Monday & Tuesday June 23-24, 2014

Monday June 23 Lift the launch on deck, ("HUGIN and MUNIN "is her name) turn on the navigation equipment and plot a course through Old Passage and making are way to Shawl Bay Marina. This is are home dock in the Broughtons.  GOOD prawning, FrEE pancake breakfast under outside cover, swapping big lies about the halibut and secret anchorages. Later in the evening we will glide into HAppY hour and the stories will crest about when the crew retire (not to soon) for their dinners. Shawl Bay host a number of dinners.  The main course provided by Lorne and Shawn and rest of us will bring salads, etc. There is a small donation for this, for they have a short season to make long winter sustainable, and we would surely miss this destination. This is a hard country to make a living.

"Iron Lady"

We arrive just after “Iron Lady” an ocean traveller, a no nonsense passage maker made of aluminium.

She’s raw on the outside with stainless railings and equipment, but very elegant; as good as it gets inside. She has arrived from New Zealand where she was constructed. The last part of the passage was from Hawaii. Pete & Debby and one crew are planning to tour the coast.
If we were totally ofF are rocker (and at our tender age-we are close to a tUmBle) and if we did (but were NOT) this is the ultimate vessel to be bobbing about in. Pete went over design and systems with me and I would not choose any other vessel to do the passages without my rocker. They previously had a Nordhaven 53 which they had found ######.

Mom & the Kids

Out to set the prawn traps in Moore Bay that is just around the corner from Shawl Bay. It’s a fun run in "HUGIN and MUNIN" especially at 30 knots ,as the pass is only about 40 ft. width and at low water 7 to 8ft. depth. It’s like a water slide ride, only better.

You might scare a bear in the pass that’s turning rocks looking for small crabs. Bears are like a mower they eat up EveryTHING that has nutrition, even small stuff like barnacles. For us it would be like eating razor blades, for them it’s just desert. It’s a lesson in adaptability to watch a bear amble up shear slimy rock face and move through underbrush that we could not penetrate more than a foot, scoop up a mouth full of huckleberries, eat the branch and all and move on to the next delectable morsel without missing a step. They are like bulldozers only much much better and they only come in black, brown and rarely white.  (Not Yellow!  Like Caterpillars bulldozers!) 

Moore Bay outhouse

Back to MOORE BAY, we set 3 traps and take woofer to the small dock with a camp site that is managed by Forestry. The site is set in towering evergreens, deep moss, quaint log outhouse,s and brook in a honey brown color that comes from being deep in the forest. The picnic tables are built of heavy timbers and cord wood is precut waiting for the next fire to be set. We have never seen a camper there and never cease to wonder why the camp is not full of kayakers.  Guess it is one of those wonder places that have yet to be discovered, so get moving.





At Launching with two Grandaughters

Bet you’re still trying to figure out who "HUGIN and MUNIN" is.   Well they were the RAVENS that sat on the shoulders of ODIN.  Who's Odin, well he is the Norse God who ruled the known world at the time and he would send them out on wing into the world at sunrise and they would return in the evening and whisper in his ears all the world events of the day.
 
Penny and I are like Ravens only not as smart. On one side of the dingy name plaque is "HUGIN" and the other "MUNIN". One name stands for thought and the other memory.  Only we are losing ours and Penny calls me thoughtless. Move on Davie or you will forget where you are going with this.

Prawning with Dave

Well Penny and I are off to pull the prawn traps. I can’t get the first one up and resort to tying off and powering.  It comes loose and we pull the last 2 without mishap. OK haul of prawns. Walk puppy at dock in Moore Bay and speed back for happy appy hour.  

Jim off “SEA OTTER” has as many tools aboard as "OCEANAIRE 1" (wood working) but his are metal working tools. Little things like lathes, Tig welders, cutting torches, large and sturdy bench vice, big metal pounding hammers. He also has a plasma cutter aboard. He will teach the fine art of cutting large old stuff into small art pieces.

I have made the mistake of promising Lorne a new sign for his pop bottle depository, which he collects thousands of to supplement his income to survive the winter.  Jim thinks I should make a giant metal whale (with the Tig welder) swallowing pop cans into containers. I had something a little smaller, more discreet, less work so we can continue are trip north. Maybe I can postpone till the way back, or dodge the bullet completely.