Echo Bay and Shoal Harbour, The Broughtons

Started our day off kayaking and Kaboating over to shore to check out the waterfall fairly close to us. (Nice white noise all night.) Short and fairly easy hike. Beautiful water fall. After that, we kayaked and Kaboated around the marina, and then back to our boats. Departed around 10am, turning into the Tribune Channel. It was another cloudy and misty day to start, but eventually (after lunch) the sun peaked out, but the winds also picked up. Mike and Bill turned into Watson Cove to do a hike, while I continued on through Hornet Passage to Echo Bay. While starting out with about a 1.5mph ebb current behind me, and some chop in the water (opposing wind against the current caused), before turning into Hornet Passage, the current turned to a flood giving me 1.5mph on the bow. But the water smoothed out… I arrived at Echo Bay and found plenty of courtesy dockage. The marina dog, a black lab named Chip, welcomed me and invited herself onto my boat. Lol. I spoke to the harbor master about the trail to the Billy Proctor museum, and he said it was well marked and that Billy Proctor passed away last year, and that the museum was locked up. He said the museum was transferred to the First Nation people, but he didn’t know what its outcome would be. Billy and his museum are well known to other cruisers that come through here. When I was here in 2018, I had the opportunity to see the museum then and talk with Billy. Before I started out on the trail, one of the employees working on the marina said Chip would probably follow me, and would run from danger. There has been a big black bear in the area, so if Chip ran in a different direction, it would be wise to follow her. Lol. (I took my bear spray with me.) Chip was actually a pretty good trail leader. She would walk ahead of me, and then stop and wait to make sure I was following. Every time she stopped to look around or put her nose in the air, I was hoping she wasn’t seeing or smelling the bear! There were several piles of bear scat along the trail, and it appeared to come from a very large bear! I did a lot of loud talking to Chip along the way! The museum was locked up, but a couple other buildings in the area, a trapper’s cabin and school house that Billy built, were unlocked and I was able to look around inside. Chip and I walked the trail back to the marina, and I treated her to a turkey stick. I sat and talked with the harbor master for a while, on his porch, and then headed out. The harbor master lives here year round. There are several floating homes along the docks. The prior owner of the marina, Pierre, sold it to the Kwaxwalawadi, but owns some rental floating homes on the other side of the Bay. Bill and Mike were still stopping to hike in some other locations along their way, and said to just go ahead an anchor in a cove around the corner from Echo Bay. It was just a mile away, called Shoal Harbour. I came in and anchored and dropped my crab trap. I checked it before supper, and did have a legal sized Red Rock crab in it, but it was her lucky day since you have to release females. I checked the trap again an hour later, and think the same gal was back in it. So maybe tomorrow morning I’ll pull it up with keepers! Bill and Mike arrived around 7p, and plan to go hike that Billy Proctor trail tomorrow.Read more