Heading back towards Desolation Sound, we stayed one night in Cortes Bay before heading onto Refuge Cove on Friday morning, the second-to-last day of May. In Refuge Cove, since there was nobody else anchored, we were able to take the one spot way in the back of the bay near the creek leading to Refuge Lagoon.

Refuge Cove is really, really pretty, but there isn’t a lot of anchoring room; much of the larger bay is pretty deep, and the area near the General Store (and the associated docks) has mooring balls taking up room not taken up by the docks, which also appear to have had a recent expansion added. As we were there at the end of May, the General Store hadn’t even started their high-season hours yet and were open for only a few hours Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but we stopped in and I picked up a few lures for jigging bottom fish, since the area seemed like a good place to fish from the dinghy. On the short trip from Cortes Bay to Refuge Cove we’d attempted to troll for salmon with no success, but we’ll keep trying on days where we aren’t in a hurry and can move at the nice slow 2.5-3.5 knot speed we’d need to troll properly with the flasher and spoon rig.

We didn’t catch any fish that day, but during our time in Refuge Cove, we did catch a few. The first evening I went out, within about fifteen minutes of trying, I caught a ling cod! These of course you can only keep one of per day and need to report on your fishing license. I reeled in a few other fish, but they were all too small to keep, a very small rockfish and two rock soles.

The next morning, I went out as well, and caught this beautiful (and endangered, so I could not keep!) yelloweye rockfish. Thing is, rockfish have closed swim bladders, so when the pressure around them changes quickly, they can suffer from barotrauma. By the law in Canada, you have to have a descender with you to help pull the fish back down, so they have a chance to recover. Otherwise, that morning, nothing, though to be honest I probably went out nearly an hour later than I should have.

After an enjoyable 3 days in Refuge Cove, we decided to go checkout the nearby Squirrel Cove, a much larger anchorage just across the channel on the eastern side of Cortes Island. With a narrow entrance (as well as a second false entrance which is dangerously shallow and filled with reefs), Squirrel Cove opens out into a pair of large anchorages separated by a deep section and some sort of what looks like a shellfish farm. Several islets dot the northeast sides of the anchorage, with seals and oystercatchers enjoying the rocky shorelines and reef areas around them.

We spent another three days in Squirrel Cove; very lazy days, going out each alone at various times in Shrike, our dinghy, to do tours around the cove and enjoy the outdoors. The rest of the time, it was a lot of cooking, reading books, and napping. The weather started out a bit cloudy but turned absolutely beautiful. It finally feels like we’re not just in a really pleasant Spring but now getting real Summer weather.

With a rigger appointment on Friday morning, on Thursday morning we pulled anchor and headed back to Comox. Motoring the entire way, with little-to-no-wind the entire day.

Furling mechanism update

Speaking of the riggers, last week when disassembling the in-mast furling system they discovered the issue: while the bearing pins in the bottom of the mechanism were shiny and in perfect condition, the pins on top were disintegrated with rust. To paraphrase what the rigger said, at some point, perhaps in the factory that made it, where the mast & furling mechanism were assembled, or during maintenance, someone reached into the wrong parts bin and grabbed a bunch of non-stainless-steel pins. He even pointed out a few spots on the deck right next to the mast where there were tiny, straight-line rust stains, from bits of pin that had fallen out over the years.

Well, at least now we’ll have confidence that we’ve got a reliable furling mechanism! The riggers didn’t just refurbish the furling mechanism, they improved it, moving the perfect stainless pins from the bottom to the top and then replacing the bottom pins with a press-fit bearing. This should ensure it stays strong and reliable for even longer, and I’ll be careful to apply dry lubricant regularly to keep it in good shape. I really cannot recommend Blanchard Rigging enough, they were fantastic, and we learned a lot from them.

To Campbell River!

After enjoying our Friday in Comox, Saturday morning was a rush of final chores and errands before we left the marina at noon to head to Campbell River. Once again, we had clear skies and very little wind, so motored the entire way.

Just as we were entering Discovery Channel, we noticed lots of boats out fishing in the area. At the suggestion of my partner, we slowed down and dropped our salmon trolling rigs in the water: a flasher & spoon rig set up on each side of the boat.

We each caught a salmon immediately. When I say immediately, I mean the first rod started jerking while I was still letting the line out for the second, which also had a near immediate hit either before or while I reeled in the first salmon. My partner took her turn reeling in the second one after she’d netted mine, while I did the same for hers. We were more than a little surprised with this turn of events, as we certainly didn’t expect to deal with catching fish so quickly into our very amateur attempt.

I fileted them both up while my partner took the helm, then I took the helm while my partner vacuum-packed most of the fish filets, keeping half of one of them out for dinner. My fileting skills aren’t great, but they are getting better, and we enjoyed the freshest-possible grilled salmon for dinner.

We anchored in Quathiaski Cove with only one other boat in the anchorage and enjoyed our fresh catch. Now that we’re in Campbell River, we’ve got some maintenance and final shopping to do before we head north through Discovery Passage into the Johnstone Strait, into some very remote areas. I’m excited.

We even made it into the Campbell River farmer’s market to get some really delicious things on Sunday, walking onto the ferry from Quathiaski Cove to Campbell River.