VLetter 3   June 25, 00

Dear Tribe,
	
	Once again it time to exercise the old fingers. We are in Echo
Bay at the Windsong Sea Village. It is again a small village of float
houses tied to logs, anchored in a small cove. The people here are real
friendly, considering that they mostly move up here because they didn't
like people!

	After Bella Bella, we motored south and east through Lama
Passage in the rain. We tried to anchor in a small inlet mentioned in
one of the guide books, but another boat was already there and there
wasn't room for two. We went on across the main channel, Fisher Channel,
to Codville Lagoon. Low and behold Al and Judy were anchored there. We
put out the prawn trap on the way in. It was still misting, so we stayed
two nights. I took the dinghy out and pulled the prawn trap. About 50
big ones and some small ones. A good haul. Al gets really testy in the
rain. He never left his boat in two days!

	Next, we motored south down Fitz Hugh Sound. The salmon fishing
is supposed to be fantastic in this area, so we trolled with the
down-rigger that Trinda's Uncle Clifton gave us. Not even a nibble that
I noticed. I sure wish I had a salmon! We went on into Pruth Bay. It is
a marine park. It has a trail from the bay over the hill to a beautiful
sand beach on the open ocean. There were moderate sized waves breaking
on the beach. Muffy loved it. She ran and ran and ran in the surf and on
the beach. She got plumb full of sand. That night Al and Judy came over
and we played Hearts. It was a lot of fun. So were the margaritas! 

	The next day a northwest wind was predicted, so we left around
noon as it started to fill in. Just after we got the anchor up, we
pulled out the sails. It was cloudy and cold, but we sailed! We sailed
about 6 miles back to Fitz Hugh Sound and then about 12 miles down until
we turned the corner into Darby Channel to go to Dawson's Landing. We
had to motor the rest of the way in. It was a great sail, but Trinda got
a chill from the cold wind. The owners a Dawson's Landing grew up there,
35 years! They have a float house, store and fuel dock. They also have 3
or four rent float houses that they rent out during the summer to folks
that want to come up and fish. They had two little girls, 8 and 10. They
had just started swimming for the summer, and invited Trinda to go with
them. They swim between the float house and the shore. I checked the
water temperature, 59 degrees before the afternoon rain. Trinda let the
girls talk her into standing on their play float, about 6 foot square,
while they climbed up too. I forgot to mention that these girls were NOT
slender. As you guessed, we all heard a shrill scream from Trinda as
their combined weight sank the float and then turned it up sideways and
they all fell into the water. She had quite a bit of fun with the girls.
I even got the camera out and have a picture of here falling off as they
tried it again.

	We walked up the hill with them to the dam they draw water from.
It was a lot like the cement tank on the ranch, just next to a steep,
fast creek. They had a 4" pipe in the creek and over the tank to fill
it. The house water came from a stand pipe in the bottom of the tank.
They said that every time it rained hard, the water rising in the creek
washed the fill pipe out, or plugged it up so they had to walk up and
adjust it every few days. This time some debris had stopped up the fill
pipe, but since we were interested, they drained the tank and rinsed out
the bottom so we see how it worked. The trees here are mostly cedars, so
the ground runoff water is red after a rain. Al and Judy, being Yankees,
were afraid to drink the water. We decided not to fill our drinking boat
water tanks either.

	We put the prawn trap out here the second day and picked it up
on the way out. Again about 50 big ones, the tails about 3 1/2 inches
before cooking (they shrink when they get hot!). Al and Judy stayed
another night, so I radioed that Al should check his trap and put it out
again. He has a smaller trap and only got 20 and 15 each time. We went
to Little Frying Pan Bay that night. It was a small quiet bay with a
float tied in the corner. We tied to the float. It had an outhouse built
onto the corner of the float, no door and boards falling off the side,
and no bottom under the seat, just ocean!

	I took the dinghy out to try fishing again. I had good luck with
the Rockfish, I caught two medium ones, a sea cumber, a starfish, then a
small one. An eagle flew up just over my head and then to a tree top and
watched me. The next fish I caught was small, so I hit it in the head
and threw it overboard. The eagle immediately swooped down to grab it. I
thought that I was too close, only about 6' so I tried to row the dingy
away a little. It scared him and he flew past. I was quiet and he came
back. It is quite a sight to watch an eagle snatch a fish from the water
only a few feet away! I kept the largest rockfish and we had prawns and
fish for supper.

	The next morning we motored around to Finn Bay where we meet Al
and Judy again. There was a fair northwest breeze, but we decided to
wait one more day before heading around Cape Caution. It has a bad
reputation for nasty wind and waves. The forecast was for 15 to 20 from
the NW again. We walked on the beach and explored an old fishing shack.
The Indians up here are very much like the New Mexico variety in that
when they are finished with something they appear to just drop it there.
There is trash and junk all around all of their houses and shacks! 

	We set off early as the wind was starting and expected to build
through the morning, but slack in the afternoon. As we got about 5 miles
out and turned south, it slowed to 8 knots. The swells were still 3 to 6
feet with a 1 foot chop in top of that. The waves were coming from the
northwest so they were right on the side of the boat. It gives it quite
a rock and roll that way. The wind was so light that we couldn't put up
the sails to steady the boat. After a few hours it started to wear on
us. Trinda and Muffy got a bit seasick. It took 8 hours to make it
around the cape and back up into a protected inlet. It was Allison Bay.
The wind picked up after we anchored so it was not much of a night there
either. We were running short of water so Trinda and I took the boat to
Port Hardy the next morning. It was light drizzle and fog. It is amazing
how much more relaxed we were this time than 2 years ago when we
encounter fog the first time. We came close to a divorce that time! 

	In Port Hardy, I walked to town to get some groceries. I was
able to use the marina's computer to send an e-mail, but I did not have
a letter written then. I had mailed a floppy disk with two letters on it
to my friend Eldon from Bella Bella. I called him on the phone from Port
Hardy. He had just received the disk. He said he would get it e-mailed
soon. I also sent him a route from our navigation software so he could
put a map on our web page. I don't know when he will get time to do it,
but he said he would try.

	The next morning we motored out of Port Hardy toward Blunden
Harbor. Al was to meet us there. The seas were calm but the wind picked
up. We watched a storm build beside and behind us as we went across
Queen Charlotte Sound. We just beat it to Blunden. It blew so hard after
we anchored that we could not row the dinghy ashore to see the Indian
ruins.  Al had made it to shore before we arrived and reported that it
was littered with 'artifacts from a lost and ancient civilization'. Only
about 15 years ancient. Wheelbarrows and Corel ware pottery plus a lot
of tin cans and bottles!

	The next day was nicer. We motored out of the harbor and put up
the sails. We sailed nearly 4 hours with the wind over our right
shoulder. It was really nice, but a little cold. When we turned into
Wells Passage the wind followed us around and the last couple of miles
we made over 8 knots. Once I saw 8.6 knots on the water speed indicator!
Sure beats 6 knots with the motor! We went on up the passage to Sullivan
Bay Marina and Resort. They charged us $14 for electricity. Judy was so
mad that she vacuumed the boat with the electric vac, All plugged in the
electric heaters and ran them all night! Al and I took the dingy out and
set the prawn raps and fished a while. With no fish Al and I debated
over which is a dumber sport, fishing or golf. Neither provide us
supper! When we got back to the boats, I realized that my back had
started to hurt. I think I strained a back muscle while we were sailing.

	When we left the next morning, (about 10:30 is early nowadays!)
and went to collect the prawn traps, Al's float was no where to be seen.
Either someone took it or one of the knots we tied in the rope came out!
$100 buck down the ocean! My back seemed a little better, but not good
yet. We motored on around the channel to Echo Bay. Judy was about out of
propane and afraid to go much longer. We started to go to the main dock,
but we had heard it was run by 'The Dragon Lady'. We tied up and Judy
and Al  got propane, we bought a little in the store and she was rude!
We untied the boats and moved across cove to Windsong Sea Village. The
ladies there were really friendly. One lady has a reputation for bread
making, so we bough a loaf of French, a loaf of whole wheat and half a
dozen cinnamon rolls. They were really good.