Prince Rupert marina, as we described in an earlier blog is a fantastic facility with amazing staff who welcomed us like old friends.

Firstly we had to check into Canada with Custom officers boarding us, with the normal questions regarding booze,tobacco products and firearms. We were given a new registration number for Amelie and welcomed into Canada.

The days swiftly passed and before we knew it, we were waiting for Jaz at the ferry terminal in town. She dismounted from an old style American yellow school bus. Jaz had arrived in style and she was gushing with excitement. It was an emotional meeting with mum and daughter talking non stop until bedtime. The following day Stephen was left on board to replace a valve on the hot water cylinder while the girls went shopping in the few but well provisioned stores. Fresh fish at a local restaurant was enjoyed that evening after a great visit from Colin and Marion.
Early the next day in fog, rain and cold we motored off to Lowe Inlet as we were told that there were bears fishing in the Verney Falls in Nettle Basin. Jaz had her first experience of Humpbacks diving during the trip. We took the RIB to see the salmon jumping up the falls and the odd seal swimming at the base of the turbulent water, obviously salmon fishing.

The following day we used the kayak and RIB to witness this scene again, taking photographs of this annual migration to the salmon breeding grounds. Wolves were reported to be seen on the shores but alas we didn’t see any whilst we were there.
We anchored in Coghlan anchorage in the Stewart Narrows after a short motor down the Grenville Channel. Lots of activity from the Humpbacks, it’s as if they know Jaz is on board and have decided to show her their displays of fluking, breaching, finning and lunging. The camera and binoculars were at the ready at all times. An afternoon visit to the native village of Hartley Bay gave us an opportunity to visit a traditional feasting house, where the community gathers for feast days and meetings. Native paintings and carvings are everywhere in this small community. There are no roads but an elevated wooden boardwalk throughout the village whereby the locals get about on ATVs. The fire engine and ambulance are tiny Japanese trucks, situated in the centre of it all. This place is famous for its salmon hatchery which provides a small economy for the area together with an opportunity for the students of the near by school to learn traditional native fishing skills. The shop has closed down and the only thing you can buy here is picnic tables or fuel. A great place to recycle all your rubbish.

The weather improved to the point of being very hot, with t shirts and shorts being shaken out. We travelled back to the Khutze Inlet for a few hours so Stephen could change the Racor filter on the engine and then we motored in the late afternoon to Green Inlet, off Princess Royal Channel. This is one of the most spectacular anchorages of our trip. We put the hook down in a sheltered cove, close to the forest with the sound of a stream close by and the strong smell of pine and cedar. Seals and River Otters swam around Amelie, Ducks quacked in the distance and a pair of Kingfishers were fishing on the other side of the cove. Kayaking and taking the RIB out gave us the opportunity to explore this beautiful nature’s secret. Jaz and Stephen had many sightings of Bald eagles when circumnavigating the inlet on the RIB, Jaz being our RIB chauffeur nowadays.
Stephen was desperate to do some fishing so we ventured out into the channel and slowly motored to Oatwish Bay under a darkening cloudy sky. This is a deep anchorage and the only thing around us were commercial crab pots. The weather reports suggested that the weather was worsening so we decided to stay put. In the afternoon the weather brightened to allow us to explore Mussel Cove and to meet two enthusiastic, informative young Guardian Watchmen, Curtis and Chantal, in their homely cabin. We were welcomed like old friends and spent a few hours with them in the spacious cabin, with it’s wood stove. Curtis advised us to move up to Mussel Inlet to increase our chances of seeing a Grizzly bear. This meant a rather bumpy ride in the RIB back to Amelie, with the skipper get a sea water wash, much to the amusement and laughter of Debbie and Jaz.
The Guardian Watchmen are a group of dedicated men and women, continuing the work of the First Nation people, to protect the land and sea, and the creatures which inhabit it. They patrol their territory on a daily basis during the short summer season. They document not only sightings of animals and their behaviour, but also tourist activity, natural events and disasters, the movement and catch numbers of local fisherman and suspicious activities. They are also involved in collecting samples (ie hair from bears left on trees and bushes) for various research projects.

Curtis offered to guide us in the early evening into the mouth of the estuary to hopefully see some bear activity. It is required that you go with a guide for your own safety and to keep within the specified viewing area, thereby protecting the bears and natural resources. Coated in mozzie repellant and wearing warm clothes we entered the estuary, immediately spotting a juvenile Grizzly Bear fishing at the rivers edge. Spooked by the noise of our engines, it scampered up the steep slope into the cover of bushes and trees. Curtis suggested we gave the bear space and time to calm down, we retreated into Poison Cove looking for more bear activity. Alas, no bears but no shortage of natural beauty in the surroundings. Jaz was lucky enough to spot two Mountain goats. Debbie and Stephen’s eyes, not as sharp, missed them. Interestingly, Mountain goats are actually from the sheep family and are not goats; they have curly horns and fluffy white coats. We returned to the river, fearing that the scarpered juvenile would be our only sighting of a Grizzly. We could not believe our eyes as we rounded the corner and there he was swimming in the water catching Salmon! Debbie remarked on how huge he was, with Curtis stating ‘that is small’. Curtis suggested beaching the boats and wading up to our ankles in stinky marsh water with floating dead Salmon all around (this could be due to completion of spawning and a combination of warmer water caused by glacial warming). Naturally we jumped at the opportunity and were taken to some felled trees as our observation post. Within seconds Curtis instructed us to sit closely together and not to move under any circumstances. The bear was twenty metres away!
Bear’s have dreadful eyesight, but a fantastic sense of smell and hearing. It was thought that this bear was in its first year of being away from Mum, so was unpredictable. It was also thought that wolves had been spooking bears recently, as there were fewer coming to the river to feed and Curtis and Chantal had witnessed a wolf chasing a juvenile bear away from it’s fishing grounds. How was this bear going to react? Curtis spoke in a non threatening way to the bear, alerting him we were there as we were sat down wind of him. Was the bear going to bluff charge or run away? Heart’s in our mouths, the bear looked liked it was going to charge. However with calming words from Curtis, the bear ran away into the bushes. Shortly afterwards we saw him happily fishing upstream from us. We returned to Amelie, totally awestruck and bursting with excitement that we’d seen at close quarters such a magnificent animal. We celebrated with hot drinks all around.
Discovering that Curtis and Chantal had a free day the following day, we invited them for one of Stephen’s traditional English Roasts, but firstly they suggested we did an early morning reccie of the river again. So with an early morning wake-up call, which involved Stephen with his harmonious singing of ‘Bear-necessities’ from the Jungle Book, and Debbie’s protests of a Sunday morning lie-in, we ventured out. Curtis’ keen eyes, immediately spotted a fully grown male Grizzly, which Debbie commented was considerably larger than the one last night, with a ‘Debbie moment’ comment of ‘that is a huge one’! We watched for a short period while he fished before moving on, before ditching our boats and heading to the viewing area again. Through the rain, we were delighted to see a mother and her cub (which happened to be at least two-thirds her size) play wrestling in the long grass. We were mesmerised and watched for ages as they moved their play from the land into the water. The cub copied everything the Mum did, including catching its own Salmon - it may have been an easy catch - one of the dead ones? Too soon we had to return to Amelie, and Curtis and Chantal to their patrolling duties.
The afternoon and evening was spent with Chantal (a First Nation descendant from Klemtu) sharing her cultural stories and upbringing with us. She was open and excited about sharing this information with us. Her upbringing was within a huge family intertwined with the community, respecting ancient traditions, laws, ceremonies and a great love of the land and sea. She is a modern young girl with an active mind, with a passion for her culture and what she’s involved in. Curtis would survive anywhere, highly skilled with a huge knowledge base of life. Their passion and easy going nature reminded Debbie of the young people she met on the Oyster World Rally and we plan to meet Curtis and Chantal in the fall.

Whilst finishing our meal Jaz and Curtis were alerted to noises outside Amelie. Recognising the sound of a ‘whale blow’ we rushed up on deck. To our amazement, a female Humpback and her calf were thirty metres away from Amelie. We believe the mother was teaching her calf to bubble-net feed. This is when they swim under the water to locate a school of Herring. They swim in a large circle around the Herring and one of the whales releases a stream of bubbles from its blow hole. The bubbles form a ‘net’ whereby the fish cannot escape. We heard a feeding call, which ceases when the net is complete. The whales lunge up with open mouths engulfing the fish. Curtis explained to Jaz and Stephen that whales are similar to Pelicans in that when they lunge feed their mouths expand to accommodate the large quantity of water scooped up with the prey. The whales mouth comprises of baleen plates and it has a pleated throat which extends from it’s lower jaw down to its navel. Using this complex feeding technique, the whales filter the prey by releasing the water out of their mouths. The seabirds (who use the action to pick off Herring) indicated where they were next going to bubble-net, and we were able to watch them for several hours. Their smelly breath was horrendous and lingered for ages.
We traded gifts, of homemade cakes and treats and in return we were given a quantity of delicious dried seaweed, this year a rare delicacy. Curtis and Chantal’s generosity of time, knowledge and brilliant company was topped by Curtis removing his stunning woollen jumper and offering it to Stephen. Their kindness will never be forgotten.
Poor weather delayed our departure to Oliver Cove, with yet more sightings on the foreshore of several Grizzlies, either fishing, locating tasty roots or in one case, a possible female chasing off an enormous male, who retreated into the forest only to reappear gingerly ten minutes later as the female was foraging further along the shoreline. Bald Eagles called to one another whilst sitting on strewn logs watching the bear display. The wilderness at its best, undisturbed by man. It did however provide Jaz the opportunity to ‘Bake Off’, as she baked us fresh bread and home made current buns.

Oliver Cove proved to be a beautiful tiny anchorage and the weather cleared up for a nice evening. The barograph was not looking hopeful and the timings of the currents weren’t in our favour but despite this we needed to head south. Fury Cove was a favourite of Debbie’s and because of the very brief stay previously, we wanted to experience the beauty of the snowy white shell beach with it’s beautiful nooks and crannies. The weather was kind to us and a wish ticked off the list.
Port Hardy was quiet during our stay, the summer season was noticeably coming to an end. We provisioned, refuelled, caught up on our internet and collected Stephen’s smoked salmon. We have tried it in several dishes as well as with drinks. The favourite so far is with cream cheese, fruit bagel, tomatoes and loads of freshly ground pepper. We received some good news here that Sam and Abbi had got engaged and planned to marry in the summer of 2017. Another trip back to the UK next year. We had plenty of Heron visitting the pontoons and pretty big they were too, must have been plenty of fish in the Marina.

The next sector to our travelling south was the tricky Johnstone Strait. The currents were not in our favour this time northe weather, very wet and cold. We had an overnighter in a small cove off the strait called Growler Cove…..absolutely beautiful. The passage to Octopus Islands looked good and we headed off early with a dull sky. Jaz was roused from her sleep much earlier than normal as Stephen had sighted a pod of Orcas. She quickly got her bearings and snapped away getting some action shots of these powerful creatures. Her list of sightings were complete but just to top it off she had the pleasure of seeing a sea otter which is rare in these parts, a very happy girl.
Octopus Islands were to be our home for the next few days. We had failed to fix our watermaker when we were here before and desperately wanted to return to enjoy the islands. The weather was mixed, crabbing wasn’t as fruitful as before but nonetheless we had a couple of Red Rock Crabs for an appetiser, a few barbecues and fabulous place to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. Jaz cooked us pancakes, maple syrup and crispy bacon for breakfast, supping Prosecco for lunch and finishing off with Stephen’s tasty Beef Bourguignon for supper.
The plans started to change as we decided to do some city life with a spectacular overnight stay in Secret Harbour. This jewel was unexpected with its gingerbread log cabins, crab pots everywhere and the early morning hum of activity from the local marina. The views out to sea were breathtaking, whereby we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and sunrise.
Thirty miles along the coast we arrived in Vancouver and once again anchored in False Creek. We became tourists again by visiting Granville Island, shopping in the centre (very disappointing), Gastown for a late lunch and Yaletown.
We had a date with Bubbles and their friends and family to celebrate Leo’s birthday with a party in Victoria. It was overwhelming to see one another again after two months apart and with hugs and laughter we entertained the small marina. We also had the opportunity to experience what it will be like to winter in the marina. Our neighbours, Arlene and Bob were welcoming and a hoot. We can see many more occasions when we will party with them. Jaz fell in love with Victoria and the shops. The pair of us walked miles and daughter bought Mum lunch in a Scottish bar! Leo’s party was an intimate affair and we felt honoured to be invited. We can now put faces to names. It was a chance for us to shed the casual clothes and dress up, including Debbie’s famous Australian heels. The party continued on Bubbles with most of us feeling foggy the following day.
Jaz’s time with us was coming to an end and we returned to Vancouver to enjoy a last day with a waterfront walk, simulator flight of Canada and lunch in the Flying Pig. Tearful goodbyes were inevitable later that afternoon and quietness descended on Amelie.
Jaz had a bucket list of achievements for this trip and she ticked off all and saw more. A mixture of wilderness, city and “Oyster” type gatherings added to her memorable holiday.