Port McNeill to Napier Bay

Today we will cast off on our trip through the Broughton Islands. However, there is still a long list of “must do’s” before we can leave. Provisioning was first on the list. Today was the day we are going to get our fresh meats and other perishables. There are two grocery stores in Port McNeill and we shopped at both in order to try to get the best each had to offer. Once done, supplies were stowed on board Arctic Star and we then greeted the fellow from Comox Valley Kayaks who rented us our Kayaks for the next three weeks. They delivered them to the docks some two hours from their base of operation in Comox. The three of us took the two kayaks in hand and marched down the long docks toward the boat, looking like a train made up of two bright red Kayaks.

Next, we had to return the rental car. That was a 20-kilometer drive to the Budget rental car facility at the Port Hardy airport. Steve Jackman, our harbour master host at Port McNeill, was kind enough to loan us his van as chase vehicle for the rental car return mission.

After returning the car, we went into Port Hardy to the Overwaitea grocery for some even more last minute shopping. What a great store. Pricier than the one in Port McNeill but they have some of the best produce we have seen in all our provisioning on Vancouver Island.

Next we stopped at IV’s at the Quarterdeck for some halibut fish and chips accompanied by sweet potato fries with curry. “Yummy” said Karen.

By the time we returned to Port McNeill, offloaded the last of the provisions and retuned Steve’s van, it was 3:45pm before we left the dock at Port McNeill. The seas were two to four feet in swells. Arctic Star handled them with aplomb.

We were headed to Napier Bay, just a two hour drive across Queen Charlotte Strait from Port McNeill. When we arrived, there were 5 other boats at anchor. We picked our spot and set anchor.

Port McNeill

We were up and at ‘em Friday morning, making sure to hit the breakfast buffet at the Black Bear Lodge before starting our crazy day. It was good, especially Karen’s waffle. I think I’ll have one of those tomorrow. We decided to head for the docks and find Arctic Star and Steve Jackman, our “host” at the docks who was responsible for cleaning and doing some quick boat maintenance. We found both right away. Steve is a great guy who runs multiple businesses in Port McNeill, and he had lots of information to share.

Because he had things well in hand and we couldn’t get aboard till later, we decided to spend our day in Alert Bay. It's the location of an Indian reservation with the renowned U’mista Cultural Center that showcases many Indian artifacts.

The ferry ride was an easy one – it took about 45 minutes from Port McNeill to Alert Bay.

The ferry to Alert Bay

This forty year old ferry looked almost new

The ferry carries about 30 cars or so, this one wasn’t quite full. When we disembarked, we headed right to the Visitors Information Center to get the lay of the land. After a quick lunch, we headed out to see some old totem poles and then to the U’mista Cultural Center.

Karen awaits lunch at Alert Bay

The Center was amazing. Built in the 80’s to house a just-returned collection of Potlatch items (especially masks), the Center is a source of great pride to the tribe. There was a great introductory video that explained history behind the Center and the impetus for the Canadian Government to return the “stolen” collection of items to the Indians.

Just part of the amazing collection of masks

A visit to the Big House is not to be missed

Karen shows the inspiration for the art on the canoe

Bob's new friend

After that, we drove up to the Ecological Reserve to walk through the rainforest a bit before heading back to Port McNeill. If we had it to do again, we’d arrange it so we had more time…but we had to return to get the keys to Arctic Star and start provisioning. After a long day, we had a quick bite at the Harbour Lights restaurant, which was really good, before doing a load of laundry and turning in for the evening.

Nanaimo to Port McNeill

We’re off. First we begin the process of provisioning for the three-week trip. Our goal is to get as much as possible in the more heavily populated area surrounding Nanaimo in order to maximize selection and minimize costs. Beer, wine, soda, paper towels, spices, and other staples that do not require refrigeration or freezing are on the list for today. After visiting a couple of stores for alcohol and a great grocery store with a great Asian specialty section, we pointed the rental car north on Route 19A. About an hour North, we diverted West on Route 4A to visited the Country Store, better known as the place with the “Goats on the Roof”. (The roof is steeply pitched with grass on it and lots of goats.)

This place is a strange mixture of gourmet food, homemade breads and baked goods and a restaurant. Lunch was first on the agenda, followed by trying to find unique food items we could find nowhere else, and a few perishables that would fit in the small refrigerator we’ll have in our hotel room in Port McNeill. After leaving The Country Store, it’s a long drive through logging country on North Vancouver Island. Karen worked on a presentation that had to be completed before we hopped on the boat.

On schedule, we pulled into Port McNeill and checked in to Black Bear Lodge. This is our second stay here and we can highly recommend it if you find yourself in Port McNeill.

Philadelphia to Nanaimo

Today is a travel day. We awoke at 3:15AM in order to catch a 6:30 flight from Philadelphia to Toronto. There we cleared customs, and waited for our next Air Canada flight to Vancouver. Our third and last flight is from Vancouver to Nanaimo. Karen waits for our ride to Nanaimo at the Vancouver airport

Our ride to Nananaimo

Fortunately, the weather and airline equipment cooperated and everything ran on time.

By 1:30PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time, we gathered our 200 pounds of gear and piled into a Budget rental car. Our plan is to spend the night in Nanaimo, reset our body clocks and then start out tomorrow on our four-hour drive to Port McNeill.

Dinner was at our favorite spot, Penny’s Palapas. This floating restaurant is located in the Nanaimo harbour. It serves the freshest food and the halibut tacos are not to be missed.

Bob at Penny's

We discovered a great bookstore a few steps from our hotel. They specialize in Canadian and especially British Columbia local and nautical books and charts.

Sidney Harbour

Day two of our exile in mechanical trouble land. Although I awoke early in anticipation of the mechanics being at the boat early, answer in hand, it did not transpire according to my optimistic timetable. I held my ground until 10AM when I called Frank, the boss, to see what the plan was. They were in the process of constructing some special hoses to allow them to try a couple of bypass workarounds. Also, they had sent the computer print outs to those who can decipher them. They hoped that the mechanics would be down later in the morning once the hoses were complete. Since they encouraged us to entertain ourselves by enjoying Sidney, (not an encouraging sign from our perspective) we acquiesced given that we were sick of looking at the inside of Arctic Star. Sidney is a town of ten bookstores, all within a few blocks of the docks. So off to browse the bookshelves we went. Sidney is indeed a great town of bookstores with anything you can imagine available within a ten minute walk. After buying some new reading material we stopped at Fish on 5th for lunch.

Turns out that this little, unimposing restaurant, knows its fish. I had halibut and chips (yam fries instead of white potatoes) and Karen enjoyed a fish taco. We both left satisfied.

Fish on the 5th...Yummy

As we walked back to the boat, we ran into Nigel pushing his wheelbarrow full of tools, diesel fuel soaked rags and the offending part. Today’s trouble shooting was fruitful and the offending part was a stuck check valve in the primer pump. Nigel was heading back to the shop to see if he had a replacement part. It was about 1PM now so we strolled back to Arctic Star via a circuitous route up and down the finger piers checking out the myriad of boats docked in Sidney harbor. Big, small, old, new and everything in between was laid out for our perusal. We often talk about the size of the tides in this part of the world. In Sidney harbour the impact of the wide tidal range is driven home at the back of the harbour. The tidal mud flats cover and uncover with dramatic effect.

High Tide

Low Tide

Around 2:30 Nigel returned with a brand new primer pump in hand. About a half hour later Nigel had the engine running and happy.

It was too late to cast off, especially given our destination and the forecast winds. So a celebration dinner was the plan, and we walked a few blocks to the Thai restaurant. Nothing fancy, but very popular and some say the best restaurant in Sidney. We enjoyed our dinner, followed by some ice cream aboard Arctic Star and early to bed. Tomorrow, we bid fond farewell to Sidney and return to our vacation.