Shearwater

After many days of sunshine, rain found us as we left Oyster Bay.  (This is ‘way back in July. You remember July.)

Heading north up Fitz Hugh Sound, the 65 foot Allyson H emerged out of the rain,  headed south for Nanaimo, according to her AIS information on our chart plotter.

Her barge of wood chips soon appeared and then they were both swallowed up by the rain.

No sooner had the Allison H and her barge disappeared  than the AIS symbol for the Norman H, 72 feet, (same tow company, eh?) popped up on the screen. She was coming out of a passage to the east and was not yet in sight when the skipper hailed Greywolf on the VHF radio.  Requesting a “green-to-green” passing (starboard-to-starboard) he wanted sufficient  room to make his turn to the south without hitting the rocks.  Good plan.  Go for it.

I try to avoid talking with professional skippers on the radio, but I had the helm and Doug was not in the pilot house, so  I answered.

My avoidance tendency originates with my favorite move:  Airplane.  (Yes, I am aware that this puts me in a very select group of people.)  I’ve laughed my way through the movie enough times, that much of the dialogue is very familiar, including the scenes between ground control and the pilot: Roger.
Okay, but stop calling me Roger.  

(You’e right:  you haven’t missed anything by not seeing the movie.)

I cannot bring myself to say “Roger that” on the VHF.  ‘Don’t know what response I’ll get.

Fortunately, “Right.  Green to green.”  is easily understood.  I once more avoided confronting my phobia.  I also avoided colliding with the Norman H...and the rocks.  

I’ll have to write out a radio script for the VHF and have Doug practice with me.

Early in the afternoon, Greywolf tied up at crowded Shearwater, stern-to-stern with another wolf. I asked the woman on board about the name.  The skipper’s daughter had named it; she thought it was from a movie, but didn’t know anything more about it.  Do you?

The big boats get bigger each year.

We were in search of produce, water, and laundry, not necessarily in that order. Shearwater’s store did not produce any produce,

 so we took the seabus to Bella Bella, a First Nations village, three miles away.

The store burned down last year, but was replaced late last summer.  Good produce...if you get there shortly after it arrives on the ferry.

Why....

.... the signs????

Needing a safe place to keep our Bella Bella watermelon while we were underway, I wedged it in next to the whale pillow .  Doug pointed out that it looked like the whale was getting ready to take a bite.  He never did.  Not even a nibble.

The dock master’s garden at Shearwater.

The “untouched” adjective is disputed by some.

Even without hearing the noise, you might understand why some of the residents of Denny Island are not thrilled to have Shearwater Resort and the other expen$ive fi$hing re$orts as neighbors.  The helicopters bring fishermen from Vancouver on a regular basis.

The sports fishing boats tear out shortly after dawn each morning.  More noise.  But no dust!

 The road (yes, it is a road) from the ferry dock.

Fishing boats waiting for the next opening.

At Shearwater, we had the choice of heading north to Prince Rupert or mussing around this area. We decided to muss. Between July 20th and August 9th Greywolf wandered the waters of Dean Channel, Cousins Inlet, Gunboat Pass, and connecting waterways, anchoring at Kadushdish Harbor (three times) and mooring at Ocean Falls (twice) with dinghy trips to Bella Bella and Shearwater from Kadushdish for food and laundry. 

Photos will follow.  Really.