Desolation Sound: Octopus Islands to Home Bay

 

BC Mainland, Forward Harbour
 

On Monday June 30th we left the Octopus Islands, taking the Okisollo Channel, reaching Johnstone Straight at 9am. The wind was 14kn on our nose but we were making 9-10kn over ground on the ebb tide. It was sunny all day. We passed by two large barges and a few sailboats.

 

Cinnamon sleeps through the whale encounter.

I was at the helm that morning, as we passed Port Neville, heading towards Port McNeil. I happened to look to my left and saw a large whale blow along the shore several miles off. Before I knew it, the whale was right off my port side and then directly in front of me. It was huge. My guess is that it was a humpback. I pulled back on the throttle and Greg came topside cursing because he was running the water maker and the drop could have resulted in awful water in our tanks. Cinnamon, who was asleep on his $3,000 spinnaker kitty bed, slept throw the whole thing.

We passed Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, a sanctuary for killer whales, but didn't see any more whales. After arriving in Port McNeil marina that afternoon, we didn't visit the grocery store but we did check out the liquor store and restocked our wine cellar with some fine boxed wine.

 

Tuesday morning, as we prepared to leave Port McNeil, we spotted Let Freedom Ring at the fuel dock. We joined them and filled our tanks. This is one of the perks of living on a sailboat. Even though we didn't sail much, our fuel bill came to $189 while Let Freedom Ring's was over $1,000 for the same distance. After fueling we headed north to Port Alexander on Negei Island.

 

Relaxing in Port Alexander

 

There is nothing at Port Alexander.  We continually wonder about these names; something must have been there at one time.

 

The next morning we set out for Cape Caution, 24 NM away.

 

Cap Caution Light House

 

Cape Caution should be given a wide berth. Being close off  is a particularly bad place for sea against tide effects. West and SW swells are reflected back to sea by the cape and interact with the incoming swells, creating confused seas and standing waves.

 

http://bcmarina.com/Pages/About/Hazards/thumbnails.html gives this advice for rounding Cape Caution:

The solution to transiting this area is "to be there when conditions are right. For example: The 50 mile crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait from Port Hardy to Calvert Island, in summer northwesterly conditions, should generally be made in the early morning and while the tide is flooding to avoid running into ebb currents from Smith and Rivers inlet meeting the westerly swell. The common mistake people make on this crossing is to leave Port Hardy on a big ebb tide figuring to take advantage of the following current on the way north. They then arrive at Egg Island in worse case sea against tide conditions with the westerly swell piling up on a huge ebb current out of Smith Inlet and scare the crap out of everybody on board."

We sailed easily past Cape Caution and arrived in Home Bay, on the BC mainland, at 3:30 that afternoon.  Just another day on Comocean. Winching - but not disturbing Cinnamon, We just work around each other. Approaching Home Bay At anchor in Home Bay, BC Trees in Home Bay draped in Spanish Moss   Home bay was obviously a busy place at one time but I couldn't find any information on line about its history. After we anchored, as the tide went out, we noticed something large coming out of the water. At first we thought it was a reef. A few minutes later I began to think it was a wall, but it sloped at the ends. Eventually we could see that it was a vessel; Greg thought it had masts and I was certain it was a barge. Whatever it was, it was over 60' long.

 

 

 

At the head of Home Bay was a derelict boat and a large tank, possibly for fuel. Along the shore there was a sign saying "Slow" in English and German and a tidal grid.

 



 

 

Once we had anchored and explored we turned the AIS on to watch for Let Freedom Ring's arrival. Our TV viewing on this trip is extremely limited. There isn't much action but the suspense is a killer.



AIS list from the Chart Plotter
 

 

It was just too, too much for Cinnamon.

 

 

Home Bay Panarama