We just departed Octopus Islands for Alert Bay today, with a stopover in Otter Cove to wait for the Johnstone Strait wind to die down.
The Octopus Islands were beautiful. We arrived Monday after an easy trip from Rebecca Spit. Even though it's about five miles shorter to go through Surge Narrows, I opted for Hole In The Wall (HITW). HITW is easy and straightforward with no islands to weave through, whereas Surge Narrows has a tight channel with a rock in it that you have to go around - all with the current swirling around. (For the uninitiated, there is an area that you have to go through above Desolation Sound in order to get farther north. Each and every channel that leaves this area will eventually have a "narrows." All narrows have fast currents and most have a great deal of turbulence. You have to time your passage to the turn of the tide when you can pass relatively safely. Trying to transit a narrows during the peak of the tide would be like sailing down a class 3 whitewater rapid!)
When we arrived at Octopus Islands the first thing that struck us was the number of boats. When we were here in 1997 there were two other boats. This time there were 30! It was so crowded we decided to anchor in the much larger and open Waiatt Bay. The weather for our trip from Rebecca Spit was nice but it soon turned excellent. We had a dinner of grilled salmon (unfortunately salmon from the Ballard farmers market, not from my fishing pole) and no sooner had we finished cleaning up than a dinghy pulled up and the driver offered us a few dozen scallops (swimming scallops we were told). I tried putting them in a bucket in the bay with a net over it to see if they would revive but they didn't move much so we had no choice but to steam them in garlic and olive oil. They were very sweet and tender.
The next day dawned bright and sunny with a forecast of 25 C (that's 77 F to all of you Americans). The day was wonderful and we spent it exploring the area in the dinghy and doing some fishing (no fish). It looked like a big thunderstorm would dump on us for awhile but it never came our way. I actually got sunburned! (I put sunscreen on but missed a few spots.)
Today, Wednesday, we got up early to take a hike on the trail that goes from the head of Waiatt Bay to Small Inlet. This we did, all half a mile, to where a signpost pointed to "Newton Lake 1 mile." That sounded nice, so off we went on a trek which took us up a fairly steep (but short) hill. The hike was through lush fern and pine tree forest with moss padding our every step. We were sweating heavily by the time we arrived at our destination (the forecast for today was 28 C/82 F!) but it was worth it because Newton Lake is crystal clear and a great temperature for swimming. We were soon down to our birthday suits (having not brought swimming suits) and into the lake to enjoy the cool refreshing water after our steamy hike. Unfortunately the fun ended abruptly when I felt a prick at the back of my knee. Something had bitten me! I quickly got out of the water and looked down and saw a leech swimming along the edge of the shore. I'm sure it wasn't the leech that took a bite out of me, but seeing it was all that we needed to get out of the water asap. Does anyone know if leeches will stay close to the shore? Would it have been safe to stay out in deeper water? (Linda: Or would they have spotted the easy meal and come after us out there? Eeek!)
We made our way back to the dinghy and dropped a rec.boats burgee off at the 'art cabin' where people leave mementos of their visit. Then it was back to Nakia to pull anchor and head out for our 1605 slack at Okisollo rapids. We went through at 1555 and it was pretty exciting. Saw one good sized whirlpool and a few small overfalls. Exciting, yes, but not as exciting as it would have been if we'd gone through when I had originally planned. You see I had studied the tide books carefully and determined that slack was at 1655 - on THURSDAY! I was off by a day, I thought it was the 15th, not the 14th. I guess I'd better start wearing a watch so I know what day it is. Thankfully this was the last of the rapids that we have to transit.
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