Part 15. Barkley Sound cont'd

So we left Eagle Nook lodge on a beautiful fall morning. The trip to Bamfield would take approx 30 mins. Once there the plan was to spend a little time looking around and then meeting the Francis Barkley for the return to Port Alberni.

Bamfield.
Bamfield was named after William Eddy Banfield who arrived in the summer of 1859 and was the first white settler in Barkley Sound. Those of you who are observant will notice a deliberate mistake (Banfield/ Bamfield). The change of the spelling was made after a cartographer's error in 1861.
Bamfield realised that this site would take advantage of possible lumber exports, a whaling station, good fishing for both herring and salmon and a better investment for English capital! Today it is a sleepy fishing village, the start of the West Coast Trail, and the home of the Bamfield Marine Station.
The West Coast Trail is known world wide and people come from far and wide to experience this rugged wilderness. The whole trail is 77Km long and a strict booking system helps to keep hikers safe.

The Bamfield Marine Station is a facility offering labs, classrooms, digital imaging facilities etc for schools, universities and other establishments wanting to study marine life. As you can see from the image above it is a large facility and used year round. Charlotte spent a couple of fun packed days here with her school a few years ago, mooching in rock pools and then in the lab looking at their finds.

Bamfield can be reached by both boat and road. The road, however, is not for the faint hearted, being approx 55km on gravel road!!
The village itself is situated on two side of the inlet. One accesible by road the other not. There is a store, post office, hospital, school, library and various houses and cabins including plenty of B and B's.
There are also the ' cat houses'. These house the group of semi feral cats who live there. It is quite the set up with a rotor of volunteers who sign up at the local store for feeding and cleaning duties.

Once you have pulled yourself away from these beautiful houses the people have just as lovely properties. There is a boardwalk that runs along the north side of Bamfield inlet, connecting this side with the road. It is a lovely walk viewing the many eclectic houses, boats and general scenery of the area.
There is also a Coast Guard Station which services the west coast and on call for the hikers on the West Coast Trail.

Back on board the Barkley it was full steam ahead to Port Alberni...Oh we did stop to pick up one man his dog and his boat that needed a tow! Yes it was the same man and dog from a few days before!
You never know what you will encounter on this interesting, working vessel.

Part 15 Barkley Sound

As mentioned in the previous post we made a side trip to Barkley Sound to visit with Richard and Janice. They have moved there to caretake a lodge and so it was a good opportunity to visit and see a part of the coast we are not familiar with.
The journey started in Port Alberni where we boarded the MV Francis Barkley. This is a 128 foot passenger/cargo vessel that delivers people, freight and mail to the remote places in Barkley Sound and Bamfield.

This boat was built in 1958 in Sweden and was used as a car ferry in the Norwegian ferry fleet. She can carry 200 passengers and 100 tons of freight. These details played a major role in the vessel coming to BC as the ALberni Marine Transportation Company were looking for just such a vessel. She was sailed across the Atlantic and through the Panama Canal in June of 1990 on a journey of 51 days. Today she has a schedule from Port Alberni to Bamfield/ Ucluelet and the Broken Islands with passengers and freight.

Our first stop was in Uchucklesaht Inlet and the community of Kildonan. Here we stopped at a couple of houses delivering a dish washer, one man and his dog, and a quick stop at the post office! Yes, that is the post office in the image above! Their mail comes in much like ours, three times a week.
We were the next stop as the skipper so profesionally told everyone, we were doing a boat to boat rendevous. This entailed Richard and Janice coming along side and us taking a step out of the Barkley into their boat. All done with precision if I say so my self and no wet feet!!
As this boat is a 'working vessel' you never quite know what to expect as far as deliveries are concerned which makes it so very interesting.

Our home from home for the next few days was to be at Eagle Nook Lodge. Richard and Janice have moved their sail boat round there and are established for the winter/spring season. This lodge caters to about 25 people at any one time. They arrive by either boat or helicopter and once here can partake in fishing charters, kayak tours, eco tours or just relaxing with one of the many spa treatments on offer.
We enjoyed the area and went on a few hikes on the 70 acre poperty but spent many hours talking and catching up with our freinds who we hadn't seen since early summer.

This is a view from the top of one of the trails.
Of course some of these lodges have many toys to play with! Boys will be boys!!!

It was so good to see our friends are to see a different part of the country. More to come on the return journey and our visit to Bamfield.

Part 14. Fall shopping!

We have just returned from a trip 'to town' and have brought home many new and interesting things. Mostly groceries but also clothing, wine and Robins new toy... a band saw mill!!
He has wanted one for some time now and due to the fact we have many logs we could use for decking and lumber he decided now was the time!
More on that later...
We left home heading to Vancouver Island. A good trip with calm seas and no wind. Nothing much of interest en route except a sea otter who was lounging on his back taking in the scenery.

Please note this is not one of my pictures. On this trip we were not close enough to get a good picture but this is eactly what they look like....the most cutest animal!!

This trip was to be a combination of business and pleasure. We didn't have too many groceries to get but the 8 cases of wine were a high priority and we were hoping to see our friends Richard and Janice who have moved to the west coast of Vancouver Island.
It is always nice to stay in hotels with a swimming pool and we also enjoy the many and varied restaurants on offer.
The weather was good and so we also got to walk each day...not just round the malls!
The saw mill. It is a Band Saw Mill with a 16 foot bed which means you can cut 16 foot lengths.

It has a band style cutting edge as opposed to a circular blade. This one is the smallest that this company makes but suits our purposes nicely. Easy to use and compact too.
Amazingly it fit in the back of the rented mini van for transportation back to Port Hardy and then home.
It should be a good investment and will certainly be usefull as we are always needing lumber for building projects and repairs.

The journey home was also good but the weather had certainly changed! We awoke to 4 inches of snow in Campbell River. That meant that the 2.5 hours/over 100km drive ahead could be difficult. This stretch of the road has no towns, no cell service and very little traffic. We had no chains and were wondering if it had indeed been ploughed. There were no warnings on the radio so we set off. It turned out to be fine and very picturesque. There were a couple of places with compact snow but not enough to slow us down.

The weather has improved snow wise but wind and rain have been the order of the day.
If we don't get blown away, will post next time.

Part 13. Day to day!

The summer is now over and the jobs for the season are at an end.
It is time now to get back to the 'day to day' chores which make living here interesting!

The most important job of all is keeping the fire wood pile full and dry. Our only source of heat, cooking and hot water is from the wood stove so an endless supply of wood is needed. We mostly cut alder with a little red cedar and fir mixed in. Alder is readily available floating around. You have to remember it is illegal to cut trees down so we have to rely on what we call 'beach comb' wood.

My garden was late this year, as it seems many others were. The spring was wet, the summer cold and the fall has started with wind storms!  Amazingly some of the plants did much better especially the tiger lillies which thrived and took over where ever they could. All my garden is in large containers and buckets. Soil is hard to find so I have to make some as well as bring in bags. The apple tree also did well and is just about to relinquish its fruit...if the dog doesn't get there first!   Our dog 'Rosie' is rather partial to apples and has pulled off all the ones on the lower branches she can reach.

A sign of the coming winter are the flocks of geese and earlier the cranes flying south. They always seem to be fighting a strong wind when they get over here...you would think they would know better by now!  We have also had a few visits from a family of bears. They first appeared in the summer and were hanging around between our house and a nearby lodge. By now they should be gorging on salmon but instead were ambling along behind the house just two days ago!   There are no fish bearing creeks near here so not sure what they think they can eat.   Lets hope they find a nice place to den for the winter and not near us!!

Our winter job has taken over from the summer contracts so we are now the caretakers for a number of lodges. The bay is full with various buildings, floats and boats.
Our fall trip for groceries is coming up. The grocery list has been printed and an inventory of the food shed carried out. The list is about 8 pages long and covers everything from cans to jars, baking goods to laundry soap and anything else you might need for the next 6 months. My own list includes toiletries, clothes and presents for up coming birthdays and Christmas.
Just everyday activities which keep us fit, healthy and above water!

Till next time...

Part 12. Spiritual Friends.

Every september we have a visit from a vessel called 'Coastal Messenger'. As you can probably guessed from the name, this vessel is our 'mission boat'.
They ply the coast visiting remote communities, First nations villages, light houses and homesteads.

The whole program started many years ago around the 1930's. In those days it was run by the Shantymans Christian Association. They visited logging camps, homesteads and commuities delivering spiritual guidance, advice and comfort to all.
By the 1970's there were any new faces also bringing many new ideas.  One of those ideas was a 'camp' near Bamfield on Vancouver Island. This camp, 'Pachema Lodge' was a place of reflection, learning and work for anyone interested in finding their spiritual being, or needing time to be away from the  general day to day hubbub.
It was in 1979 that the present Coastal missions, who run Coastal messenger, was conceived.

A property in Chemainus was purchased to use as a base and a former fisheries vessel was also purchased, renamed Coastal Messenger, and set sail in 1980.
There were 8 full time people and so were divided into two crews.
The area covered was from South Tacoma, Washington State all the way up the BC Coast into  South East Alaska and across to Queen Charlotte Islands.

In 1994 a new steel hull arrived and the new Coastal Messenger was launched in sept 1998.
This is the vessel that visits Sunshine Bay every Sept.

The crews are aboard for 6 week stints. We are visited by Tom, Debbie, Brian and Ann.
They really are the most wonderful people you could possibly wish to meet. Interesting, funny, knowledgeable and understanding. They know EVERYONE on the coast...or so it seems and remember everyone too. They pass news from place to place, person to person and we send many hours drinking tea and catching up on the happenings up and down.

You will have realised by now that I have not actually mentioned much about the spiritual reasons for their visits. This is because although that is the main reason for their being, they do not push this at all. They would rather visit just for the freindship than to push ideals which might not be of interest to everyone.
They do not ask for donations but in fact the whole 'business' runs on donations.
If you need advice or just want to talk they are more than ready and are great listeners, always taking a neutral position, but offering help and advice.
On top of all this the kettle is always on and we have had the best meals on board!

On one visit when my parents were also visiting it happened to be a sunday. We spent a very happy few hours singing hymns, drinking tea and talking.  Yes there is an electric piano on board!

From their base they conduct bible study, services, funerals, marriages etc. The other crew work from the base whilst the boat is plying the coastal waters.
The new venture for the future is taking over Port Nevile. This is a remotly situated community where the plan is to have a lodge/camp type operation. People can go for bible study, workshops and teachings whilst learning boat handling,safety, and other life skills.

We are very lucky to have these people as friends and supporters. They bring smiles,joy and support to us.
If you would like to know a little more about this great and unique service you can look them up at coastalmissions.ca.

Summer Vacation!

This is just a short message to say sorry I did not keep up the blog during the summer.

No, I was not on vacation but working, and just didn't seem to find the time.
I will be putting that to rights in the next day or two so normal programming should resume!

Summer is quite busy for us here. Both Robin and I both work for Dept of Fisheries. Robin is away monitoring the commercial salmon fishing fleet and I am based from home visiting the sport fishing lodges. My purpose is to gather data regarding halibut catch, check log book entries and collect hatchery fish heads.
I will explain all this more in detail in a later entry.
In the meantime we are at the end of the summer silly season and making fast progress...if you look at the weather...towards the winter caretaking job.

Till next time....

Part 11. Shearwater and Ocean Falls

I guess this posting is related to the last one!  I have just spent a week in Shearwater and Ocean Falls.
Sorry, can't divulge the nature of the job but found the areas very interesting.

Shearwater Marina

Shearwater is about 60 miles north of us. It is accessable by boat or sea plane and the ferry does stop there too. The 'town' of Shearwater is situated on Denny Island. For a remote area it has good facitlites, especially for the boating community who use it on their travels up and down the coast.
The main 'town' is clustered round, what used to be, an airplane hanger. That has been converted into a marine shop plus the addition of a store, post office, marine store, bar, restaurant, laundry, hotel and a couple of small shops.
The island has a small permanent poulation which sustaines an elementary school. The properties are few and far between. Most are located on the waters edge and so use boats for access but roads are slowly being punched through. Not sure if I can actually call them roads, more like very rough bouldery tracks so no fancy cars here. Just the requisite old truck!
There are actually 5 miles of road but many more miles of tracks and trails.
The boat yard also has a travel lift for taking boats out of the water for repair. It is quite the asset as there is not another one till you reach Prince Rupert so broken down boaters are quite relieved to see it.
There is no industry on the island so most people make a living from the tourists by providing marine repair, boat charters and accommodations.

Whiskey Cove

Shearwater Dock

Ocean Falls is quite a different story!

Ocean Falls is in Cousins Inlet and was first visited by Cpt Cook in 1778. The town was not there then but was also mentioned in notes from Cpt Vancouver when he passed through in 1793.
There are of course the local First Nations who have frequented the area for many hundreds of years.
May, 1903 brought three men, J F Keefe, John Hewitt and Mark Smaby. They were looking for timber rights and realised that the area had great potential as it not only had lumber but a large lake which could provide power.

Link Lake

Dam Above Ocean Falls

25 men arrived in Sept 1906 to start clearing the land. From then on it developed slowly into a thriving town with more modern conveniences than some have today. It was purhased by Crown Zellerbach and became a real 'company town'. Schools, stores, church, housing,hotel, apartments, hospital, and a huge swimming pool. That pool has produced most of the Canadian swimmers for PanAm Games, Commonwealth Games and some Olympiads. Not bad for a company town miles from anywhere in the bush.
The main asset of the area is not just the lumber. Link Lake is a large body of water that could provide power to a saw mill, pulp mill and electricity to the whole town. The mills are gone now but the dam is still providing power to the nearby comunities of Bella Bella and Shearwater as well as for it's own use.

Martin Valley

Abandoned House!

In its day there were upwards of 5000 people. Now just a handfull. A strange feeling to walk around a ghost town and imagine what it was like back then.

It has had it's share of disasters. Being in a rain forest, and they get 172 inches of rain annualy, has caused many slides over the years. Parts of the town have been destoyed and lives lost. Many of the houses are situated in Martin Valley which is about 2 km from the town site.

Power Plant on right. Abandoned Hotel centre. Dam in back ground

Power Lines heading to Bella Bella and Shearwater

In 1972 it was decided to shut down the town and the Gvt wanted to demolish everything.  A hurried meeting by the residents concluded that they would fight to keep their community so the Ocean Falls Improvement Society was started.
Many of the buildings have had to be demolished over the years but some buildings are being restored and the few remaining residents are only to happy to show you their court house, post office, museum etc and tell you of the company town that refuses to die!

Part 10. So....What do you do anyway?

So...What do you do anyway?
We seem to get asked this question alot. It must be something to do with where we live and peoples lack of understanding about life in a remote spot.
We of course, have the usual daily chores, plus a few others, that we must do in order to continue living the way we do. Firewood is an everyday job. Our cooking, heating and hot water all rely on the wood stove!
General maintenance of the household has to be carried out but you must remember that we can't ring the local plumber or electrician. We are all pretty handy at finding and fixing problems. There is no one else to do it!

I must opologise for not updating the blog recently. This posting explains the reasons why.

One of our jobs takes place from sept to june, caretaking the floating fishing lodges that get towed into our bay. We also work for the Dept Of Fisheries during the summer and monitor the prawn fishery in the spring. Inbetween there are always jobs that turn up out of the blue!

Sunshine Bay. As you can see it is a small town during the winter but about 80% of it gets moved out for the summer.


I was asked to help cook at a local logging camp. My training is in cooking so have helped out at some of the fish camps too from time to time. It was to be a short term (a few days) job. That lasted 4 days then a day off, then one more day.
Home for a few days then off to Bella Coola where I was to do the training for the 2011 census. That took another 4 days. Home for one day then off to Vancouver Island for a visit with Charlotte, shopping, I haven't been out for 7 months, and to pick up some UK relatives in Vancouver.
This trip was 10 days in length and covered 1500 kms of driving plus 160km of plane rides. 
Back home and start the census collection. As I write I am waiting to hear about travelling to points north for about a week. There are alot of remots areas to cover for the census and have to be done by plane.

Cathedral Point. Burke Channel enroute to Bella Coola

Bella Coola Estuary.

Of course there are always things to do be it chores or hobbies, work or leisure activities. Living away from the main stream does not mean we sit around all day. Actually it would be nice to sit on the front deck and enjoy the sunshine...think i'll go and do that right now!

In the Bella Coola Valley.

Returning from Bella Coola via the mountain route!

Most of our work is centred around the winter season We do work most of the year at various jobs, long and short term and we always remember that a short term job is better than none at all. We are flexible and willing to do almost anything so find people come looking for us. It's really quite nice!

Till next time.

part 9 Retail therapy!!

Well I'm not sure how much therapy you get from doing 6 months of shopping in one go, but it has to be good for something! The credit card companies certainly love us!!
We usually do two big shops a year. One in the fall around Oct and another around April time. This consists of an 8 page grocery list which just covers the food items! On top of that there are all the 'sundry' items that have made it to the 'must get' list.
A few years ago I composed a list on the computer. Starting with baking goods it covers canned goods, dry goods, meat, veg and fruit, misc, bread, dairy and cleaning items. Overall it works quite well and can be added to if there is a new fad or fancy.

These mammoth shops don't take as long as one would imagine but they do take concentration! Once started it is best to see it to the end even if you are heartliy sick of pushing that trolley with the wonky wheel and trying to fit it all into the mini van rented for the occasion

All the 'groceries' can usually be done on an afternoon. There are always distractions along the way and impulse buys are a problem, but some strong will ( well not very strong really) and determination gets the job done.

My list writing starts as soon as we return from the last trip. There are usually items forgotten but those are becoming less and less over time. The thing about living where there are no shops is that if you don't have it you do with out! A great lesson for most and can take a bit of getting used to. We do have the option of having things sent to us, arriving by freight boat but of course that costs money, so a little forward thinking and you can live very well.
This trip was quite a mommoth affair. Canned goods come by the case and flour by the 10kg bag. Dog food is in 50lb bags and as we have a new, growing dog, must buy enough to see her through the summer. There are all those little items as well. Spices and herbs, sauces and spreads.
I make most things from scratch so my baking list is quite extensive.

This trip also saw the purchase of a large amount of wine!! We use a 'U Brew' shop in Campbell River who do it all for you. You just have to turn up with bottes! Three types, red, white and rose, makes up 8 cases and it is all now safely stored away.
The boat was VERY full not only with groceries and wine but also all the sundry items we need. A log splitter, a flat screen tv, a washing machine (second hand), a bale of shavings used as bedding for the guinea pigs, a sun lounger and various marine parts.

Some of you may be asking about the sell by/expiration dates on many items. It is now that I tell you most of what is printed is a ploy to get you to buy more and just a marketing tool. We freeze a huge amount of produce, meat and dairy such as milk. Cheese, yogurts and cream last for months in an ordinary fridge and veg last equally as long if kept in a cool dry climate. Canned goods have a life of years if the cans are not damaged in any way.
We estimate that we have enough food to last us, along with supplements of fresh fish, crabs and prawns, over 2 years!!   I always look on the shelves and sigh ' what can I make for dinner?". Look again and there is plenty to choose from.

How satifying to have full shelves! I'm sorry I can't show you all the storage space we have, but there are many nooks and cranies stocked to bursting now!

I have not mentioned my 'personal list' which is items such as birthdays, anniversaries etc. As most of my family are in the UK I have to try to think ahead. They may not get presents on the day but they arrive eventually. Also on this list are toiletries and other sundries. I do keep various cards on hand to send so am always stocking up all the time.
All this buying means that sometimes  we have a glut of something and have to remember not to buy more. A few years ago we were renovating a bathroom and I discovered that we have a large amount of soap! Everyday handwashing soap. Some I had purchsed but lots had been given for presents in little gift baskets etc. It was all put together and we did not buy soap for 2 years!!  Perhaps you could try this at home? Just a small lesson in waste-not-want-not!!

To add further to all this retail therapy there are things like clothes, personal wants, nuts and bolts, electronics, usually for the boats, outboard parts, house hold goods....need I go on?
Thank good ness for list.as long as you remember to fill them in!!

Happy Shopping

Part 8 Rope!

Being in a watery/boaty kind of environment we use alot of rope!
This comes in various sizes and mostly black in colour. There is a a reason we like black...it does not get as sunburnt as many other colours, therfore last longer. There is nothing more annoying and painful than a tiny sliver of rope embedded under the skin which you can neither see nor get out!

Rope is in everyday usage. Of course all the boats have various ropes for tie-up, there is a 400 foot long, 3 inch rope for towing the house, along with shorter 'dog lines' for towing logs. The house is tied to its mooring with ropes and that in turn is tied to the shore.
Rope is all made in the same way, just the scale varies and the material.
We purchase most of the rope we use but we do make our own from old gill net.   Gill net is made of a nylon fibre and when its usefull fishcatching life is over can be turned into many things including handy rope.

To start we lay out 3 strands of 200 feet each. These are attached at one end to swivels mounted on a triangular board.

The other ends are all attached to the same shackle.

Along the length of the strands there are two further triangles which help to keep the strands apart during the winding proccess.

Now for the manual part of the operation!!!
Start winding!
As you turn the strands twist. These get tighter the more you wind so lots of 'shaking' of the strands keeps the tension regular.

The winding end stays static but the single end needs to be moved a little closer as the strands get shorter the more you wind.
Hope your still winding!!!

Eventually the single end starts to wind the three strands into one. We can now wind that end slowly in the opposite direction to help with the twisting. The triangle closest to this end is moved down. As the rope starts to form we pull this triangle back and the rope 'makes its self'.

A very simple but effective proccess which takes about 30 mins in all.
Starting with 200 feet of strands we end up with about 170 feet of rope. It is soft and flexible and very strong. It also has quite a bit of 'give' so stretches well. This comes in handy if we need to tie things and allow movement.
They are not the prettiest of ropes but are very useful in those emergency situations!