We weren’t sure how far North we would go this summer, we knew it would be at least the Broughton’s. When we were at the Cortes Outstation in Desolation Sound, two boats were headed to the Central BC Coast. Come on around (Cape Caution), they said. It’s beautiful, the fishing’s great, you’ll be fine, they said.
After provisioning in Port McNeill, the weather forecast to transit Cape Caution looked candy. Tessa convinced Tom to go North.
We weren’t quite as prepared as we expected. The charts for the Broughton’s and points South are pretty well charted. Up here on the Central BC Coast, not so much. In our Navionics charts, users can leave public notes about anchorages and narrow passages. Almost all said something to the effect: rocky bottom, not at all what the chart says.
Great. It was like being back in the Bahamas. No local knowledge, and untrustworthy charts.
Tessa kept hearing Don Douglass’s name being mentioned. He must have wrote a book about these waters. With no cell service or WiFi, she couldn’t Google him. While she was reading the introduction in Waggoner’s Cruising guide (typically she just flips to the cruising area of interest), she saw an inset that talked about Don Douglass and Reanne Hemingway-Douglass who spent 35 years cruising the West Coast and the PNW waters, and recorded what each bay looks like and the best anchorage spots. This was the book we needed.
The Environment Canada weather forecast is for McInnes Island to Pine Island, a large area of coverage. We’ve learned that the wind and weather can be completely different than forecasted. As we were leaving Shearwater a Gale warning was in effect. The guy at the marine store didn’t flinch, he said, we don’t pay attention until 60 (kts). We like to pay attention so we don’t get blown out of an anchorage, being able to use Windy or PredictWind in addition to Environment Canada’s weather forecast would be a nice to have.
As there are limited docks, you are doing a lot of anchoring. Which we love. When we are able to get the anchor set. The majority of these bays are rocky bottoms, and/or depths beyond 60ft. We tried four times in two different locations in one bay to set our anchor, just to watch and feel it bounce across the bottom. Three hours later, we ended up in a different anchorage, equally rocky a bottom, but were able to get her set (we think). We watched ourselves do donuts on our Navionics for the next 36 hours. A pattern that was comforting to see.
After we got passed popular Hakai Institute and Codville lagoon, we have been the only boat in the anchorages we’ve chosen. To have whole anchorages to ourselves to enjoy the natural beauty around us, we have truly been spoiled.
There are nice to haves, that would make cruising up here much more enjoyable and less stressful for Tom. Satellite TV – being able to watch the weather, the British Open, the Tour de France, maybe the news once in a blue moon. A cell booster, so we could pick up cell service in a bay where we had none, but it was close by. And a fixed antenna for our iridium go, so we could at the minimum still be reached if necessary by our staff and family when we were completely off the grid.
One thing that caught us by surprise was the water temperature. In Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, it averages 58F. In Desolation Sound, where the water does not flush, the average is mid-60sF and if it’s a hot summer can push into the 70sF. It’s not unusual to see people jumping off their boats into the warm water. The Broughton’s water temperature is cold, low to mid 50sF. And this was what we were expecting on the Central BC Coast. We were shocked to see 64F water temperature. We also noticed just about everywhere had a thermocline- a distinct layer of freshwater on top of the saltwater. After a couple days of Tessa reading through the Waggoner’s Cruising guide section for this area, she put two and two together. It’s not glacial water here, it’s hot springs water! The hot springs in this area are plentiful. Thus her conclusion why the water temperature is so warm, sometimes warmer than the air!