June 17, 2020. Waddington Bay to Sullivan Bay. 21 NM.
We have had the good fortune of a second mostly sunny day in a row. So far no rain has fallen today, which makes it the first two days without rain so far. It looks like fate will catch up with us in the coming days though, as the rain moves back in. The wind in the anchorage settled last night, and we had a calm night and morning, which made it easy to pick up the anchor.
We motored out through the Fox Group, and up several passages to come around the top of North Broughton Island, into the float home community of Sullivan Bay. On the way we saw lots of fishing boats, which we learned later are all taking part in the prawning season. We also past Echo Bay resort and marina, which was completely devoid of signs of life. We wondered if they were closed because of COVID, or if things were just slow with no American boaters up here this year.
A rare sighting of another sailboat
As we came up the Raleigh passage to the East of Pearse Peninsula, we saw a telltale spout, and before long began to see the small dorsal fin of a humpback whale as it came up for air. It spouted several times, came up, and dove again, then disappeared from sight, not to be seen again.
A couple of miles outside of Sullivan Bay we radioed in, and asked if they would have space for us on their dock for the night. “We certainly do! You can moor wherever you want”, came the reply. As we rounded the corner and saw the marina, we realized they had more than enough space. Just one boat sat on the dock, in a marina and float community that could probably hold 75 to 100 boats, or maybe more if they rafted. We tied up alongside on our own, and after getting fully secured, we walked along the dock onto “Main Street”, and stopped and chatted with the only two people we could see. They were sitting out front of their floating home, and we soon learned they were the caretakers of the community. They were from Alberta, but had been in Sullivan Bay since January, and were not keen to head back home where COVID has been significantly more active than it is in B.C.
On the empty dock at Sullivan Bay
The float homes otherwise were all empty, as the owners of all but two of them are from the States, and therefore not allowed across the border, at least so far this year. After talking with Linda and her husband Bill, we walked along past a couple more houses, and Debbie met us on her front deck to say hello. She then walked us two more doors down to the General Store, and checked us into the marina. For our 43 foot boat, we paid 1.00 per foot, plus tax. We were also hoping to do laundry, but it had not opened up for the year due to COVID. No electricity was offered, but we didn’t need it anyway, since our solar panels and engine had filled our battery en route.
Sullivan Bay Main Street
We chatted a bit with Debbie, and she was happy to hear that there had been 7 boats in our anchorage the night before. We later found out that, until today, Sullivan Bay had only seen about 5 boats all year. After getting on the satellite wifi and checking email and weather, we headed back to the boat for a late lunch of nachos. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, a few more boats trickled in, to make a total of 6 as of this evening. The last boat to get here is a huge old restored fishing boat named Arctic Charm, with a hailing port of Nanaimo. It is an interesting looking vessel. All the other boats are power boats, which are really the right tool for travelling in these waters. With all the islands and passages, the winds are fickle and twisty, and it is really impossible to get anywhere under sail. Sara is already planning our future on a power boat when we get too old to sail.
Even though the owners haven’t made it here yet, the garden has started
Dinner was falafel and tzatziki on home made pita, which is quite an accomplishment in our tiny galley, and was really tasty. After dinner, we went for another walk, and chatted with one of the village managers, by the name of Kevin. He is on his second season here, and told us he spends about 9 months of the year here, but is originally from Saskatchewan. We also learned that a water taxi to and from Port McNeill to here costs $700.00 for the 26 nautical mile trip, so most of their mail and groceries come in by barge or float plane. In fact, the mail plane came in the afternoon while we filled our water tanks, and was touched down, unloaded, and gone again in less than 10 minutes.
It’s interesting to be back on a dock for the night, in this unique community. It’s extra surreal given how empty it is, when in a normal season, it is apparently hard to find a spot on the dock. I guess we are lucky to be able to travel here this year, when it is off limits to so many across the border, but it is hard for the people that make their living off the tourists that come in the few good months every year. Kevin assured us that Sullivan Bay will survive, but there are many other operations around here that may not be here next year.
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