To Calvert and Microwave Mountain

August 27th (Tuesday)

It was a rainy misty socked in morning, and very unmotivating. Eventually J and I went out to pull up our traps, and as we rounded the rock to where they should have been we were confused and worried as our buoys were nowhere to be found.  We carried on a little further, and then stopped to examine the horizon.  Unfortunately it was socked in and misty, and our visibility was terrible, but as we peered into the distance we momentarily caught sight of a tiny orange dot as it bobbed into view on the top of a swell.  The swells also did not help us in our search as the timing to see anything had to be right, with us on the top of a swell at the same time as what we were looking for was on the top of a swell.  

We sped over towards what had looked like an orange speck, and were very happy to find that it was one of our buoys.  It had been pulled, presumably by the current, into deeper water, but was luckily able to still float the trap and all of the weighted line, and so it was floating, although just barely, with the trap dangling 375’ below. We were very happy to have found one of our traps, and it turned out to be our prawn trap.  

Not surprisingly it was empty, but very surprisingly when we opened up the bait container, all of the meat was picked meticulously off of the vertebra and we were left with a rattling container of bones.  Who or what had gotten in through the tiny holes in the bait container had gotten a feast.  That was the first time we have had that happen.  

Bait box full of bones picked clean.

At this point we started a search pattern, stopping from time to time to peer around us.  We did our best to look around while motoring, but the constant mist did not help. After doing a somewhat extensive search pattern our hopes were running low.  We ended up back where we started and decided to go down a different area. As we were motoring along we finally spotted it.  It looked so obvious when we finally saw it, but we had driven past in a similar area earlier and not seen it.  It is amazing how much the timing of the swells has to do with what is seen on the ocean.  

We did not care at all that our traps were empty, we were just very happy to have them back.  We had placed them out in quite an open area, so it was amazing to think of how much current must have gone through the area to have been able to push them into deeper water.  

Back at home we started the engine, pulled up anchor, and headed out of Adam’s Harbour.  We motored into Meay Inlet, and the short distance down into the Pruth Bay anchorage of Calvert Island.  

Hakai Institute dock. Note the high pilings the building sits on to accommodate the tides.

Once we were anchored Mom and Dad headed into shore to check out the Hakai Institute and West Beach. Jason and I did some stuff on the internet, and then went to set our traps again.  We definitely can’t be faulted for not trying, although our success with getting crabs

in particular, has been terrible since getting to the Central Coast. 

August 28th (Wednesday)

After packing up a picnic snack we headed out for a hike. There is a somewhat unmaintained trail that leads from the shoreline up to a microwave tower, a little ways out the inlet.  

Jason and I had wanted to do this hike since the first time we came to Calvert Island, but we had never gotten around to it.  There was no suitable place for our tender to be pulled up on shore because of the tidal change, but with four people we could not just take our two kayaks.  So we decided to tow our kayaks, which is something that J and I had talked of doing at times in the past, and wondered how they would tow.  It ended up working all right, although they did not get up on step to plane, and they put a huge drag on the tender. 

Towing the kayaks.

After letting everyone off on shore, J held our bowline and I rowed away from shore to set a stern anchor and we tied the bowline ashore. I then used one of the kayaks to paddle ashore, and we left the kayaks up on the grass and Kiki anchored out floating. 

Setting the anchor for Kiki, so Sheya could kayak back to shore.

The trail wound its way up through the forest, passing some very large old trees.  We saw many types of mushrooms, including some beautiful bright orange ones.  The trail followed an old road that was from when they had built the microwave towers, and it was now quite overgrown with many prickly plants.

The trail also had so many slugs on it.  Of course there are always lots of slugs out on trails in a moist forest, but there were so many on this trail that we gave up on announcing the warning of a slug on the trail, and just began to assume that there was going to be slugs, and to watch where we stepped, otherwise we were saying “slug”, “slug”, “slug” over and over, there were so many.  

We got to see several large cute toads, some were brown and others green, and we also found some different berry plants that we think may have been either a type of wild current or gooseberry.  Unfortunately we were not sure of our identification, and so did not eat them, except for Jason who ate one, and he is still alive.

As we hiked up the trail through the forest we eventually popped out of the thicket of the overgrown road and surrounding rain forest, and out onto the tundra-like rocky low-bush terrain.  This was the terrain that we had really wanted to get into as it provides such beautiful vistas, and ease of travel.  

View of Meay Channel, with Northern Calvert Island on the left, and Hecate Island on the right.

View of Pruth Bay on the left where we were anchored.

We spent several hours up there just exploring around, and Jason and I went from one knoll to the next, always just wanting to see over the next hill.  It was such a beautiful area, full of diverse mosses and bonsai plants.  The “trees” were crooked and dwarfed into unique and beautiful shapes, and the shrubs lay low against the ground.  

The harsh elements in the area take their toll.

The fog rolled in and out at times, adding to the beauty of the area.

All of the low-lying areas were moist, and the moss was sometimes so thick and cushy that it felt like walking through snow.  Around every corner there was another beautiful, crystal clear stream trickling down over the rocks and through the ground. Because all of the plants were low, it made walking very easy, but the terrain was also deceiving. Looking in the distance it was easy to think that it would be a simple walk to the next hill, but there could be a hidden valley in between.  Also the grassy flat looking ground was often hiding holes or wet mud. 

Low lying lake and the open Pacific in the distance.

Meay Channel in the distance.

Hopefully this panorama video will play.

Jason and I met back up with my Mom and Dad a while later, and we found a beautiful rock ledge to sit on and have our picnic.  We were out of the wind, and the sun was shining; it was beautiful. 

When we were making our way back down through the forest we stopped at a large old Spruce tree.  We had spotted a burl in one of its branches on our way up, and I decided to climb up the thick sturdy branches and cut off the burl with the saw on my multi-tool.

Burl on a branch of the Spruce tree.

Sheya climbed the tree to cut it down using the saw of her multi-tool.

Sheya did the work of cutting while others watched.

The little saw worked quite quickly, and it did not take long to have the branch on the ground, and a short piece with just the burl on it, cut to take home.

When we got back to the water we found Kiki floating perfectly, and we had enough slack in the line to easily pull her bow into shore and get on. 

Mom and Dad paddled home in the kayaks, and J and I went out to our traps to pull them up and check for dinner.  We pulled up our prawn trap first and found two fairly large-sized fish. They had the same type of skin as the partial carcass my parents and I had found in our prawn trap out from Discovery Bay, so now hopefully we will be able to identify the type of fish. 

We were not able to find this fish in our books. If you know what type of fish this is, please let us know.

It is curious that we have never caught these fish in our traps or with our lines before, and now within a week we have caught three.  We let them go since we did not know what type they were, and didn’t know if they would be good to eat, but they were a nice size.  We did also have three prawns, but that was it.  

Luckily our crab trap had more stuff in it.  In fact, for the first time in weeks it was actually very full.  We let go 8 large female Dungeness, three female rock crabs, and two small male rock crabs.  We were also able to keep one nice-sized male Dungeness and two male rock crabs.  It was really too bad that a couple of the female Dungeness couldn’t have been males, but at least we caught crab, and we even caught enough to have for dinner!  We had a delicious dinner of fresh crab with a cheese fondue.