Haida Hideaway Fully Booked?

This is why all the computer on-line booking BS sucks.  Heidi checked on-line for the Hull standard/basic plan stay at the Haida-Way Motor Inn Hotel only to find it was fully booked. (later proven to be dis-information)  Wait what? No concrete wall rooms and traditional breakfast?  

Haida-Way special room

Instead, for the first time we stayed the night at The Dalewood Inn.  It was really clean, comfortable and even closer to the harbor and the Alert Bay ferry dock.  We had a good dinner in their restaurant, went for a brief walk around town in the light rain, then off to bed (editor's note: photo of Jon not accepted).  

Morning weather conditions were light winds and rain coming in from the West.  Not much to worry about, but just in case we drove along the water out of Port McNeill to get a better look at Johnstone Straits.  Things didn't look too bad, no real whitecaps or swells. 

Loading 450 lbs of metal roof onto BRNR

We loaded the metal roof for the kitchen onto the boat, then Thor used his truck to launch BRNR.  Once floating, we loaded the rest of our gear, gassed up at the dock for ~ $8.00 gallon and headed out.  All the electronics, radio, navigation and systems worked.  Whoever did the panel and electrical in Port Hardy did a fabulous job.  Thank you.

About 20 minutes out of the harbor and into the strait things turned to shit. We left too late to catch the incoming tide so now had to fight against it with increasingly strong winds.  The cross tides, winds and waves were as bad as we've ever experienced. It was good we had the stability of a heavy load as waves were washing across our bow and over the windshield.  Through the open straits we encountered 3' - 5' straight up choppy waves, whitecaps, whirlpools and currents that were scary as hell.

We cut in at Baronet Passage and had a much smoother ride to Lagoon Cove where we stopped for the local news and more fuel. Last leg home to Hull through Chatham Channel was as rough as I've seen it.  This was the most brutal motor boat ride I've ever been on. I hope to never repeat.

ahhhh - the sheer pleasure of pulling up to our dock in the recovered BRNR. It's her first time back home, docking was easy and our ship is in good shape.

On the dock trail.. a feather ball. ??

A huge effort was required to unload and carry up to the camp our supplies and the metal roof. Heidi hand dried each piece of metal roof before stacking to avoid mold and mildew stains. Between the boat ride and unloading marathon we were both completely exhausted.

Heidi at work

Having accomplished our primary mission of getting an extra car to Canada and the roof materials on Hull,  things got very relaxing. No major compelling projects.  

We hiked up the hill south towards Deer Point and had to machete through and/or climb over a lot of fallen trees, branches and new growth. It's cool to see how much has evolved in the past three years.  We did the loop headed west and joined the highway near the beach to head home.

Thanks to Heidi we got productive and started clearing the junk yard, or as I call it the material yard.  We recycled and removed a lot of surplus material. It felt great to get rid of junk and the can collector in Port McNeill was psyched to see all the beer it took to build the kitchen. 10 cents apiece!

doors and siding still to come

piece by piece, along the back side

"As long as we're clearing out the material yard, why not hang some of the siding?"  Heidi using her Jedi mind to compel results.  So we took off the tarps and the cedar looked great. Working together we measured, cut and hung another 5 or 6 pieces of board and batten -  two more feet of wall done.  One board at a time a wall is covered.  Hanging Catherine's "1 Hull Island" sign was the finishing touch for this visit.  More to come.

does this one count?  0 - 2 with two traps and 3 year old shrimp bait.

spring cleaning

back to basics - soooo delicious! Toasted buns not shown.

A black bear getting crab ~ 1/2 mile away on East Cracroft Island.

For the first time, we conscientiously timed our departure with the outgoing tide and not surprisingly it made a big difference.  The waters were relatively smooth and only very light wind. Along the way we stopped for about 8 minutes to watch a large humpback whale, then had to drive slower in what became fairly dense fog. Motoring in fog without radar in the Johnstone Straits is intense.  We were definitely relieved to make it to Port McNeill and despite the delays it took just one and a half hours.  Fast!