Winter Harbour

We have promised ourselves to visit each of the sounds on the west coast of the island. Hearing all of the fishing stories about Winter Harbour and the lousy fishing at Telegraph Cove this year, we decided that Quatsino Sound was a good place to start. We trailered the boat on the twisty turny, hilly horrible road to Port Alice. A wonderful hour run out to Quatsino Sound had us in downtown Winter Harbour (pop. 10). We stayed on the gov’t dock and spent the evening getting our fishing tackle in order. For our first day of fishing we planned to follow the guide boat out to the hot spots. At 5:00 am we woke up to find we were the only boat left in the harbour. With coffee in hand and the boat wide open we caught up to the pack. The water was rough but we pressed on with eager anticipation. It was a Coho extravaganza…with double header after double header and all of a sudden it stopped and we hadn’t kept a fish. We decided to pull our prawn traps on the way in for lunch. The traps seemed to be cemented to the ocean floor….after Stephen hefting on the ropes we tied it to the boat. 280 hp of Volvo diesel couldn’t move it either so the decision was reluctantly made to salvage the buoy rather than rip the cleat off of the boat. At 4:00 pm after finally locating the fuse blown by the prawn puller putting us down to one down rigger, we dejectedly sailed home to the gov’t dock in winter harbour, the only boat with no fish aboard.

The next morning we were determined to change our situation. We headed to locally famous Solander Island at the end of the Brooks Peninsula. This is supposedly where the big butts hang out….hali-butts that is. We were not there long until Laurie hooked a big one. Within two hours we had landed a 50 lb. halibut, a 25 + ling cod and some red snappers. We happily headed back to the harbour to clean our fish and head back to Port Alice.

Freshwater Swim

On the third night we were back at another regular ‘stopover’ Greenway Sound Marina. A floating ½ mile of red carpeted dock (it too is for sale and empty) and a world class restaurant featuring fresh local seafood. Just imagine this ½ mile of dock, miles from nowhere with a mile of dockspace had no vacancies. The next morning we hiked up to Broughton Lake where all three of us enjoyed a freshwater swim au natural. Does it get any better?

Jennis Bay

The signs were posted that a new Marina was open for business in Drury Inlet. While most marinas are in a state of disrepair and decline, with For Sale signs the norm we were curious as to who was starting a new business in what is sometimes referred to as Dreary Inlet.
A night on their dock introduced us to a very nice young family from Idaho. Tom, Allision and Orion (9) and Charlie Marie (5) Allo are making a place for themselves in the BC wilderness where Allison’s father had lived out his life as a logger. Within a very short time we felt like long lost family. The ‘other’ boater in the harbour was celebrating a birthday in which we all got involved. Nothing like chocolate cake in the wilderness. The Allos, told us about the long narrow, rocky Acetone Sound, with two secluded freshwater lagoons that can be entered at high tide. We went for an evening tour and definitely need to revisit it with more time….it was gorgeous. They also told us of many freshwater lakes within hiking distance for swimming and flyfishing…..once again we will be checking this out.
As we left we were delighted to see 8 really big yachts heading for their dock and Allison running down to greet them. Hopefully they will persevere through the winter, another year of homeschooling so that we can visit them again.

Grappler Sound delivered what Drury did not…….our prawn traps were full. After resetting the traps we explored Mackenzie Sound and Nimmo Bay. Nimmo Bay Resort was voted the #1 Helicopter vacation destination in the world. Yep, people do vacation in helicopters.

Billy Proctor

Billy is an 83 year old legend in these parts. He was born and raised here in the Broughton Archipelago and still resides here today. He has been a fisherman and a logger. We have read both of his books and it was on Laurie’s to do list to visit his museum. Stephen thought perhaps he would not have to go….until Laurie insisted that he should not miss the opportunity to talk with Bill. We knew the chances were good that he would be at his museum. As luck would have he was there.

This man has many, many amazing first nation artifacts in his museum that he has picked up on the beaches that date back 10,000 years. Trading beads, primitive knives, chisels, spears, arrowheads and even slave killers made from a variety of different stones and shells. As well as his amazing display, the man himself is very impressive. He was environmentally conscious long before it was even an issue. He understands fully the cycle of all life here in the Broughton Archipelago. He has an uncanny and humorous view of the entire world as well. Stephen and Bill hit it off and two hours later they were still chatting. It sure won’t be the last trip we both make to Billy Proctors in Echo Bay.

Prawning Expedition to the Mainland

A five day prawning expedition took us to some great new territory in the mainland. We traveled to Echo Bay where we knew we could get some prawns and enjoy an evening in one of our favourite haunts. The following blogs describe some places and people of interest we met along the way.

Poor man’s Crabbin’

Poor Man’s Crabbin’

First let it be known that neither of us like crab much but we like to give it to those who do and we enjoy the challenge of trying to find legal crabs. Our crabbing from the boat this year has yielded poor results so we were intrigued when someone described old fashioned crabbing and decided to give it a try.
Off to the Nimpkish River we hiked with broomsticks and a bucket in hand. The Nimpkish is one of the biggest rivers on the north island with a huge estuary and prime crabbing flats. The technique is to walk ankle to knee deep in eel grass and moss, poking the stick up and down like a probe waiting for a hollow sound. Upon hearing this hollow noise you scoop up the crab from his hiding place in the sand and weeds below, with your broomstick. As he floats in the water, you grab him and throw him in the bucket. Incidently, the crab doesn’t like this part. It was more fun than productive although we scared up three. All in all a fun experience and a must do. PS: Wear sturdy footwear and remember bears come to crab in the same manner.

Forget Me Knots

Definition: what happens to Stephen after Happy Hour when he tries to secure the boat.

Dear Weather Gods,

Throughout the winter you hung a black cloud of precipitation over my head that affected my winter business. I have done my utmost to pay homage and respect to you, the weather Gods and know that you would not intentionally send anything but wind, precipitation and cold for an entire month while I vacation on Vancouver Island. I now realize that you have perhaps gotten me mixed up with my son, Charles Bartlett Jr. who resides in South American. He is the one looking for wind, storm after storm with lots of precipitation – but instead he is getting nothing but sunshine and heat. I trust you will look into this matter and make the appropriate changes.

Thank you in advance,

Charles Bartlett Sr.

Nautical Aliens?

Opening the back door of the camper one night we were amazed to see 5 wonderfully lit cruise ships making their way back to Vancouver.

Four of the ships seemed to be lollygagging along enjoying the lights of the shoreline.

The fifth was under full power. We tried to get a picture of these beautiful ships at night thru the use of a variety of settings with questionable albeit interesting results……hmm…. Back to the manual for me.

Lillian Rose

As we approached the Powell River marina we were delighted to see the Lillian Rose still there. Last summer the owner said that he had found a buyer and was busy giving it a fresh coat of paint. While we were comfortably moored and enjoying dinner dockside, the owner of Smooth Jazz, a 1947 beautifully restored Chriscraft, regaled us with a story of a derelict boat that sunk in the marina this past winter, taking the entire dock with it, to the bottom. This man expressed his dismay at having his prized possession being tied so close to the Lillian Rose. A tongue-in-cheek letter he wrote to the editor of the local paper suggested that a Viking burial might be appropriate for the once proud and beautiful vessel. This resulted in a feud with an owner who feels the Lillian Rose still has some monetary value.
Each year we have watched the Lillian Rose deteriorate, the latest being a 25 foot chunk out of the gunnel and hull as a result of being rafted with a tug boat. As we tucked in for the night, listening to the creaking from the old girl, our delight turned to doubt ….. maybe even worry…will she and the dock (and us) be afloat in the morning?