Cruising on the MV Lillian Belle: Boughey Bay

Still painting and with a smile on his face!

BOUGHEY BAY/PORT HARVEY

After checking the tides and the weather report last night, we decided to stay an extra day in Douglas Bay. Depending on the winds across the Johnstone Strait, we may stop at Port Neville or keep on trucking. We have a 6 a.m. departure planned. Oh, boy, love those early mornings!

We snagged another two crabs this afternoon. We had four that were either two small or were female which were thrown back. Crabbing is one of our favorite pastimes when boating, and we have had pretty good luck so far this trip. Pulling up a pot with scrambling crabs in it is definitely a thrill for us hunter/gatherer types…smiles all around especially when we are feasting on them!

David took this extra non-travel day to continue his work on the boat deck sanding and painting. I have had nothing but light chores and leisure time sitting most of the day in the wheelhouse reading and swatting horse flies. Those flies are mammoth and mighty pesky. One flew up my pant leg and David had one up his shirt and under his hat! They’re big enough to saddle!

We past a tug and his raft of logs on our very early morning departure.

The next morning, I heard David up on the boat deck a little after 4:00 moving things around. At 4:30 he came to me and reported, “The wind is starting to pick up. I really think we should leave now.” Without a whine or a whimper on my part, we shoved off a little after 5:00 a.m. following three sailboats out of Douglas Bay. David made a wise decision because our 4 hour cruise was calm and uneventful.

We found a very snug anchorage in Boughey Bay off Havannah Channel. It is not far from Port Harvey which has a resort. We hope to take the dinghy over there tomorrow and hopefully, find WiFi and do some grocery shopping. Expecting 40 mph winds on the Johnstone Strait tomorrow afternoon so will stay here another day just to be on the safe side. I keep searching for grizzlies on the shore. Ya never know.

This is probably the only SUNRISE photo you will see from me!

Did a bit of scrubbing around this old girl after we arrived…lots of dead flies to sweep up. David is still painting…he’s on his third coat.

NEXT DAY;

In the morning before the winds increased, we motored over to Port Harvey which took us about 15 minutes in our dinghy. The resort was much smaller than anticipated but it had lots of nice dock space. We wandered into the store but no one was there. After walking upstairs we found the Red Shoe Pub and smelled the coffee. There were a variety of red shoes mounted on the walls and on display. We detected Australian, British, as well as Canadian and American accents from the friendly boaters. The cinnamon rolls were everything the advertising promised…delicious! We were going to be charged $10 for WiFi because we weren’t mooring there. We decided to pass on it.

We met experienced boaters on the Red Otter who were quite helpful filling us in on places to go in The Broughtons. They were from Nanaimo and the biggest tip we got was where to find a dinghy dock in Nanaimo. We were so frustrated the last time we anchored there and could not find a spot to tie up to spend time ashore. Now we know the “secret spot”!

They also shared with us that many of the marinas in the area do not have fresh water for boaters. We have been conserving but obviously need to watch our water usage even more.

Tomorrow is Canada Day with celebrations of food, fun and fireworks planned throughout the islands. Not sure where we will be tomorrow…perhaps Lagoon Cove on Minstrel Island. It all depends on the weather and tides. Northwest winds are supposed to reach 45mph on the Johnstone Strait today and continue to stay strong the rest of the week. We are heading north of the strait but even in this well protected bay, we are feeling the gusts right now and are being tossed around.

Pulled up another 4 crab this afternoon. Left the traps down for a bit longer just to see if our luck holds out. It is rather strange that we are having such good fortune with trapping considering that we have used the same bait over and over. We just freeze it after each use.

Port Harvey Resort and home of the Red Shoe Pub

David is still painting and I’m still searching the shore for bear. When we were having coffee at the pub, the owner’s dog started barking on the deck and several people went out to look to see if he had spotted a bear…so I know they’re out there!