At 7A Herb dinghies out to check his crab trap and finds
four keepers! Yea! We’ll ‘eat good in the neighborhood’
tonight! He calls me from Ray’s boat
with the news and I ask where the trap was.
He points to where he had put it last night.
I ready Willie’s Tug for travel while they clean and steam the crabs. The other two boats in Codville Lagoon are from Anacortes. We weigh anchor at 10:25A and cross the channel, receiving a few interesting rolls from the wind waves coming out of the south against the opposing tides, but Herb navigates through them OK. Only the Waggoner’s falls.
Codville is between King Island and Hunter Island in Fisher Channel, north of Fitz Hugh Channel.
As we turn, Herb sees Navigator on AIS and hails her. I instantly recognize Neal’s voice and am grinning from ear to ear at the memories of visiting with him and Lynn last year. He tells us they stayed in Fancy Cove last night and caught many crabs. Today they will seek moorage for a couple of days in Shearwater, but as our plan is to fuel in Bella Bella and head on to our anchorage in Trout Passage, we will miss seeing them. (They were our neighbors at Stimson Marina in Ballard last Summer.)
We continue cruising north between Campbell Island and Denny Island, and see a house on land, realizing we haven’t seen one in days. Nudibranch goes ahead of us to tie up to the fuel dock at Bella Bella, only to learn the crew will not return from lunch for another hour. What to do?
Well, Shearwater is only a few miles up the channel, so that is Plan B. Oh, and we may get to see Neal and Lynn. Not having planned ahead for this stop, we are not sure where the fuel dock is, so circle around inside the marina a bit. Lynn and Neal see us and hurry down the dock to catch our lines. Then Herb realizes the fuel is back near the helipad, so we turn for that direction. Oh, so sorry, there is no boardwalk for them to come to us now, but at least we can wave!
Amazing and to our delight, they find a path up on the hill and around the bend and arrive almost in time to catch the lines. What a reunion. We spend a little time catching up on the news – Winslow, Tango and Sierra, the cats, are doing fine -- and we wish each other safe and fun travels for the rest of the season. Who knows? We may run into them again along the way.
 |
| One last look -- A long walk back to Navigator -- |
As we cruise by Lang Island near Troup Passage, I hear the eagle’s song and look upward. I see one majestic bird flying in a circle, catching the thermals and going ever higher and higher and higher. I take a few photos, but then just sit and enjoy the show he gives me. Something on land catches my eye and I see another eagle sitting on a beach below the other.
There is a shallow area called Troup Narrows, which we traverse at 24 feet, and is not a problem. Between Cunningham Island and Chatfield Islands we experience a light chop, then turn around the north side of Cunningham for our anchorage for the evening. Already here is one sailboat and a power boat named It’s About Time. We wave to the couple in their cockpit.
Immediately after we hook our anchors, Ray and Herb set the crab traps and Ray dinghies back a ways to fish for salmon. No salmon today, but he catches three crabs. A local in a small boat calls out to Herb that he should put his trap where the stream rolls down the mountain, as that is where the crabs are. He warns that they may be small, as others have been fishing here. Later I ride with Herb to check our trap and find a red rock crab, which we return to the sea. We laugh about the fact that we don’t ‘feed’ the crabs; we ‘bait’ them – hence the name, ‘crab bait.’
I am fascinated by the rocky beach nearby and ask to take a closer look. The rocks below the clear water are beautiful with the different colours lending variety to the green, green of the cove’s trees that encircle our anchorage.
High in a tree is an eagle, sitting quietly and very still. We watch him. He watches us, or maybe he is watching to see where his next fish meal is coming from.
And then the recently repaired Torqueedo rebels and stops. Herb rows us back to Willie’s Tug for a short Happy Hour and a leisurely dinner of steamed crab and toasted garlic bread. Dessert is assorted chocolates and fresh cherries. Yum!
As we enjoy the fading rays of the sun, we get a visitor from It’s About Time. He tells us he is Vic, lives in Savano BC inland, and comes to the coast with family for several months of the Summer. He brings us a large salmon fillet. Oh, my goodness! How wonderful. We visit for quite a while and I capture the sunset with his boat in this peaceful hide-away.
and of Walldog, Willie and Jake
Monday, June 22, 2015
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