We’re up at 0500 hrs and underway by 0530 hrs, hoping to get to Khutze before the wind comes up.  The seas can get real mean in Hiekish Narrows, but we’re fortunate enough to hit them at slack tide, and calm wind.  And, our luck held all the way up Princess Royal Channel

As you can see, there is still a lot of snow on the mountains above Khutze.

 

 

 

The ferry with fresh produce arrives at Klemtu this morning.  Hoping to get there before everything’s gone, we’re underway early.  Luckily, the fog has burned off by the time we have our anchor up. 

The run to Klemtu was short and uneventful.  We topped off our fuel and water tanks, and then waited for the store to open. 

There were about 20 locals ahead of us when the doors finally opened.  The atmosphere was like a party, with everyone calling out to people they knew, while frantically searching out the items they wanted, hoping to get them before they were gone.  It was a real jolly crowd, and everything seemed to be cause for laughter.

The fresh cherries, blueberries, strawberries and milk were going fast, but I managed to grab beautiful plums, mangoes, pears, cherries, apples, pineapple, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, yams, and corn on the cob.  They didn’t have any almond milk, but I managed to pick up a couple of half gallons of 2% milk.  In fact, the only thing on our list that they didn’t have was zucchini.  Apparently, the locals aren’t into zucchini.

We didn’t waste any time getting underway again, heading back to Bottleneck for the night, so that we can get any early start for Khutze Inlet in the morning.

Between rain squalls I managed to get a paddle in every day.  On my first day, I spotted some lettuce lungwort growing on a Douglas fir.  I’d just read about lettuce lungwort, a lichen that grows on very old trees, in the book, “Wild Trees”, and here it was in Bottleneck Inlet.

 

The elderberries have started ripening.  Can the bears be far behind? 

I found this winter wren hopping all over some logs that had been exposed by the low tide.  This little guy is only about 4 inches overall, and is the color of the logs, so he’s very hard to spot.  Unfortunately, the winter wren never seems to stay in one place more than a second or two, so getting a decent shot is almost impossible.

 

While I was trying to get a shot of the winter wren, this river otter popped up just ahead of me.  I think he was as shocked as I was. 

 

 

He slid out of sight, only to re-surface just a few yards away.

Kingfishers have been really scarce this year, so I was excited when I spotted this lovely lady.

 

 

I discovered this beautiful waterfall high up on one of the granite outcroppings.

This lush elderberry bush caught my eye.

This devil’s club isn’t quite ripe, but it made a colorful subject.

While I was paddling in close to shore, looking for land birds one day, I got the fright of my life.  It sounded like a mountain lion growling, and it sounded like it was right overhead.  I immediately started backpaddling away from shore, looking up in the overhanging trees to see where it was lurking.  Nothing.  Well, I was glad I didn’t see anything, but what was that?  As I was sitting there, waiting for my heart to stop racing, I heard another growl.  This growl was not as fierce.  I looked around, and about that time I heard it again.  The growling was coming from this rock.  Apparently, when the tide is just right, and there is a surge, the water running in and out of this hole makes this rock growl.  Mystery solved.  

 

 

Low tide attracted this Steller’s jay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was shooting the Steller’s jay, this cute little mink popped his head out of a hole in the rocks. 

 

Like the river otter, he was curious also, but too timid to hang around long enough for me to get a decent shot.

While I was searching the shoreline looking for land birds, I spotted what I thought was a colorful fungus growing on a log.  I zoomed way in and took this shot. 

When I paddled to where I could get this closer shot, I discovered it wasn’t fungus at all;  It was a rock crab wedged in a split in a log.

 

I’m always looking for interesting rocks, like this “pyramid rock”.  The patterns etched by water, over time, have created what looks like an Egyptian relic.

 

 

Today we made the big move from Wallace Bight Lagoon to Bottleneck Inlet.  It took about half an hour, since we only had to go 2 miles.  There weren’t any boats in the anchorage when we arrived, but it wasn’t long before a couple of boats showed up.  It’s still raining.

It rained every day.  And, some days , it rained 24/7.  But, with my rain gear on I managed to get out paddling every day.  My camera, though not waterproof, is apparently water resistant, because it took a real dousing and is still working just fine.

I headed out to Finlayson Channel most days.

First, I wanted to explore this rock wall, where I hoped to find lots of interesting creatures exposed by the spring tide.

These green anemones caught my eye.

 

   

        

 

 

 

 

I’d never seen these creatures before.  They were only about 1.5 inches in diameter, but they looked like anemones.  There were thousands of them.

 

And then there was the unusual hanging curtain of anemones.

 

This has been a great year for sea stars also.  I’ve never seen so many.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, there were lots of sea urchins this year.  I had to be really careful around these guys, for fear they might puncture my kayak.  Not good.

 

 

This large rock had lots of sea urchins growing on it.

 

       

One day I came across a first for me.  I was trying to figure out what this thing was, when all of a sudden it made a quick 45 degree turn.  Now, that got my attention.  When I looked closer, I discovered that it was an abalone!  I had no idea abalones had moves like that. 

 

 

When I looked along the wall a little further, I discovered another abalone, a very colorful one.

 

I also spotted this abalone surrounded by a green anemone and a sea star.  The sea star might have been sizing up the abalone for his next meal.

 

      

There were also colorful sea snails.

 

 

I found lots of mussels — millions of mussels — like the ones on this rocky point.

Many of these mussels were tiny, like the size of pencil eraser.

And among the tiny mussels, I found this tiny scallop-looking shell, which was only about 1/2 inch across….so cute.

 

 

On a day when the tide was a little higher, I spotted this colorful anemone just below the surface of the water.

 

There were also lots of these fat sea cucumbers.

 

Each day I paddled out the inlet I looked for critters.  This year, I was lucky enough to find several minks.

 

 

 

 

 

While I was taking shots of one of the minks, I spotted something swimming toward shore….. a river otter!

Unfortunately, as soon as he hauled out of the water he made a mad dash for the trees, climbing up a rock wall that looked impossible to climb.

 

The only duck I was able to find in Wallace Bight this year was the loon, so I took lots of shots of loons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While scouring the shores for critters, I some times found nothing more that a few berry bushes to photograph, like this devil’s club, which hadn’t quite started to ripen….

And these salmon berries, which had started ripening.

I also spotted this wild red columbine way up on a moss-covered granite outcropping.

 

 

At the opposite end of the lagoon, there is a large creek, with lots of logs piled up on a sandbar, one of which sports this beautiful fern.

 

 

 

Apparently, the water has warmed up, because I also spotted this large, colorful jellyfish…

…and this very small jellyfish, which was only about 4 inches in diameter, but very striking.

One morning I was paddling around inside the lagoon, waiting for the fog to lift so that I could head outside, when I spotted what I thought was a sailboat aground in the entrance to the lagoon.  When I zoomed it in with my camera to get a better look, it definitely looked like it was stuck in the entrance.  I called Al to tell him about the boat, but he had his radio off.  So, I paddled out to take a look and see if I could be of any help.  The wind had come up, and I was having to paddle against the current, but it seemed like the boat was getting farther away.  Finally, I got close enough that I could see that the boat was not in the entrance, but just outside.  When I had zoomed the boat in with my camera it had created an optical illusion, making the background seem closer than it was.  Well, that was a relief.  To my surprise, the sailboat was 147 feet long!  It was the gorgeous Ron Rolland design,“Clan VIII”, built in Valletta, Italy, by Perini Navi.   Very impressive.  I discovered online that this boat charters for $150,00 per week, plus expenses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had launched their inflatable so that the owners could explore the shore a bit.  When the owners were returning, they spotted me in my kayak and came over.  “Where have you come from?”, they asked.  I said, “I’m from Seattle”.  “And you’re out here all by yourself?” , they asked, incredulously.  Then I understood that they thought I had paddled from Seattle.  I assured them that I had come from Seattle on my bigger boat, which was anchored in Wallace Bight, and thanked them for their concern.  They were quite relieved.

We’re getting pretty low on fresh produce, so this morning we’re headed to Wallace Bight, by way of Klemtu.  Klemtu receives fresh produce from the ferry every 2 weeks.  Their last delivery was 3 days ago.  The probability of them having much left by now is pretty slim, but we’ve got to give it a shot.

Naturally, a spring tide is running today, so getting up to the fuel dock at Klemtu was challenging.  But, by using the thrusters, and with the help of a guy on the dock, we managed to get in without any mishaps.

We took on fuel, propane and water, and Alan, the fellow who runs the fuel dock, was nice enough to take our trash.  Al tipped him ten bucks, and everyone was happy.

Amazingly, there was still quite a bit of produce left in the store.  I even managed to pick up a pineapple, grapes, some nice plums and apples, and a tired looking mango.  They apparently don’t carry zucchinis for whatever reason, but they had cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.  Not bad.  While under way for Wallace Bight, I treated all the veggies with a bleach solution and got everything stowed.

With all the boats anchored around us, I wasn’t expecting to find much in the way of wildlife on my paddle this morning.  However, right off I spotted this great blue heron fishing along the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy took his fishing seriously, so focused on his prey that he didn’t see me at all.  And then he caught one!  Not a very big one, but every little bit helps, and there seemed to be quite a school of them, because he caught one after another of the little guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then, he decided to move on, looking for bigger game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And he found it!  Yay!!

 

 

 

 

It was so much fun watching Mr. Heron catch fish after fish, but I decided I’d better see if I could find any other birds in Rescue.  So, I paddled out toward Mathieson Channel.  I didn’t find much until I got all the way out into Mathieson, where I spotted some color in the trees.  There were several Steller’s jays flitting from treetop to treetop, too far away to photograph.  Finally, one of them landed on some rocks.

 

 

 

He spotted a spider that looked like it might be tasty.

 

 

And, salal berries are always nice for dessert.

 

On my way back to the boat I spotted a couple of mergansers.  I haven’t seen many mergansers this year.  They usually don’t let me get very close, so I had to settle for this one long shot.

 

 

This evening, a Red-necked Grebe flew into the anchorage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He spent a lot of time preening.

 

I haven’t had any problem finding marbled murrelets this year.  They’ve been in every anchorage.  Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to photograph because they are so shy and small, and they are in constant motion.  They are an endangered species, so it’s nice to see them doing so well this year.  I just finished reading a fascinating book called, “The Wild Trees”, by Richard Preston, in which he notes that in the moss-covered canopy of 370-foot tall old growth trees, they have found nests of the marbled murrelet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s raining when we leave Boat Inlet, headed for Rescue Cove, in Jackson Passage.  Luckily, the wind is still calm, because when we headed across the little stretch of Milbanke Sound,  headed for Percival Narrows, the swells were about ten feet high! 

When we got to Rescue Cove, once again we had the anchorage to ourselves.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.  After about an hour, one boat after another started arriving. 

 

 

It rained all night.  This morning, however, the sun put in a brief appearance.  As I scanned the shoreline, looking for critters, this bear appeared.  He was on a mission, looking for breakfast.  His fur looked soaking wet, so maybe he’d had an early morning swim, it was a nice morning for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some salal berries caught his eye.  He couldn’t resist.

 

Well, that was fun.

I got suited up and launched my kayak, hoping to get some shots of ducks.  There were goldeneyes here last year.  After paddling all around the inlet, however, I didn’t find one bird.  So, I headed out into Reid Channel.  Luckily there wasn’t much boat traffic in Reid this morning, other than this one boat I spotted just beyond the buoy marking Carne Rock.

I paddled along the shore looking for photo ops, and not finding much.  When I spotted this crab just below the surface, I decided to see if I could get a shot of him before he headed under a rock.

 

 

Just as I was heading back into the anchorage, I spotted this eagle way up in a tree.

 

He let me get this one shot, and then took off across the channel.  I paddled like crazy hoping to get another shot of him.  Finally, he landed in a tree, where I was able to get some more shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s raining as we pull the anchor this morning, but the wind hasn’t come up yet, so the seas are calm.  As ugly as the wind and seas have been in Spiller Inlet lately, it looks like we’ve lucked out.

We made good time and had our anchor down in Boat Inlet in 3.5 hours.  The seas, other than the usual ocean swell at the East entrance to Seaforth Channel, were flat calm the whole way.  And, as usual, there were no boats anchored in Boat Inlet, which is one of the reasons we like it.