Sea Foam Anniversary Cruise VI – Leg 4 June 27 – September 8, 2009
The view of Ocean Falls as we turned the corner in Cousins Inlet and approached the docks. The building on the right is what remains of the mill and the apartment to the left of the falls looks, from a distance to still be inhabited. Employees of the power plant are still about and there is some restoration of the buildings going on.
A Harbour Manager at Ocean Falls, Herb Carpenter, built this mermaid, Melissa, to greet you as you enter the docks behind the log breakwater. The docks are good and they have 30 amp power and great water you can even wash your boat with.	We were lucky when we arrived that the docks were virtually empty. Another boater, Good Vibrations, told us the docks were full the night before. We would have had to raft up to a willing boat for the night otherwise.
We went for a walk to stretch our legs and passed this viewing spot on our way to the little hamlet of Martin Valley In the winter there are about 40 people living in the area and in summer it swells to 100.	The saloon was empty when we walked by with one person enjoying the view from the sundeck. One of our cruising guides said they only open one day a week.
This church used to have a café in the back, - The Holy Grill - but the cook has taken a leave to work at a fishing lodge.	This is the spot for breakfast or dinner and we’re told the regular customers are loggers and those who work hard all day. We met some folks that said the dinner buffet is $25 per person and another couple told us that they no longer do the buffet. We should have gone in and asked for the truth.
Evidence of someone’s hard work landscaping years ago. There were several Hydrangea bushes along the walk. I’m happily picking flowers out of someone from long ago’s front yard.	The power from this dam provides electricity for Ocean Falls, Bella Bella and Shearwater. Link Lake is behind it all. Someone else told us there are plans in the works to use this unleashed water to create hydrogen for hydrogen cars.
	The paper mill here was abandoned in 1980 and after that the once thriving community – they even had an indoor pool here – was reduced to a near ghost town. Before it closed this Crown Zellerbach mill was the second largest mill in BC. The Waggoner Cruising Guide states, “When Crown Zellerback gave up the mill in 1973, the province, unwilling to lose the jobs, tried to run it. On May 31, 1980 it too gave up. The mill’s machinery was removed, and in 1986 bulldozers came to level the town. The town’s residents stood in front of the bulldozers and backed them down, though not until many of the houses and buildings were destroyed.” The apartment buildings still stand but are empty and many windows are broken. Some people have moved here to take advantage of the great housing prices ($35K for a big house with hardwood floors, ocean views and great sport fishing). It was rather startling to realize that once a big operation like a mill shuts down, much like the canneries, the whole town comes to a grinding halt as well. This community once had over 5000 people living in it.
At Ocean Falls next to ”The Shack”, these two seals come around the fish cleaning station on cue. If the fisherman was taking too long to hand over the trimmings one of the seals would flap his front flipper on the water to encourage the fellow to hurry up. As you can imagine, Kona was very keen to get close to these creatures and determine if they were friend or foe. The seal on the right is enjoying a delicacy – salmon roe.
We sought out this rock and monument in Alexander MacKenzie Park north of Ocean Falls in Dean Channel. On July 22, 1793 Alexander Mackenzie made an overland journey across Canada to the Pacific Ocean and marked this rock with ochre paint and grease. The rock reads, “Alex MacKenzie from Canada by land 22^nd July 1793. Surveyors later carved the inscription into the rock. The story goes that MacKenzie ended his journey here because the Indian guides he was traveling with from Bella Coola did not want to venture into Bella Bella Indian territory. There are campsites on a small stream just to the east of the monument where kayakers can rest or adventurers that want to try the same trail MacKenzie walked. The pictographs below are said to be boundary markers between the Bella Coola and Bella Bella Indians which were only a short way down Dean Channel from the monument. We used the GPS coordinates found in the Waggoner Cruising Guide to find the pictographs.
	Plaque reads: “First Crossing of North America. On 22 July 1793, Alexander MacKenzie of the Northwest Company wrote his name on this rock, signaling the end of an epic journey which had begun with his departure from Montreal in the spring of 1792. Although the route he traveled was not the practical trade route he sought, he had become the first man to cross the continent north of Mexico, completing an enterprise, which had begun with the voyages of Cabot and Cartier almost three centuries before. Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Government of Canada 1926.”
The pictographs we found south of the monument said to mark the border of Bella Bella natives and the Bella Coola band.
	In our quest for more hot springs we traveled further north up Dean Channel from Ocean Falls to visit Eucott Bay and the Eucott Bay hot springs. The anchorage was all for us and the cirque and mountains surrounding it were beautiful. We were able to anchor in 24 feet of water and had a short dinghy ride to the hot springs at high tide. The hot springs here are completely out in the open and the water was the hottest yet. In the morning before we left we spotted a black bear walking along the beach, sniffing around the hot springs and then disappeared into the forest again. This was our first bear sighting of the trip.
	Notice the steam rising from the pool and the hot water running along the path to the water’s edge.
The ladder to climb into the tub. I’m not sure who made this tub so comfortable and the water here has been the hottest yet. Too hot some say so a regulator was constructed.	You release this plunger to allow the hot water to the pool. When it gets too hot you plug the green rag into the hole and seal it off again.
The Captain liked this hotspring the best because it is open and you can take in your surroundings as you soak.
On our way up to Eucott Bay we stopped in Jenny Bay just outside of Ocean Falls in Dean Channel going north, to check out the bay and take a look at the dock that was supposed to be in there. The bay is deep so a dock would be a good alternative to anchoring.	Kona and the Captain went to shore at the dock which is at the head of the bay on the port side as you enter. There was apparently a logging operation here some years ago.
	While we were exploring the bay we noticed two people in a small runabout hauling in their prawn traps with a small winch. I put my binoculars on the scene and saw that they hauled in one trap that was loaded with prawns. I suggested we drop a prawn trap too and pick it up tomorrow after we had spent a night at Eucott Hotsprings. The Captain didn’t like the idea much because we would be forced to return to this bay but I reminded him we would be coming back down Dean Channel right passed this bay in the morning so what was the problem. When we returned in the morning to Jenny Bay after a lovely evening at the Hotsprings, we motored into the bay only to find the same two people and their runabout back pulling up their prawn traps again. What we also quickly noted was that our trap was not where we had left it. We immediately took out the binoculars and tried to find where our trap might be. It is heavily weighted so we knew it had not drifted away and the bay was protected enough that this would be unlikely to happen anyway. Then Rick stopped the trap on the opposite side of the bay where we had dropped it. As we motored closer to the head of the bay the other boat had just dropped their last trap (they had five traps down) and motored quickly away. When Rick pulled our trap up there were only five prawns in it. Rick took a picture of the other folks’ trap so that we might inquire with them at another time if they had their traps moved and apparently emptied too during the night or was it just our trap. A mystery to be sure! Perhaps when we get cell phone reception again I will contact D. Mazuren at the numbers shown on his float and ask if there was any tampering with his traps as there appeared to be with ours. I was so looking forward to enjoying a prawn dinner, what a disappointment that someone appeared to have pulled up our trap, emptied the contents of an overnight stay and put it down in a totally different place than where we left it. Maybe I should be grateful that my trap was not taken as well.
We headed off down Dean Channel and into Fisher Channel and enjoyed a beautiful calm ride all the way to Codville Lagoon. Just two days prior the wind was whistling up this channel bringing with it 4-5 foot waves. What a difference a day makes.	One, Two, Three - Salute! As we approached Codville Lagoon to anchor for the night we came upon this canoe. We had heard over a week ago about a group of war canoes in the area of Princess Royal Island getting an escort from the Coast Guard and wondered if these folks had been part of that group and were now making their journey back from wherever they came from. We thought we would see them in the anchorage and would speak to them but they must have camped on the outside beach rather than paddle all the way into the sheltered bay at the back of the lagoon where pleasure boats anchor. There were ten people in the boat likely between the ages of 45-70. They gave us this salute as we slowed our engine to pass them and take pictures.
Codville Lagoon is a marine park and has great shelter from all winds. The prawning is good here too. We only managed to get enough for one meal but that would have to do.	As we approached the head of Codville Lagoon we were pleasantly surprised to find our friends Joy and Jim Eastman on the Kimje and Brian and Anne on the Sterling also anchored. We invited them over for happy hour and caught up on their travels since last seeing them in Hartley Bay.
Brian, Joy and Anne wait at the stern of the Kimje for Jim to climb into the Sterlings tender to join us for happy hour. We admired his tender made by Bulldog with a plastic pontoons and super structure and an aluminum bottom.	Lovely sunset over Fitz Hugh Sound looking out from Codville Lagoon.
We left Codville Lagoon at 0700 in the hopes of making a run around Cape Caution before the predicted higher winds arrived. We looked on our charts for an area of beach where we could let Kona off for a pit stop on route. I circled around off the beach and Rick took Kona to shore here for a quick romp around so she could take care of any business she felt the need to attend to.	We were undecided as we approached Rivers Inlet whether to go around Cape Caution or wait until the next day. The northwest winds were moving in over the next several days and we wanted to get around while we had the chance. We listened to the weather station in the hopes of getting an up-to-date report on the lighthouse station and automated buoy reports but each time we tried we only heard wind speeds that were two hours old. We decided to keep going and if the waves and swell picked up we would turn into Smith Inlet and go into Milbrooke Cove near the mouth of the inlet. The waves did increase and the swells were not any better so we made a course for Millbrooke Cove. These two boats beside us made a similar decision and turned into Smith Sound as well. The Nordic Tug in the background turned into Millbrooke Cove ahead of us.
	Once in Millbrook Cove we took off for Dsulish Bay just north of the anchorage. It is a beautiful brown sugar sand beach likely formed by years of rough sea pounding onto it. Smith Inlet is unique in that it is one of the only inlets along the coast that is open to the Pacific Ocean. Most of the other inlets have islands in front of them keeping much of the waves and swells away or deflected somewhat. Kona loves the beach and runs full speed ahead whenever she lands on one. We took a bottle of wine with us and relaxed awhile after a long day of cruising. We later met and had happy hour with Rob and Barb off the vessel Harmony Bay. Coincidently, Barb is a retired teacher and Rob an electrical engineer.
Pine Island Lightstation. I mentioned early in the log a story about how this station was devastated years ago by a huge wave that blew the houses right from their foundations. You can see that it is not a high station although the direction of a huge wave on this side of the island is uncommon. This is one of the stations we pay attention to when we want to cross Cape Caution. Pine Island, Egg Island and West Sea Otter all have to have little wind and West Sea Otter a wave height no greater than 1.0 metres. Having Rivers Inlet, Smith Inlet and Slingsby Channel all slack or flooding is also a good idea so they ebbing water does not stand the waves up when it meets the northwest wind and westerly swells.	Another cruise ship passing by in Queen Charlotte Strait from our protected anchorage in Clam Cove.
	On a return run from Browning Passage after a dive we met a group of kayakers making there way into the Pass.
One of the many domestic markers that shows the trail from Clam Cove to Port Alexander on the other side. The trail is well marked, mostly flat and takes about 20 minutes to get to the other side.
There is a very rustic dive resort at the farthest end of Clam Cove where folks come to dive the world famous Browning Pass. Jacques Cousteau said it was one of the most beautiful spots in the world for cold water diving. This older gent loves his sport and continues to dive 3 dives per day for the weekend he was at the resort.	There were 4 people, two couples, that were at the resort for the weekend. This is one of the dive boats that the owner, John deBoeck, takes his divers to the sites with. www.vancouverislanddive.com
This is the main shack on the resort, Browning Pass HideAway Resort wwwVancouverIslandDive.com They eat well, have clean accommodations and have spectacular access to diving in and around Browning Pass.
	We dove for three days in Browning Pass with Clam Cove just around the corner from it. This day we went to the Browning Wall and the life under the water was awesome. Here I am gearing up to go under which is my least favorite part. All that gear and so heavy and hard to move around. It only takes about ten minutes to get geared up and it’s all worth it once you get under the water. We had a tricky time getting the boat situated because it was about 50 feet deep right on the rock face and barnacles were threatening the tender. We ended up tying a rope to a tree branch to keep the boat off the rock face and threw our anchor over the side to keep the boat steady from the bow. It was a lovely dive but the currents are tricky and hard to time and we had a flood current pushing at us the whole time we were under the water. We’ll go back next year for another look, to be sure.
	That’s the nice thing about staying in an anchorage for several days – you get to know the place. Rick took Kona for a walk and instead of going left from the little dinghy dock to the trail that goes to Port Alexander he turned right, walked through the small camp and onto an old logging road. He walked for about 45 minutes and at one point had a lake on his left hand side and then later a lake on his right. When he got back to the boat he looked on the chart to try to identify the lakes but it turns out there are many in the area so he’s not sure which ones he was near. In any case, it’s nice to know that one of our favorite anchor spots now also includes some fresh water swimming if the mood strikes us.