Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

July 23rd and 24th (Thursday and Friday)   On Thursday we packed for our expedition up Baldy Mountain.  When we left North Vancouver fifteen months ago we left all of our camping gear with my parents in Victoria because at the time we believed that we would only be on the Central Coast for the summer, and that we would be cruising and would not need our camping gear.  Now that we had been living in Ocean Falls since the start of the Covid-19 virus we had been wishing that we had our camping supplies.   About two weeks ago it worked out perfectly that a local resident went down to Victoria to pick up a new boat that he had purchased.  He was then bringing the boat back to Ocean Falls on the trailer and so had lots of room for other items.  We arranged for my parents to meet up with him, and they gave him our camping backpacks packed full of our gear and some other items.  The only item that we did not ask my parents to send...

July 22nd (Wednesday) We got wheels!     We made an agreement with Dave from work, so that we can have use of his extra vehicle.     It is a green, four-door Ford Explorer, and although I would not trust it to take out of Ocean Falls, it is perfect for around here.     All we wanted was a vehicle to use for getting us up to the lake with fuel for the lake boat, and our camping gear.     It will also be nice to be able to go out to the other end of the road out past Martin Valley and explore the area of Twin Lakes.     We will also no longer need to hitch a ride from others on grocery day when we have several large boxes of groceries to bring back from the ferry to the boat.     Jason went up to the truck in the morning and spent a while cleaning it, since it had been neglected for some time.   While Jason was cleaning our truck I did a bunch of cleaning on our boat, and then in the afternoon we drove up to the lake.  ...

July 7th - 21st  (Tuesday – Tuesday)   In this set of fifteen days we worked 150 hours, almost a full month’s work for most people in a typical 40-hour workweek job.  The days involved a lot of walking, and on average I walked 8.9 kms per day with a total of 134 kms over the fifteen days.  Many of the days one or both of us would move over 3,000 kilograms of feed in 20 kg bags; sometimes we were filling the automatic feed silos, and other days we were bringing up bags of feed to be thrown out by hand.  Our daily tasks varied immensely from filling the feed silos, to adjusting the automatic feeders, to washing down the walkways and tank bases, to removing an old starter from a truck, to mowing and weed whacking the yard’s grassy areas.  The days never got boring.   Most of the days Jason and I started work at 06:00.  The automatic feeders turn on at 05:30, when the sun rises and the fish start to become active. ...

July 5th (Sunday)      We pulled up anchor at 08:00.  It was a beautiful, sunny, calm morning and after pulling off a giant ball of kelp from our anchor we motored out past Rage Reefs.     A week ago today when we came into St. John Harbour we came through 3-4 meter swells.     Now, a week later the little 1-meter swells felt like just little rollers, and it was perfect wildlife spotting weather with the glassy smooth water.     We saw two sea lions on the outer side of the reefs and a small pod of dolphins along the shore before we even got to Seaforth Channel.   As we motored up Seaforth Channel we saw a whale along the shoreline to our starboard side.  There was a lot of driftwood floating on the water after the very high tide from last night, but it was easy to spot up ahead because the water was so smooth.  Jason spotted an odd-looking shape in the water.  I thought it looked like a chun...

July 4th (Saturday)     This morning we were up at 06:00, and although it was cloudy it was also a perfectly calm and beautiful morning.  We headed out for a low-tide paddle.   At around 07:00 it was a 1.3-foot tide and we made our way along the shore looking at everything.     There were so many different types of kelp and seaweed, many types of snails – some with very ornate shells, starfish, sea anemone, giant pacific chitons, sea slugs, and goby fish, to name just a few.     White spotted rose anemone It is always nice to kayak at low tide, especially when the water is calm and we can not only see what is exposed above the surface, but also look into the shallow water, which is usually covered in 10-15 feet of water.     It is like looking into the best salt-water aquarium.     We made our way out to the far end of the Rage Reefs and we made our way back along the inner side of the many ...

July 3rd (Friday) It was sunny in the morning!  We were not expecting that, but of course we were very happy.  We headed out in our kayaks to explore the three lagoon-like areas that joined to our inner-basin anchorage.   First we headed to the northern one.     This one is completely cut off at low tide, and inside it is one circular hole.     As we passed over the shallows at the entrance, it was mid-tide, and we could see the rocky bank that formed the dam.     Inside the lagoon we saw sea cucumbers, red rock crabs, and anemones.   The second lagoon was the one to the east and it still had a small river flowing out.  We could have portaged over, but instead we decided to go to the third arm first with the plan of coming back around high tide when we would be able to paddle inside.  The third lagoon or basin area was the arm to the south.  It was an easy piddle inside, but we had see...

July 2nd (Thursday)   It was cloudy in the morning and when we listened to the VHF weather forecast they were calling for strong south and southeasterly winds.  We considered our options and how the wind might enter the anchorage, and we decided to stay put for the time being.  There was a dock, which we knew was secure, over in the southeast corner of the basin, so if the wind did pick up and became an issue for us where we were anchored then we could easily move over to the dock, which would be in a more protected area from the south.   While the wind was still calm we headed out in Kiki to the outer reefs at the south end of the island for some fishing.  The swells, although jumbled from the chaos caused by the reefs, were calm; there was no wind yet.  In the distance there was a very large and dark looking cloud, which we figured would bring some rain and wind.   We floated and fished for about 45 minutes an...

July 1st (Wednesday) This morning it was still windy, it was not a strong wind, but it looked and sounded from the forecast like the day would probably be similar to yesterday.  We decided to take Kiki around to the beach for another beach day so that we did not have to paddle our kayaks against the wind again.  Since we knew that the tide would be ebbing, we planned to simply let Kiki beach for the day.  Why shouldn’t she get to dry out and enjoy the sun and the sand like we did?   We packed another picnic and headed out, excited for another day at the beach.  The morning clouds cleared earlier than they did yesterday and we were hopeful that it might feel warm enough to go swimming.  The water was so inviting, sparkling turquoise green in the long extending shallows.  Although it was sunny, the breeze kept the air cool and I kept my long sleeved shirt on as we did cartwheels on the sand.   When we...

June 30th (Tuesday) Although it was mostly cloudy when we woke up, the forecast had been for sun, so we were optimistic that it would clear.  We inflated our kayaks and packed for an exploring, beach day.   We paddled out at 09:30 and made our way out of the inner basin area and into St John Harbour.     The wind was blowing fairly strongly from the Northwest so we had to fight it at first.     Once we were through the Back Door passage the wind was coming at us from the side and we made our way through the islands, staying on the lee sides as much as possible.     As we passed one grassy cove we saw two Sandhill Cranes, they walked up into the forest when they saw us so we wondered if they had a nest.     When Canada Geese are nesting they will walk up into the forest when they see us, it looks quite funny.     The wind was on our backs as we sailed our way through the last passageway on our way to the...