The Broughtons

CAVU · Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:03 am Post subject:

Just got home this afternoon from two weeks in the Broughtons. I want to thank Lyle and Shelley on Bess-C for getting this started. We ended up with four C-Dories: Tim and Pam on True Story, Steve and Diana on Constant Craving along with CAVU and Bess-C. I thought Desolation was great but I was even more impressed with this area. It was just one stunning vista after another. Many of the places we stopped remembered the earlier groups of C-Dories on the way to Alaska. If you have the chance I highly recommend cruising this area.

Bess-C · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject:

We got home last Sunday night, it took until today to get through work and home stuff and think about the trip.

We spent 15 nights on the boat and would have enjoyed another week if we'd had the time. We often travel by ourselves, so it was enjoyable to travel with Ken and his friend Lyndon on CAVU, Tim and Pam on True Story and Steve and Diana on Constant Craving. They were all enjoyable traveling mates.

There are 8 small marinas in the Broughtons and we stayed at or visited all 8 of them. In doing this we circumnavigated the islands and got to see a lot of the different channels, sounds and islands. The days were so relaxing that by the second week I could hardly be bothered to fish or shrimp.

However, we did use everyone's instruction and put our prawn pots down 3 times with some success. You'll have to talk to another member of our traveling group to get the embarrassing details about how I lost our first setup on the second time I put it over the side.

I understand now why the folks who do extended cruising keep a journal. By the end of the first week everything was running together and I didn't know what day it was, or where we stayed the night before. Now that's either very relaxed or early onset Alzheimer's.

There's something very special about this area. I don't have the writing skills that some of you have, so I'm not sure that I can convey the feeling. The people that live there are almost uniformly friendly and helpful, the vistas are spectacular, with rock cliffs coming right down to the water, snow capped mountains in the distance and beautiful waterways in every direction.

It also feels like wilderness, something that you don't get in Desolation Sound or the San Juan Islands. I was nervous every time that I took our dog to shore in the dingy because of all of the cougars and bears (including grizzlies) that inhabit the area. There are Orcas, Humpbacks, Minke and Gray whales cruising the waterways. We spotted Minke and Grays on this trip. You also see remnants of the original native communities that inhabited the area for 10,000 years up until the turn of the 20th century. There were an estimated 30,000 native inhabitants in the Broughtons before contact with the white explorers.

Oh, and Joe (Sea Wolf), I found another boat that may become an obsession. Two ladies moored at Kwatsi Bay had a beautifully maintained Lord Nelson Victory Tug. One morning just as we were all leaving I went to have a closer look at their boat. They spotted me looking it over and invited me aboard. I spent an hour going over their boat and eating cookies with them (while keeping our group waiting). It looked like the perfect long term cruising boat for a retired couple. Classy, comfortable, seaworthy, but slow. I'd like to find a fixer upper and spend several years restoring it.

This is a great area, I recommend it highly to anyone that can get there and spend a little time. It's "accessible but out there".
Lyle

Sea Wolf · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:40 pm Post subject:

Lyle-

Thanks for the reference to your visit with the Lord Nelson Victory Tug! Incredible beauty in marine woodwork and fixtures.

Maybe if you stayed in the Broughtons long enough, you'd slow down enough so that it wouldn't seem slow anymore! And probably live to be 110, or at least as old as Dusty!

Joe.

Alyssa Jean · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:03 pm Post subject:

Welcome back Lyle and Shelly,
I know what you mean about keeping a journal. I did and still had trouble, because I would often skip a day or two and then try tho catch up with a few notes I would keep.

oldgrowth · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:13 pm Post subject:

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:24 am Post subject:

Dave-

Our beloved Dusty is only 105, though sometimes he looks as though he can pass for more!

Joe.

(Damn, we're getting nasty with our Buds around here just to run the numbers up!)

oldgrowth · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:55 am Post subject:

Joe - if you do not get some sleep soon, you are going to burn out. By my calculations the last time you had any real sleep was sometime after 11pm the 20th and 5:15am the 21st.

GO TO BED

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:01 am Post subject:

Dave-

You Go To Bed!

I'll keep the site running by myself until you get up and take over tomorrow morning.

Joe.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:43 am Post subject:

Now you cut that out, Joe! Go to bed!

Lyle - nothing wrong with your writing skills! I am really sorry we could not join the group as originally planned, just had shot our yearly allotment of cruising $$$ on the little Alaska adventure...

Sawdust · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

Dusty 110? Whew - don't tell the salmon or they will stop jumping in the boat.

Joe -- if you can get away from the keyboard come on up to Sequim. Need to sit a spell with Jon, Mike, and gang, over a cool SnoQ brewsky and do some verbal arm wrestling. Catman? In? Ken too if'n he's outa jail.

Dusty