Great Bear Rainforest: Getting Started

Doug's sister, Debra, and our brother-in-law, Ralph, joined us for a three week cruise through the Great Bear Rainforest which is remarkable for wolves, grizzlies, Tyee salmon, spectacular water falls, giant prawns, towering black granite mountains, natural hot springs and hanging glaciers. It is considered the most pristine area of the British Columbia Coast. It is wild country with a few services located at remote First Nation Settlements - not a place for those who are fully self-sufficient since much of the area is outside of the radio range of the Canadian Coastguard.

Our first stop was to a proven salmon fishing area in the Bella Bella area where our friend and master fisherman, Mel, took Ralph out fishing and put two Chinook in the box - both in their mid twenties. Meanwhile Mel's wife, Bernice, gave Deb advice about the trip north.

And so we headed outside of the land of calm waters (the Inland Passage) on the west side of the Aristazabal Island where we sighted a pair of Sandhill Cranes and Deb caught two small halibut. A wonderful beginning to our journey.

Waiting in Shearwater

Last year my friend Heidi asked Doug how many "motors" he had on the boat. I think we readily identified 19 all of which need to be maintained. It was not a total surprise when our water maker decided to be difficult. Such would be in keeping with the mariner's tradition of working on boats in remote and exotic places such as Shearwater, British Columbia.

Shearwater has an interesting history. During the WWII it was a Canadian military outpost. The hangers are now a boatyard and the headquarters are the elementary school. Shearwater lodge is a mecca for fishermen and sports a good restaurant and bar and a well stocked grocery store as well as a nice laundromat. An interesting addition this year is a new lodge that was floated early this spring. Throughout British Columbia there is a history of floating houses and floating fishing lodges. The advantage is that when circumstances change or the fish move it is an easy relocation. The new lodge was purchased and floated in on a high high tide. It still sits on the barge which is now covered with a rock facing.

Shearwater is an assembly of interesting people from many different walks of life. Notable are Rob who we befriended in Eucott Bay when he had boat trouble last summer. Rob hails from Fort St. John where he had a trucking business that hauled fuel and raised wild boars. He has made a great life transition and now hunts for prawns and works for Shearwater.

Ian and Karen McAllister have dedicated their lives to keeping the north coast of British Columbia safe for wildlife and pristine. Please visit their website at

pacificwild.org

where you will be treated to some of the most remarkable wildlife photography and a description of their passionate work.

There are certainly less attractive places to wait for parts. We visited friends, watched a beautiful black bear taste a neighbor's lawn, and were enchanted by the sunset. A pleasant few days of waiting.

Beach Combing

What treasures do winter storms bring to the Central Coast? Only a day of beach combing will tell. With our friends, Ed and Ann, we set forth both small dinks in a big sea. We slipped through the cut and chose beaches exposed to the southwest storms. One rocky and piled high with logs and the other sand swept clean.

And this time the treasures were practical - crab trap floats, thick rope and barrels. Unlike last year there were no Japanese glass fishing floats. But another beach and another time will yield new treasures. Now it is time to fish.

Ohhhhhh, Jan caught ANOTHER salmon. This time on a diver with a double green hootchie. It hit like a freight train and dove five times. Living is easy and the fishing is good.

Sharing with the Eagles

Our larder was well stocked with crab, prawns and oysters. We had eaten two delicious meals of ling cod but what we really longed for was salmon. Our first fishing day brought nary a nibble and so we traveled on to our exceptional fishing area out of Shearwater, B.C.

We rounded the point and were greeted by our old friends an enclave of bald eagles who fondly remembered us from last year. When we would catch and share the fish carcasses with the locals - mostly eagles and a couple of stray mink. We trolled on and our old friends, the eagles, watched with disdain, unsure whether we had returned with either luck or skills.

Suddenly, I heard Doug yell those favorite words, "FISH ON"! and the eagles cheered my landing a nice 24 lb king. Scarcely had we put the lines down when Doug yelled again. This one was his fish (we take turns). It dove five times and bent his pole nearly double. As I finally managed to slip the net under the 32 lb Spring, the eagles swooped overhead knowing that dinner tonight would be exceptional. No more bait fish for the mighty eagle - tonight would be a salmon feast. And feast they did, uncharacteristically sharing the larder without chasing one another. Sometimes it is just better to eat in peace. They are happy that the fishermen have returned.

EAGLE FACTS:

Female eagles are 25% larger than male eagles.
Alaskan eagles are the largest with recorded weights to 17 lbs.
Eagles live 20 to 25 years in the wild and up to 45 years in captivity.
Eagles glide at rates up to 45 mph.
Eagles dive as fast as 99 mph.
Eagles have been documented to carry a 15 lb mule deer fawn.
The largest eagle nest recorded was 20 feet deep, 9.5 feet wide and weighed 2.7 tons.

The Beauties and The BeastLings

Beauties in our lives are on all fronts.

My dear "daughter", Maria and granddaughter, Lia, joined us with a friend for Spring Break. A shop-till-you-drop experience brought on by the lack of malls in downtown Manson. We are proud to announce that Lia got her driver's license on the first try and is qualified to be her mother's lackey!

We spend as much time as we can with Jan's cousin, Wendy, and her sweet girls. At Payton's birthday party we were lucky to meet Kuzi's parents and his sister as well asvisit with Wendy's Mom, Dar, again. It was a lovely party and the girls were gorgeous. We are blessed to be Aunt Jan and Uncle Doug to such beautiful children!

More Beauties are coming. Doug's daughter, Shari and her handsome husband, Ryan, are expecting in July. The gender of the baby will be a surprise to everyone but Beavers come in boys and girls!

My nephew, Seth, and his beautiful wife, Meghan, are expecting identical twin girls in a couple of weeks. Ah, the become a Greatest Aunt Jan and Greatest Uncle Doug. "Ant" Jan has been knitting!

And then there are the Ling Cod Beasts. It took us 15 minutes to catch our daily limit of one each. Good eating but certainly not beauties.

Season to Season Part 2 (Mexico)

Somehow I don't think that we have things quite right. When the weather is beautiful in Washington we head north to Canada. When the drizzles of November and the snows of December come we hunker down in Olympia. It is just not right. This year we got a bit smarter and spent a month in Mexico. We had no issues and things in Puerto Vallarta were fine.

Our biggest fear was being unwilling participants in the Puerto Vallarta 500 which is held daily courtesy of the public bus drivers who pull up to stop lights only to find that their testosterone had gone wild. Revving their engines and slyly watching one another they bolt out of the intersection at break neck speed. Pedestrians beware.

Our friends, Jerry and Mary Lee, were delayed and so we headed to a funky little town named Yelapa which was a 60's haven for draft dodger and musicians. Our bungalow had three walls and a curtain looking out over the river. We were treated to a morning show by the Pale Billed woodpecker which is a close relative of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

Back in Puerto Vallarta we met Jerry and Mary Lee and new friends, Gale and Dana who live most of the year in PV. We ate wonderful food, enjoyed the botanical gardens and were treated to a wonderful night of Karoke in which Mary Lee was the star. We took a quick trip to Manzanillo aboard the Sea Story. We enjoyed turtles and whales in route and like Manzanillo.

It was a nice break that ended the last day of March. We came back to low land snow. Our ticket for next fall is one way - we will call for a weather report before returning!

Season to Season Part 1

I have been remiss in my blogging - we have been having too much fun. Last September we watched a pair of charming grizzly cubs for days and then headed south to Victoria. We stayed at the Canadian Sailing Club and played in a nearby bridge tournament. Each evening we stopped in for a beer and a visit with the Old Salts.

We did well at the tournament and met several new Canadian friends. We enjoyed an Emily Carr exhibit and had our Canadian Beer picture taken. After a quick trip to Chelan and lunch with dear friends we headed to Florida and an East Coast Road trip that lasted six weeks. We drove to Indianapolis and enjoyed a visit with Doug's daughter, Shari, and her husband Ryan. Savannah and Charleston are as charming as usual.

By March we were wondering what we were doing in the northwest rain and snow and headed for Mexico.