We’re on our way to Klemtu this morning at 0800 hrs.  It’s only 2 hours to Klemtu from Rescue, but we need to get to the fuel dock early, in order to get a place to tie up at the dock while we do our grocery shopping.  We don’t need a lot of fuel, but we do need groceries.  The supply barge only comes into Klemtu every other Friday.  By noon Saturday, the shelves in the band grocery store are restocked, and the rush is on to get what you can while the getting is good.  

Finlayson isn’t too bad this morning, and we’re able to get the last space available on the fuel dock.  While filling our water tanks and waiting for the grocery store to open, I talked to a couple who are cruising up here in a canoe with an outboard.  They launched at Bella Coola last Sunday.  At night they sleep in the canoe, using a tarp to cover them when it rains.  Now that’s tough living.  But, they’ve caught salmon and have seen whales, dolphins, grizzly bears, black bears…. and are having the time of their lives.  The outboard moves them along at 15 miles an hour, so they’ve been able to cover a lot of area in the week they’ve been out. 

As soon as the store was open, we grabbed everything on our list except for zuchinni.  They didn’t order zucchini this week.  But, they had the most delicious cherries, canteloupe, pears, apples, kiwis, plums, mangoes, blueberries and bananas; as well as potatoes, yams, onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, corn on the cob, tomatoes, lettuce and avocados.  

Then, we had the problem of getting all our groceries down to the boat.  Of course, it’s low tide, and the ramp down to the fuel dock is almost straight up and down.  We had to carry one bag of groceries at a time, on our arm, because we had to use both hands to hold on to the rail as we sidestepped down the dangerously steep ramp.  And, naturally, there was a boat circling, waiting for us to leave so they could tie up at the dock.  Luckily, the fellow who runs the fuel dock helped us by carrying a few bags down for us.  Next time, we’ll have to check the tide tables against the schedule for the supply barge, and plan on making it back here when they have fresh supplies and a high tide in Klemtu.  We’re too old to be doing death defying grocery shopping.

By the time we got away from Klemtu, the wind had come up and the tide rips in Finlayson were nasty.  Luckily, we didn’t have far to go to Bottleneck Inlet, where we would be anchoring for the night. By the time we got anchored and had dinner, it was too late to go paddling. And,  I was too exhausted after Klemtu.  But, as luck would have it, a pair of loons were nice enough to paddle close enough to the boat for me to get this shots.