Maps of our travels.
Zoomed in map.
Distance Traveled in this post: 43.1 nautical miles
Distance Traveled from Trip Start: 790.2 nautical miles
Time duration this blog post covers: 4 days
Amount of time motoring/sailing during this post: 10 hours
Total Amount of Fuel Used From Start of Trip: 79.4 gallons
Brief memories from this blog post
In the last post, we had just overcome two of the West Coast's biggest hurdles: Cape Scott and Brooks Peninsula.
After rounding Brooks Peninsula we were feeling confident- we could now ease off the gas pedal and slow down a bit, allowing for shorter travel days and more time for exploring and relaxing.
Columbia Cove is the first real refuge after Brooks so we were not surprised to find it full of sailboats when we arrived! And by full, I mean there were about 5 boats (which is busy for the West Side!).
Maya at anchor in Columbia Cove
We made it around Brooks!
Thousands of miles of ocean behind us
We explored the beach, flew the drone, and enjoyed the sunset over an endless Pacific Ocean. It kinda felt surreal hanging out on the beach- knowing just a year prior we had hardly any boating experience, and now we were in this very wild place.
We got a late start the next day (so thankful to sleep past 4am), and decided to head to the Bunsby Island, which are renowned for Sea Otters!
Interesting story: Sea Otters were almost hunted to extinction, but in the 1970's a pack of sea otters were reintroduced to the Bunsby Islands, where they have continued to flourish since then. This means there were sea otters everywhere! Unfortunately, we never got a good photo of one.... must be time to upgrade our camera gear ;-)
With the Bunsybys as our destination, we left the anchorage and decided to try our luck trolling for salmon.... not 15 minutes later we had one on the line! We were shocked! We quickly reeled it in, only to lose it bringing it into the fishing net. We were devastated! We were so close to bringing in our very first salmon, only to lose it at the finish line.
We got a late start the next day (so thankful to sleep past 4am), and decided to head to the Bunsby Island, which are renowned for Sea Otters!
Interesting story: Sea Otters were almost hunted to extinction, but in the 1970's a pack of sea otters were reintroduced to the Bunsby Islands, where they have continued to flourish since then. This means there were sea otters everywhere! Unfortunately, we never got a good photo of one.... must be time to upgrade our camera gear ;-)
With the Bunsybys as our destination, we left the anchorage and decided to try our luck trolling for salmon.... not 15 minutes later we had one on the line! We were shocked! We quickly reeled it in, only to lose it bringing it into the fishing net. We were devastated! We were so close to bringing in our very first salmon, only to lose it at the finish line.
After losing that one, we immediately threw the lure in the water....only to get it snagged on kelp a few minutes later. It all happened in a split second, but I made a mistake by releasing the lock on the fishing pole, allowing line to go out in order to save the lure. As soon as the lever was thrown an explosion of fishing line blew up in the reel. It was a disaster. The fishing line completely bunged up in the reel! Bah!
We managed to stop the boat and retrieve the lure. Our fishing was done until we could fix the line. We motored to our anchorage in the Bunsbys feeling rather defeated.
Several of our mistakes were compounded at that point- I garbagled up the fishing line. What was made worse was it was our only fishing line. Doh! Huge mistake not having another line to spool on the rod.... now we had to unravel the world's biggest line tangle.
I won't bore you with the details, but we spent approx 4 hours untangling that mess.
In the end, we managed to unravel approx 400' of absolute madness and respooled our rod. Very important lesson learned!
After a peaceful night in the Bunsyby's we awoke with renewed vigor to land a salmon.
A large weather system was moving in so we decided to move to anchorage that provided better protection from the wind. While enroute to Dixie Cove, we happened across approximately 20 small sport fishing boats trolling in a small channel. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE.
We dropped our lure in the water and fell in with the trolling sport fishing boats. Not 10 minutes later the pole bent in such a way that I was sure our lure caught a rock on the bottom. Just as I was telling Jenny to stop the boat there was a flash of silver and a huge splash.... IT WAS A SALMON! The fight was on and we quickly brought in our first salmon- a 25lb king salmon!
What a rush that was! Not only did that fish provide fresh, incredible meat for days, but a memory that we will never forget. That was one of the most exciting things to happen on our trip to this point and a memory we will cherish forever.
We're gonna stop the post here for now. Check back soon for the next installment (spoiler alert: big storms and more fish!).
Also, my apologies that these posts are being published so slowly. Between working full time, the holidays, and this dreary dark time of year, it's hard to find time to produce these posts to the quality that we wish to maintain.
I am hopeful that by the end of the January the remainder of our circumnavigation blog posts will be up and we will start detailing what we have been up to more recently and what we have on the horizon.
As always, we so appreciate your viewership. Time is truly the most important commodity, and it is often in short supply. We know you can spend your time doing a million different other things, but the fact you choose to come here and read these posts is something we are very thankful for and appreciate. In short, THANK YOU (and Happy Holidays!).
-mac, jenny, & disco
After a peaceful night in the Bunsyby's we awoke with renewed vigor to land a salmon.
Anchored in Scow Bay of the Bunsby Islands
A large weather system was moving in so we decided to move to anchorage that provided better protection from the wind. While enroute to Dixie Cove, we happened across approximately 20 small sport fishing boats trolling in a small channel. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE.
We dropped our lure in the water and fell in with the trolling sport fishing boats. Not 10 minutes later the pole bent in such a way that I was sure our lure caught a rock on the bottom. Just as I was telling Jenny to stop the boat there was a flash of silver and a huge splash.... IT WAS A SALMON! The fight was on and we quickly brought in our first salmon- a 25lb king salmon!
Our first salmon!
What a catch!
We're gonna stop the post here for now. Check back soon for the next installment (spoiler alert: big storms and more fish!).
Also, my apologies that these posts are being published so slowly. Between working full time, the holidays, and this dreary dark time of year, it's hard to find time to produce these posts to the quality that we wish to maintain.
I am hopeful that by the end of the January the remainder of our circumnavigation blog posts will be up and we will start detailing what we have been up to more recently and what we have on the horizon.
As always, we so appreciate your viewership. Time is truly the most important commodity, and it is often in short supply. We know you can spend your time doing a million different other things, but the fact you choose to come here and read these posts is something we are very thankful for and appreciate. In short, THANK YOU (and Happy Holidays!).
-mac, jenny, & disco
