Thursday, July 26, Poet’s Nook in Barkley Sound

     We arrived in Barkley Sound four days ago. Time and events sometimes seem so distorted. Only a week ago we left Sooke early in the morning and returned to Esquimalt  

Harbor by Victoria. We spent a day there doing odd chores that needed our attention. One such chore involved mixing vinegar and baking soda in a bucket and scrubbing spots in the cockpit and the rub rail where green mossy like stuff started to grow during the winter while the boat was in the yard. A week later I can say with confidence that the baking soda and vinegar along with vigorous scrubbing did the trick of removing the green slime.

      Late in the afternoon of our “chore day”, we received a text from Suzi and David. They were still in Oak Harbor on the other side of Victoria and planning to leave early in the morning for Port Renfrew. Some friends of their’s on another boat would also be setting sail.  Their time of departure would be 4:00 a.m. Mike and I looked at each other and decided we would try to meet them somewhere along the way. Our departure would be 5:00 a.m. since we were already an hour further along in Esquimalt. We wouldn’t be stopping in Sooke it would be a ten or twelve hour day depending on weather conditions but it would be less anxiety producing traveling the same route with two other boats. The next morning as we exited Esquimalt Harbor and looked back towards Victoria we could just make out two sailboats in the distance, headed our direction. We tried calling them on Channel 68 for conversing over the radio with other boats. We could hear them but they couldn’t hear us. Turns out we were on the Canadian channel 68 and they were on the U.S. channel 68; so we were unable to communicate until we texted by phone with each other. Later on during the day we finally figured out the situation with Canadian and U.S. channel 68. We had the tide with us a good portion of the day and the weather was sunny!!!! We even were able to sail for a few hours. The sailing didn’t improve our arrival time but it did give us a break from the noise of the diesel engine. It turned out Suzi and David could only motor at 5 knots max. Maybe 6 knots when the current was with us. While we were sailing, they passed us, but we were never that far behind. I think we arrived in Port Renfrew about 5 or so.  By the time we were anchored it was time to heat up some quick ready made soup and go to bed. We would be getting up at 4:45 am to try and beat the fog in the morning and heavy winds in the later part of the afternoon at Cape Beale, our entrance to Barkley Sound . I’d made tea and sandwiches for us the night before. By 5:30 we were out on the water, motoring through thin fog, hoping it was going to dissipate rather than get thicker. Luck was with us. The sun shone eariey through the fog, (one can stare directly at the sun through fog, the light is a kind of golden haze). Within a half hour we were looking at blue holes in the fog and our visibility on the water was at least a mile. Suddenly we could see Vancouver Island and our friend’s boat and there were only a few wisps of smoke like fog left in the air. By 6:30 it was a brilliant sunny, blue sky, kind of day in the Northwest. The water was sparkling all around us. We had to put on sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses. It was still chilly though. We were in layers, t shirt, long sleeved shirt, fleece, jacket/ wind breaker, warm hat. Mike and I took turns napping in the morning. It was another long day of motoring without sufficient wind to take a break sailing. There were swells with choppy water the first three hours in the morning. Then the water settled down a bit, the swells were smoother and the chop disappeared. As we neared the sound the afternoon wind began to pick up a little bit but it wasn’t worth while to worry about it. We met up with the other two boats between two islands to share tea and cookies and meet Suzi and David’s friends in person. They turned out to be Australians whom Suzi and David knew from their sailing days in the South Pacific. A very lively and adventurous couple.They had friends to meet at a yacht club further into the sound. As for ourselves and Suzi and David, we cut across Trevor Channel to Bamfield Inlet and town to anchor and relax. 

     Once anchored, we shared dinghy space  to go ashore and look for a restaurant to have dinner. Turns out Sunday night in Bamfield is restaurant closed night. I had just made some fresh bread and with improvised chicken noodle soup and salad we had a great dinner. We started a new “box” of red wine. What more could we ask for; safely arrived, sharing a meal with friends?

     After a day of walking and rowing around Bamfield; Suzi and I walked a bit out of town to visit the lovely wild and local beach, we were ready to leave the next day. It was decided that Suzi and David would meet up with Trish and Will (the Australians) at the yacht club. The place where the yacht club is located is notorious for having rocks with a narrow passage for boats our particuliar size. Mike and I decided we wanted nothing to do with this place and said we would meet them later in the day on the way to a place called Pipestem Inlet and Lucky Creek. We had good sailing making our way around a group of islands called The Deer Group to Imperial Eagle Channel. We spotted a whale blowing off in the distance ahead of us. We never did catch up with it, although we saw it surfacing and blowing several times. We thought maybe it was a Humpback. As we sailed down Imperial Eagle Channel, we had the radio on to the “chat” channel (68) and overheard a conversation in progress about a boat having hit a rock and was taking on water. Another boat was offering assistance if needed. Then we realized it was the Australian’s boat that was taking on the water. As we listened, trying to spot sailboats within sight and coming from the direction of Robbers Channel ( the narrow, rocky, channel with the yacht club), we heard David talking on the radio. Apparently they had also hit the same rock but not as badly and were not taking on water. Mike and I were kind of surprised to say the least and relieved at the same time that we hadn’t gone that notorious route.

     There is a 20 mile long inlet or fjord from Barkley Sound into the interior of Vancouver Island. At the end of that inlet is a logging town, Port Alberny, with a boatyard capable of repairing boats damaged by rocks. This is where the two damaged boats were headed, along with the boat named Tango. Tango contained a generous couple  who came to the aid of the Australians when they realized they were taking on water and the situation was still being assessed. Trish and Will had wisely brought along a third bilge pump for just such a possibility as hitting a rock during their cruising. The only problem was that Trish had to help the other two bilge pumps out by sponging up the excess water while Will connected all the wires to their electrical system to get that third bilge pump up and running. Whew! Anyhow, we decided we would follow everyone to Port Alberny as well. Suzi’s and David’s boat motors slower than everyone else’s and we figured they would be glad for another boat with people they knew, following along and bringing up the rear. Since we were all on the “conversation” radio channel, everyone and anyone can be listening to conversations. Sure enough several different fishing boats announced to us sail boats that our afternoon and early evening jaunt up Alberny Inlet would have lots and lots of following wind, up to 30 knots! That was interesting. Apparently the wind from the western Pacific just races up this narrow bit of water every afternoon until sunset. Sure enough the wind picked up as we went into the narrow part of the inlet. We decided to put our small fore sail/stay sail out. It is easily furled if the wind were to become too strong. It is fun and relatively easy to sail downwind, that is with a wind “following” us or coming from behind. However, it is important that when the wind becomes a certain strength in relationship to a particular boat, the sail doesn’t  become over powered by the wind. This is why we started with the stay sail, being smaller than the jib, it is less likely to lead us into problems. We were happily amazed to find that in 25-28 knots of wind the stay sail moved us through the water at 6-6 1/2 knots. This is top speed in our sailboat, whether we are under sail or just motoring. It is always satisfying to learn more about what one’s own boat can and can not do in different conditions. This was one of those times. We saved 20 miles worth of diesel fuel as well; another cause for satisfaction.

     We arrived in Port Alberny at dusk. A huge log was just visible in the water and David, whose boat was ahead of us, pointed it out. It was warm and calm, clear skies above, the first stars made pin pricks of light in a sky that still had color in it. We parted ways for the night to different docking places. We made a few passes past an outer dock, looking for the boat Tango. They knew of a spot where we could dock for the night. finally saw them and were able to understand where we were to go. Our radio used for talking had run out of batteries earlier in the evening. We went around a corner and there was our spot with about 5 feet to spare between two other boats. Ron from Tango was there to help us get tied up and the owner of the boat in back of us was also there. We managed to dock without any problems thanks to the extra people, ready and waiting to help us tie up. It was the end of a long day on the water. An almost full moon had risen by the time we sat down in the cockpit to enjoy the warmth of a clear summer’s night, inland from the ocean. There was no fog or the damp chill that inevitably sets in at sunset when we are on the coast. After cool, humid, sunny days on the coast, our day spent in Port Alberny felt dry and very hot. It was probably only in the upper 80’s that day but I walked around the town to do laundry and visit a super market and I was sweating like I hadn’t done all summer. Actually it felt very good to be hot in July. After all that’s what summer is all about; at least for someone coming from the Southwest. We watched the Australian’s boat get hauled out and saw the gash in the bottom of the boat and water rushing out of the keel. It wasn’t a huge gash, maybe 4 inches in all. Big enough to allow water into the boat. It’s a sobering sight for any boat owner. The cost of having the boat hauled out and the repair was also sobering. Luckily for Suzi and David, they opted for David to check the place where they hit a rock in his wetsuit with a flashlight and a mask. He found their spot where the boat met rock and it was minimal. Nothing to worry about until the boat comes out of the water in the fall. That was a huge relief to them. That evening we ( four couples ) celebrated the repair of Trish and Will’s boat taking only two days instead of a month; Suzi and David’s boat not needing any serious repair, and the chance to experience the “heat” of summer. We ate together at a nice restaurant where we could see the sunset over water and forested mountains.

       Time to post this installment of the blog. Until the next one dear readers.....