Fish Surprise

We haven't been able to find a fast enough internet connection to upload photos for a while now, but when we do find that speed, we have an incredible slide show to present to you that will rival your aunt Mabel's trip to North Dakota. Until then, all you get is my rambling.

We are now in Desolation Sound and it's only taken us 5 ½ weeks to get here. Most of our sailing friends take between 5 to 7 days to get here from Seattle. They do however skip everything in the middle and just blast on up. We have stopped at every place along the way that either made sense on a map and still put us in a northbound direction, or was interesting enough to force us out of our way on a detour. Total tally as of July 7^th was 31 places explored. We have changed our earlier list from islands explored to places explored because we have sometimes explored different towns on the same island, or we have been on the mainland British Columbia side of things and that is no island, or we have set foot on multiple islands in the same group of small islands and rather than claiming each island which is really just a rock above the water, we are claiming the group. It makes sense to us and that is all that matters.

Desolation Sound was described by Captain Vancouver as basically a worthless piece of waterway with no redeeming qualities. When he “discovered” and named the place he and is crew had terrible weather, the crew had shellfish poisoning, and they were plagued by biting flies and mosquitoes. Since then, cruisers from all over the world have come here and discovered its incredible beauty, warm water, and protected anchorages. This has routinely been hailed as one of the top 10 best areas in the world to sail. The top 10 in the world...that's pretty amazing. 

So here we are in Desolation Sound at a place called Melanie Cove. It is an incredible spot. It has been surprisingly warm and sunny...80-85 degrees almost every day. The water is clear and warm....78 degree water under our boat right now. There are beautiful sandstone walls that line the cove that are perfect for cliff jumping if you are into that sort of thing (I am). There is a great rope swing that I may exceed the age limit on...I only had to push 3 kids out of the way to use it. There are tons of little lagoons and coves that are perfect for exploring with the paddle boards and if you are wondering, yes, we have explored them all. Since I have always been a Puget Sound sailor and the water in the Puget Sound is generally around 54 degrees, I had always thought that I would have to sail halfway around the world before I would get to a place that I could jump off of the boat and swim without freezing to death. It only took us a few hundred miles north of Seattle to get that. We are spending a lot of time in the water. This is what a vacation is supposed to feel like.

We have started another new list. It is a list of places that we could see ourselves living when we decide to quit our big sailing adventure. So far there is only one place on the list. Savory Island. Don't worry, we aren't hanging up our sailing gloves just yet, but Savory Island is currently on a very short list. A list of one. There will be more additions I am sure, but for now, it is at the top of our list.

We actually stopped at Savory Island because we forgot to buy mayonnaise and pickles at our last big grocery store run and we read in our guide book of the inside passage that there was a store on the island. We also read that there were white sandy beaches that were to die for. Two good reasons to stop.

When we landed the dinghy on shore, we saw 3 little girls who looked like locals, they were probably between 5 and 7 years old, they were walking by themselves and clearly knew where they were going...unlike us. I asked them if they knew where the store was and the oldest of the three said “do you mean the candy store?” This girl was speaking my language so of course I said “yes, we are looking for the candy store”. I forgot that we were there on a mission for mayonnaise and pickles. “Up the hill, past the bike shop, you can't miss it” she said. Brenda ruined everything by asking “do they sell anything besides candy?” The girl says “well sure, they sell bread and stuff like that.” I was thinking we hit the jackpot and all they have on this island is candy.

So we go walking to the candy store...I mean the store that sells bread and stuff like that, and this island has charm and character. Dirt roads, people are driving golf carts and 4 wheelers or their mountain bikes, there is a little outdoor pub that serves food and coffee in the morning, a bike repair shop, and there is a candy store...I mean a store that sells bread and stuff like that. The houses are super cute little cottage type places. This place was calling out to us. This island had the feel of what Maui was probably like 50 years ago. We both actually said to each other, ”I could live here.”

We get to the store and guess what they sell...candy. The kids were right, it is a candy store! Jackpot!!! They were actually waiting for the next supply boat to come in so all they had left was candy. No pickles and no mayonnaise in stock at the moment. Brenda wouldn't let me stock up on candy even though that was all they had left. Bummer.

Since the store was a bust, we roam around the island and head back to the sandy beaches that are to die for. There aren't very many sandy beaches up here, it's mostly rocks and cliffs, so these beaches were a treat...and the water was crystal clear and WARM!!! Just like Hawaii except without the palm trees. Beautiful.

We end up hanging out for a few hours on the beach. Brenda goes for a run and I go for a swim. It's great but we still need mayonnaise and pickles so we hop back on the boat and head for Lund. Our little guide book says there is another store there and it's only about 5 miles away. Perfect.

Lund was a surprise. It is the start of highway 99 which runs from Lund in British Columbia all the way down to the tip of South America (and just happens to go through the heart of my hometown). It's in the middle of nowhere but they have an amazingly well stocked store, an incredible bakery, and free wifi!!! We get our pickles and mayonnaise and a few other odds and ends that we couldn't live without (4 bottles of sunscreen and 2 bottles of bug spray) and we are on our way.

Right as we leave Lund, we decide to try to catch another fish for dinner. The lines get thrown overboard and of course Brenda catches another fish instantly. This time its a Chinook Salmon. I am a little annoyed because I haven't caught anything yet so I tell her it is too small and I throw it back. Since we have a tiny fridge on our boat, we can't really keep more than one fish at a time. If a fish gets caught, that's the end of fishing until that fish is eaten...and I want to catch a fish. I have actually used this tactic a few times over the years and she never questions it. She likes to catch the fish but beyond that she doesn't want anything to do with it. She doesn't want to take it off the hook and she definitely doesn't want to clean it. So real-quick-like “it's too small” and off it goes. Works every time (please don't tell her the fish was perfectly legal to keep). But don't worry, I caught a Ling Cod about 2 minutes after her fish that was “too small”. Now that I have caught something, I won't throw her next one back.

The Ling Cod was actually a pretty big fish and it's our favorite kind of fish to eat. The problem with catching a big fish, even if it is our favorite, is that with just 2 of us on the boat, it is a lot for us to eat. We have been working on this fish for 4 days now. The first night it's pretty exciting. We go all out and have a gourmet meal with a beautiful fish as the center piece. The next night, it's fish taco's (still pretty exciting). The following day, it's fish sandwiches (not so exciting). Then it's fish surprise (as in surprise! It's fish again!...not exciting at all), and we still have more to go. We will be on a fishing break for a while.