Cruising on the MV Lillian Belle: Port McNeill and Napier Bay

Sointula Bakery

PORT McNEILL/NAPIER BAY

This morning we decided to hop on the ferry to Malcolm Island and visit the town of Sointula. Max and Anca, owners of the Kwatsi Bay Marina, have a home there and suggested we visit. In fact as we were boarding the ferry to return to Port McNeill, we ran into Anca coming off the ferry!

Sointula was first settled by a group of Finns who wanted to escape the coal mines of Vancouver Island. They began fishing and logging companies and a real sense of community. Sointula means “place of harmony”. The bakery was recommended to us so stopped in there first thing…delicious croissants! We walked through the neighborhoods and noticed many yards decorated in wood sculptures and bicycles posed in front of businesses and some homes with the bike baskets filled with flowers. Both Port McNeill and Sointula both carry on Vancouver Island’s lovely tradition of colorful baskets of cascading flowers adorning town centers.

The museum was small but packed full of fascinating artifacts. There was a display of the island’s unique craft of making rugs out of gillnet which I had never seen before. Everyone on the island was so genuinely friendly and helpful. There wasn’t a person we passed on the road or in a store who didn’t greet us with a friendly “Hello” or “Good day”. One driver even tipped his hat to me!

David was fascinated by this little "fixer-upper"...it will only happen with in his next life with his next wife!

Our trip over on the ferry was in fog so didn’t get a view of anything on our journey there but on our return trip, the sun had broken through and it was glorious. Tomorrow we are heading back to The Broughtons across the Queen Charlotte Strait most likely again in the fog. Not my favorite thing to do, but I would choose fog over strong winds and waves.

As always we had a few people walk on down to the end of our dock to get a closer look at the Belle. I always send David out as our “ambassador”. He really does enjoy talking to people about our boat and of course, appreciates the compliments when they come his way. An Australian couple came by last night and they told David they had just completed a bicycle ride across Canada, and now they were cycling Vancouver Island from Port Hardy to Victoria. They were our age…we’re still trying to figure out the kayak!!

Neighborhood art in Sointula

Workers on the future Sointula Ferry Dock

We set 6:30 as a departure time in the morning, but David “encouraged” me to get out of bed at 5:15…skies were clear with no winds…we were going to get going while the gettin’ was good! We took off out of the harbour at 5:45 in sunshine with sleepy dispositions.

We cruised through swells which got the boat rolling a bit but it was tolerable. All in all, David’s decision to leave earlier worked out great..no fog, no winds, no problem. After 4 hours, we entered Tracy Harbour and anchored in Napier Bay. Up to this point we pretty much have had our anchorages all to ourselves, but found as we entered that we would be sharing this bay with three other boats…the nerve!

Clear skies on our ferry trip back to Port McNeill

Never one to waste any time, David got working on installing a mounted radio in the dinghy. He was able to find an antenna for it in Port McNeill. Since our handheld radio found its way into the water on one of our excursions, we needed to replace it. The lost radio was on top of one of the life jackets in the dinghy storage area, and as the jacket was pulled out, the radio was accidentally flipped into the water …not one of our finest moments.

Even though it was a quiet, calm night here in this lovely bay, David had a bad night…wasn’t feeling well…so we decided to lay low here one more day. We had a leisurely morning checking out our charts for the next destination and reading. Our early morning trip out to the traps was very disheartening. It was the first time we have been “skunked” with both traps…no crab! We moved them to two different areas to see if anything turns up. I decided to throw away the old bait we had been using over and over and try some fresh stuff. Maybe that was our mistake.

We managed to put a second coat of stain on the shady half of our vertical lath of Port Ordford Cedar (from good old Calaveras Lumber) before taking off for a walk. The couple on one of our neighboring boats had pointed out the beginning of a trail to a lake so decided to give it a go. Armed with our air horn and my Mr. Peanuts rattle can, we headed down the old logging road.

Armed and ready!

Shake, rattle...let's roll!

We have not noticed any poison oak, poison ivy or snakes on the islands. We are told there are no poisonous snakes anywhere in BC…I knew I loved this place! What we did notice as we walked were plenty of deer and bear scat. On two of the bear piles, someone had placed a small rock on top as if to draw your attention to the existence of bears in the area. I rattled that can the entire 2 hours we walked!! I am sure the little forest animals were glad to see the back of us!

We did eventually find the lake and it was huge. There was no development around its shores, no cleared trails to the water’s edge or picnic tables or camping areas. The lake wasn’t even indicated on our chart. There were plenty signs of logging including towering piles of slash. We did find what looked like an old pump house next to a rickety raft which we climbed on to get to the water’s edge so we could sit in the shade and enjoy the cool breeze off the lake before heading back. On our return trip, David counted over 20 sightings of bear scat…rattle, rattle, rattle.

The Mystery Lake

I had another lesson driving the dinghy to and from the shore. It is evident to both of us that I need lots of practice especially bringing her in to a dock and back to the side of the boat with no brakes!

Oh, by the way, we ended up trapping four huge male crabs. It was a good day.