Transiting Johnstone Strait
From our border crossing and night in Montague Harbour we stopped in Nanaimo for a day to provision up with produce and wine. At the dock we met some new friends who are from Roche Harbor in the San Juans on their boat named Wanderlost, a 31 ft Ranger Tug. They (Robin & Tom) are a lovely couple who named their boat Wanderlost because they enjoy wandering and don’t care if they are lost! Since meeting them we have had several adventures together.
The following morning, May 27th we left to go up the Strait of Georgia It was beautiful weather and the water was fairly settled down (light northerly winds). Suddenly, we had a thrill of a lifetime! Right next to us, 20 ft off our port side , a huge male orca (aka killer whale) porpoised fully exposing his body! Unfortunately, he did not do it again so no pictures. We went into Tribune Bay for the evening. Tribune Bay is at the south end of Hornby Island and it is a Provincial Park with a beautiful sand beach and hiking trails. The bay is very shallow for a long way out. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on the beach but I believe you can take them up to the trails. We did not get our dinghy down because we were only there for the evening. Last year we did go ashore and had a nice walk along the beach.
Our next stop is Campbell River in Discovery Passage. This is a bustling town with a population of approximately 38,000. This newer marina was very convenient to stores for provisioning. I had already shopped in Nanaimo but I managed to buy more supplies. They have a wonderful promenade that connects all of the marinas that Bosun and I explored. We had a great pub dinner at Riptide Marine Pub right up the ramp by where we were moored.
The next morning, May 29th, we found a good breakfast restaurant, We figured we had until 1:00PM to finish up getting garbage and recycle off the boat plus we would water up. Well at 10:30 one of the younger marina staff members came by and asked when we would be leaving. I told him Don said 1:00 because we wanted to go through Seymore Narrows on a slack turn to ebb tide (the water is running out to sea so it is going from high tide to low tide). He said well that’s NOW not this afternoon! I had Don come out and he was skeptical but figured we should trust local knowledge. We pushed off within 5 minutes because if that was true we needed to hurry out.
Seymore Narrows is a wide pass but the current through it can get up to 16 knots so if you don’t go at slack tide you can get pushed around which makes it very dangerous. It is also the easiest connection from the Strait of Georgia to Johnstone Strait. We wanted to go at slack turn to ebb because the water would be going north so we would get a boost going with the current rather than fighting it.
As we started towards the narrows Don looked up the tidal information again and realized the dock hand was wrong. We made the best of it as we explored some of the other islands along the way waiting for the correct time to arrive at Seymore Narrows. We had no issues going through the channel.
Johnstone Strait is 54 miles along the northeast side of Vancouver Island. It is the shortest route up or down Vancouver Island The issue is the wind and current in Johnstone Strait. Doing this blog I was reading more about Johnstone Strait in the Waggoner Cruising Guide and what it says there is exactly what happened to us!
First, there was no warning that strong winds were coming in. We had plenty of other boats in the same situation we were in. Seymour Narrows, piece of cake; Johnstone Strait, was scary. It was a challenging run due to 20 to 30 knot northerly winds against a strong ebb current (tide going out which was against the wind) that raised vicious seas especially in the Race Passage area. We took a beating and what a relief to get to protection in Port Neville. Bosun did very well with only 1 throw up event. Poor little guy. We were in rough seas for at least 3 hours.
Port Neville has a government dock close to the entrance on the eastern shore where we tied up. We were shocked that Wanderlost had braved the seas as well. They had gone north around Helmcken Island looking to anchor in a small harbor but decided to continue on to Port Neville to wait out the storm since it was probably going to last several days.
We enjoyed the dock at Port Neville. This settlement was founded in 1891. It had a post office that was run by Olaf Hansen and after his death by other family members. When the post office closed in 2010 it had been the longest continuously-operating post office in the province. We met one of the grandsons who was staying in a house on the property. It is used as vacation property now. He was very nice and told us to walk around and enjoy the property and beach. No amenities there but we thoroughly loved the two nights we stayed and the friendliness of the property owner.
Campbell River to Port Neville
Our Bosun Mate
Bosun loves the captains seat.
The aroma of fresh Basil
Have to have a Basil plant on the boat. Thrifty Foods at Nanaimo has nice ones. Got one last year that lasted all summer. Of course I will have to give it away at Prince Rupert because no live plants or soil can go across the border.
Wanderlost our new friends from Roche Harbor going through Seymour Narrows.
Pacific Whitesided Dolphins we believe. They are often confused with Dall’s Porposes. They were bow riding with us after Seymore Narrows.
Johnstone Strait Video