We sent two nights on the public docks at Campbell River- it was literally half the price of Discovery Marina further north. We spent most our time apply for jobs and wandering around town, but we did have an adventure when we took the bus to the public pool. Turns out Kyber had snuck off the boat and followed us. When our trail went cold he ended up hanging out front of the pier for a few hours before a lovely couple called us and said they had him. SO they drove him up to the pool and dropped him off, we had our swim then all walked home.

 Later that evening we headed to the pier to watch the fishermen. They were catching chinooks and Fynn and I watched an older gentleman gut his catch. Weren’t we surprised when he saw us later and ask “Would you like a fish?” he asks “Absolutely!” I respond, to which he retrieves his 15 lb chinook and passes it over to us. So we have now received more salmon as gifts then we have caught! WAHOO!

Nope that’s the fish baby

We enjoyed this lovely pod cruising past us as we headed into Campbell River. We counted about 14 in total. This is our third orca pod sighting. The first was from a distance as we approached SGang Gwaay in Haida Gwaii. That pod had an alpha make with a dorsal easly 6′ high. The second sighting was a pod a few miles north of this pod, also from a distance. It is always a pleasure when a pod of orca passes closes enough to hear their blowholes!

We left the docks of Port McNeil late in the afternoon and headed to Alert Bay. For whatever reason we had a hard time setting the anchor – it just dragged and dragged through the soft mud bottom. I think re anchoring is one of the most annoying aspects of boating. When we finally did stick it, it was too late to go ashore to we planned to visit this small community in the morning. We woke up to a torrential downpour. And it was down right chilly. As neither of us had any desire to get off the boat in this, never mind packing up two littles, we decided to make our run down Johnstone Straight and try to find summer further south.

Rainy days and cardboard boxes

We had a layover to wait out the flood and the sun peaked out for a few moments, as if to say YES- you are going the right way! When we stopped at Port Neville it was already dusk, the days are getting shorter quickly now.

We woke to a glorious sunny day at Port Neville and decided to head to the dock to explore the property. This homestead has been in the same family since the 1800s. It used to be the site of a store and post office, run in the family home until 1940.  Now the building remains and functions as a sort of museum when Lorna is onsite. She is the great grand daughter of the original homesteader. The government dock lands directly on her private property, but she has it open for public enjoyment. We sure enjoyed the swing and walking the sandy beach out front. We left that evening on the flood tide and sailed to Chatam Point.