Saturday August 27/11 Got up at the guest house as 3 fishermen were leaving for a day of fishing off the west coast. Another fine sunny day here. I'm just reading, writing and packing my stuff. Beth went out for a run/ salmon pick up then we all walked down to the Sandspit Resort for coffee then to the airport for a couple carts to take back to the guest house. Loaded our gear up and walked back to the airport then on our way. I had a good view of the coast but was unable to positively make out too many of the rivers, mountains and settlements until Knight Inlet. Plane even took a good view route over the city and then over Richmond. Back at home doing the cleaning-drying-repairing-and-replacing thing today.

This is one place that I will have to go back to one day. Spend more time in the towns and kayak the Hotsprings to Moresby Camp area.

August 26 Got up at 7 or 8 and we puttered around trying to decide whether to pack up or spread things out to dry but rain/ mist was intermittent so we slowly packed up. At about 11:30 we hadn't heard much on the radio when it started coming together that MorEx had a few day trippers they were taking to the Hotsprings, a pickup of 2/7 from Murchison and the 3 of us. Henry and Rob Z paddled to the Hot Springs for a final soak then the guide, Abby came to pick us up, take us to Hot Spring Island where we sat around chatting. At about 3:00 we all went back to Moresby Camp, unpacked the boat, loaded the van and picked up two more MorEx employees then we went to the ferry for 7:00 pm. Finally got back to Sandspit, squared away the bill ($900.00 for me), fuel canisters and duffels. We joined Henry and Rob for Chinese food then chatted with Dick the owner/ cook at the restaurant after it had closed.

Thurs Aug 25 I got up at 6:00 and the weather forecast was for light winds (they don't talk about much else on the marine weather channels - never temperatures or cloud cover and the only mention of rain is in regards to "visibility of less than 1 mile." K&B kept on sleeping but got up at 7:00. I suggested Beresford Inlet and the Hotsprings for a day trip - our last full day :( We paddled into JS Sound and it was some of the calmest waters we have seen the whole trip. We simply made a B-line form Murchison Island to the mouth of the Inlet. The Inlet was formed by a fault. It felt like paddling a straight river, straighter than any river ever but with no flow - it has a current but we basically paddled it at slack tide. Later when we came out, the sound had some wind but it was easy to take the waves at 45 degrees so we were heading again straight for Murchison Island. We stopped before the point for a short break and then when we left we found ourselves in unexpected and big choppy waves. It was quite exciting and when we got around the point the waves were more predictable. I guess that was our first taste of unpredictability at points and capes. I tried to lead a shortcut to the Hotsprings but the tide was too low - we would have had to portage 3 metres - so we had to circle about some islets and rocks. When we arrived at the Hotsprings we were the only ones there. They had over 48 today including a few boatloads like the ones I saw leaving just before we arrived. Great soak on a cooler day and I was wet from tipping over my kayak on a less than graceful exit at shore. We stayed late, paddled back to camp and it was my turn to cook dinner - luckily it was an easy one so we didn't eat too late. Sat around the campfire until 11:00 and now I'm in the tent and this trip ends tomorrow :(

Wednesday Aug 24 Cloudy start to the day but easy paddle across Section Cove. A bit choppy as we diagonaled across Burnaby Straight. We crossed a few bays and the waves due to the out flows were choppy and complicated. As we got to the northernmost point we tried to stop at a small cove but found the swell from Hecate dumped our kayaks on the rocks so we ate out on the water then went for the JP Sound crossing. It was pretty easy with the swell and outflow opposite each other. We continued past Hot Spring Island and set up camp at the isthmus. It looks like some kind of guided trip is staying on the other side. By this time the sun was hot and we were drying - yes drying- our gear including the insides of our dry bags which I have been calling wet bags. We went over to the Hot Springs to find the group of seven guys leaving. They are staying on Murchison Island and it sounds like a few will be leaving on the same Friday Zodiac as us. The rest want to go to Windy Bay but say there is a big storm coming but the Env Can weather reports don't say anything above 20 knots. The Hot Springs were magnificent. Three pools but we couldn't tell which one was the hottest or coolest. We stayed for a while then paddled back to camp. Beth cooked dinner including cheese cake for dessert. I made a small campfire on the beach but the high tide put it out just after 10:00 so we are all in bed.

Tuesday Aug 23 Another weather day. Woke up at 6:00 am with heavy rain falling. The weather forecast said rain would last all day and change to showers late in the day - Not much wind in the cove or at our campsite but it is predicted that winds will be 30 plus tonight. I gave the radio to K&B in their tent, gave them my pros/cons and suggestions but told them to listen to the radio and let me know how they felt. They agreed that we should stay put. A while later we all had coffee and oatmeal then went back to out tents. It's 5:00 pm now, rain is still falling hard and winds are picking up. I haven't seen Kevin and only saw Beth briefly around lunch time when I went out for a bagel. The 4:00 pm weather report says things are looking better for Wednesday wind-wise but may be a while before the rain stops. I'm thinking there maybe a chance that we will have to cross JP Sound in low visibility so I am carefully doing the preparations for that in my GPS using lat/long(for my first time as I've always used UTM before) and found that one source (the boat camping book) has a typo for Ramsey Point campsite that was off by 1 NMile. Hopefully visibility will be good and I can use/ check the GPS for practice and not for real.
Beth came by the tent at about 6:00pm to say dinner was ready. I didn't even hear them cooking under the tarp which is only about 5 m from my tent. That's how much noise the rain makes on the trees and tarps. I have one covering the entrance and half of my tent today. Dinner was delicious and spicy with pepperoni mixed in. As we were eating the rain stopped and we even had a few clear patches in the sky. The wind picked up and we could see lots of white caps in the Narrows and waves breaking against the islands opposite us. Hopefully no wind waves tomorrow when we leave here.
Drying clothes in Gwaii Haanas: Short story: it doesn't happen. Long story: Eventually all clothing gets wet and needs to be dried. It won't dry here so don't bother washing it. Once it gets wet you may as well write it off or just wear it wet therefore wetsuits (neoprene), rubber raincoats (Sandspit sports coat) and gum boots are the way to go. Quick dry is a laugh - it doesn't dry. I have hung a t-shirt in side the tent, 15C or better, tarp over tent, not a drop of rain inside the tent and it has gotten wetter. Paddling gloves, firewood collecting gloves - I've given up on them. K&B have tried drying things over the fire but it has done little except put burn holes in some of their things.
The rain has stopped for today and now the winds are picking up. Luckily we have Burnaby Island protecting us. The wind tonight sounds like a distant freight train that sometimes comes around the corner close to us.

Monday Aug 22 All awake at 6:00. Forecast is for more of the same winds but likely more showers and continuing for the rest of the week. I didn't tell Kevin and Beth about that part. At about 8:00 when we were nearly ready to load the kayaks it started to rain hard. We waited it out and got going about 9:00. Easy paddling today as we had no open water, exposed points or swells. Occasionally wind waves as we crossed bays and minor inlets. Also had a few heavy rain showers - I found myself laughing like a lunatic during one as the rain danced on the calm water of a small cove. The rain didn't matter to me as my kayak is water proof and my anorak shell is too. We went through Burnaby Narrows at about noon and we were all disappointed. Louise Narrows from the Zodiac had more colours and variety. After Burnaby Narrows and a few more showers we were ready for camp. We have found a good one - comparatively - in Section Cove opposite the ranger station. A boat went in briefly around dinner time and now there is a light on. The waters here are protected so it is really calm however there is no driftwood and the wood in the forest is soggy. We had a difficult time getting a fire going with the wet wood and zero wind. Clothes are still not drying so I am wearing wet, stinky, mouldy, smokey clothes. I think I might just burn some instead of taking them home.
Campsites: Parks Canada does not want to make campsites or even recommend sites as they want to minimize impacts - a noble goal - but unfortunately the sites are poor for fresh water access, tent sites and kitchen sites, The tides often go right up to the trees so we have to camp in the mossy, dark wet forest. Kitchen/ fire sites are difficult to use. Fresh water streams often go into the gravel beaches and are hard to see from the kayak. It might be time for Parks Canada to create a few and suggest a few as we seem to spend the last 1-2 hours of the day trying to find something that is barely adequate. On the plus side, the beaches are nearly void of garbage and flotsam that you see on so many beaches. Today some old log boom and logging debris from decades ago. Yesterday some cannery debris from early 1900's but not water bottles, Styrofoam, rope or netting at all.

Sunday Aug 21 Woke up to no wind or rain. The forecast is so-so to iffy so I called out to Kevin and Beth "Let's go." On the water about 8:30 with some wind-waves in the harbour. The resident whale came out to say good-bye blowing just behind us and 20 m to our left, Noticeable swells when we got out to Hecate Straight but while always cautious things never got scary and even got better as the day went on. Each point that we passed, it seemed that things got calmer. Ikeda Inlet was amazingly calm and secluded. We stopped for lunch but did not spend much time there and very little exploring. Passed by the abandoned village of Jedway and went to the next inlet, Jedway Bay. By that time it was raining and we all wanted to camp asap. Couldn't find much but then went to the point separating the inner and outer bay. Found a calm beach with ruins from an old cannery. Camping in the trees and no driftwood but the rotten wood from the forest seems to burn just fine. No luck casting from the rocks. Quiet night and we are all to bed at dark - about 9:00 in the trees, 9:30 on the beach.