July 1, 2007 – Gorge Harbor

We started the morning in Campbell River, BC with Bob and Lauren. Last night we ate at Patti Finn’s Seafood, in Discovery Harbour, ON THE DOCKS….literally, the restaurant is part of the docks. Patti is a hoot. She has hair that resembles Pippi Longstocking, but at an age quite a few removed from the character. They have a small but good menu of salmon (but they were out of it), halibut (but they were out of it), swimming scallops (yes they swim), and crab. We had a great appetizer of mussels in a crème curry sauce. It was incredible! The beer was flowing and we had to wait a bit longer than we would have liked for our main course, but when it came, it was well worth it. The ladies got their meals first, and due to the late timing of dinner dug in with gusto. Bob and I had to wait, and the delay caused us to be out of synch. In the end it worked out in our favor. The cook came out and sat with Bob and I as we wrapped up our dinner, and then the ladies and the Ali and Cooper joined us. As the only ones left in the restaurant at 11:00 PM, it was a great time.
On the way back to the boat, we saw what is commonly referred to as a “blue moon”. This is when there is a full moon twice in the same month. As we left the restaurant the moon was coming up over the water with an eerie sheen. Absolutely beautiful!
This morning, we said goodbye to Bob and Lauren. As mentioned previously, there was a casualty with our French press, and this morning they replaced it with a new one from Starbucks. Thanks! We headed out of Discovery Marina, at 10:00 AM. The tide was flowing North at about 9 knots and we were heading South at 5 knots. The net was as you might imagine. So instead of fighting a nasty head current we ducked into a back eddy on the East side of the channel near Yaculta (yeah go Google that one) and weaved out of Discovery Passage (part of the Inside Passage which goes from Seattle to Alaska). From there we had an uneventful trip across Sutil Channel and into Gorge Harbour. Now Gorge Harbour is the most unique harbor entrance we have ever encountered. It is 150 – 200 feet wide, and averages 35 – 55 feet deep in the middle. The walls on the West side of the passage are 200 feet high. They tower over the passage and makes it look as though you are entering another dimension. Though we have not located them yet, we have read that there are Native American writing and pictures on the side of the cliff.

After anchoring on the North West side of the harbor, we put our new kayaks in the water. They are great. We had a headed to the front of the harbor and made an attempt to head out and check the cliff out again, but the tide was running too fast. We decided to turn around at the entrance and ride the tide back to GONE WITH THE WIND. On our way back we had a really incredible experience. A young seal took a liking to us and kept following all the way back to the boat. At one point he was about 10 feet from Cae, and Cooper got his scent and freaked. Cooper literally climbed up Cae’s head and was scared to death. This cat and mouse game continued for about an hour as we made our way back. Ali on the other hand, laid down in the center of the kayak with me and watched the world go by. What a difference between the two! As we approached GONE WITH THE WIND, Cae maneuvered Cooper for an exit onto the transom of the boat. He took the hint very well, jump up onto the transom, back down one Cae’s kayak and then tried to get onto Ali and my kayak. All went well in the first jump back onto Cae’s kayak, but when he tried to make it onto Ali’s and mine, he did not quite make it. His front feet were on my kayak, and his back were on Cae’s, and ever so slowly the two drifted apart with Cooper splaying himself in between. The end result was a splash. Tomorrow we are off to Cortes Island and an outstation.