New Bella Bella and Shearwater

Sun came out today, and it warmed up to the mid 60’s! Winds eventually picked up to somewhere between 10-15 mph out of the west. Bill and Mike ended up anchoring in Rock Inlet by Namu last night. Their plans today were to hike there this morning, then make their way to Kisameet Bay to see it, and finally anchor this evening in Codville Lagoon. They plan to hike around there tomorrow morning, and then head to Bella Bella and Shearwater later tomorrow.
I ended up with just the one crab that I took out of the trap last night. I steamed the two crabs that I caught over the last two days, and then headed out for Bella Bella. Route was back on Fisher Channel then turned onto Lama Passage. Lama started out a little choppy, due to opposing wind on current. (Head wind, but I had a ebb (tail) current. Lama Passage turned north, and after that it was fairly smooth. While I’m thinking about it, in yesterday’s blog I mentioned porpoises. A friend of mine pointed out those were actually Humpback whales. So the tails I saw were Humpbacks also. Just before Bella Bella, I passed by Old Bella Bella, where the Canadian Coast Guard cutter,Cape Kuper, is docked. Saw a couple of old ships near there also. Then over to the fuel dock at New Bella Bella. Fuel was 2.48/liter. I only put 25 gallons on, as I plan to fuel at Bella Coola where fuel is just shy of $2/liter. That should give me enough to get to Bella Coola, and return if for some reason they are out of fuel when we get there. With calculating liters to gallons and including the exchange rate, the gas at Bella Bella worked out to be $6.82/gallon in US dollars and volume. Bill and Mike plan to circumnavigate around Yeo Island after getting fuel and spending the night here tomorrow. I’m bypassing the extra mileage and will get back together Friday at Ocean Falls.
After fueling, I found the only spot left on the public dock, with just enough space to fit. I looked around Bella Bella and went inside the “Big House. You can google Bella Bella Big House to learn more about it. Then I stopped at the store to buy some groceries. There are several large totem poles around town, including one in front of the school. Left Bella Bella and went around the north tip of Denny Island to Shearwater. Thought about doing laundry here, however the machines took coins. I chose not to have any Canadian money with me, as I’m just using my credit card. The harbor master said there was an ATM machine at the next building, but it was out of service. Not a big deal. My laundry bag is getting kind of full, but I still have plenty of clean clothes! I came across the bay from Shearwater and anchored. Winds are forecast to be out of the WNW at 5-10mph, so even though I’m open to the large bay, it should be pretty calm.Read more