Lightly shaken, heavily salted

Petroglyphs on Misty Bluff in Port Harvey.
We pass a solitary orca in the Georgia Strait near Campbell River.
The marine life in Port Harvey was quite abundant!
Xanadu and Merlin tied to the government dock in Port Neville, BC.
Our friendly black bear browsing around the tide flats.
At the Port Neville store/post office/museum.




Smooth water on the Georgia Strait

Blog post 2. Lightly shaken, Heavily salted.

Thursday, May 5: Comox was definitely a retirement community. Lots of massage and hair parlors. Mostly new construction. Huge airport.

Friday, May 6: On to Campbell River. A strong wind warning had us away earlier than planned. Winds increasing by noon. Saw our first whale off Quadra Island. A single male orca....hopefully the missing male from the South Sound pod heading home from a little adventure. He was moving right along! We were unable to raise Fisherman's Wharf for moorage so we headed into Discovery Bay Marina. $66 to tie up for the night without power. We had a difficult time tying up as the wind was nuking at 20+ knots blowing us away from the dock. Merlin took the up wind side of the dock. Easier to dock but smooshed against the fenders all night. Rained buckets & bathtubs all night.

Saturday, May 7: Timed our departure for slack at Seymour Narrows. If you have time google "Ripple Rock, Seymour Narrows". An interesting story. Destination Port Neville about 1/2 way up Johnstone Strait. We saw a black bear on the beach as we entered Port Neville. The public dock there was empty! Now we just had to gear up our courage for a 3 knot current at docking. Fortunately there was no wind to complicate the situation and John did a perfect docking. Merlin followed and the third boat to join us for the evening was So So a 24 ft. sailboat being single handed by Noel. He was heading for Alaska for the 6th time since 2000. He's looking for a female cruising companion, but the accommodations are meager! Any takers??? Rod & Susan attempted to walk Katie but aborted due to bear sightings. John & I went to see and sure enough there was a huge black bear parked in front of the Port Neville store & post office. He was peering at us down the dock ramp. Back to the boat for bear bells & bear spray....now which way is the wind blowing??? By the time we returned he had moved on but we did see him again munching on grass in the back lagoon. Safety in numbers, armed & jingley, we took a nice walk along old logging roads behind the Hansen property. The Port Neville Post Office opened in 1885 and just recently shut down. The building, looked after by Alex the caretaker, is now a book exchange & a museum that is a work in progress.

As this is posted we sit at the dock in Port Neville on Vancouver Island. Next for us is the first really big challenge of the trip, getting around Cape Caution. It looks like Wednesday, May 11 might have favorable weather to make the crossing, so if we go, the next internet access will not be until we reach Shearwater.

Sunday, May 8: A good attempt at completing Johnstone Strait but wind & waves had us ducking for cover in Port Harvey. This was the shaken & salted portion of this blog entry. Our first anchorage of the trip. The head of the bay well protected with a gooey mud bottom. Plenty of down time for a nice kayak during low tide.

Monday, May 9: Stopped to take photos of First Nation pictographs at Misty Bluff. Poked our bow out into the Johnstone Strait and found nice smooth waters in spite of Fanny Island calling 17 knots of wind. Smooth enough for showers and beautification on our way to Port McNeil, Vancouver Island. Laundry & Internet available in one stop.