Day 49, Wednesday, August 10, Namu

We are back again in Namu hunting the elusive Halibut.
Yesterday we started our journey towards home, we left Shearwater with the intention of only making it as far as Fancy Cove to spend the night, but with several hours of daylight left we decided to head on into Namu so we could have a good start in the morning on Halibut fishing. After a 6 hour day we made it into Namu around 8pm.
I love this little bay, the old cannery and the surrounding islands are beautiful!
We didn't have any luck this afternoon jigging for fish, but the sun was shining and I really enjoyed sitting on the front bow with my pole and a drink just relaxing in the sunshine.
After we came back in and anchored we decided to take the skiff over to the old cannery and snoop around. Jerre remembers playing basketball in the old gym here when he was 14. That was a few years ago!
Everything is deserted now, the cannery shut down years ago and the houses and cafe and store have long ago been abandoned.
It was very cool walking through the old cafe and houses. The cafe still had the menu board up on the wall with the daily special written on it. Everything is falling down and overgrown, kinda reminded me of Ocean Falls. We spent several hours rummaging through the buildings, I thought it was very cool.
Jerre and Ute called on the radio and said they had left Shearwater and were heading our way, they were going to spend the night in Codville inlet and meet up with us tomorrow in Namu.

Day 48, Tuesday, August 9, Shearwater

When I get home I am going to stand in a hot shower and let the water continuously run for as long as I want, or until the hot water runs out. Whichever comes first. I'm so tired of these water saver showers. (Get wet, turn off water, soap up, shampoo hair, shave parts, turn on water and rapidly rinse off)
Water is so scare up here I even heat up salt water to wash my dishes then rinse them in fresh water. As they say... Water water every where and not a drop to drink.
The other big issue is garbage, none of these little towns or islands are willing to take your trash, and the few that will take your garbage charge a fee. Up to $5.00 per bag. So any food waste goes overboard, anything that can be burned on shore is, it's the little conveniences that I miss.... Like water and dumpsters. And internet and phone service and even tv. Although I've never been much of a tv watcher, it was always going in the background, and I miss that.
We have been waiting for the store to open at one for a few groceries, then we will head down to Namu for some Halibut fishing.
I'm glad we are starting our journey home!

Day 47, Monday, August 8, Shearwater

We have decided that our freezer is full and we have all the Salmon we need so we are going to head to Shearwater for some last minute supplies and then head to Namu for a few days and try our luck fishing for Halibut.
Jerre and Ute are just about at their limit so they will fish here a few more days then meet up with us at Namu and we will start making our way toward home. :-)
Will I miss Canada? Yes I have to say it has been an adventure, the fishing was not exciting... The catching fish was very exciting! Seeing all the new places was AWESOME. But I'm defiantly ready to head for home. We are going to go back the way we came, slow and easy, taking our time. I expect the weather to get warmer as we make our way south, I hope!
When we got to Shearwater this afternoon we found out that the only store in town doesn't get stock until tomorrow so it looks like we will be hanging around until tomorrow afternoon before heading to Namu.
I'm not sure where we will get cell service again, but I'll update when I can.
We should be back in the states by the end of the month.

Day 46, Sunday, August 7, Lockhart Bay

Holy Cow did we have a thunder and lightning storm last night! Poor Chloe was terrified all night, she tried to crawl under Ben's pillow every time a boomer went off.
The storm passed right over the top of us, it was crazy.
We didn't go out fishing today, I had a killer headache last night and today I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Don't know if it was the change in the barometer because of the storm or what. So I spent the day in bed and Ben napped on the couch.
Jerre and the fishslayer went out fishing and caught several Coho. I think we are about ready to start heading back towards home.

Day 45, Saturday, August 6, Kynumpt Harbour

I sure miss the sunshine and summer! I haven't had a pair of shorts or a T-shirt on for a month! Rain and cold. Of course if I wanted a tropical vacation I should have headed South instead of North!
I'm definitely ready to go home. I think I've had enough of fishing for a lifetime.
This morning we headed out to once again catch the tide change. Raining like a booger. Ben did manage to catch a nice Coho right off the bat. But other than bottom fish, which we threw back, and lots is sea weed. That was it for the day.
Around noon we called it a day and headed back in to anchor.
Looks like another big storm heading our way
Good day to nap!

Day 44, Friday, August 5, Kynumpt Harbour

Boy howdy did it rain last night! Talk about a torrential downpour!
I picked up a book on Ocean Falls at the little 'shack' that serves as the marina office. I finished reading it last night, very interesting. I guess there is also lots of old pictures and history on the Ocean Falls/Rain People web site. Weird how a town can spring up and then 70 years later be completely gone!
Headed back to Shearwater we once again saw whales at the same point ad when we were coming up. Would like to spend some time hanging around there! It's so cool to see them spouting and slapping their tails.
After a quick stop at the store in Shearwater we headed out to Kynumpt Harbour to anchor for the night.
Tomorrow we start fishing again. Hope we have better luck than then the past few days.

Day 43, Thursday, August 4, Ocean Falls

Day 43, Thursday, August 4, Ocean Falls
Today Ute and I walked over to the townsite of Martin. Just around the corner and down the road from Ocean Falls. Although it has a bigger population than Ocean Falls, there must be at least 6 or 7 houses, it still appears pretty deserted. At one time they had a little store, it's gone now, but we did run into a local lady who grew up in Ocean Falls and she had lots of stories to tell about growing up here, watching the town grow, then sadly watching it fade away.
After out walk to Martin we headed back to the boat dock and stopped by to talk to an old fellow who also know some of the history and he gave us a tour of his collection of relics. He had the old tin signs from the local Martin Inn hotel as well as some of the room keys, he was kind enough to give me a souvenir.. one of the old room keys. Very cool!
I know why they call themselves the 'rain people', with the tall mountains surrounding this tiny bay no sun ever shines here!
We did do some crabbing and both Ben and Ute caught some nice big crabs. Yum!
Tomorrow we head back to Shearwater for more fishing. Just a few more weeks and we will be heading for home.