On August 23, we had planned a shorter trek; however, it was one of the wettest but yet rewarding ones. We left Namu after a short walk around the old fishing cannery. The caretakers had done a beautiful job of maintaining some of the outdoor landscapes.
The trip to Bella Bella was wet and foggy. On our approach to Lama Passage, we decided that it would be good to fish around the point into the passage, as Marty saw a fish jump there. Well, guess what? We caught that fish! We caught a beautiful 13 pound coho. He was well hooked because when he hit, he ripped out a lot of line.
As we made our way to Bella Bella, Mae cleaned the fish and got two very good-sized fillets. She saved the belly bits and one tail bit for ceviche… Yum! Yum! Yum!
On our way to Bella Bella, Marty spotted a humpback whale about 150 meters away. The whale was feeding. Marty was careful to steer the boat away from the whale. Mae was ready with her camera to take photos with the zoom at max. Suddenly, the whale popped up directly behind us with his mouth wide open to feed. This scared the living daylights out of us. Mae got some photos, which were a bit out of focus as this happened so quickly.
We arrived in Bella Bella in a downpour. We refueled and redocked our boat ahead of the fuel dock, so we could go visit Bella Bella’s Band office. We wanted to present one of the NO TANKERS flags. We gave them the information about the flags if they wish to get more.
We stopped into a grocery store for a few items before heading to Shearwater. We had initially decided to anchor in the bay at Shearwater but we were too wet and tired from being up late the night before. When we called into Shearwater for a dock space, the dock manager told us to go on standby so he assessed the space situation. It’s not a huge marina and the dock was getting full. After some maneuvering of a few boats, he called us with a spot. He was at the docks waiting to help us squeeze in. We were soaked. Our survival suits were saturated with rainwater.
After we hung our gear in the head to drip (can’t say dry), we had a late lunch. Marty got the laundry going. While we were waiting for the wash to complete, we heard a voice calling out, “Hey, anyone home?” It was Paul from “EOS.” Paul and Twyla had their boat in Prince Rupert for a bit. Twyla was not there, as she was visiting with her mom. Paul was cleaning the mast and getting the boat ready to sell, as they had purchased a new boat in eastern Canada. We invited him over for a fresh salmon dinner. We caught up with news of each other and traded many photos.
