Triumphant Return to Bute Inlett

After our wonderful time in PLI, we made our way north to the Cambell River area that is north of Desolation Sound. First we made a reprovisioning stop near Powell River follow d by a bakery stop in Lund.

One of our favorite anchorages is in the Octopus Islands and it didn’t disappoint. We spent two meditative nature days enjoying the quiet peaceful area. Practicing with the new zoom lens, I got a couple of good photos. We saw Eagles, herons and otters, and raccoons foraging at low tide.

Jim’s high school debate partner Greg Call and his wife Carolyn joined us next for a Bute Inlet adventure. They flew in to Dent Island where we enjoyed a yummy dinner. The next day we headed out to conquer Bute Inlet: a 40 mile long inlet into British Columbia’s Coastal Mountains, including 13,000 feet tall Mt. Waddington, BC’s tallest mountain.

The weather was beautiful and we finally took down the plastic windows that protect the front & sides of the upper helm and take down the convertible top so that we could thoroughly enjoy the sunshine and stunning views of glacier-covered mountains. It was a lovely cruise and we ate delicious pastrami (supplied by our earlier guest Peter Glick) sandwiches along the way. As those of you who have read our True Love Adventures over the past years know, we did not have success on our first Bute Inlet Adventure five years ago. In 2011, we tried to anchor at the head of the inlet but the winds were crazy coming off the mountains, our anchor wasn’t holding, but when we tried to raise the anchor it got stuck on something. No matter what we did, we couldn’t bring the anchor up so we eventually had to cut it away, leaving it in over 100 feet of glacier-fed water.

This year we discovered a new anchorage, just east of Bear Bay, in a little unnamed cove that was protected from the strong NW winds. Since it had no name on the map we named it Spady & Call cove. After anchoring, the Captain and his former high school debate partner headed out to try to ascertain the depths around us and where we should shore tie.The glacier water confused the depth sounder on the tender so in the spirit of Captain Vancouver they used a pole instead. After a perfect shore tie we settled down with some cocktails and I made a yummy dinner. We had to eat inside to escape some fierce biting flies, but they magically disappeared later that evening when the men had to tow away a large, menacing drift wood tree, and the flies didn’t return the following morning.

And what an amazing morning it was! The perfect mornings sunshine and calm winds gave everyone great views of the glaciers as we cruised the shoreline at the head of Bute Inlet and then headed back to civilization. It was so nice that I even got to do my yoga on the bow for the first time this trip. As we approached Arran Rapids just east of Big Bay we were treated to a crazy eagle frenzy. The rapids were running at 9 knots, churning up the water so much that hundreds of small fish were killed and floating on the surface. Voila, bird food. We stayed and watched at least 30 eagles swoop over the water and catch fish in their talons. Although the original consensus was that there was at least 30 eagles, as the day went on and we reconsidered our memories, we all agreed that it must have been at least 50 eagles. 😉

I took tons of photos with my new telephoto lens. Here are some of the best.

After our “eagle extravaganza” we headed back to the Octopus Islands where we anchored for the night. Thunderstorms in the distance provided the backdrop as we enjoyed a great evening of heated, but intelligent political conversation, good cocktails, steak and tasty wine that Greg & Carolyn had brought with them.

The evening brought in some beautiful fog and an almost full moon.

When we woke the fog was even more beautiful as it slowly dissolved away.

After a hardy breakfast we cruised south and east to the April Point Resort across the channel from Campbell River where Greg and Carol had a reservation on the 5:30 seaplane back to Seattle.