Cruising on the MV Lillian Belle: Viner Sound/Port McNeill

Entering Viner Sound

VINER SOUND

After weaving our way through floating logs for almost two hours, we entered Viner Sound and followed it nearly to the end before finding a spot to anchor. This is one of many destinations Bruce and Anita suggested. Once again we find ourselves in possession of the entire anchorage area. It certainly didn’t take long before we dropped our crab pots and then took a dinghy cruise around to explore. There are actually some beach areas throughout the sound and some very interesting rock formations.

Unfortunately, the horse flies followed us here. The good news is after they delight in pestering us all day, once it starts to cool down, they disappear. That’s when we escape to the outside. They hurt when they bite and leave large welts and they can bite through clothing! Not nice. You might strike one and have it fall to the floor with its feet up and seconds later it revives itself and starts flying around again...eerie. Dave and I are already armed and ready with fly swatters poised to strike.

It is difficult to understand how Spanish moss could be draping from the trees in this sound. It doesn’t seem to be warm enough and yet, the moss is plentiful. There is also a large rock which is quite colorfully covered in wildflowers.

Wildflower Rock

Horseflies...be warned!

We were joined in the early evening by another boat anchoring near to us. The sound is so narrow that they had to be near us. We watched them paddle out in their kayaks. We had thought about taking ours out earlier but he wind had picked up. They were obviously skilled at what they were doing. One day we will be, too (one can only hope).

This morning we woke up to fog and struck out to gather our crab pots. We had eight crabs in the first pot and one undersized crab in the second one. We were able to keep four of the large males. Obviously, this is a great place to go crabbing! When we took off in the dinghy this morning, we were so concerned about staying clear of the tow line in the water that we forgot about the stern tie line. It had fallen out of the boat and wrapped around the moving propeller! Luckily, we were able to untangle it and the engine started right up again. That’s the first time that has ever happened.

Foggy departure

After losing another cribbage game to David…he is 4 games ahead of me…we had a bit of an unsettling start to a night’s sleep because David was often checking the anchor alarm and position of the boat. There were some very shallow areas close to where we needed to anchor, and we certainly did not want to swing or drift into them, but all was well.

When we hauled the anchor out this morning, we brought up something a bit extra…someone’s crab pot with lots of crab…hmmm, so tempting! David leaned over the bow and carefully untangled the line and released the pot … down it went to await its lucky owner to retrieve.

Well, plans are made to change, right? And ours changed this morning. With favorable weather forecasted for the rest of the week, David thought it might be wise to head to Port McNeill today across the Queen Charlotte Strait rather than wait until the weekend when storms might be moving in…so now we are headed in that direction. We will nose into the Strait and if it looks good, we will cross. If not, we have an alternative destination. Always have a Plan B…Plans C and D would be good, too!

Reflections in the sound

We have read about the multiple fires raging across BC, as many as 50 just starting up last weekend. As we entered Viner Sound, we weren’t sure if it was smoke, mist or high fog we were seeing over the mountains. Our friend, Michelle, wrote to us that there is smoke lingering over our home marina in New Westminster from nearby fires. It’s turning out to be a long, hot, smoke-filled and fiery summer up here for many residents.

It eventually took us about 5 ½ hours to reach the dock at Port McNeill Boat Harbour. Port McNeill is in the northern part of Vancouver Island and we have never been here. We were fighting the current and the fog all the way until we were in reach of the Harbour. We were slowed down to about 4.5 knots for a good chunk of the way. The fog was uncomfortable to deal with, but our radar served us well once again. The weather channel reported fog until noon, it did not lift for us until around 3:00 when we could finally see the mountain tops.

This floating tree is a definite navigational hazard!

We were just reaching the breakwater for the entrance into the docks when we were hailed by a boater who said that he had been towing a powerless boat in until he lost forward motion…he could only go in reverse. The boat he was towing was behind us about a half mile just bobbing in the water. He asked if we could tow them in.

We cruised over to them and made ready to tie the stalled boat to our starboard side but the winds were making it a challenge. After circling around and trying a second time, we managed to get a line to the woman at the stern. She then noticed that her friend’s boat which had somehow recovered from his “only reverse engine” problem had come back out to help. They decided it was easier to go with the smaller boat since they had to be towed all the way into the harbour past where we were to dock. They were very grateful to us for coming to their aide. It was our very first rescue attempt in which we were not the ones being rescued!

The powerless boat in Port McNeill Bay...Lillian Belle to the rescue!

The young woman who helped dock our boat turned out to be the daughter of the owners of the Kwatsi Bay Marina. She is delightful. We got ourselves settled in and then headed for the pub. Beer never tasted so good! We then toured the town center near the marina and bought groceries, wine and jeans. We were able to wheel the shopping cart with all our goods back to the marina…later on someone from the store will pick it up…such a deal!

On our way to the store, we were passing a florist. I am not sure if the woman I saw come out was the owner or an employee, but she smiled at me and said, “Here’s a pretty rose for a pretty lady”, and she handed me a beautiful yellow and orange Leonardo Rose. What a lovely and unexpected welcoming to Port McNeill that was!!