Trip to the Broughton Archipelago Summer 2024
General Boating Chat
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We're eating well these days. Yesterday, we caught two tasty Coho salmon in Blackfish Sound. I fried them up and used the extra parts after cleaning them as crab bait. Tonight, there will be a nice-sized Red Rock and Dungeness Crab dinner!
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Another video update from our 2024 boating season here on the south coast of British Columbia. This time, we will travel from an anchorage in Potts Lagoon and explore the nearby anchorages before settling in a small cove. We found a sweet little spot between Berry and Leone Islands. Our own slide of paradise.
Highlights include hearing the wolves calling in the evening. Anne even got a photo of one on the shoreline. We also take a dinghy ride and explore the area, dipping our cameras below the sea to look at the abundant life!
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Another video update from our 2024 boating season here on the south coast of British Columbia. This time, we will travel from an anchorage in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park across Blackfish Sound and over to Port McNeill on Vancouver Island.
We overnighted at the North Island Marina (northislandmarina.com), within walking distance of a grocery store, laundromat, pharmacy, liquor store, auto/marine, outdoor stores, etc. We could also fully charge all our batteries and devices and fill the water tanks and jugs. Great stopover!The video shows the sights and sounds along the way and a view of the marina docks. Highlights included seeing humpback whales and Dall's porpoises and catching a pair of coho salmon for dinner! We can continue exploring the Broughtons for the next 3 weeks or so. Stay tuned
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This morning's view July 29th anchored beside Madrona Island in the Broughton Archipelago. Looks like we won't see the sun for a few days of clouds, fog, and rain. Temps Highs: 16C 60F Lows 13F 55F After this spell the long range looks pretty good, though. Drier and sunny to start August.
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Fog Slowly Lifts after the Rains - Madrona Island Anchorage in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park A short video showing a magical-looking foggy scene at our anchorage in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park, British Columbia, on July 29th, 2024
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Yesterday, we came across a feeding frenzy of birds. Across on the shore were about a dozen eagles.
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We are buried fairly deep into the Broughtons now. Hardly another soul around, just us and nature. Anchored in a spot, some people named Eden Pool next to Eden Island. The name seems appropriate! :)
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We're on the move again. Up a remote inlet to a pretty bay called Kwatsi. Along the way, we stopped to view Lacie Falls, but it's just a trickle right now. It's a beautiful day, though after a fogging start!
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Look how tiny our boat looks anchored in Kwatsi Bay way up one of the inlets on BC's mountainous west coast.
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More scenery and highlights from our summer 2024 trip into the Broughtons between the northwest tip of Vancouver and the BC mainland. In this installment, we look around two small anchorages and our travels between them. loveyourrv.com/madrona-is
I’m amazed at how few boats there are up here compared to the waters to the south in the Discovery Islands and Desolation Sound. We hardly saw another soul in either location for days except for the odd kayaker. You feel embedded in your natural surroundings, and the wildlife becomes used to your presence coming closer. The ocean is full of life!
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Some more shots from Kwatsi Bay. Beautiful morning, we've got a great weather streak going. My next video will be the most scenic so far!
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In this video, we putter out of the Eden Pool anchorage as the early morning fog begins to lift. Our couple-hour journey takes us up Tribune Inlet to a gorgeous anchorage at the head of Kwatsi Bay. We’ll be nestled in a sheltered bay surrounded by treed mountains, rock cliffs, and waterfalls. As an added bonus, the bay is a favorite feeding location for Pacific White-side dolphins. loveyourrv.com/most-sceni
I’ll show you the scenery along the way, including the pretty Burdwood Group of Islands and Lacie Falls. Unfortunately, it’s the dry season, and the falls aren’t flowing with much volume, but they are still beautiful.
Once anchored in Kwatsi, we take a dinghy ride to an abandoned marina that was once a popular stopover for boaters to mingle and enjoy the views. All in all, I think this is my most scenery-packed video of the trip so far. Enjoy! Cheers Ray.
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We moved to a new anchorage yesterday. It is at the head of Simoom Sound and offers a great view of Bald Mountain.
Today, we explored the area in our dinghy and spotted a black bear foraging on the shore. I'll post some video footage later today.
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We were passing by in our dinghy, and this black bear was kind enough to let us watch it forage along the shore for a while.
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Interesting find on our dinghy explorations of the shoreline today. Mussels and barnacles had attached themselves to a tree that had fallen into the ocean and died. Nature is amazing!
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After an enjoyable stay at Kwatsi Bay, we motored back down Tribune Channel and up Simoom Sound to anchor in O'Brien Bay. O'Brien Bay is located at the head of the sound and is relatively protected from the winds.
As we made our way up the sound, we were disappointed to see that many of the hills were logged and felt this mightn't be a very scenic place to anchor. But once anchored, we looked back, and Bald Mountain highlighted a gorgeous view. Each day started with fog and low clouds, but the summer sun burned it off slowly, exposing the beautiful mountain scenery. Other highlights of this quiet anchorage were swimming, fishing, pretty green water, and a pair of black bear sightings!
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Loving it up here in the Broughtons so much! Yesterday, we headed back to Port McNeill for more fresh foods, water, and fuel so we can cruise and explore a couple more weeks. Along the way a good size pod of Orca passed right in front of us, and we saw a huge raft of Sea Otters! So cool. I've always wanted to see that.
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After an overnight and restocking of fresh supplies, fuel, etc., in Port McNeill, we recrossed Blackfish Sound back into the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park and anchored in Dusky Cove right on the edge of Blackfish. It's a fair-weather anchorage, so we are taking full advantage of the low winds forecast for the next few days. The crossing of Blackfish to and from Port McNeill was terrific regarding wildlife viewing. Multiple Orca sightings, dozens of Humpback whales, with lots of tail slaps and breaches! And more cute fuzzy sea otters. Video in the future from me and keep watch on Anne McKinnell Photography for her photos, but it will take some time to edit, waiting for the next cloudy, rainy day. Got to take advantage of fair weather up here. A few pix from today, just a gorgeous dinghy ride with a sighting of a momma black bear and three cubs.
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After Simmon Sound, we headed to cute little Echo Bay Marina, thinking we could resupply with fresh food and water, but not so much. The marina's amenities weren't great, so we'll head to Port McNeill again. But we did get to visit Billy Proctor's Museum and talk with the famous Billy, who has authored several books about his life on the BC coast. He is nearly 90 and full of interesting stories. Anne's 95-year-old dad used to pal around with him back in his fishing days, so it was special that Anne could meet him and have an in-person chat. We also toured the small museum with Billy's collections of treasures. Lots of cool old stuff in there. Worth a stop if you're ever in the area.
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Anne Almost Caught a Humpback Whale! 😄
As Anne reeled in her catch, to her surprise, a Humpback Whale surfaced very close to us! But luckily, she only caught a Kelp Greenling. :)
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After we visited Echo Bay in the last video, we motored a short distance south to a pretty little anchorage among the islets between Seabreeze Island and the larger Gilford Island. We spotted a black bear rolling over huge rocks on the shore as we entered the anchorage via a narrow channel.
Black Bear on the Beach Gilford Island BC
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t great for the next two days, so we spent most of them inside the boat. Some calm weather was on the horizon, and we were running out of fresh food, so we decided to make the couple-hour trip to Port McNeill to resupply once more. An overnight stop at the North Island Marina allowed us to shop at the nearby IGA grocery store plus fill our fuel & water tanks.
In this video, you’ll see all the wildlife we were treated to.
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There was a lot of rain this afternoon, but it was very pretty with the fog off the ocean when it subsided, and the sun peeked out a little. Scenes from Lady Boot Cove on the BC coast, north end of Vancouver Island.
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A moody start to the morning in our sheltered little cove in the Broughtons. Lots of rain yesterday as a summer storm front moved through, but the sun is back! Although a stiff southeast breeze is still out there, so we have decided to stay another night before moving on. Stay tuned. :)
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This video features scenes from our two-night stay in an anchorage called Lady Boot Cove. Located in the Broughtons on the British Columbia coast, this small cove is known as a bomb-proof anchorage that protects from winds in pretty much any direction.
We chose it because a quick-moving storm front was on the horizon, and the winds were predicted to change quickly from northwest to southeast. It was a great spot as we experienced very little wind, just a day of on-and-off pouring rains. After the rain, as the sun peeked through, it made for a moody scene as fog drifted off the water and through the trees.
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We returned to Kwatsi Bay a few days ago, as it looked like a good soaking of rain was on the horizon. With the steep mountains all around, it's supposed to be awesome when the waterfalls run. Well, we got a ton of rain, and sure enough, the spigots were turned on! Oh, and the dolphins were back. :) Here are a few snapshots, working on a video soon.
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