Onward to Kisameet Bay

November 18th (Monday)

We pulled up anchor in the morning and said goodbye to Wigham Cove. I imagine we will be back at some point as it was a very nice anchorage which offered us great protection from strong southeast winds, plentiful prawns, and Dungeness crab. Can't beat that!
We motored past Bella Bella and out Lama Passage into Fisher Channel. We had been hoping to sail down to Kisameet Bay, but the northerly winds were not strong enough.  We came into Kisameet Bay and anchored at about 13:00.
It had been mainly clear overnight, and we could see the moon and stars out of our hatch. This morning it clouded over, but it was not a thick cloud cover, and by afternoon it began to break up. 

We put our kayaks in the water and paddled over to the river that was flowing out from Kisameet Lake. Leaving our kayaks on the pebble beach we followed the trail that led us along the river to the lake. It was impressive how fast the river was flowing. It was a raging mass of white water pouring over boulders and fallen trees. The forest was filled with large old-growth cedars and spruce trees, with bright green moss everywhere. When we emerged from the forest at the lake the stillness was amazing. 

The lake was glassy calm and the reflection was beautiful, only the continual roar of the water pouring out of the lake, over the edge, and down the river broke the stillness. We headed back to be out of the forest before sunset. With a clear view of the sky, floating in our kayaks in the bay, we enjoyed the beautiful changing colours on the clouds as the sun set. Beautiful! As the colours began to fade we paddled home to get a fire going to break the chill.
While we were watching the sunset, we were also watching the many Gullimonts fishing. When Gullimonts fish, they seem to herd baitfish to the surface, often creating a boil of fish on the surface. When we first saw this, back in the summer at Calvert Island, we thought that it was salmon feeding that caused it, but soon we learned to watch for a Gullimont to pop up in between the fish boil, and then we knew that they caused it. 

This particular evening three seagulls were trying to take advantage of this feeding opportunity with the fish right at the surface, and we watched as they tried to duck-dive and grab a fish or two. It was cute watching them keeping such a close eye, and flying quickly from here to there when the fish would appear. Then the Gullimonts would pop up for air and the feeding would stop, until they dove down again.