We’re up at the crack of dawn, hoping to make Cameron Cove, on Princess Royal Island. If the seas get nasty, like they tend to do in this area, we’ll be lucky to make Chapple Inlet. 

At 0500 hrs, I was rudely awakened with, “Come on, let’s go.  Early bird gets the worm”.  I stumbled up top to make sure the weather was to my liking, and all I saw was fog.  We had about 500 feet of visibility.  “I’m not going anywhere in this stuff”, I said, and crawled back in bed.  “Do you plan to stay here in your kayak?”  I didn’t reply.  

After reconsideration, Al decided we could wait for the fog to lift a bit.  Well, the fog lifted and shifted and socked back in for a couple of hours.  But, when it finally burned off we had perfect travelling conditions all the way to Cameron Cove.

The anchorage at Cameron was completely empty.  Yay.

At sunset, I spotted this common loon wrestling with this fish.  Hard to believe he could swallow one this big.

The weather looks promising this morning, with patches of blue sky here and there.  As I set out on my paddle, it is nearing low tide.

As I hugged the shore, where the current wasn’t as swift, I spotted a mink scouring the rocks for goodies.  

Apparently, he’d never seen such a creature, so as much as his instincts told him to run, his fascination got the better of him.  He couldn’t figure me out.

Ominous rain clouds were approaching, so I had to cut my paddle short.  But, before I turned around, I spotted this eagle way up in the top of a tree.  It was a long shot, but I took it anyway.

It rained all day yesterday and was still raining when we went to bed.  We listened to the weather forecast at 2030 hrs and they were still forecasting gale force winds.  I didn’t have any problem sleeping, but Al got up in the middle of the night to stand anchor watch, when the wind was gusting up to 38 knots.  The anchor seemed to be holding just fine, so after an hour he came back to bed.

Storm cell after storm cell, one right after the other, marched through here all day long… a good day for reading for me.  Al spent the day rebuilding the sea water pump.  He thought it needed a new motor, but when he got it apart, he found that the problem was a broken vane.  In his vast store of spare parts, he found a replacement vane.  So, we now have a spare sea water pump.  Yay.

Although I’d need a spring tide to get very far up Pyne Creek, low tide is the best time for finding wildlife. So, at low tide, I decided to check out the drying flats. I didn’t have to paddle far to find a pair of river otters fishing for breakfast. Judging by their size, I’d say they’re catching their fair share of fish.

Not too far from where I spotted the otters, there was a heron fishing.

The low tide had created a little pool where seagulls were enjoying their morning bath.

Al called me on the VHF to let me know that a storm is coming in this evening.  We had a bad experience riding out a storm in Bay of Plenty in the past, so I decided to head back to the boat and talk about where we want to go before the storm hits.  

After discussing our options, we decide to head back to Quigley Creek Cove, where we’ll wait for calm weather before heading up Laredo Channel.  

The sea water pump failed again as Al was pulling the anchor and washing the anchor chain.  I fiddled with the switch and eventually got it working again.  The bottom here is extremely muddy, and Al thinks he might have run the pump so long trying the get the gunk off, that the thermal protection automatically shut the pump down. 

The rain started shortly after arriving back at Quigley.  Al put together a delicious pot of Portuguese Sausage Soup, the perfect meal for this rainy day.

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This morning we moved to Bay of Plenty, just 6 miles north, where I hoped to be able to get up Pyne Creek on a spring tide.  However, the wind was blowing too hard to paddle today.

The full moon rising this evening was beautiful.

I headed up Alston Creek at high tide this morning, hoping to find wildlife.  We hadn’t seen any birds since we arrived yesterday.  I got up about a half mile, when I was stopped completely by a couple of giant trees that had fallen into the creek.  The depth of water above the trees was only about 3 inches.  I would need at least 10 inches to be able to float over the trees.  Oh, well.

There was nothing to do but turn around and head back out.  As you can see, there were lots of fallen trees in the area.

I paddled all around the cove and when I got near the entrance, I spotted some splashing water…..mergansers!  Well, I paddled for all I was worth, but they made it around the point well ahead of me and were gone.

This is my last paddle in Quigley Creek, as we’re moving on to Alston Cove this morning.  I headed up the creek looking for photo ops, but didn’t get very far. Since it’s only mid-tide, I ran out of water pretty quickly.  So, I turned around and paddled out around all the little islets, waiting for the tide to get higher.  I didn’t find any critters, so I took a couple of photos of the islets and paddled a ways up Laredo Inlet.  

When it got closer to high tide, I headed back up the creek.  I got a little farther up the creek, but not much.  I think it would take a super high spring tide and torrential rains to get passed the rock pile.

As soon as I got back to the boat, we were on our way to Alston.  Al wanted to see if he could catch a salmon.  We’ve seen a few jump here in the anchorage.

Al trolled all the way to Alston and caught some eel grass and, what he claims was a small salmon, but it looked more like a small perch to me….you know how fish stories go.

Still no blue skies, but at least it isn’t raining this morning.  At 0700 hours I set out paddling up Quigley Creek.  I didn’t get very far before I spotted a very young merganser fishing.  I thought for sure his mother must be nearby, but to my surprise, he was all alone.  I stuck with him for over an  hour, while he caught fish after fish.  His momma taught him well.

By now, it was nearing high tide, so I paddled as quickly as I could to get as far as I could before I ran out of water.  However, I couldn’t resist stopping long enough to take these shots of a couple of kingfishers that were nice enough to pose for me.

The creek was pretty shallow in spots, so I had to read the water to find places deep enough to paddle through.  After paddling for about a mile, the creek became so shallow that I had to turn around.  The tide would start going down soon, so now I had to hope that those shallow places on my way up the creek would still have enough water to make it back.

After bumping a few rocks here and there, I eventually made my way back to the anchorage.  The sea was a bit bumpy now, due to tidal conditions, but I was curious to see if the eagle I saw yesterday would be in the same spot today.  Well, he was, but I was being bounced around so much that I was only able to get this one shot.

It’s still raining this morning as I set out on my paddle.  Very near the boat, I spotted a family of otters splashing about.  They always seem to be having great fun.

The otters hauled out on a nearby island, and quickly disappeared into the trees.

I headed for Quigley Creek next.   It’s about mid-tide, so I’m not able to get very far up the creek before I run out of water.  The creek is so beautiful and quiet, and the fragrance of the trees is wonderful.  

I was intent on navigating around lots of rocks because the tide was already pretty low, when I looked up and saw this family of mergansers trying to sneak passed me.  By the time I put my paddle down and got my camera out, momma had decided I looked like something threatening, and she was putting it in “R” for “Race”.  

So, I headed back out to the little islets that dot the anchorage, where I discovered this eagle trying to dry out from the rain.  

It’s raining as we pull the anchor this morning, headed for Quigley Creek Cove, in Laredo Inlet, just 25 miles west of Wallace Bight.  The sea is so calm we’re able to eat breakfast underway.   

There aren’t any boats in the anchorage when we arrive at Quigley, but there are lots of salmon jumping at the mouth of the creek.  Al’s going to do some salmon fishing when we leave Quigley, headed up Laredo Inlet, so it’s nice to know the salmon have arrived.  Maybe this rain will bring more in.

I kept waiting for the rain to stop so I could go paddling, but it rained all day.