McMicking Lay Day

We woke to a beautiful morning, bright sun and a great day for exploring. The rafted fishing boats left early this morning, but we lazed around, waiting for the right tides to explore our favorite beach. The amazing sand beaches are a key reason to visit McMicking, and are almost on par with Pruth or Rugged Point.

Mcmicking anchorage

looking back to the entrance and the beaches from the anchorage

a peekaboo shot from the cove around the corner

The challenge in visiting our favorite beach is two-fold. First, it’s a shallow approach – we prefer a steeper beach drop off to make it easier to maneuver (and depart). Second, the beaches are exposed to swell and some surf, so it’s key to pick your landing spot with care. We have a spot that leverages some rocks to help protect us from the swell and surf.

our favorite place to beach the dinghy using rocks to break up the waves

Although we should probably have waited for the tide to rise a bit, I was able to get Karen to the shore to hold the dinghy painter while we offloaded more lines and the sand spike.

I brought the drone, as it’s hard to capture the grandeur of this beach with a camera at ground level.

this is but one of many beaches along the island

the river empties across the sand to the ocean. you can see this feature on google earth

rocks and sand are the beachs of the coast

The beach was just as nice as we remembered from 2022. Long and wide, with a hoard of sea shell treasures for Karen to beachcomb.

sand and granite mountains are are certain sign you are on campania Island

After capturing the bird’s eye view, I joined Karen as we walked the vast expanse of the beach and found lots of wolf paw prints. We understand there are a lot of wolves in this area, but have yet to be lucky enough to see one.

lots of critter paw prints

After a long while, we decided it was time to return to OceanFlyer. Getting off the shallow shore was a challenge, even with a higher tide and judicious use of the anchor buddy. But we did it successfully and returned to our anchorage slightly windburned but happy.

We had a new neighbor in the anchorage, another small recreational fishing boat. We spent time chatting with the nice Canadian couple before returning to OceanFlyer.

Dunn Passage to McMicking Inlet

McMicking Inlet, our next stop, is all about exploring the many large white sand beaches at the entry to the Inlet. So today we will position ourselves there in anticipation of the next few days being sunny, the best type of weather to visit beaches.

Calm seas as Campania island, on the horizon, beckons us

There were a lot of rocks and small islets along the shoreline as we ran down the Campania Island coastline, but they are no issue because the area is very well charted. We passed Betteridge Inlet and promised we’d visit that interesting maze on our next visit.

As expected, there ilests that guard at the entrance to McMicking inlet and there is a narrow “neck” as you head up the inlet to the anchorages. All very well charted.

nothing else looks like Campania Island

Unlike our last visit (2022), we did not see any small boats fishing the area as we entered.

There was just one small sailboat named Sally in McMicking when we arrived, anchored on the 12 foot “mound” charted just outside our favorite cove. We actually set our anchor in the same spot as we did in 2022, and settled in for the afternoon.

About dinner time, a small recreational fishing boat came into the anchorage, and spent a lot of time looking around for his “spot”. Perhaps we were anchored where he wanted to be.  At long last, he dropped the hook not too far away, put down fenders indicating he was expecting someone to raft up later, and started cleaning salmon.  Before too long, a second fishing boat came in to raft up and more fish cleaning commenced.

Later on, the captain from the first boat set out for an exploration in his fishing kayak. He made a beeline for OceanFlyer, and Karen stepped out to chat.  Fishing had been good, he said, but prawns were wiped out from the commercial fleet. She asked him about the unusual grab bar on the front of his kayak – it almost looked like the “staple” you find on the back of swimsteps. He said it was for his wife, who had MS – it was a stable way to get in and out of the kayak from the boat and made kayaking easier for her. Sounds good to us – it’s always a struggle to get back out of the kayaks and onto the boat.

The water and wind were quiet that evening, with a peaceful night in store for us.

Dunn Passage Lay Day

The weather is transitioning today. We expect some clouds and showers. Not to worry, we did our exploring yesterday in the good weather. Today we will catch up on the blog, do some boat chores and some paying client work.

Union Passage to Dunn Passage

We awoke to very calm weather and breaks in the sun. Also, our black bear was back and spent the entire morning foraging in plain sight.

Black Bear Breakfast Buffet

Who you looking at!

peaseful morning in Union Passage

The weather continued to improve as we awaited our departure at Low Slack based on Hartley Bay’s tides. We ended up leaving around noon, about an hour before slack water in Peters Narrows.

looking out Outer Cove, Union Passage

The departure back through the narrows was easy. We saw about 1-1.5kts of current on the stern and a lowest depth of 22.5’ on a 5’ tide at Hartley Bay. Flow is very laminar.

Despite Karen’s misgivings (because nothing was written about our route), we then went through another narrow pass, Hoey Narrows.  It’s so close to Peters Narrows, I knew it would be slack-ish there as well. This pass is narrower but well charted, and we barely had any current to contend with.  Lowest depth was about 24.5’. Going through Hoey Narrows into Payne Channel cut .4nm off the trip, which was estimated to be just over 2 hours.

We had a very easy passage, with calm seas and low winds. As we passed Tuwartz Bay, we saw a few pleasure craft fishing.

We anchored in Dunn Passage in exactly the same spot we did 2 years ago. It affords nice protection, but also has 360 degree views. In bad weather, I would anchor further back at the head and give up views for additional protection from wind and fetch.  As we entered Dunn Passage, we saw a small sailboat and a commercial crabber. The latter laid a line of numerous crab pots between his “start and stop buoys”, we were glad we saw those being set so we didn’t stray into dangerous anchoring territory.

With the sun shining and few clouds in the sky, we launched the dinghy for a two hour exploration.

We were at a +9 foot tide, so the opportunity to transit drying or shoal areas and go deeper into the small coves makes for good snooping.

Although many of the areas we explored look small on the chart, some are surprisingly large. I’ve marked some areas on the chart below with numbers and I’ll reference that as we share some interesting areas.

Dunn Passage Points of Interest

1. The well protected large lagoon can hold many boats in 30 to 60 feet. The wind might funnel in depending on direction and strength, but it’s unlikely to be uncomfortable. We chatted with the singlehander on the sailboat we saw when we entered. He had moved into the lagoon and was  also exploring. He mentioned seeing wolves here the last time he visited.

2. At the head of the lagoon in the North Arm’s green drying area is an interesting lake-fed creek. We could approach the rock pile, dam-like structure at its mouth with 5 feet under the dinghy. Beyond that we could see the creek but couldn’t tell where it went or if it was passable in a dinghy. With three more feet of water, I think we could have gotten the dinghy over those guardian rocks, but not for long. Kayaks would be a better vehicle and you could always portage over the rocks at lower tides.

Rockpile stops the dinghy

3. Here’s another opportunity to poke your nose in a smaller lagoon off the main lagoon. It is also well charted and we saw no less than 4 feet on a 9 foot tide, but there are a several large rocks that guard either side of the kelp lined channel. Not a hard passage, but definitely keep a lookout and follow the current flow to stay in the fair water.

4. I spotted this large drying channel that leads out to Estevan Sound and wanted to give it a go. At our +9 foot tide, we saw no less than 4 feet, but there is a lot of kelp and large rocks that impede the channel. Keeping a sharp lookout. We made it out to the Sound and enjoyed the very calm conditions as we turned back into Dunn Passage.

it’s going to be a nice sunset

After the grandeur of Culpepper Lagoon and Khutze, this is a change to more low-lying territory, but still quite pretty.  We had a peaceful evening and even a nice sunset.

dunn passage sunset

Provisioning in Nanaimo, Day 1

Nanaimo is a mandatory stop on our way up. Here we can top off our U.S. provisions with items we cannot bring across the border. Also, boat maintenance items can be sourced here at the great chandlery.

I was up early this morning to get a “Uride”, BC’s homegrown version of Uber. I had to pick up the rental car at the Nanaimo Airport this morning so we could provision with ease. Nothing but praise for “Uride” . You can set up a ride in advance, and my driver was on time and friendly.

Our key provisioning stops:

The Harbour Chandler Ltd – Walking distance from the docks. They have it all. Very well equipped for the fisherman. This year we bought prawn bait.

SaveOn at the Country Club Plaza – There are lots of good grocery stores, but this is our first stop and seldom do we have to scout something at another. There is a Thrifty Foods within walking distance of the docks. It’s good if you don’t have a car.

Nesvog Meats & Sausage Co. at the Terminal Mall. They have another location, but this one has better hours.  We fax in our meat order for the trip, and they have it all wrapped and frozen and ready for us when we arrive. No hunting from one store to the other to get what you want. If they don’t have it, they will try to get it for you. Super nice people.

McLean’s Specialty Foods – Special Bacon and imported cheeses and all manner of things you don’t see anywhere else.

Green Thumb Garden Center – Fresh Basil plants and potting supplies so Karen can have fresh basil all summer long.

We also went to Costco, Home Depot and Canadian Tire – Nanaimo is a real city and there are a ton of shopping options. And don’t forget London Drug – sounds like a drug store but has all manner of things from TVs to phones to cameras.