Wildlife

Gwaii Haanas part 5: SG̱ang Gwaay, more humpback whales, and Louscoone Inlet

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With the weather looking promising for the afternoon, in the late morning of Saturday the 26th we pulled anchor to head past Rose Harbour to SG̱ang Gwaay. We saw more humpback whales on the way, luckily none quite as close as the previous day. The areas to the east of and west of the Houston Stewart Channel, the body of water separating the southern end of Moresby Island and Kunghit Island, were full of humpbacks feeding each day we passed through. I’d only ever seen a few humpback whales in the wild (some up in Alaska, the one near Hakai Institute) and suddenly we’re seeing at least five to seven individuals per day!

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Gwaii Haanas part 4: Collision Bay, Rose Harbour, and Heater Harbour

Late Monday morning (July 21st) had us motoring in no wind and calm seas south and then east 12 nautical miles to Collision Bay. With s/v Senja heading to the nearby Ikeda Cove, we thought we’d probably see them again in Rose Harbour later in the week if not sooner. Inside Collision Bay we anchored tucked up in the north end of the inner bay behind the unnamed tree-covered islet that is connected to the rest of the island during low tide (52° 17.0074′ N, 131° 09.0173′ W).

Collision Bay gave us another chance to just sit in one place for several days, and we spent our time mostly cooking, baking, and reading, with a brief trip to land one day. You might wonder why I don’t talk about going to land more, but it’s simply because here we usually don’t. We can pick across rocky beaches and poke our heads into the dense forests in some places, but with the steep hills and thick greenery it would be difficult to go far; it’s difficult enough getting a hundred feet into the forest from the beach.

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Gwaii Haanas part 3: Bag Harbour, Ḵ’iid Xyangs Ḵ’iidaay, and Taan

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By Friday morning (the 18th) the weather had calmed down nearly completely, and we spent several hours motoring out and around Sg̱aay Kun Gwaay.yaay (Burnaby Island) to set anchor for a few days in Bag Harbour (52° 20.838′ N, 131° 21.857′ W), just south of Ḵ’iid Xyangs Ḵ’iidaay (Burnaby Narrows). Technically we probably could have saved several hours if we’d timed it right to go through the Narrows at high tide, but given the narrowness and length of the narrows and the size of our boat, going around was the safer bet.

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North of Vancouver Island: Cape Caution & Pruth Bay

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Leaving Port McNeill, we staged up for our crossing from the north end of Vancouver Island, past Cape Caution, to the north coast and the Inside Passage, in a tiny cove labeled as Walker Cove on the Canadian charts.

There’s not much room in Walker Cove, and the entrance is even skinnier than the one we’d gone through to get into Gorge Harbour, but it is protected, peaceful, and right next to Gordon Channel, our path out of Queen Charlotte Strait to go north past Cape Caution. It’s also amazing in its raw beauty, and we were alone there.

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Orca whales and some birds

We had a pleasant sail + motor from the Catalina meetup at Roche Harbor to Shallow Bay on the west side of Sucia Island on Sunday. Motored out of the bay, between San Juan Island and Spieden Island, then unfurled the sails for an easy, slow sail up towards President Channel, which separates Waldron Island and Orcas Island.

Not far out from the entrance to the channel, we spotted several whale watching boats and a few private boats all grouped up near the south tip of Waldron, Point Disney. Once my partner confirmed with her binoculars that she should see a dorsal fin, we immediately furled in the sails (the wind had just died anyway) and motored over to see what was going on.

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