The Broughtons

B

Bess-C

New member
I've had conversations with several of you about a late summer/early fall trip to the Broughton Islands area at the north end of Vancouver Island this September. That time frame is less than 2 months away, so I'm bringing it back up.

We will be heading out Friday September lst for that area. We're thinking about taking the Washington State ferry out of Anacortes around 8:30 am and driving from Sidney to the top of the Island. That would put us into Port McNeil sometime on Saturday the 2nd. We'll be coming back on September 16th. Pat and Patty on Daydream are going to be there the week of the 10th to the 16th.

If anybody else is interested, just let us know. Our schedule will be loose, but we'll be somewhere in that vicinity for the entire two weeks. We liked the week we spent there last September, and we want to explore the area in a little more depth. Most of the cruisers and fishermen have left by that time, which is both a plus and a minus. There are still coho and shrimp to catch, and plenty of dock space and fuel. However, the locals are in an end of the season mood. You won't find food served or parties going on.

If anybody else can get there at that time, we'd love to see you.
Regards,
Lyle
 
Hi Lyle,
If your going in September make shure you have a good GPS and compass as the area gets a lot of fog then and can stay foggy for days.
You should not have to much company then and it is really nice up that way.
Richard
 
Pam and I are interested Lyle. We had a great time last year in Desolation Sound. We'll talk it over and let you know within the week.

Tim
 
Lyle,
I just got back from a month-long trip to Ucluelet and if I can get a few projects finished up I would love to do this cruise. Where did you leave your rig last year? I have launched several times at Alder Bay and was thinking the security for the truck and trailer might be good there? Did you do any crabbing last year?
 
Hi Ken,
It would be great to have you along. We enjoyed traveling with you guys last year at Desolation Sound.

We launched at Telegraph Cove last year, but didn't like it much. It is too tight and crowded. We plan to launch from Port McNeill this year. I haven't explored the parking options yet. I need to call the harbourmaster to discuss it before we go. I don't know anything about Alder Bay, where is it located?

We didn't crab last year, but I'm taking a couple of shrimp pots this year. We did catch some coho last year.

Tim and Pam from True Story and Steve and Diana from Constant Craving are also heading up at that time. Looks like it may turn into a gathering on some evenings.
Lyle
 
How did you do fishing. We're leaving this weekend and will be spending a week at an oyster lease at Webster Island in Effingham inlet. Hope that you still left us some fish.........Where was you most success? Did you fish any on the inside? Thanks, Ron on Snoopy-C
 
Lyle,
Alder Bay is a nice campground just a few miles from Telegraph Cove. In fact you must have driven right by it to get to Telegraph Cove. I was there last about 3 years ago and it looked like he had lots of parking room above the campground. Had a little camp store, nice launch ramp and a small marina with about 20 spaces. Of course Port McNeil would have much better shopping for provisons prior to launch. I think Port McNeil is about 15 miles from Alder Bay.
Digger,
The fishing this year was pretty slow. We caught enough fish but never had the large concentrations we have seen the last few years. Most of the local guides speculate that the run is just late this year? At any rate, we caught very few coho and our efforts fishing inside yielded nothing. All our fish were caught offshore, with Big Bank being the most reliable for both hallies and salmon. The last few days we fished most of the big fish came from around the wreck and farther northwest at the starfish. As of the last day we fished, 6 Aug, no one was picking up anything in close. We finished the trip with only two hallies of note 47# and 31# and only one chinook over 30. The average size of hallies we saw was very small 10-15#. If the locals are right and the main run is very late this year you may be just right in your timing. Good Luck.
 
Ken: Sorry we didn't stop in and see you at Uclulet. We did stay at China Creek. Won't do that again. Felt like bait in the blue package. One day we did take a time out and run down the inlet intending to stop and see you. We found out that it always starts blowing up the inlet in late morning or noonish. On the day we came down it fogged in on the way down and by the time we got to the rocks where you choose the outside or inside path to Uclulet it was thick fog. I decided to not make the run into town but head over to Bamfield. I didn't want to run back up the inlet in the fog, and in the dark. It turned out to be a really good choice. Stopped at Effingham for the obligatory ling cod then on into Bamfield for dinner and back up the inlet. 30 miles of pounding. We had heard there were few fish on the west coast so we weren't feeling too bad about not getting out there to fish. There were a lot of sockeye at china creek but the canadian secrets to catching them are expensive. We did pull up camp and go to telegraph cove and get into some pretty good king fishing for local fish. The big ones hadn't shown up there yet either. One day we landed four and lost four. We did find a place to jig for shallow water halibut, like 60 to 120 feet but ran out of time so will save it for next time. Now we are waiting for the coho season to open up for the second time on the oregon coast. Rumor is it will be around sept. 1. Then the kings in the yaquina river the end of september. Glad to hear you did catch some fish. We talked to several people who had run out to the west coast and didn't bring anything back.
 
I called Port McNeill and found out about secure storage. There is a company called Sellars sp? Storage close to the marina. Their phone # is 250-956-4162. They will store both the vehicle and trailer. I think the prices are - $8.00 per day, $25.00 per week or $50.00 per month.

We'll probably need to go back to town in the middle of the trip for provisions, so I think we'd rather be in town than further out.
Lyle
 
We're leaving early Friday am for Vancouver Island, so I thought I'd bring this back to the top.

So far, Steve & Diana on Constant Craving, Tim & Pam on True Story and Ken on CAVU have said they're headed up over the weekend. Anybody else coming up? We'll be monitoring the usual channels 16 & 68. If you're in the area, give us a shout.
Lyle
 
Hi Lyle,

I will call you on your cell tomorrow, but I think we are going to be running a couple of days behind you. Work (curse of the boating class) has interfered with our getting ready to go. It could be as late as Wednesday before we get in the watter, but i am hoping to be there sooner.

Regards,

Steve
 
Have a GREAT time, guys! Wish we could go too...write home, there is wi-fi at Sullivan Bay (the ice cream is not too bad either!)



Bess-C":39g73eqb said:
We're leaving early Friday am for Vancouver Island, so I thought I'd bring this back to the top.

So far, Steve & Diana on Constant Craving, Tim & Pam on True Story and Ken on CAVU have said they're headed up over the weekend. Anybody else coming up? We'll be monitoring the usual channels 16 & 68. If you're in the area, give us a shout.
Lyle
Click to expand...
 
The Broughtons evoke fond memories. Penny and I rate the area at the top of our list of places we visited on our trip this summer up the Inside Passage. Those memories were sharpened this week as I worked on our web site. Kwatsi and Echo Bay were our favorites. I hope you enjoy the area as much as we did.

If I remember correctly, it is about 15 miles from Sullivan to Echo Bay and about the same from Echo to Kwatsi. 22 foot boats can tie up free at the town dock in Echo Bay.

http://www.2wander.com/2wander/Insi... - Echo and Sullivan Bays/EchoSullivanMap.htm
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
Sea Wolf":2wjfds8l said:
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!
Click to expand...
I always thought Dusty was more than 110????
 
Back
Top