Bay does not seem to want me this trip! And I have to say, I do feel much more at home here.

After a visit to Rugged Bay and a halibut wrap in the rain, I had a misty afternoon hike along Beautiful Bay Trail to Puoli Vali Canyon. What a gorgeous afternoon. I’m so happy to be here.

Copyright © 2017 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.

Day 4 and 5: Broughton Archipelago Adventure

Friday, September 1, 2017

Sointula, Malcolm Island

I arrived in Sointula last night on the ferry from Port McNeill. I didn’t arrive until almost 20:00, and didn’t know where I was going to stay. Everything near the ferry terminal was already closed except for The Sointula Pie Co., which was just closing. The woman there suggested I drive down the road to Harmony Shores Campground. I have site #8, right on the beach.

Only one other site was taken last night. Being there by myself was so beautiful, drinking a cup of chamomile tea and looking out at the Queen Charlotte Strait before tucking into the hammock for the night.

Yesterday morning we paddled south from Spyhop Beach back toward the point we had paddled to the afternoon before. But before we reached it, we found ourselves in the midst of what Julian thought were 30-40 orcas and a pod of dolphins who were harassing or playing with them. We spent an hour or so among them, and followed them back north once they started traveling again. Eventually, they outpaced us. Amazing.

We lunched on a beach beside Blinkhorn Island and spent a lazy time there. Julian and the boys threw rocks. I napped on a long flat driftwood. Then we paddled peacefully back to Telegraph Cove, sorted our things, and said our good-byes.

I came to Sointula because the ferry to Alert Bay was full, and the woman at the ferry terminal said there was better camping here anyway. Harmony Shores has a small building with a microwave, toaster, coffee pot, kettle and kitchen sink, as well as two private bathrooms with showers. I was relieved to get cleaned up this morning. I even washed my pyjamas and all my underwear and hung them in the car to dry. 

While I was showering, it rained. I set up tarps when I returned to camp, another shower passing as I did. Then I walked 3 kilometres into town, picking up scraps of garbage and a five-dollar bill, and passing a deer that seemed more wary of me than of the two cars that passed by.

I had lunch at the Upper Crust Bakery — a large bowl of African peanut yam soup and two slices of buttered rye bread. Delicious. A small Chilean man runs the place. Then I toured the Sointula Museum, which was full of my childhood memories and grandparents’ memorabilia, along with the story of the Finnish communistic utopians who settled here in 1901, creating the Kalevan Kansa Colonization Company.

After meandering through the Sointula Co-op Store, and visiting the tourist information centre, I ordered a Joyful pizza at the Sointula Pie Co. (curried onion, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, and cheese), and ate it at a picnic table outside the Sointula Tourist Information Centre. It tasted so good, I’m thinking of going back there tomorrow night. Yum!

A pair of ravens are nested above my campsite. I love the sound of their flight as they come and go. Last night I thought I heard an eagle here, too. Mergansers, terns, sandpipers and gulls frequent the beach and bay.

A neighbouring camper is fly fishing a stone’s throw in front of me, waist deep in the water, while his son floats in a yellow inflatable dinghy further down the beach. It’s nearing sunset, and the clouds are breaking.

Copyright © 2017 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.

Day 3: Broughton Archipelago Adventure

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Skyhop Beach, Vancouver Island

Morning

The night before last, I again heard humpbacks blowing all through the night. I imagined one was sleeping in the water off our beach, and got excited enough to get up and walk down to look. All was quiet, dark, cloudy — nothing to be seen, not even the stars.

I had a restless night, hot in my down sleeping bag, and was only just getting up when Julian called us for breakfast. Light rain had started a few hours earlier, but tapered off. I ate my granola, blueberries and banana on the beach.

While we were having a slow morning, a young man pulled up to the dock beside our camp in a 24-foot metal power boat designed for fishing, and then moved into a flat-bottom metal dinghy and came over to chat with Julian.

Justin, the grandson of the wealthy North Carolina man who owns the property, had a good-ole-boy accent, a light brown beard, dirty Carhartt pants and a worn t-shirt. He said he was going fishing, but planned to throw back everything unless it was hooked through the eyeball or otherwise injured. Julian said he was a hard worker who cat-wheeled his bobcat and cut sheet metal with a plasma cutter while wearing sandals and no eye protection — young, reckless, and having fun. His grandpa loved to fish, so bought this 90 acre property on an island in the wilderness of British Columbia.

We made two crossings that day, the first back to Hanson Island where we stopped at a beautiful camp for lunch. Big rocks had been pushed aside to make a gravel ramp to haul up kayaks. A driftwood seating area encircled a fire pit atop a rocky outcrop. Further in, forest concealed the camp kitchen and dining area. Tents were dispersed along a path overlooking the ocean that led to another beach. Beside the dining area was a driftwood bench swing and a single-rope swing with a driftwood seat tied on.

The morning kayak crossings were quiet. Over lunch, light rain fell, but it soon ended. Our second crossing of the day was back to Vancouver Island and our camp at Spyhop Beach.

Josh hadn’t slept well and was feeling very uncomfortable, so we left him at camp. The rest of us paddled south along the coastline. Soon we saw a male and female orca and paddled towards them. They meandered, and we paddled at a safe distance alongside them for a long time. They were out from shore, and rose right beside a pair of kayakers who had been watching them approach.

I was up early this morning. The tide is out, and I’m sitting on the rocks watching the sun rising through the clouds, the water calm and still, and young orca passing by very near the shore. What a beautiful, beautiful place to be.

Day 2: Broughton Archipelago Adventure

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Roger’s Beach, Swanson Island

Early afternoon

We’ve had a sunny morning. When we left Hanson Island, the weather was breezy and cool, but on this side of the water it’s hot and calm. Julian is setting up the outdoor shower(!), as we have running water from the landowner’s well. The rest of us are basking in the sun, the boys exploring the rocks for tiny crabs

All last night, we could hear humpbacks blowing and breaching. Amazing. I wondered whether it was a sea lion on our beach, and about getting up and going down to look, but thought I would have either seen nothing in the dark, or that if a sea lion were there I would have disturbed it, and it might even have been territorial. So I lay in my sleeping bag listening, and  learned from Julian this morning about my mistaken sound identification.

What a guilty pleasure it is to paddle to shore and find a base camp hidden in the trees, tents and sleeping pads set up and waiting, and to have Julian prepare and clean up after all our meals. At sunset last night, he walked out onto the beach carrying a tray of brownies, each one on its own leaf, with a candle glowing in the middle, and brought them around to us. I teased him this morning that it was right out of a women’s fantasy novel — a handsome young Maltese man serving chocolate on the beach to three 40 to 50ish year-old women.

We’ve spent the whole morning watching humpbacks and orcas blowing and breaching around us. One orca came up about 10 metres to my left as we were rafted together. I shrieked. Julian swore loudly, and then said he had goosebumps. Another breached, looking as if it were coming straight towards us, then rose again to our right. Since I’ve been writing on the beach, at least half a dozen have breached out in the water.

We’re already at our base camp for the night, and have unloaded our kayaks. Our boats will be lighter for our afternoon paddle. The boys are collecting specimens — crabs, and eel — in a tidal pool aquarium in the rocks. I’ve finally warmed up enough to strip off my long underwear. More whales are blowing, and a tail fin breached the water.

Early evening

All of us except Helen, who had heat exhaustion, went for a long paddle around some of the smaller islands this afternoon. I paddled Julian’s plastic Current Designs kayak, heavy with all the emergency gear. Julian and Josh shared a double. 

Josh has been the least enthusiastic kayaker,  complaining of being uncomfortable in the boat and taking frequent breaks when he was with his mom. I was surprised he volunteered to come with us this afternoon, and at how much he enjoyed it. He even kept paddling when Julian was taking a water break. I was really glad to see him having a better experience.

I was worn out by the time we returned. I had a (cold) shower — refreshing — and got into my warm evening clothes. We’re all sitting on the beach while Julian makes supper. I’m drinking mint tea, a mild headache, listening to the humpbacks in the distance.

Day 1: Broughton Archipelago Adventure

Monday, August 28, 2017

Squarenotch Cove, Hanson Island

Sunset

I arrived at Telegraph Cove campsite yesterday evening. Helen and Josh came out to meet me there after supper, and we walked to the beach, looking out at the water and islands where we would spend our next few days.

Today we saw:
- seals
- sea lions lying in the water, waving their fins
- eagles
- a pod of doll porpoises that swam around us
- humpback whales, their dorsal and tail fins breaching the water

We left Telegraph Cove this morning. Fog blanketed the water most of the day, even though we could often see blue sky. Through it, we could hear other sea lions and humpbacks in the distance. The sound of the humpbacks blowing is low and distinctive.

There are six of us on this trip. Julian, newly graduated from the Thompson Rivers University Adventure Studies program and in his mid-twenties, is our guide. Helen and I are here with her 14-year old son, Josh. Megan Klammer, a nurse who’s just moved to Victoria from Nelson, has also brought her 14-year old son, Lachlan.

It’s dusk now. There’s an orange band of sky behind the blue mountains across the water. Two humpbacks are crossing. I can hear them breach and blow, then see the two spouts of water rise in unison, the painted sunset colours behind them; and then again, as they continue their voyage, passing a point of land, disappearing behind it.

Copyright © 2017 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.