After several days of travel north and west, and negotiating numerous tidal “rapids” which require careful timing, we made it to the Broughtons. This is a very remote area north of Vancouver Island where most places are only reachable by boat or float plane. It was fun passing a cruise ship returning from Alaska, knowing that we have our own private cruise vessel.
Our first stop was anchoring in Boughey Bay after a long day of travel. The next day, we went to leave for our next anchorage north, and discovered that the engine was not cooling properly. We were not getting enough output from the raw water system. After spending hours clearing out lines with the dinghy pump, taking apart the water pump and impeller, it became obvious that we would need a tow into port to trouble shoot further. It is difficult to trouble shoot at anchor when you need to start the engine multiple times considering battery capacity. We contacted the local towing company who came to the rescue. Captain Sally and deck hand Billy towed us to Port McNeil on the northern coast of Vancouver Island.
We spent the entire day trouble shooting, cleaning out hoses, back flushing the heat exchanger, changing the faceplate on the water pump and finally ramming a plastic rod down the raw water through hull which dislodged something that was intermittently and partially blocking the raw water inlet. We started up the engine and the problem was finally resolved! We were happy that Port McNeil had a local brewery which we could go to celebrate.
After re-provisioning in Port McNeil, we headed north and enjoyed amazing anchorages at several spots including Mound Island and Waddington Bay. The scenery is amazing! We had a great time fishing and caught a lot of rock fish, pacific halibut and ling cod, but nothing that we could keep.
One of the special things about cruising in the Broughtons are the cool marinas. There are only a few marinas in this area, and the boaters all make a huge effort to get together for happy hour in the evenings. We met tons of cool people and had happy hour as well as a camp fire at Echo Bay Marina.
We also visited Sullivan Bay Marina and enjoyed happy hour with new friends and drinks on one of the boats.
The entire marina, buildings and adjacent houses are all on floats as the land area is quite rugged and the water close to shore is over 70 feet deep. One of the houses had a float plane parked behind it, which made me think of the my cousins Chris, Mike and Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dave. Dave was a pilot with American Airlines, Chris owns a plane and Mike is building one. I can see them appreciating this house!
This area has incredibly beautiful scenery, and we were treated to daily amazing views.
The weather was often quite chilly and rainy and we were glad we came prepared with our heavy PVC foul weather gear, winter hats, gloves, wool and fleece. The cold, rainy weather didn’t bother us and added to mystique of the scenery.
We definitely plan on returning to this area and beyond for the next trip!