Category Archives: 2012

Back in the shadow of land life

We return to Nanaimo and every other return from every other summer washes over us. The headlong rush from watery wilderness, wind, a certain coolness, the sound of birds crying or calling dumps us into heat, diesel fumes, voices chattering and laughing, sirens, flashing lights, clearly demarcated borders and limits, bridges arches ferries dock, ribbons of highways, the stench of tar, screeching tires, beeping demanding telephones and messages. It’s like crossing a border from a world in which your thoughts and actions count, into one in which you are pure reactiveness. The shift is both painful and exciting. Continue reading

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Thinking about Rural Coastal Communities with the Hakai Beach Institute

2-3 August 2012 Pruth Bay, Fitz Hugh Sound We met our friends, the young kayakers from Juneau again, on a rainy day in the laundromat in Shearwater. They too had stopped here to clean up and reprovision.  Finally, clean sheets, … Continue reading

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Don’t anchor near the outlet of a lagoon and other lessons from Kynoch Inlet

29-31 July, Kynoch Inlet, Fiordland Conservation Area We weighed anchor in Bolin Bay on an ebbing tide and sailed up Sheep Passage, doglegged into Mathieson Narrows, and then into Kynoch Inlet, a true deepwater fjord, where the fog laced steep … Continue reading

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Halibut fishing and whales singing in Bolin Bay

28 July 2012 Where Sheep Passage bends north between Pooley Island and the mainland, steep mountains run down to the sea.  We were aiming for Bolin Bay for the night, a narrow slit between mainland peaks, named, like many of … Continue reading

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Fast Track Back–Fishery Politics in Northern BC

27 July 2012 Klewnuggit Inlet; Butedale Homeward bound.  The low clouds suited our grey mood: we didn’t want to turn back just yet, but the concerns of our land life were calling; we’d been conquered by the calendar.  At least … Continue reading

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In Grenville Channel—and the salmon forest

24-25 July 2012 Grenville Channel: Lowe Inlet Marine Provincial Park and Klewnuggit Inlet Marine Provincial Park Grenville Channel is a straight narrow deep chasm that runs some 45 miles northwest from Wright Sound almost all the way to Prince Rupert, … Continue reading

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Looking for Signs of Kermode Bears—and a Ferry Wreck

24 July 2012 Coughlan Anchorage, near Hartley Bay We bid the Juneau kayakers farewell and left the hot springs of Bishop Bay. We headed north into Ursula Channel, which leads into Devastation Channel—one of two possible routes to Kitimat.  But … Continue reading

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Sharing the Waters in Bishop Bay Hot Springs

23 July 2012 Since we began dreaming about sailing in British Columbia nearly two decades ago, among the most seductive lures were the images you find in cruising guides of sailors basking in hot springs surrounded by primeval cedar forests, … Continue reading

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The Sound of Running Water–Butedale Cannery

22 July 2012 We had planned to sail by Butedale, and rush onward to the hot springs at Bishop Bay.  But as we rounded the corner into Fraser Reach, BC Ferry’s Northern Expedition headed towards us, forcing us in closer … Continue reading

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Mysterious Music (Khutze Inlet)

21 July 2012 Klemtu to Khutze Inlet A pattering of rain all night, but come morning, there were glimmers of sun.  The fog lifted, the wind rose; we could see and count the mountaintops. And then they disappeared: fog and … Continue reading

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