Hot Spring, Unexplored Lagoon, No More Diesel and Bear Country - Week 4

This week Nordic Sun II covered 149.9 miles.  Less than 50 of those got us closer to Alaska.  These extra miles allow me to visit other remote, and seldom visited BC oceanside destinations. 

Our first stopped was at Weehanie Hot Spring.  Which in my opinion, is not so hot, water-wise.  Not only that but the publicized park buoy was missing.  That was the second time we have found a missing park buoy. This was my least favorite hots springs yet, so maybe it was not so hot after all.



Weewanie Hot Spring

Next, we moved on to James Bay.  Here we did find a few crabs in our pot, like 16.  I picked out the big ones, to fill my limit and threw the rest back.  Our prawn trap also yielded enough prawns for a meal, but we had them as sundowner snacks one evening.  


Look at all those crabs!!!

We found an unexplored lagoon, Foch Lagoon.  By reading our guidebook, “Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia”, the authors had not ventured into the lagoon, but only mentioned it.  Ah ha, a place not yet explored. We had to see what was in the lagoon, so I could document it in my journal.  I felt like a real adventurer who was traveling up an uncharted inlet, much like the famous explorer Captain Cook.

The lagoon is not easy to enter.  It is a tidal lagoon, which means the entrances is guarded with rapids.  We waited for near slack water, and then entered the lagoon.  What we found reminded me of Princes Louisa Inlet.  It had its raging tidal rapids, at the entrance.  Then once through that, there was a narrow channel flanked by steep granite walls, with many ribbon waterfalls cascading down.  One of those waterfalls was impressive and massive.    Only difference between Foch Lagoon and Princess Louisa is “We are the only ones here”.  That is just the way we like it.

The waterfall of Foch Lagoon

While we were in the lagoon. I decided to put my last 5 gallons of diesel, from a jug on deck, into our tank.  That’s when I discovered, all my deck tanks were empty.  Oops.  We only had about 2 gallons of diesel left in the tank.  Which was not enough to make it to the next fuel dock.  Thankfully we were able to transit the tidal lagoon under power before we ran out of diesel.  Once out, we found wind and sail all the way to the fuel dock at Hartley Bay. 

Hartley Bay Fuel Dock

We were now back on the watery highway to Alaska.  With our tanks topped off we traveled up the narrow Grenville channel and stayed in a cove called Nettle basin.  The basin had another waterfall that dumped into the sea, named Verney Falls.  I had heard that, if you hiked up in the woods, behind the falls, you would find another waterfall.

Being the adventuring type, I decided to trek back in the dense, moss-covered woods, in bear country to see the upper Verney Falls.  Might not be the wisest, but I did have my bear spray. The trail was steep, with rocks and fallen trees in my path. I lost the trail a few times and had to bushwhack my way at times.  I was really having the explorer experience, for sure.  Was I concerned about getting lost?  Yes!  But I did bring my phone, which has GPS and mapping software to track of where I went.

I eventually made it to the upper falls.  My T-Shirt was drench with sweat, and I was filling like my tank was about ½ empty.  I stopped, had some water, and a peanut bar, to give me energy to continue.  While resting I watched the water flow over the falls.  

Upper Verney Falls

With a revived energy level, I decided to trek further up and around the edge of Lowe Lake.  I found a fresh bear print in the sand along the sandy lake shoreline. That got me looking over my shoulder, and talking to myself (noise to scare off the bears), as I skirted around the edge of the lake.

I closed out week 4 of this adventure, by making it to my last fuel stop in Canada, Prince Rupert.  Also my most expensive fuel stop. I was planning on spending the night at the Cow Bay marina here, but it was all booked up until mid-August.  That had me going to Plan B, which was to anchor out in the quite Pillsbury Cove.

If you have questions or comments about this post, feel to leave a comment on my journal site.  Until the next installment, Happy adventuring.

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