Chapter 3: God-Forgotten, Desolate Real Estate
After Jose and Callison leave, the Patience pulls out. It immediately evident that it is blowing hard, so we put a reef in the main before leaving Winter Harbor. About a mile out of Winter Harbor we kill the diesel and begin one of the best sails of the trip. We sail for six and a half hours and cover 47 nautical miles - an average of 7.23 knots/hour! Not much to write home about if you are sailing an Olsen 30, but rocket speed if you are in a 36 ton cruising boat. Three quarters of the way through that day's sail, we hear on the VHF that the wind speed at nearby Solander Island (just off Cape Cook) is 27 nautical miles per hour. We estimate that the seas are conservatively 6 - 7 feet high. All in all, a sail without equal!
We had originally planned to go to Brooks Bay today, but the sailing is so good we decide to keep going and round Cape Cook . Cape Cook (named after the famous Captain Cook) is the Cape on the end of Brooks Peninsula. Brooks Peninsula is a major geographic feature of Vancouver Island. If you look at a chart of the island and focus on the northwest quarter, you will see a large protruding rectangular shaped piece of land pointing to the southwest. This is Brooks Peninsula. Due to it's geography, Cape Cook, similar to Cape Scott, is known for its foul weather. The entire peninsula is isolated, uninhabited and remote. I think that George Nicholson, in his book, Vancouver Island's West Coast puts it best - "Without a doubt, this 60-mile stretch of coastline [the coastline near Winter Harbor and Brooks Pennisula], is the most desolate and God-forgotten piece of real estate in British Columbia". Despite all the dark fore-shadowing, Brooks Peninsula turns out to be one of the best spots of the entire trip. After our raging sail, we set the Bruce in a small bay called Columbia Cove in the lee of Brooks Peninsula. We stay at beautiful Columbia Cove for two days. We would have stayed for a week if we had the time.
The next day we rise and have a wonderful breakfast prepared by Christalini. The fact that Generation-Xers like myself don't know how to cook really hits home after we have a few of Christalini's meals. Christalini is truly a genius in the galley. I, and most of my generation, are only really any good at microwaving pre-prepared meals. I have never seen anyone as gifted as Christalini at combining spices, veges, meats, leftovers and anything else cookable in the boat. Christalini is stoutly unafraid of butter, leftovers, bacon, etc - ingredients I have always labeled as off-limits. The eating really got incredible when Willard joined Christalini in the galley and made their patented curry dishes. We had three curry dishes during this part of the trip, and I will never forget any of them. Two years later I think the Patience still remembers those meals as even now the smell of curry in the cabin lingers on.
Anyway, enough about cooking, back to our adventure. After breakfast we go exploring. Columbia Cove, despite having a somewhat lackluster description in my two Vancouver Island books has a lot to offer. Right at the entrance to the cove is a fun to explore ex-Canadian Coast Guard Cutter that is shipwrecked. The history on this wreck is sketchy at best (one of the books says "a business venture gone awry") and if anyone knows the story behind this vessel I would love to hear it. After exploring the wreck we take the Avon out of the cove to a nearby beach. The beach is absolutely beautiful and completely deserted. The beach consists of about a solid mile of white sand, blue-green water and gentle breaking surf. The sun is out and we feel like we have been transported to heaven. We spend hours on the beach relaxing and soaking up the rays. At one point, Sebastian and Christalini are on the beach and Willard and I are navigating the Avon through the surf. Suddenly, Sebastian and Christalini start wildly gesturing and pointing at what we initally think is a submerged rock. In front of our eyes, the rock submerges and we realize it is actually a Humback Whale cruising the coastline. In shock, Willard and I follow the whale as he cruises up the beech. Eventually he outpaces us and we return back to Sebastian and Christalini. Later in the day, Willard, Sebastian and I try to visit Cape Scott (5 - 7 nautical miles away) via the Avon. Willard, an avid surfer, is in search of the ultimate wave. Unfortunately, the weather is too much for our frail craft and we are denied access to the Cape. We turn back with very sore asses and a lost oar and commence partying with the crew of the Silas Crosby which is now anchored in Columbia Cove with us. The Silas Crosby is one stout steel green sailing machine. She is owned and crewed by friends of my cousin Willard (who happens to know about 95% of the population of Vancouver Island) and is anchored in Columbia Cove with us. They too are circumnavigating the island and have just come around Cape Scott.
The following day, we are nursing our hangovers when an emergency call comes through VHF channel 68 for Patience. It is Sebastian. He has taken the Avon and the handheld VHF and is off salmon fishing. He has actually caught a salmon and has it the line. He is so excited that he is giving us a play-by-play as he tries to land it. Sebastian later comes back with a 8 or 9 pound Chinook which Christalini handily fillets into two mean steaks. Sebastian and I later go out together and catch a total of about twelve salmon in his newly discovered hole. We catch and release about ten fish, but keep two. We eat fantastic fresh salmon dinners for two nights.
Finally it is time to leave Columbia Cove. As a destination, we give it two definite thumbs up. We now diesel five short miles to Battle Bay . We carefully enter Battle Bay (stay near the Skirmishes) and try to set anchor. While the bottom appears to be a good mud bottom, for some reason the Bruce doesn't want to hold. The third try is the charm and finally we get the anchor to bite. I think the mud might have been too compact and the anchor was skipping over the bottom. We promptly head off exploring in the Avon before the sun sets. We are never able to find the totem pole mentioned in one of the Vancouver Island cruising guides but we do find three erie skulls in the rotted carcass of a dugout canoe. The black sand beaches would probably be beautiful on a sunny day, but it is overcast today. We retire back to the Patience for a salmon and wild rice dinner. Battle Bay proves to be a rolly anchorage and I do not sleep well.
We awake early the next day. We are headed for Queens Cove via Kyoquot . We plan to stop at Kyoquot for supplies. We go through Gay Passage and come as close as we have ever come to hitting a rock - Sebastian and I see it ghost by on the starboard side about 20 feet from the Patience's keel. Gay Passage is filled with navigational complications. If you ever transit this passage, take it slow and cautiously - very slow. We continue to Kyoquot. Near the entrance to Kyoquot we find a sea otter haven. There are literally hundreds of otters on their backs floating, checking us out. Please do not confuse these cool animals with greasy harbor seals or weasely river otters - these are the marine version of a Kuala Bear. Per Christalini, the otters apparently "raft-up" and sleep together while floating on their backs. Pretty cool, but not worthy of a trip delay. The entrance to Kyoquot is challenging, but extremely well marked (imagine that in Canada!).
Willard describes Kyoquot as, "A charming Indian fishing village with an entrance so narrow two guys pissing off either side would probably hit each other". Kyoquot turns out to be very quaint and the people friendly - the opposite of Winter Harbor. The only problem is that the entire town moves in *extreme* slow motion. We are unsuccessful buying any supplies as every store is either closed for a stocktake or on extended lunch. Fortunately we get gas for the Avon and I get through to Amy on the public phone.
We depart Kyoquot and continue on to Queen Cove. Right out of Kyoquot, we raise sail and have another rip-snorting sail to Queen Cove. It is not as windy as our sail around Cape Cook (probably 20 - 25 knots of wind today) but plenty of wind for a perfect sail. One thing we notice is how cold it gets when we are offshore a few miles - even though it is the middle of summer. We are sailing today in cloudless weather. Given this good weather, the equivalent temperature in Seattle or Victoria would probably be 75 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But sailing off the coast of Vancouver Island, a few miles out to sea, the temperature can't be much more than mid fifties. We are wearing ski jackets, hats and gloves. We speculate this is due to the strong northwest wind blowing over thousands and thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean that averages a water temperature of only about 50 degrees Fahrenheit in these latitudes. We enter Queen's Cove the easy way (i.e. not via Rolling Roadstead ) and drop anchor. Queens Cove is a bit of a bore after where we have been. The author notes that Queens Cove is not "windless" as noted in both of our cruising guides. We experience a stiff wind until about 8 PM when it finally settles down. Queens Cove marks the start of the historic Patience fitness program. A program of sit-ups, push-ups and reduced alcohol and food consumption. The program lasts for about a day. After our sit-ups and push-ups for the day, we sit down and consume a fabulous chicken curry dinner prepared by Willard and Christalini.
The following day we depart Queen Cove and head off on what initially looks to be a wonderful sail. After about an hour of sailing, the wind dies, but the seas remain lumpy. This rapidly becomes miserable and we douse the sails and proceed under diesel. We continue rather uneventfully to Friendly Cove at Nootka . The weather has worsened and we determine that Friendly Cove is too exposed an anchorage for our tastes. We continue on to a more protected moorage - nearby Saint Gertrudis Cove . We drop the ground tackle along with a few other boats. Since the weather is poor, Willard, Christalini and I remain below decks and cook up our remaining salmon from Columbia Cove. Sebastian goes off fishing as it appears there is big game to be had. Later we get several reports from Sebastian on the handheld VHF that he has seen several 30-40 pound salmon landed. Sebastian unfortunately has had no luck. He is apparently lacking the state of the art equipment necessary to catch fish at Nootka. Most nearby fishermen are sporting - $100,000 Grady Whites with twin VR200 HP outboards and power downriggers. Essential equipment for catching salmon at Nootka. Sebastian meanwhile is in the Patience 9 foot Avon with 9.9 HP outboard. Sebastian manages to reel in a foot and a half long Ling Cod which Christalini promptly fillets with her bloody butchers knife.
The next morning we awake and Willard cooks the hapless cod for breakfast. The weather has once again turned beautiful so right after breakfast, Sebastian and I head out fishing in the Avon. We are aiming to catch a forty pound salmon right under the bow of a Grady White. We spend a few hours catching a few tiny salmon and almost getting run down by several Grady Whites. Finally, as our egos are almost completely decimated, we head back to Patience.
Back at Patience, we go for swims in Saint Gertrudis Cove and shower using the SunShower. Saint Gertrudis water temperature is a relatively warm 62 degrees Fahrenheit. While drying off, I catch a scary sight. I am staring out the entrance to Saint Gertrudis Cove and I see what looks like a deadhead floating in the water. I quickly realize that it's not a deadhead, but an evil looking rock, just sticking out of the water at low tide - right in the course we had come the previous night when we entered Saint Gertrudis at high tide. I double-check the chart - there is indeed a charted rock, however, the rock is much nearer center channel than shown on the chart. Hint to mariners - when heading IN to Saint Gertrudis Cove, the aforementioned rock is in right-center channel. Stay port, proceed with extreme caution and post a bow watch. I again thank God we avoided a rock.
After our swim, Willard and I decide to take the Avon back to Friendly Cove and do a little exploring. For those that don't know, Nootka is literally reeking with history. Rather than bore you with a lame attempt to summarizing those events, I will point you towards George Nicholson's book, Vancouver Island's West Coast - he tells the history much better than I ever could dream of telling it. Nootka turns out to be beautiful. We briefly explore the pretty beach, church and manned lighthouse. We are shocked by the fact that this quiet village (you can hardly even call it a village) used to be a relatively booming metropolis less than 100 years ago. The lighthouse keeper is new to the position and is taking over from a couple that had previously done the job for 20+ years. I believe the lightkeeper tells us that this is the last manned lighthouse on the West Coast of Vancouver Island - it too is going to be automated shortly. The weather is beautiful and we wish we had more time to stay at Nootka, but it is getting late in the day and we need to move on.
Willard and I return to Patience and depart Saint Gertrudis Cove (minding the now submerged rock) at a new all time late departure time - 3.45PM. We are bound for Hot Springs Cove - about 15 nautical miles past Estevan Point . We have a fantastic six hour sail in a stiff northwesterly wind and pull into Hot Springs Cove at sunset. We tie up next to a fish boat after an invite from an individual who later becomes known as "Crazy Jim, the Asshole". Jim's alcohol breath could knock out a rhinoceros at ten feet. After we finally get rid of Crazy Jim, we devour another Willard and Christalini curry dinner. As we fall asleep, Willard is quoting sentences from the Great Gatsby. One such sentence involves the use of the word "profound". Sebastian closes the evening by asking Willard what profound means. We all fall asleep laughing.
The next day we hike the mile or so to the famed hot springs. Let me preface this by saying, I generally don't like natural hot springs. I have been to several in my life, and I have found them not only disappointing, but downright scary. As such, I did not have great expectations for the hot springs at Hot Spings Cove. I need to inform the reader that I was pleasantly surprised. The hot springs at Hot Spings Cove, are clean, deep, uncrowded (I hope they stay this way), not too sulfurous smelling and hot (105 + degrees Fahrenheit). We soak in the springs for about an hour and then hike back to the boat. Almost the entire hike is on a manmade wooden boardwalk through the forest. Many sailors have removed some of the wooden slats that make up the boardwalk and replaced them with their own custom slats sporting their vessel's and/or crew's name. Very cool. If you want to add to boardwalk collection, you will need to bring/get a piece of wood approximately 3.5 feet long, 1 foot wide and 1.5 inches thick. Carve it to your hearts desire and install.


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