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Shadow's Summer Adventure (Part I)
by Captain Joseph Bettis
Editor's note: Captain Bettis and Shadow have cruised our northern waters for many years. We'll present his 2002 cruising log in three installments this winter, providing a good diversion from the weather as well as some inspiration while we all begin planning for our own 2003 adventures.

     Shadow's cruise of 2002 was unusual in several ways. Usually we go to Alaska, with stops along the way in the area around Alert Bay near the northern end of Vancouver Island, and in the area of Bella Bella. Since we got a late start this year, I decided to spend the summer near Alert Bay. There were some old places and friends I wanted to revisit and some new places I wanted to explore.

      There were, however, many more adventures than I had expected.

     July 4-Within a half-hour of leaving Friday Harbor, we passed the classic Northwest Yacht Malibu on the rocks. It was a sad sight to see this beautiful 100-foot yacht with her port gunwales underwater. Sandra got some first-class pictures. Malibu hit the rocks at the west end of Wasp Passage, an area known locally as "million dollar reef."

     July 5-Drew Irwin and his staff at Philbrooks Shipyard in Sidney were most helpful in dealing with Shadow's furnace problems. But since it will be several days before it is all sorted out, we left the furnace in their care and have our fingers crossed that it will be a warm summer.

     July 6-As a routine part of the beginning of any great voyage, Shadow's engine room filled with acrid smoke just as we were coming to anchorage in Telegraph Harbour. Opting for the dock instead, we discovered a blown gasket in the exhaust system where the turbo charger had been replaced just before we left Friday Harbor. Emergency repairs with high-temp tape got us going in the morning. That afternoon, Ron Van Wachen, the owner of Nanaimo Shipyard, was a great help with high-temp gasket material and we enjoyed the evening in Nanaimo.

     July 7-In classic Northwest style, we left Nanaimo at daylight to cross the Strait of Georgia in the morning calm. And the calm held. It was a smooth crossing and by noon we were at the dock in Powell River. We visited with April White at her Wind Spirit Gallery and added one of her wonderful Raven lithographs to Shadow's art collection. April will join us aboard this evening and then we will join her for dinner at her beautiful restaurant adjoining the gallery. Tomorrow, we'll do the laundry and post to the website before heading for Desolation Sound.

     July 8-The trip up Malaspina Inlet was smooth and we turned into Desolation Sound and anchored in beautiful Predeaux Haven. Fog and mist obscured the mountains, but in the morning the sky was clear and the mountains that ring the anchorage were glistening in snow and rising to 4,000 feet.

     July 9-Warm today. We stayed at anchor, enjoying the scenery and waiting for low tide in the afternoon to go hunting and gathering. Sandra protested vociferously that she would not eat those "slippery, slimy things," but we gathered oysters anyway. As she continued to protest, I put them on the grill and took them off when the heat popped them open. Maybe it was the gin and tonic, but before long Sandra had changed her mind. "They aren't slippery and slimy at all," she said. Another convert to "plump" Quilcene oysters.

     July 10-Hot again today. We left the anchorage and stopped at the store in Refuge Cove for water and a hamburger. Then, timing for high slack tide at 6:21 p.m., we headed for the famous Yuculta Rapids. Even a slack tide it is quite a ride, with whirlpools and eddies aplenty. Through the Yuks, and the Dent Rapids, past the Devil's Punchbowl, a particularly wicked whirlpool, and finally the Green Point Rapids. Dinner underway. Saw a yearling black bear and mom on the beach in Welbore Channel, and we anchored for the night in Forward Harbour.

     July 11-An early departure, hoping to transit Johnstone Strait before the afternoon westerlies. It was a smooth trip and we tied to the dock in Telegraph Cove shortly after lunch. We find that we have arrived a day ahead of Springer, the lost juvenile orca, and Telegraph is filled with media waiting for her arrival tomorrow evening. We renew acquaintances with old friends-Jim and Mary Bowerman, who run whale-watching cruises from Stubbs Island Tours, and visit the charming fishing village that is being rapidly transformed by condos, apartments and other tourist attractions.

      I reported on the Springer reintroduction in the last issue of Nor'westing.

      We took advantage of some slack time during the next few days to visit the museum in Alert Bay, which is a remarkable collection of First Nations' masks and artifacts housed in a traditional longhouse-style building. We also traveled up Knight Inlet to look of grizzly bears. Guided by Tom Sewid, from Memlukwees, we studied ancient pictographs on the rocks along the way.

     July 21-Yesterday we went to Alert Bay and found a high-speed Internet connection, which greatly facilitated Sandra's upload of the web page. Then into the Broughton Archipelago, a maze of small, low islands. We anchored in Joe Cove, a remote and protected tiny anchorage. Hardly had we dropped the hook and settled down for a little seclusion when a skiff approached. It was Jerry and Justine van Wacken. We had met last summer in an equally remote place, and our paths have crossed several times since. Jerry's son, Ron, is the manager of Nanaimo Shipyard and had helped us at the beginning of our trip when the exhaust gasket gave out. We had a nice visit with Jerry and Justine.

      This morning is foggy and we think we'll just spend the day here, doing boat chores and being lazy.