We knew way back when I was talking to Jeff Hanak at the BC Outdoors Show in Spring that threading the needle from Bella Bella to Barkley Sound would be a nautical challenge.
You see, Jeff is not only a head honcho and lead guide at Eagle Nook Resort in Barkley Sound, he’s the BC Garmin Marine guy…and one of our fine Big Coast partners. He had Ted Lloyd coming in for a trip and I was doing my best to make a big Island run to make things happen in The Sound.
Now the run down from Bella Bella was minty, with awesome conditions making the 5hr-run from Bella down to Port Hardy. It was glass calm headed around Cape Caution and the next leg…an 8hr cruise down Johnstone Strait to Parksville, was equally awesome.
And here’s where the Big Coast story takes quite a turn. Of course we had an incredible six days in Barkley Sound and hanging at Eagle Nook. Of course the fishing was awesome, filming great, company stupendous and weather really nice. But I’d also formulated a somewhat sketchy B-Plan…and this involved a run North from Barkley Sound to Nootka Sound and Westview Marine to visit my buddy Gibran White and do some Nootka filming.
Checking the weather, I knew it was going to be a little dicey. Swell was up over 2 metres on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and the winds were gusting over 20 knots NorthWest…as they steadily do this June time of year. I departed Eagle Nook with optimism at 6am and made my way out through Broken Islands Group and up around Ucluelet. Here things took a decided turn for the worse and optimism quickly faded.
The combination of swell, winds and tides just got worse the more North I got till my boating day was starting to feel more like high marking a snowmobile. I was getting my ass handed to me, running solo and the prognosis was not looking good. I got a weather report from Estevan Point and checked in with Gibran…who also reported it was going to &^%$#$! Knowing the worse was yet to come I made the safe decision, turned tail and threw down a mean 180. This was a ways North of Tofino and I had a major surf session Southbound back to Barkley Sound and Port Alberni. I had officially gotten my butt handed to me.
For the record, I hate getting my butt handed to me. It happens in our nautical world from time-to-time but is never cool. Maybe it’s macho. Maybe its foolishness. I run a big heavy metal weapon of a boat in our Bridgeview BV30. She’s got a 101/2 foot beam over 30ft and weighs almost 17,000 pounds. The hull is awesome and paired with twin Mercury V10 350s…she can handle just about anything. Except on this day.
So I got a speedy tow across the Island from All Tow and dunked the boat in Parksville. I’ve spent a ton of time in Parksville over the years and it’s home to one of my best fishing bros Jes McFarlen. We hung out for a few days, fished some cohos and did some cool night jigging for squid….although with no success. For the record, Steve Burgess in Parksville is the undisputed squid king of BC!
Anyway, time was pressing to run North to Bella again and my girlfriend rolled into town to make the Northbound trip. Unfortunately, once again, weather conditions did not look good with a serious June-July storm building on the BC Coast and turning Johnstone Strait on its head. Well, I attempted another early departure and paid a steep price making Campbell River. The Georgia Strait was stacked up ugly and my concern was growing. Rolling through Seymour Narrows was fine but once I made the turn North into Johnstone Strait the water stacked up like tight, steep concrete walls.
Once again, I was getting my butt handed to me. Given my passenger, and despite awesome Shockwave Seats and all, I turned tail once again and headed South for Quadra. Conditions took a mega-turn for the worse and we were forced to hunker down in Heriot Bay for three days to wait out the big blow. Which sucked. But actually made for a fine Canada Day!
Once the weather subsided, I once again pointed North and headed for Bella Bella and Denny Island home base. A little boating tired and a little humbled. Funny how Mother Ocean has a way of indoctrinating humility. Anyway, I had my butt kicked twice on this trip but it was well worth it. And all the characters and special humans along the way made my trip a resounding success!
