Day 64/ September 2nd – Open Bight to Burnett Bay to Blunden Harbour

Scott got up early, pulled anchor and started Nordri around Cape Caution. Kim got up just in time to catch the end of the sunrise. Amazingly calm day. It really couldn’t get any better for a Cape Caution rounding. We came by Burnett Bay beach which is a long stretch of sand that is probably visited about as often as the moon because of it’s location directly under the Cape. Not often you can safely anchor in these waters and get a dingy to shore for a little exploring. The perfect place for Scott to slip a slice of kelp on my finger and propose! Of course I accepted and we enjoyed the walk up and down the beach that much more…even the part where we had to take our pants off to cross an ice cold stream.

Pulled anchor and headed for Blunden Harbour. Enjoyed the glassy calm waters and sun the whole way, A few porpoises here and there. Fish jumping around. Tucked into Blunden and had an explore of the midden beach, 3 feet deep in places. We read that 1 inch of midden is the equivalent to 300 years. This is another one of those places where you can just imagine, almost feel, the people that thrived here for thousands of years. The remains of a big longhouse hangs out over the beach. Thankful to 'Nakwaxda'xw First Nation for erecting a sign here letting us know where we are.

Smoked some salmon in the BBQ and watched a thunderstorm roll in and over us while we sipped champagne. Wonderful day.

Getting our pellicle on.

What Cape Caution looked like as we went by.

 

Scott found, not one…

…but TWO balls.

        

Day 63/ September 1st – Namu to Open Bight

Once again, plans to leave early are foiled by the distraction of an amazing place! Namu took us in and entertained well into the afternoon. We walked around the abandoned cannery and bushwacked our way underneath the deteriorating stilted houses that segregated out cannery workers by race. Hunted around for treasures and trade beads in the heaps of broken glass and ceramics. Found the exact water pump we need to replace the broken part of the old one we’ve been packing around all summer. Plucked some kale and mint. Were heading back down to the boat when we were summoned to assist with a questionable operation of balancing stacks of milled cedar off an old forklift, onto a backhoe and then onto a floating dock below. After a few attempts and 6 of us we succeeded. Were offered a big bag of bagels and salvaged some industrial light shades and funny machine parts that will make exceptional napkin rings from the workshop. We then helped with balancing 3 skiffs up onto the docks being dragged by another skiff. I’m thinking back to packing up our apartment for this trip – really nothing compared to this operation.

Headed out and down Fitz Hugh Sound. Gorgeous, fair winds and sunny. Humpbacks around have a different magic to them than when we first saw them here on the way up. Stopped in at Darby Channel and picked up a few more Chinook. The weather was so light we decided to brave it and spend the night at Open Bight. We got there just as the sun was setting which gave Scott just enough time to give halibut fishing one last go – he either caught the ground or the biggest halibut out there. Either way he lost his line and we were able to go to bed without the additional hours of food processing.

Big rollers rocked us to sleep – at least for a few hours.

We found Nordri covered in spider webs in the morning.

  Wood pipes!

   

Our new Namu mugs that fit our cup holders replacing the mugs we packed from home that don’t fit our cup holders.

 

Day 62/ August 31st – Eucott Hotsprings to Namu

6am wake up. Make coffee. Soak. So good.
These have been the hottest hotsprings to date. We actually couldn’t even get into the big pool until we’d redirected water into the bath tub (with the most spectacular view!) and even then we had to wait at least 20 minutes before the water in the bath tub had cooled to a reasonable temperature. We enjoyed the natural pool for over an hour before heading back to Nordri for a long leg to Namu.
Long but enjoyable cruise down Burke Channel. Nice, light and sunny and not at all representative of the fierce winds and harsh chop you can come up against in these waters. The legends of Mesachie Nose are terrifying! We had to skip a visit to Bella Coola and to Kwatna – both places Kim had had special time in earlier this spring that we would have liked to explore, but we have to start cutting some corners as cooler weather sets in.
Stopped in a small inlet for a little break and were lured out by dolphins feeding on herring. They were amazing – their little bursts of air and moving together so fast and then resting after the temporary excursion. Such a special thing to watch.
Carried on and tied up at Namu just as the sun was setting. The care takers here are packing up after 9 years of operating a floating moorage and looking out for the decrepit old cannery that is falling into the sea. Pulled up a couch in the moorage shack and watched herring surface and listened to two distant humpbacks bubblenet feeding. Magic place.  

   Interesting rock faces up and down Burke Channel.