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| Whirlpools and strong currents over the 'rapids' |
This cruise has been remarkably calm sailing. Apart from a couple of rougher hours crossing Queen Charlotte Strait due to storms along the coast, the only other watery dramas were some "rapids". We crossed three or four sets of these - strong tide and current confluences - that threw up challenges for the skipper in the form of very rough but short stretches of water with whirlpools and dramatic current rips. Apart from dragging the boat a little sideways, or making it heel over another time, they were almost non-events. But that probably had more to do with the skipper's skill in choosing the right time to cross those stretches, and the path he picked.
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| Stepping back in time at Billy's Bay |
We went back in time at Billy's Bay, a tiny cove with half a dozen houses scattered around a boat shed and a jetty. A handful of inhabitants were seated along a verandah, listening to a young woman in a flowered dress, straw hat and bare feet sitting on a kitchen chair in the sun with a guitar, and singing in a beautiful clear voice. The scene was straight out of 1968 - sunshine, green grass scattered with wildflowers, a painted wooden shed behind her, and an audience made up of long-haired bearded men, and women in overalls and tie-dyed t-shirts. The only difference was that the long hair and beards were white, and the young woman was the daughter of one of the couples. These were people who dropped out as youngsters back then, and came out to this remote spot to live, and they're still there. Nice to know the dream is still a reality for some of the original hippies!
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| Notice the two men walking on the logs in midstream... |
This part of the world has always been synonymous with logging, and we saw many floating log rafts at this end of the Passage, usually towed by a single tugboat. The rafts are wide and extend for hundreds of metres, and how they get through those rapids I mentioned above, must be something to witness if they get the timing wrong. Having said that, we saw loose logs floating all long the coast, so perhaps they don't always make it. One of the hazards to shipping in these parts is the Ship Killer, or Dead Head. These are huge logs that become waterlogged and end up hanging vertically, slowly bobbing down the waterways, just beneath the surface. One morning a couple of us were in the saloon and saw a sinister looking shape bobbing gently past the boat. We watched with solemn awe. "Wow, lucky the skipper missed that... must the Ship Killer he was talking about. It's huge..." Five minutes later Lex came down from the bridge, and said excitedly, 'Did you see the sleeping elephant seal a few minutes ago?"
If I thought it was something else, can I still claim that I saw an elephant seal??
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| Friday Harbour, San Juan Island |
We ended the cruise on the 10th day, at Friday Harbour, San Juan Island, one of a beautiful group of islands between Vancouver Is and Seattle. The word 'Idyllic' has an incarnation, and it's San Juan - perfect climate, gentle hills, great growing conditions, pretty farms and villages. And no bears. The people are exceptionally friendly too.
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| The Longhouse, Mitchell Harbour |
We stayed at a lovely B&B - the Longhouse on Mitchell Bay, with Patty and Jerry Rasmussen, who unbeknownst to us were the parents of one of the Catalyst's engineers, so we were treated like family. Fantastic food, and more hospitality than you could wish for. So glad we chose the B&B alternative to the motels. We learnt a lot about the history of the island, and explored it pretty thoroughly. It's the kind of place that makes you wish you could live there for a few years, and get to know the locals.
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| Tofino, Vancouver Island BC |
From San Juan we took the ferry across to Victoria on Vancouver Island, back into Canada, and spent three days wandering around that very pretty, very English city, and visiting the Classic Wooden boat festival.
Three days in a city again was enough though. We cut our stay short and hopped a bus for a slow, winding journey to Tofino, a tiny surfing village on the windswept northwest coast of the island. The shores along here are very rugged and ocean-battered, and consequently have great surf - the Hemsworths spent a few days here last year, which is how we knew about it. Our room looked out at the Pacific, past a few rocky islands, and proved to be a great writer's garret. Lex went off bike riding while I sat at the table and worked on my book, happy to be stopped in one place for a while. The muse caught up with me somewhere - must have been that slow bus. Surroundings can be so effective for writing. When I've written that best seller, I'm coming back here for a month.
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| Jo's writer's garrett at Tofino... |
We ended this holiday with two days wandering around Seattle, a pleasantly surprising city. We'd originally planned to spend a week in Vancouver City, but after the dreamy wilderness of the Inside Passage, we weren't ready for a big city. Vancouver Island and Tofino beckoned instead.
Seattle was memorable for its wonderful markets near the water, and its "Experience Music Project" - a fantastic rock and roll museum celebrating the eclectic musicians that have emerged from the Pacific Northwest like Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, and was the birthplace of grunge, producing bands such as Pearl Jam and of course Nirvana. It also housed a brilliant interactive display of the creation of Avatar, and Battlerstar Galactica. The cold weather must be good for something, because Seattle also produced Bill Gates, and Starbucks coffee.
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| Giant guitar sculpture at EMP, Seattle |
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It was a fantastic month - from the astounding glaciers in the north, down through Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan along the Alaskan panhandle where the only access is by air or sea, to the start of the voyage on the Catalyst.
If the glaciers restored our sense of wonder, those ten days sailing down the Inside Passage completed the process. It was a dreamlike experience, sliding along narrow fjords and evergreen conifer forests, waterfalls and snow shrouded peaks. And if our senses weren't totally satiated by the landscape, the chef on board filled in the gaps with the most wonderful food!
Alaska has been a long held destination for both of us, and we'd go back to there tomorrow. Next this time we'd start at Anchorage and go north, to the Arctic Circle and the really remote places like Barrow and Nome. And then we want to explore the Pacific North West properly. We need a couple more lifetimes, I think.
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