It was a beautiful morning to head to Shearwater.  The sun was shining as the Alaskan Ferry passed us by.  As we get near New Bella Bella we see a boat actually sailing towards us.  It is Velveteen Rabbit with Sharon at the helm.  They are out of fuel.  Puffin gives them some fuel just as a big BC Ferry approaches.  When we got to Shearwater we all fueled up and headed for the dock to tie up for the evening.  The next morning is a grocery shop and clean the boat day.  Also laundry is done along with showers and dinner out.  The next morning we notice a BBC photographer taking pictures of the local eagle.  There is a man in a dinghy laying salmon on the water and then we all wait for the eagle to approach.  Everyone has their camera out.  It is awesome.

 

May 30th we leave Shearwater and head to Oliver Cove Marine Park.  We have to go slightly off shore to get there so we experienced rolling roller waves.  LaMouette is invited to raft with Puffin with a stern tie.  Then we all see the black bear on the beach!  Cameras in hand we take pictures.  Shortly there after we notice the bear coming our way.  He sits on our stern line!  We were no less than 50 feet from the bear!  You will see the many pictures we took.  He could not care about us.  He only cared about eating grass.  Another boat anchored in the cove was in their dinghy to take their dogs ashore.  We all yelled that there was a bear on the beach and the captain said--It is okay--we have leashes!!!!  Duh!!!!

 

May 31st and we are all on our way to Klemtu a native village.  It is crisp and clear.  After we get water, we all decided to head across Finlayson Channel to Bottleneck Inlet.  There was enough wind to put the jib up.  As one enters the Inlet there are tall rocky cliffs on both sides and a small narrow passage into a wide lagoon.  Our alarm is set for 6 a.m. on June 1st; however, when we get up we have only 1 foot of water under our keel and the tide is going out still.  We move very quickly to weigh anchor!We cross over Finlayson Channel and travel down Hiekish Narrows to Fraser Reach.  We pass a logging camp where we get to see a helicopter drop logs in the water to a log boom.

 

There are so many waterfalls, each one more beautiful than the last.  We make a port turn into Butedale and are greeted by a massive waterfall and the funky marina.  Butedale was a cannery where many years ago when the fishing industry died the people just upped and left everything.  The caretaker is a character named Lou.  He has revamped the old cook house to be his home.  The docks are made up of logs and planks.  Popeye would have been proud.  Most of the buildings in Butedale have fallen down.  Larry goes into a couple of them without me knowing.  We spent 2 nights in Butedale with evening campfire with Lou both nights.  All of us take different hikes around the area.  Larry and I go to the powerhouse.  As you can tell by the photo that Lou is using the old turbin to operate a small alternator which is fed through an inverter to supply him with a small amount of AC current.  Pretty elaborate system!

 

June 3rd and we are off to Bishop Bay Hot springs.  The ride is pretty uneventful.  We do have blue sky but no wind.  We are all at the dock with a beautiful view of waterfalls.  We enjoyed a long hot soak in the very warm water.

 

In the morning we leave the Hot Springs for Hartley Bay, a native village.  It is cloudy and rainy.  After we all fuel up, we are tied to the same dock.  The whole village is connected with a series of wooden board walks where they use ATVs and electric carts for their mode of transportation.  We went to the Red Feather Cafe for a great halibut dinner which turned out to be in a families dining room.  After dinner Larry walked to the fish hatchery with Bear a smelly dog!  We found the village to be very friendly.  We were interviewed by the Mounties.

 

June 5th and we are off to Nettle Falls Basin in Lowe Inlet.  LaMouette and Velveteen Rabbit are anchored on the side while Puffin is anchored right in front of the Falls.  We see bears along the shoreline.  Also a porcupine!!

 

The following Rob and Sharon left very early to attempt traversing Grenville Channel where there is a separation in the tides.  Several hours later they returned to Lowe Inlet and informed us of large woody debris coming from the Skeena River and flooding conditions which prevented them from reaching the upper end of Grenville Channel.  They decided that they were going back to Hartley Bay.  After a quick conversation with Puffin, we also decided to go back with them.  Upon returning to Hartley Bay we learned that a large slide on the mainland prevent fuel shipments to Prince Rupert.  Rob was able to fill his tanks prior to the Mounties shutting down all fuel sales in the area.  That evening we had a spaghetti potluck on LaMouette at which time Rob and Sharon informed us that they were turning back.  After some discussion Steve and Joyce and Larry and I decided that we were so close to making our goal that we would continue.

 

The next morning Velveteen Rabbit left Hartley Bay.  Puffin and LaMouette returned to Lowe Inlet to spend another delightful night.  That evening Steve and Larry calculated the time of the tides and we followed the flood up Grenville Channel where it turned to an ebb and went into Baker Inlet via Watts Narrows.  We spent 2 nights rafted to Puffin waiting out a storm. 

 

After leaving Baker Inlet we continued up Grenville Channel into Prince Rupert.  There was quite a lot of debris in the water.  We had a following sea and the rest of the trip to Prince Rupert was uneventful.  By the time we got to Prince Rupert we all were ready for showers and dinner out.  We managed to get the last 2 slips available.  A large Coast Guard was unloading fuel and now getting fuel is no problem.

 

Tomorrow June 13th we have a weather window to head Brundage Inlet on Dundas Island.  The following day we will cross over Dickson Entrance to Alaska!!