Captain’s Log: Octopus Islands, Rebbecca Spit and Campbell River

9/4-9

Hi All,

We left Dent early….again….around 8am to time the Gillard, Yuculta and Hole in Wall rapids….joy!!! Actually Justin at Dent had laid at a strategy for us…basically time Hole in Wall at slack and take the Gillard and Yuculta rapids still on the flood…which is what we did. We were doing 11 kts through the Gillard pass and Yuculta rapids still with many, many whirlpools, swinging Mystic side to side….yep, an e-ticket ride on Mystic:)))

We timed Hole in Wall perfectly…9:15 am slack and then made our way into Octopus/Waiatt Bay. It is a fairly large bay/anchorage and it needed to be….already 10 boats in the Bay….later that day we had over 15 boats….wow!!!

That is now 7 rapids done successfully….one more to do….Surge Narrows!!!!

As we left Dent and made our way through the rapids we were amazed at all the development in the area. There must have been another 4-5 fairly large lodges/resorts built since 2006….this area is DDG but to see this many resorts was amazing and a bit depressing. Not sure this area can survive so much tourist love as well as the impact on fishing. And, fishing was still good at Dent. The local guides were bringing in 1-3 Kings per 4 hour runs….10-30lb fish. Dent closes on 9/12 so not sure how long the fishing stays good!!

Octopus Islands are in the scenic and peaceful category….low lying, forest covered hills….not much wind the 2 days we were there. Kathy and I were a bit tired from all the jocularity at the various marinas so we just chilled….a few boat projects, lots of reading. We did do a dingy excursion and found the “cruiser’s” cabin where people leave “momentos”. We found the one we had left with Koinonia back in 2005 and 2006….wow….who knew it would survive all these years!!!

9/6: A leisurely morning and out by 10:45am for a 11:30am slack at Surge Narrows….timed it just right and then went on to Rebbecca Spit….anchor down, passage beers open by 12:30pm….14nm!!! OK….8 Rapids/Narrows down successfully. Back in 2006 Mark had coined the term “KSP” factor…..meaning Kathy’s sweaty palms…..well, she still was a tad nervous but nothing too serious this time….maybe a 3-4 on the KSP factor, whereas before it would have been 8-9!!! Of course, the Captain was a bit more nervous as in several of the rapids we had other boats too close which always makes it nervous time!!

Hmmmm…..not sure why we had this place on our favorites list….it is a nice anchorage, but it is way too developed….a subdivision on one side, a few small marinas and a large one around the corner and the Spit on the west side and a large camping ground to the south that is full. We thought the beach had some sand but all we found were large rocks, gravel, tons of large driftwood logs and some very nice views looking south into a calm Strait of Georgia.

9/8: A leisurely morning and out by 11am for the 16nm run to Campbell River….we desperately need provisions and some good internet!! As we rounded Cape Mudge amongst a gazillion boats trolling for salmon we met the flood tide coming down Discovery Passage…..ODG….at one point we had a 4 kt foul current….doing 3.8 kts….thankfully we only had 3 miles to go against that current!!!

We like Campbell River….very friendly and quite a bit to do, although we mainly came in for provisions and good internet. We actually did several Facetime calls which we hadn’t been able to do for most of the season!!!

Boat Stuff:
Oweee…did you hear the arghhhhhhh:(((( After almost 15 years our Denon Audio Video Receiver (AVR) unit died….whaaaaaaaa. We run everything through this unit….audio speakers, DVD/CD player, TV, media box et al. The power light does come on when power is applied but then immediately goes out. I opened it up and there is 120 volt power going to the transformer but I can’t trace after that!!!

So we are down to watching movies on my laptop….which isn’t really that bad but we do miss the the bigger TV screen and the CD’s at cocktail time.

We are certainly limping home with failing electronics…..our Simrad IS-15 small instruments are rebooting about every 10 minutes, a sure sign they are failing…..the depth sounder had already died several years ago so we really only get wind speed, sea temp and boat speed. Our Interphase Twin Scope Forward Looking Sonar has failed as well. We have been in touch with Greg at Yacht Systems NW, who installed all these items back in 2004-2005 and will install new Maretron small instruments, a new Garmin Panoptix sonar, and now help resolve what we do with our media system as well!!!!

The Plan: We will leave Campbell River on Tuesday, 9/10 and head ~56nm across the Strait of Georgia to the Harmony Islands, then onto Princess Louisa, then the Gulf Islands, Sidney to pick up Les and Rose and finally to Victoria to drop them off and then Port Angeles on 9/23….yikes….all that in the next 2 weeks!!!

Critter Stats:
Dungeness Crab: 91 total; still not crabbing:(((
Prawns: 156: 96 Spotted, 14 Coon Stripe;
Whales: 234 total; 205 Humpbacks; 11 Orcas; 18 Minke:
Salmon: 14: 3 King, 11 Cohos:
Halibut: 1; 48-lbs off Lowe Inlet entrance
Bears: 93 total: 74 Browns, 19 Black; 1 Black bear in Wellborne Channel
Wolves: 10; About an hour viewing a large male in Pruth Bay, north cove; then 3 more wolves the next day….wow!!!
Otters: 982
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!!
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