Here is a small map segment that shows the initial route for this trip. Distance is about 25 nm, so not very far.
Here's another chart segment that shows the entrance in more detail. As you can see there are some hazards that must be avoided. Len and I planned our arrival at high tide just for a little added insurance. That little nook on the right as you go in is the preferred anchorage.
Len and I usually take a Friday and a Monday off so we have 4 days for this adventure.
We pulled out on Friday morning at about 7 AM in partly cloudy and warm weather, with little or no winds, and anchored in the little cove you see on the right hand side in about 50' at about 10:10 AM. It was 25.8 nm to this point. There were no other boats in the area, although we did get a neighbor on Saturday.
Here is Faraway at anchor in the sunshine.
I just realized that this is probably the first time I've anchored since I started the blog, so perhaps I will expound a little bit about anchoring the Faraway. Prior to the summer of 2010 I had many problems with anchoring, even to the point of dragging anchor with Lisa on board one time, with scary results. So that summer I measured the rode and discovered only 15' of chain and 130' of line. So that summer I purchased a 22 kg Rocna anchor and added 100' of chain to the rode. No problems anchoring since then.
We prepared the raft for travel and had an early lunch. On these trips we typically spend a large portion of each day either in the raft or on shore, exploring the area.
The weather here was warm and sunny, with a light breeze.
About 11:30 AM we took off in the raft, not returning until about 6:30 PM.
Port Stewart has a huge tide flats, which are fairly deceptive. You find yourself quite far from shore where you would intuitively think it should be deep, but yet you can see bottom. There are channels, branches, and dead ends a lot like a small version of the Stikine River flats.
We spent most of this afternoon's excursion scoping out the territory to see where we could go in the raft and where we couldn't. Much of the time we ended up pulling the raft as we strode through water too shallow to float it with us in it.
We did explore the remains of the cabins that are there. I have been told they are left over from timber cruisers who used to work this area.
Only one of them is still standing, and is half way usable. The others are simply moss covered remains of wooden foundations.
If I was a hunter here in a small boat in the fall I would certainly prefer to stay here than in a tent on the beach. It was sunny when we were here so I could not tell if the roof leaks.
And there is wonderfully appointed bathroom ...
The next day we also went out in the raft only this time we had a better idea of the layout of the tidal flats, and so we beached the raft and walked way up to the very beginning of the creek.
Here is the spot where we stopped and had lunch. You can see a small waterfall in the background, and that is where the creek actually starts. The pool was full of fish (mostly Pinks I think) and you can see a ripple from one of them.
Here is the one critter that we did see along the way.
Len had scoped out the area with Google Earth before we arrived and it showed a rather large muskeg meadow fairly close to the beach, so of course we had to explore that. Here is a picture taken from up in the muskeg. You can see the entrance to the little nook where we were anchored. If I was still a deer hunter I would come back to this spot a little later in the fall.
Len is becoming quite the dragonfly hunter. He has some terrific dragonfly pictures and knows all the species in our area. He is attuned to watching for them and he quickly noticed this one as we passed nearby. It turns out it was dead and the LadyBug was feasting on its head. You don't see that every day.
Len is the consummate explorer and photographer. Here we were exploring the outfall of another small creek on the far side of the bay.
Here's something unusual. We came across one of those game cameras. I had seen them in catalogs but had never seen one in the wild, so to speak. I assume they are motion activated.
I've seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of "Bear Breads" during my adventures, but never saw one that looked like this one.
On Sunday afternoon we moved over to Helm Bay, just south of Port Stewart, and tied to the float there. The float is right out in front of what we call the "old" cabin. In this photo you can see the cabin tucked in the woods as Faraway lies tied to the float.
No blog entry would be complete without some scenic photos. Our area is just so beautiful that I cannot pass up the opportunity to share these views.
I think this one above might be destined to be my next desktop background for awhile.
This little island is right across from the float and was the site of a locally famous event a few years ago. According to the paper (and my memory) a family was spending some time on a warm sunny afternoon wading and playing the water. One of them, a 12 year old boy if I recall, was pushed back to the beach by a Killer Whale. The article went on to say the pod of Killer Whales then "patrolled" the beach back and forth for awhile before departing the area.
On Monday we stowed the raft and other gear and made our way back across Behm Canal towards home. We did stop and do some bottom fishing along the way but since you see no pictures of fish caught here you can deduce the outcome of those efforts.
We made it to the stall at about 3:30 PM, with about 68 nm logged for this trip.
Another successful adventure on Faraway!
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