What a glorious summer! Some sampling of pics below.
For those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to experience the absolute splendors of the Pacific Northwest: Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast, Princess Louisa Inlet (the 8th wonder of the world), Desolation Sound and the Broughtons, we hope that pictures from this summer and the previous two summers will inspire you to seek out these treasures. The beauty of many of these special places will take your breath away. We hope that you see the joy that this wilderness inspires in our faces. Pictures don't begin to do this area justice - you have to see it, breathe it, live it, to really "get" its captivating allure.
We were able to live out on True North for nine continuous weeks this summer. We went as far north and west as Drury Inlet up in the Broughtons and Port McNeill on Vancouver Island. This was our first time to the Broughtons and now we understand why everyone raves about them. A perfect complement to spectacular Desolation Sound. Perhaps less dramatic than Desolation, but with many more nooks and crannies and a surplus of its own beauty.
We were on the hook at least 75% of the time this summer and passed the 3,000 nautical mile point on the Raymarine log this summer. Often times we were the only boat in a remote cove and at other times we felt crowded with 20 other boats. This, in areas the size of Yosemite. "Crowded" is relative I think.
The boat performed darn near flawlessly; only some minor irritations like the freezer water pump ... Telephone assistance from Brian Taylor at Selene Yacht Service was always there.
We made it through the five tidal rapids: Yuculta, Gillard, Dent, Greene Point, Whirlpool, without incident at slack. This had been a topic of slight concern for me, but as long as you plan around slack current, it is very straight forward and should cause no anxiety for those of you contemplating going north.
Delicious spotted prawns were in abundance this summer, crab less so. Cod and Salmon were similarly plentiful this summer, much better than last summer.
We saw Humpbacks, Orcas and plenty of porpoises, seals, sea lions, etc. But no bears.
I hosted 21 guests on the boat this summer. The way we work it in the summer is we pick up a new set of friends/family ~every week. The old crew float planes out and, after a "down" day (laundry, clean-up and provisioning), the new crew arrives, also typically by float plane. You can only do this for so long before it becomes "work" so we are careful to cut it off after 8 - 9 weeks. It is so much fun! to link up with friends of 5-10-30-40 years and pick up where you last left off. Really a life long dream to be able to do this! It 's a joy to see friends decompress on their first day out.
I want to thank Beau, Ryan, Luke, Will, Stan, Preston, Les, YH, Carl, Scott, Tom, Carol, Sheila, Bob, Autie, Eric, Darrell, Tim, Rick, Dan and Mike. Thank you for sharing some of your summer with me and with the beauty that we experienced together!
Please feel free to contact me.
