High tide is at 0837 hrs, but I wanted to get an early start to maximize the amount of time I could spend at Barnard Creek, before the water started receding. As I was leaving the boat, I spotted this pair of Loons.

As I got closer to the creek, I spotted this perturbed immature eagle.

I shot a video of the salmon jumping, since it’s almost impossible to get a still shot of them jumping. I’ll post the video on YouTube when I get home.

This wasn’t a very high tide, actually a neap tide, so the water wasn’t much higher than yesterday. I did manage to get passed the berm, however. But, as you can see, I didn’t have much water under me.

I was thinking that grizzly would have no problem just wading out into the water to get me.  Then, I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye. I was getting ready to make a quick exit, when I realized it was bright yellow. I’ve never seen any bright yellow bears.  What I was seeing wasn’t a grizzly, but paparazzi!

This guy was hailing his friends who were paddling a canoe.

They proceeded to set up a tripod, with the camera aimed into the trees.

I have no idea what they were trying to shoot, but there wasn’t much chance of any bears showing up with all this hubbub. So, I turned around and called Al to tell him I was on my way back. He said he’d have breakfast ready for me when I got there. Nice.

I’d set my alarm clock to wake me at 0530 hrs. It was still pitch dark and raining at that hour, but by the time I was ready to go at 0630 hrs, there was plenty of light to paddle my way up to the mouth of Barnard Creek.

Along the way I found this one eagle, who was waiting for high water too, which is when the salmon find it the easiest to get up the creek to spawn.

There were huge salmon jumping all around me, but never when I had my camera focused on them. I could see schools of them swimming beneath the surface of the water. It was actually a little frightening. If several of them jumped while under me, I might be swimming also.

It was important to keep my eye on the water level, because I only had about 15 inches of water under me at times, and I draw about a foot with the little skeg that hangs down. And, the tide was dropping. So, I was constantly looking for deeper water. I finally found a little deeper water area near the shore where the creek enters the cove, and managed to work my way closer to the mouth of the creek.

I was trying to get a shot of an eagle that was just behind a berm at the mouth of the creek, when I spotted a bear!  I could not believe my good fortune! And, judging by the hump on its back, it was a grizzly!!

He headed for the creek, out of sight behind that darn berm. But, I tried to be patient, making sure I had enough water to float, and wasn’t so close to shore that I might be eaten. After what seemed like an eternity, the bear gave up on fishing and headed for some much easier to acquire grass.

Apparently all that fishing tuckered him right out. He figured you can eat grass just as easily sitting down.

He was all comfortable and enjoying his grass, when the crows started cawing like crazy. That got his attention.

Mr. Wolf was in the area looking for a little salmon for breakfast also, and suffered the same lousy fishing luck as Mr. Bear.

He wandered over to Mr. Bear and looked like he wanted to hang out with him.

The crows didn’t like Mr. Wolf one bit, and got right in his face, cawing up a storm.

Mr. Wolf couldn’t be bothered with them and headed back to find Mr. Bear.

About that time, two of Mr. Wolf’s buddies showed up. My eyes just got bigger and bigger. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Mr. Bear, at first didn’t seem too concerned. He just went back to eating grass.

But, then the wolves started inching in closer to Mr. Bear.

Finally, Mr. Bear figured out they were up to no good and took off for the trees. I didn’t get to see the end of the story, but I’m rooting for Mr. Bear.

And I took off for deeper water.

It’s another beautiful sunny day this morning as I set out for the head of the cove and Barnard Creek. The tide wasn’t high enough for me to go up the creek, but on my way I encountered about 15 eagles! They were everywhere.

I spotted a family, mamma, pappa, and junior.

I spotted another immature eagle in a tree, probably waiting for mamma and pappa to bring him breakfast.

I continued on around the shore, headed for the east side of the cove. Along the way I spotted this pretty Bonaparte’s Gull.

I heard crows cawing. They’d landed in a nearby tree.

Along a flat rock wall I spotted this snail that was moving!

And, there were huge Barnacles.

And, a ballerina Sea Star

This morning I paddled out the entrance channel, hoping to get some more shots of that eagle, but he never showed. I waited and waited, but there just wasn’t anything to shoot. The tide was still going out, running at about 2 knots. I paddled back and forth for almost an hour, hoping for something to show up that I could photograph. The only thing I saw was this Devil’s Club.

Not very interesting. I kept looking at the water at the entrance, thinking I might try to paddle all the way outside. I decided to check it out. I got to within about 75 feet of the opening and could see rips all the way across, and there was a bit of a swell running. Nope, I wasn’t brave enough to try to make it through there. However, I thought maybe it would be a bit tamer at slack, which was in about 30 minutes. So, I waited some more. Finally, the rips started receding to the center of the channel, so I decided to paddle along the shore where the water was smoother. I paddled like crazy and made it through without any problem at all. Once outside, however, the swells were bigger. I thought about it for about 30 seconds and decided I’d better head back in.

When I got back to the boat, Al suggested heading on down to Cameron Cove, on Princess Royal Island. We galvanized into aciton and had the anchor up and were on our way in about 15 minutes. The wind had come up a bit in Squally Channel, and there were tide rips to deal with, but after about 5 miles the seas smoothed out and we had a nice run down to Cameron. We spotted a humpback whale feeding in Whale Channel, but he was too far away to get any decent shots.

I got out on the water about an hour before lower low tide this morning. Consequently, it was too shallow for me to get very close to the head of the cove. I did, however, discover a creek that isn’t visible at high tide.

I also spotted this female Kingfisher.

I heard ravens cawing and set out to find them. They didn’t like me invading their territory and were giving me a piece of their mind.

There was hardly any current in the entrance channel, so I paddled all the way out until I encountered some swells. The wind was blowing just a bit outside. I turned around and was heading back to the boat when I spotted this eagle. I let the current carry me closer to him and started shooting. He was doing some maintenance on his feathers and had one stuck on his beak, which detracted a bit from his normal regal bearing.

He finally decided I was a bit too close for comfort and head for the other side of the channel. I stayed where I was, which took some doing, since the current was carrying me away. I’d have to paddle into position, try to locate him again and try to get a shot off before the current turned me around. I’m sure I was a lot of entertainment for him.

Another beautiful sunny day greets us this morning. I was up early, wanting to get my paddle in before it got too hot. I started out at the head of our little cove, being careful to avoid the narrows for Cridge Lagoon and Tuwartz Narrows, where the current can get pretty strong at times. I took a peek at the rapids at the entrane to Cridge Lagoon and decided I didn’t really need to see what was back there.

I was happy to just poke around Tuwartz Lagoon, which is beautiful.

A commercial crabber was pulling his traps, and he had a lot of them.

As he was leaving, I spotted dolphins playing in his wake. They were too quick for me to get a shot, however. Darn!

When I got back to the boat, Al was busy trying to find the source of a small leak that was generating about a gallon of water in our bilge every day. He’d noticed recently that the fresh water pump has been cycling on about every 5 minutes. When he checked the plumbing in the head, he discovered that a cone washer on the cold water pipe for the sink in our head was leaking. Al had helped our friend Doug MacGillivray fix the same fitting on his boat several years ago, and learned that he needed a special tool to make the job easier, which Al bought, luckily. So, within a short time, he replaced the cone washers on both the hot and cold water pipes. No more leak.

The weather is so good for traveling, and the tide right now is high enough for us to get through the narrows, so we decide to head for MacDonald Cove on Gil Island, just an hour run from here.

We have another perfect day for traveling, and the sun is just coming up as we head out for Tuwartz Inlet, at the southern tip of Pitt Island.

As we got to Otter Channel, Al yelled, “Whales!” I grabbed my camera and headed to the foredeck to see if I could get some shots.

There seemed to be four whales. They were really carrying on, breaching and rolling. I’ve learned that it’s almost impossible to get still shots, so I shot video. I did get this teaser still shot though. The video won’t be ready for YouTube until we get home.

We got to Tuwartz about 2 hours before high water slack, so we anchored outside the lagoon and had dinner. As soon as the water was slack in the narrows, we moved into the lagoon to anchor for the night. I can’t wait to go paddling in the morning. There are lots of places here to poke around.

It’s another beautiful summer day, perfect for paddling. The seas are flat calm this morning, so I head out to the entrance to  check out the kelp beds. Al’s thinking about trying to get some rock fish for another batch of fish chowder.

Just outside the entrance, I actually spotted a nice looking fish that would be perfect for the pot, .

On my way back to the boat I came across this female Kingfisher.

I couldn’t quite catch it, but she definitely had something to say.

I spotted this little duck hiding along the shore. I’m going to have to consult Google to find out what it is.

When I got back to the boat, I told Al where to go for rock fish. In about 30 minutes he had all he needed. He could’nt keep them off the hook!

I went out for another paddle at high tide, so that I could get into all the areas that were high and dry this morning at low tide. I came across another duck I’ve never seen, and haven’t been able to identify.

Then, I saw this pair of camera-shy Goldeneyes sneaking along the shore.

I was so glad I did this second paddle at high tide, because it really is beautiful at the head of the cove. Too bad it dries at low tide, or it would be a beautiful place to anchor.

Al had put out a crab trap this morning. When he pulled it he only had one crab, but it was big enough for a delicious crab and pasta dinner.

We were up with the sun this morning, headed for Colby Bay, on Banks Island, just southwest of here. Sea conditions were perfect, and we had the current with us. We pretty much have the sea to ourselves these days. It’s been three days since we’ve seen another boat.

The first time we visited Colby Bay several years ago, we had battery problems. There must be something about Colby, because we’ve just discovered a dead cell in one of our 6-volt house batteries, which means we’ve lost two batteries, because it takes two 6-volt batteries to make 12 volts. Fortunately, we have four more 6-volt house batteries, so everything is working just fine. The engine starting batteries are on another system, so we don’t have to worry about starting the engines. Al called the battery company on the sattelite phone and they have agreed to replace the bad battery free of charge, since we’ve only had it two years.

There aren’t any boats in the anchorage, but tons of Mew Gulls. There are huge schools of herring, or anchovies, I don’t know which, and the Mew Gulls are having a feast.

We awoke to a beautiful day with wall-to-wall blue skies. I was out paddling early, eager to see what I could find with this super-low tide. I scoured the shoreline, looking for critters. I wasn’t having much luck, until I ran across this giant sea star. It was so big I thought it might be some albino octopus. It’s legs looked to be at least 12 inches long.

Then, I spotted a Loon in the distance. I paddled, and paddled, and paddled some more, trying to get between him and the sun, and close enough to get a shot. Each time I thought I had him, he’d dive, and then I’d paddle some more. He finally wore me out. I took this one poor shot and headed back for the boat.

On my way I spotted a bear on the beach, too far away to get a shot, of course.  Oh, well.

Al decided he wanted to take a look at the lagoon, which we’ve never been able to get into before, because of the nasty rapids and rocks that block the entrance.  Since there is a Spring Tide today, he thought we might have a chance with the higher tide. So, we hopped in the dinghy an hour before high tide, hoping to wait around until the tide turned, and then float on in to the lagoon. It was a beautiful day, and the view of the mountains behind the lagoon was gorgeous.

 

Unfortunately, there were a million “Little Biters”, as I call them. They are sneaky little buggers and their bite itches for at least 10 days. They like to bite me on my hands when I’m taking pictures.

After an hour of waiting and swatting, the water was still pouring into the lagoon, creating very nasty rips and an overfall at the narrows. This lagoon is obviously bigger than we thought, which means it takes longer to fill up. So, we waited some more.

While we were waiting, I spotted this cute Sandpiper bobbing along the shore.

After waiting another 30 minutes there were still rapids in the narrows, even though the tide was starting to drop.

There were some nasty boulders starting to surface behind us. If we waited too long, we’d be trapped. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk of ruining our prop, so we headed back to the boat. Oh, well. We probably just missed seeing more water, trees, and rocks.