Mist,fog,swells,and wave heights,the shores green,trees stunted in growth,natural bonsai    Rock cliffs worn by continuous waves,immense beauty,total wildness, birds,scoters,gulls,trying to get a taste of the little fish ,coming into the bay, lone eagle flying overhead,watching for that one small oppertunity…..                        The quiet is marvelous,its all consuming,out in Roller bay, a sudden growling, grumbling, loud and clear,the sea lion bulls are huddled on bare rocks , far out towards the ocean.                      The beach is littered with bleached driftwood,dried kelp and white shells.  Rocks, rolled about by the constant swell are just about perfect in roundness.        I feast my eyes on them, and then collect just a few………                    We clean up, plastic bottles,plastic jars, hoping other visitors will do the same……….

On the 30th, with more fog in the morning, we decided to head out anyways, radar on, both GPS”s working, and me, standing on the bow, with the copper, antique horn from Holland, blowing hard, every 3 minutes!!    Once in a while we heard an answer from afar, no worries about those boats.   We also have our AIS on, so we can see the boats around us, how fast they are going and which direction.   Going past Pulteney Point, we heard the fog horn blowing there, a very eerie  sound……      The fog lifted a bit, going past Port hardy , and we saw he cruise ship, “Volendam”  go by, travelling south.      The wind came up, fog lifted, and we headed towards Bull Harbour on Hope Island.    The island and the bay are owned by First nations, the Tlatlasikwala, they are now taking care of the island, and live in the village of Humtasi, which was established in 1850.       Bull Island is named after the many  Sea lion bulls, hanging out here, when we were at the beach, we saw them out on the rocks, just growling and grumping, like a bunch on old men!!!!!!

The water maker stopped working, just before Hope Island, too much algae in the water for sure, the filters were just filthy after only one hour.    Later on Bert cleaned it all, ran water through, and it worked fine again.      We anchored in the bay, and watch the fog settle back in.   We could hear the constant swell, hitting the beach, Roller Bay, i could not wait to get there the next day!!!       First Nation will charge for tying the dinghy to their dock, they also will charge for anchoring, but they never charged us.     We paid 5 dollars each the next day, to go ashore, and walk to the beach.    This was so well worth it, the forest is ancient and very beautiful, the beach just overwhelmed me, here are my thoughts about this…….

Apparently, there will be lots of this, we woke up this morning,at 6, to head out, and i found that i couldnt even see the bow on the boat!!!    One sailboat had anchored near us, and i could barely see its shape, so, back to bed!!!  I had no problem with that at all, Bert was still snoring nicely, so, we stay another day.

Our plan is to sail, (hopefully), around Vancouver Island, we have been told, that yes, there will be fog, yes, its called Faugust, not August, but heh, we just have to try.  We have still close to 2 months time.   But, we are not going south this year, some very personal stuff came up, and we need to stay here.   I feel its a good decision, and everything has a reason, listening to our friend Shendra, as she would say, everything in its right time, there is a reason for it that you dont go this year.      We will be keeping busy with the boat, sewing some new canvas pieces, and a large cover for protection from the weather.   I will have to stay “strong”, and NOT get a new kitten……   its so quiet without Annie, so strange, we still” hear” her, still hear her jumping off the seat in the cockpit, Bert still feels that she is lying at the foot of the bed, we have a very soft blanket there that feels like her fur, he just about  did a flip to try to avoid leaning on “her”,yes, she is missed.       But, at the other side of it, i can go to the Island,see my girls, and stay longer, not have to travel with her , as it became very hard the last few months of her life.

We are heading to Bull Harbour tomorrow, unless this darn fog comes back again, sitting here, i can now see the other side of the bay,so, we will see.   I dont know when i can write again, but surely will try!!!

July 25th, a foggy, cold morning, not much wind, as yet, we headed out towards Port McNeill, we went by and then had a look into Shoal Harbour ,where we were last year, waiting for engine parts. ( oil pan)      We went back through Cramer Passage, then to Arrow Passage, once out in the open, there was enough wind, to put up a sail or two, plus the sun came out, by the time we came close to the south point of Malcolm Island , the wind picked up, and we were sailing ,doing 6 knots.   The tide here is wicked, very wild water.   At Stubbs island, out of no where, a Humpback whale surfaced alongside of us, very, very close, we didnt have the motor running, so i think he liked that a lot.   My mouth just hung open, totally mesmorized , watching this amazing , very large creature.   Bert mumbled something about a camera, but there was just no way i was going to go downstairs to get it!!!      As he went down, the current took us , and basically turned the boat around!!!    What a place, what a power and beauty.