Should we be envious?

Here is a lovely shot of Tamarisk at Jennis Bay, looking quite diminutive tied up behind the lovely old 1929 cruising boat, Deerleap. We saw Deerleap at Sullivan Bay and now find ourselves tied next to her. Impressive, but I wouldn't want to have to take care of her wooden hull and all those varnished topsides! Not to speak of the cost of filling up the fuel tanks.
But she's great to admire and be next to at the docks.

A beautiful still morning in Drury Inlet

This morning as we motored to Jennis Bay we were treated to this marvelous view of quiet waters reflecting the mountains and clouds. The weather today is beautiful, warm and sunny.

A Hike from Turnbull Cove

We happened to meet up with our friends and neighbors Rob and Paula Wilcox at one of the marinas here. We joined them in Turnbull Cove for two nights, hosting each other at dinner. We shared some wonderful ling cod that Rob had caught, and I did a Thai curry with prawns that we had gotten. In the day between we hiked with them up to a large lake that is near Turnbull. It is a short, but steep hike, and makes a great way to get off the boat. Here Phil is pictured with (from the left) Rob, Paula, and Robs brother-in-law and partner in the boat, Stan.

That day was the last of the lovely days we have enjoyed since getting here--ovcast in the morning but clearing each afternoon to provide a great cocktail hour and evening. Today it is raining and expected to do so for the next couple days. so we are hunkered down at Sullivan Bay, tied to a dock and planning to eat at their restaurant tonight.

Cocktail hour at Shawl Bay

tonight's picture is of the happy hour at Shawl Bay. This is an event pretty unique to the Broughton Islands, where marinas provide a float for boaters to bring and share appetizers at 5 pm each evening. This provides a nice opportunity to get to know the other boaters tied up for the night. We have toured many interesting boats and met a lot of nice people this way.

Shawl Bay also provides pancakes each morning on this same float. we will enjoy them again tomorrow morning before taking off, hopefully to find some fresh vegetables and milk. It seems lots of people are having trouble finding provisions here. We will go to Sullivan Bay, which we hope is getting delivery tomorrow. if necessary we will stay overnight in order to get them, but our presence would be to load up and find an anchorage somewhere else. We shall see.

weather still holding in the Broughtons pattern--overcast in the morning and clearing in the afternoon. I rescued my shrimp pot this afternoon with the help of a kindly neighboring boater. I went out to pull it and couldn't make it budge. He had a nice dinghy with a pot pulled on it, so he could use a motor to try to get it up. We pulled, and pulled some more, from different angles, and finally broke it loose. I was immensely relieved to end up with the trap, even while disappointed to find it without a single shrimp. It has been reset in a place he said he got lots of shrimp a week or so ago, We shall see tomorrow. Tomorrow Phil and I have to pull it up by hand.

Crabs being Treated

And here I am doing the treatment. I have learned to do it on the bowsprit of the boat after an episode several years ago (in the same Viner Sound where we were yesterday) where I was on a rocky islet connected to the shore killing my crabs and a bear burst out of the bushes heading towards me. He was as startled as I was and turned and ran, as I also ran towards my dinghy. Then I realized I had left the crabs behind, so I darted back and grabbed them before jumping in the dinghy to row back to our boat. A bit stupid, but you never know what your mind is going to do in an emergency. I have solved that problem by killing my crabs on the boat, so no more chances on encountering bears onshore.

Crabs

Here is my crab bounty awaiting treatment (that means killing them).

Tucked away in Viner Sound

Here we are, cozily tied to one of the four buoys in the small cove at Viner Sound. This lovely little cove is at the end of a long, gradually narrowing Sound. We were one of three boats there for two nights. I put out two crab pots and got overwhelmed with crab. There were six male keepers in one trap and a total of 12 crabs in the second pot, all males, and all but two large enough to keep. Four is the daily limit, and I am also at the limit of my refrigerator capacity to hold crab, so tossed a lot of crabs back into the water. Let me tell you, a crab pot with 12 crabs in it is HEAVY!

Tonight we are in Shawl Bay, one of our favorite marinas. It is very homey, with a free pancake breakfast served each morning, and a potluck appetizer get together each evening. I will get laundry done here. We also have dropped our prawn trap in the bay outside the marina, and I hope I will be able to catch my annual bottom fish, which I often do here. Here's hoping it is big enough to provide us a meal.

We are at the point in our cruise where we have a fair amount of seafood, and begin to yearn for something else. so last night we had hamburgers. Tonight it was crab Louis salad. I have a couple of large bags of crab for us to eat up. Plus hopefully some prawns.

Phil enjoys being here because he can socialize with people from other boats. He has just headed off to have a drink with a nice couple aboard a powerboat tied opposite us on the dock. so I shall sign off and go join him.

Stopped by one of the two stores in the Broughtons today and found I was either a few days late or a half day early. She had no fresh vegetables or milk, but was expecting new supplies in the afternoon. Too long to wait. We will hope to find something at Sullivan Bay later this week. I seem to have a talent for arriving just a little too soon for the next every, and too late to find what I want.