West White Pine to God’s Pocket, June 27

Morning in West White Pine

Awake just after four and rather than go back to sleep, I spend the next hour watching the most magnificent sunrise.  The water is completely still and the color of the sky is mesmerizing.  We have a cup of coffee and pull-up the anchor.  Slowly we glide out of the almost land-locked cove.  We are the only boat on the water this morning and it is very peaceful.
 

This slow cruising and poking our bow (nose) into secret coves is not something we have done often.  This is our third summer of “Chug” and the first two were spent making the passage to Alaska and back.  The Alaska passage feels more remote and wild.  The travel distance between anchorages is much longer and the wildlife is more abundant.  The west coast of Vancouver Island is beautiful and often we have an anchorage to ourselves but there are more signs of activity – fish farms, logging, float homes and small fish boats abound.

Our first stop this morning is Matilda Inlet.  This is the home of the small settlement of Ahouset.  On the east side of the inlet, there is a store, restaurant, motel and marina.  The marina is really just a long piece of float dock with old tires along the edge.  There is an old fish boat tied up at the end.  Just beyond the fish boat is a piece of old dock tied to shore with four old boats tied to it.  Each boat is obviously listing to port and we wonder why.  

On the opposite side of the inlet, is the First Nations village that seems to be thriving.  We are listening to Channel 69 on the VHF radio and it appears to be the main telephone line for the village.  We hear someone remind the schoolkids that this is the last day to pick up things from the Lost & Found before it is given away.  The same person comments aloud that one of the jackets looks like “Tommy’s” winter coat.  There is also chatter about the 9 o’clock boat to Tofino and there are still seats available.  Someone gives a shout asking is someone else is up yet and so it goes.  Life lived-out on the VHF radio.

On the way to God's Pockett

We continue down the inlet to the Provincial Park where there are trails to a warm spring and across the inlet to a beach.  Although this is considered a secure anchorage, the forecast of gale strength winds from the NW have us looking around and wondering how well we would fare in 35 knots of wind.  So, after a short successful anchoring exercise, we pull the anchor and move on.  We are headed to God’s Pocket which appears to have greater protection from northwest winds.

The path to God's Pocket is littered with crab traps and fish farming things - not too mention lots of very shallow water.  Once again we are glad to have GPS.  It takes the full attention of the captain to keep us in the channels and away from the dangers.  In God's Pocket we find good anchorage and three float homes.  One appears to be permanent with a very large floating greenhouse.  The owner watches us carefully as we anchor nearby.  The other two appear to be not in use at this time.  Once anchored, we drop the dinghy and go exploring.  Tomorrow we may go into Tofino and try to post all these late blog entries.