Dent Island to Matilpi

July 28 – Dent Island

Another sunny day at Dent Island as the boats which were leaving at high slack water topped off their fresh water tanks, had breakfast and said goodbye to the new acquaintances from dinner the night before.  As those boats left, new arrivals took their places until the docks were once again full.  We went up for lunch on the deck and after lunch Patrick prepared the tender for salmon fishing.  Patrick headed out Canoe Passage through the small rapids and north to Denham Bay, only about 3 miles.  There were several other boats fishing.  After less than 30 minutes trolling with the downrigger at 125 feet, in 180 feet of water, Patrick had a fish on.  While reeling it in, he realized the net was still stowed so when the fish was alongside the tender he just grabbed the leader and flipped a 6 ½ pound Coho into the boat, then put one foot on it and pacified it with the toy baseball bat we carry for that purpose.  With no ice chest in the tender, Patrick headed back, with the entire round trip taking only a little over one hour.

We quickly filleted the fish and vacuum sealed it for the freezer.  We decided that we were too full from lunch, so ate dinner on board, chicken, sautéed gnocchi with asparagus, and a salad.

July 29 – On to Port Harvey

High Slack water this morning at Dent Rapids was at 1030, so we left at 1015 and continued north, up Cordero Channel to Greene Point Rapids, now in full ebb of about 5 knots based on our speed over the ground of 13 knots, then into Chancellor Channel and up Wellbore Channel through Whirlpool Rapids, ebbing at 4.2 knots.  The weather sounded good in Johnstone Strait, so we bypassed one potential anchorage in Forward Harbour and headed for Port Harvey.  Johnstone Strait was fairly calm, with only a few patches of tide rips and wind.  We docked at Port Harvey Marina at 1625, having covered 51 nautical miles in a little over 6 hours.  Port Harvey Marina was full; we took the last space and ended up allowing another boat to raft alongside.  Dinner was chicken Caesar salad on board since the Red Shoe Restaurant was fully booked.

July 30 – Port Harvey

The boat rafted alongside left at 0600, with the skies already sunny.  By 0800 fog had moved in as the boats heading south departed to take advantage of the flood tide in Johnstone Strait.  We are staying another night so we went up and had fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee.  Later in the morning we put out two prawn pots and two crab pots and then socialized on the dock until late afternoon when a check of the pots revealed only 4 large spot prawns, enough for a prawn and avocado cocktail for an appetizer.  We had one nice Dungeness crab in the pots also.  Dinner was at the “Red Shoe” restaurant on the barge at Port Harvey where we shared a table with three other couples who we have crossed paths with over the past several years.

July 31 - Matilpi

A morning check of the crab pots revealed one more large Dungeness crab, which was quickly cleaned and steamed for our lunch.  We departed Port Harvey at 1055 in spotty fog and headed just a few miles to the abandoned Indian village of Matilpi.  We anchored in 60 feet of water off of the midden from the abandoned village in sunny skies at 1215.  After converting the morning’s crab into cheddar and crab open faced sandwiches, Patrick placed two crab pots in the bay and two prawn pots in Call Inlet.  An evening check of the pots gave us no crab, and only 13 large prawns, hardly worth the effort.  However, the prawns and crab from Port Harvey were converted into large salads with more avocado.

August 1 - Matilpi

After a brief rain shower, the sun reappeared and a check of the crab pots showed nothing but starfish.  We are not going to waste any more time or bait looking for crab at Matilpi.  With the meager prawn catch we are leaving those pots on board also.  While charging the batteries with the generator we are doing laundry and making fresh water.  The skies have clouded  over, although it looks sunnier further up into the Broughton Archipelago.

Pictures when we have a higher bandwidth connection!