Aug 22-27
Hi All,
We made it to Pierre’s a little after noon…..not many boats in the marina but then another 10+ came in shortly after us. Everyone was coming in for Pierre’s prime rib dinner, which was excellent…..maybe 30-35 total people for dinner. We’ve not had a lot of beef this season and Pierre cooks it slowly, using a spit and a huge Weber grill donated by a Yacht club.
Just to prove it is a small world, a woman comes up to us while we are checking into Pierre’s at the store….are you Mystic Moon…yes…wow, we are former Selene owners, a 36 named Dragon Tail, and we met you in 2004 and we follow your blog. Marcia and Kurt own Aspen Glow now, a Diesel Duck. We ended up having dinner with them as well as Kurios and LivLife, the Krogen owners we met at Sullivan’s. What a delightful time we had at dinner and easily closed the place down.
And to top it off, we also met Lars Nilsson, who was Captain on an 88 Ocean Alexander. Lars owned the Kabola diesel heater shop in Seattle when we commissioned Mystic in 2004. Lars has helped us on several occasions, the last time being in New Zealand/Australia when we were trying to change out the circulation pump. Lars eventually sold his business and now is a full time Captain for bigger yachts. He will be in Platypus in Port Angeles in a month or so and we will see him there as well. It was really a delight to meet someone that has been so helpful to us along the way!!
The 2nd day I took the small hike to Billy Proctor’s museum….wow….incredible:
http://pierresbay.com/things-to-do/billys-museum/
https://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/books/lessons-from-a-life-lived-in-the-wilds-1.20529840
“Billy has lived his entire life in the Broughtons and has worked as a fisherman, a hand logger, and beachcomber. He currently operates his museum during the summer months and keeps busy doing chores the rest of the year.” He told me he gets 60-100 people a day in the summer, is 85 years old and still living on his own in this remote part of the Broughtons. He was pretty quiet and we just sat on a bench petting his dog, talking about salmon fishing and watching the world go by!!
We also had a nice conversation with Pierre and Tova. They have decided to sell the marina as they want to retire and have bought a nice home close to Nanaimo. They’ve had a good season, much better evidently than Sullivan’s, but realistically it will take 2-3 years to sell!!
Aug 24: Kwatsi Bay was one of our favorite places in 2005-6. It is run by Max and Anca, a delightful couple who have lived in the Broughtons forever. We made it to Kwatsi early afternoon and discovered Anca had left for the w/e to Port McNeil to reprovision. We were a bit sad to not see her but Max more than made up for it. Kwatsi Bay is still DDG….a beautiful forested Bay with 4k’ mountains surrounding it….waterfalls are everywhere….wow, wow, wow!!!
http://www.kwatsibay.com/about%20us1.htm
Max is now 70 and wanting to sell Kwatsi Bay. The property is in good shape although the docks do need some maintenance. Max has had some health issues, but he is still running the place and doing the heavy chores. They are building their retirement home on Malcolm Island near Sointula. The two kids, Marieke and Russell are now grown and working on Vancouver Island, still relatively close by. The first night Max had a HH and we were able to sit and talk with Max for hours. What a life he and Anca have lived in this very remote part of the Broughtons. Bears and cougars are still around as well as many migratory birds. The 2nd night Max had a pot luck dinner…yummers.
While we were there 2 other Selenes came in….Rendezvous and Seeker. We now know of over 10 Selenes that have been in Alaska/BC this season!! We had a good time getting to know Frank and Cathie on Rendezvous but Seeker left early the next day so did not get to talk with them much.
I did prawn as in 2006, we did quite well. Max told me that commercial prawners had been in the Bay for 6 weeks in May/June and had over 160 pots down. He said give it a try but don’t expect much….and he was right…..I did 2 pulls and got a total of 4….arghhhhh!!!!
Aug 26: We were very sad to leave Kwatsi…..not sure if we will see Max and Anca again once they sell the place and who knows what will happen then. We first headed to Bond Bay, about 7nm away but could not find a spot to anchor…too deep and steep to (as Max had warned us) so we headed to Thompson Sound. Total of 21nm and got in around 1:30pm. We spent 2 days in this gorgeous Bay….wow!!! Another long channel to a fairly large river inlet, Kakweikan River,, mudflats and meadows. 3-4k’ mountains all around….gorgeous. We were fortunate the winds stayed calm as anything southerly would build up quite a chop as there is a 5nm fetch. We were hoping to see lots of bears hunting salmon but unfortunately the salmon are not here yet….we had heard the salmon population is close to being wiped out in the Broughtons and many areas have been closed for fishing the last 12-15 years….arghhhhh!!!! We did see 1 Brown and 1 black bear foraging along the shoreline and then eating gras
s.
There was a commercial crabber with >500 pots in Thompson Sound. The pots were strung together in a line of perhaps 8-10 pots each, with only the first and last pot buoyed. Wow, it is a miracle we didn’t anchor on one of his pots or lines, as he of course had some of his pots set in the anchorage area! Anyway, he worked his pots for over 3 hours one day and we estimate he caught >2500 crabs but only 20-30% were keepers….still that was >500 keepers. The freezer is still full so no crabbing yet for John-boy:((((
The Plan: We are going to Glendale Cove in Knight Inlet for the next few days and then after that we are undecided. We will eventually work our way down Johnstone Strait to Blind Channel and then over to Dent.
Critter Stats:
Dungeness Crab: 91 total;
Prawns: 156: 96 Spotted, 14 Coon Stripe; 42 Spotted in Greenway Sound; 4 in Kwatsi Bay
Whales: 234 total; 205 Humpbacks; 11 Orcas; 18 Minke:
Salmon: 14: 3 King, 11 Cohos:
Halibut: 1; 48-lbs off Lowe Inlet entrance
Bears: 76 total: 63 Browns, 13 Black; 1 black bear in Greenway Sound; 1 Brown and 1 black in Thompson Sound
Wolves: 10; About an hour viewing a large male in Pruth Bay, north cove; then 3 more wolves the next day….wow!!!
Otters: 982; Mama and baby in Hakai Passage;
Sand Hill Cranes: 4;
Mountain Goats: 42
Dall’s Sheep: 3
Moose: 3
Alaskan Husky sled dogs: 60
Stellar Sea Lions: 900;
Hope all is well,
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!
Position: 50 40’20.26 N, 125 43’55.40 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 19-08-28 15:55:36 -0700
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=50.67229,-125.7321&q=50.67229,-125.7321&z=16
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