Day 10 - Rainy days and hot springs

Patti has now been awarded the new title of master navigator and discoverer of amazing places with her 2 for 2 knockout punches of Khutze inlet and Bishop Bay hot springs.  We departed Khutze at 9am with the misty rain clouds hung the estuary like blankets.  The rain was heavy and visibility was tough at times, so another split screen radar kind of day with lots of rain-x for the main windshield so we could see the logs.  As we headed up the inlet, Patti asked casually how “much of a detour would it be to go to bishops bay?”.  

I know enough by now that Patti’s casual questions or musings are not really as casual as they seem so I said why don’t we just go check it out, it has a dock so no anchoring, we could check it out and stay for lunch.  

Well, this was the right decision!  We had the place to ourselves and the water was glorious, no sulphur smell and the flotsam and jetsam left by everyone was a sight to behold as much as the majestic surroundings of moss covered trees and the misty inlet with yeti another beautiful waterfall cascading into the water in our distant views.

Despite the management of the spring by bc parks, it remains a rustic and true nature experience sitting on rough rocks with sand and pebbles under your feet.  There are two tubs with the hotter water in the first one that is also fully protected from the elements and a second slightly cooler pool that is exposed to the rain. 

We all thought we had found our little slice of heaven….then the first boat of long weekend fisherman from Kitimat arrived, then the Commercial prawn boat followed by the water taxi operator with his friends out for a weekend drink up.  The water taxi had to raft up to us and use our boat to access the dock until the fishing trawler left and they were able to move around. The last boat to show before dark were a couple of Americans from Seattle who had never sailed before and had decided to buy a boat and sail to Alaska for an adventure….Canadian officials had given them 3 days to get to Ketchikan so they had to sail in the gale warning yesterday.  They made 12 knots in the 25 knot Southeaster and covered more ground that we did in two days, impressive but crazy that they had to put themselves at risk to meet a heavy handed Canadian official that told them if they didn’t make It to the border in 4 days their boat could be impounded.  Certainly not the way we should be treating our neighbours to the south and it sounded more like something us customs would do. Shame on us. 

We took it all in stride as they were All here for the same Incredible view and experience. The Vietnamese on the prawn boat were very nice and Patti and i convinced them to give us two pacific octopus that they often catch as a “bycatch” species.  

We saw that they were still alive despite being essentially strangled on a noose on a line for god know how long.  We asked for them on the premise that we were going to cook them but after the fishing boat left we set the 2 go back Into the ocean, one crawled off the swim grid under his own steam but the other kinda just slid off so maybe he won’t make it but at least they have a chance.  When you’ve held one of these amazing creatures and you see it looking at you and wrapping its tentacles around your fingers how can you possibly kill this being. It would be like killing your brother or sister. I truly hope the ones we set free can keep living. 

After another amazing meal, more bread baking, 2 rounds of cribbage (captain 3, Patti 2. Roman still hasn’t gotten on the board), we headed back to hot springs for a late night soak before bed.  Patti and Roman headed back to the boat and Roman had to come back later to the hot spring and rescue me from a endless joint and  wine drinking session with the captain of the water taxi from Kitimat.  His day job is ferrying freighter pilots to and from the large freighters in Kitimat and Rupert and it’s a high stakes stressful job with random

Call outs at 3 in the morning in all kinds of weather so he was blowing off some steam.  I loved his stories about heading out to a cargo ship in 25 knots winds and waves coming over the top of his boat.  Hard way to make a living but he’s done well for himself and iwns a hotel as well as his water taxi business.  

Another magical day, another day of surprises, incredible scenery, interesting people with lots of interesting stories to tell.  What an amazing coast and we keep pinching ourselves to have this treasure in our backyard that almost no one gets to see. We awake every day now not knowing what the day is going to bring but open to its possibilities.  I can’t remember a time when I’ve laughed so much, Roman and Patti have turned out to be the perfect couple for this trip and their attitude and ability to roll with the punches and engage people with. natural curiosity is awesome and has really made the trip so far a pleasure.

3 hours running, 126L fuel burned.145L remains in main tanks with 280L in reserve tanks so total range is 10 hours.  As we are we could make it to Rupert but the captain told me that Hartley Bay is open for fuel so we will head there down Verney channel tommorrow to fuel up.  Rain tommorrow and Sunday.  The plan is to be in Rupert Monday.