Moving On

ITCHY ASS OR ITCHY BUTT

 

I have a bad case of itchyuss. No, most of you wouldn’t know what itcheass is, but Penny does. It is after a day or so in a bay, and it could be paradise lost and I have to move or take on a major project. Penny greatest fear is it could be her.

It is with great reluctance that she allows me to start the engines of OA, pull the anchor and leave Khutze with its cascading waterfalls and acres and acres of lush green grass etc., etc.

Under the Khutze Falls

Sharing Stories

Before we go, I meet one of those people that from all appearances are living the dream. There are a number of yachts in the bay and it is not uncommon for the owners to drift from boat to boat in there dinghies, telling salty yarns ,fish stories and all about the secret coves they have visited. This one is on a return trip from shore duty with two Labs, as ornaments on the bow, one jet black, and the other a chocolate. The shore boat is a “BRUTT”, not what I call a DINGHY. THE BRUTT is about 28 ft long and built out of heavy plate aluminum. It is Diesel powered and when it passed us out in the bay it was doing about 30 knots. It has a pilot house and large back work deck. It is a work boat extraordinaire.  Chevy is all about meeting the labs at the bow. We go over; exchange good mornings talk about the weather. We are anchored a ways away from his main ship and I am thinking it’s a large Diesel Duck (type of yacht). It is not.     

       

"Surf Bird"

I am thinking it’s an Aluminum hull, but he says it is a wood hull built in the British Isles (SCOTLAND). She may have been part of the buyback program that fisheries in GB put in place. She has two GARDNERS Diesels. I tell him that they are a ‘piece of shit!’. His smile drops to a grimace. I laugh and then apologize for having him on. DUMB English humour on my part. I then go on to explain my love affair with the GARDNER in the “Willobee G”.

 He spends his life aboard “SURF RIDER” even to the point of wintering in the Queen Charlotte Islands. This year was time for steam ship inspection as he has a contract with fisheries. It was a mandatory condition of employment for him and the equipment. He had her hauled out at TOM MAC shipyard on the Fraser River that I was familiar with.

He has been across Princess Royal Channel at Anchor Lake out in the fall counting salmon for fisheries, (Sockeye) I think. I tell him about the bear we saw at the entrance of Khutze. We chat on and I ask him for his next destination and it’s Green Inlet. He stays at the head of the Inlet and goes into the Lagoon in a smaller tin boat. Two hours before high and out in two hours after.

He talks about the Grizzlies, Deer and Wolves that he has seen while visiting there. There is a rock in the middle of the entrance for you that are brave enough to enter. I LOVE THE BOTTOM OF MY OUTBOARD.  We leave at the same time and he is cruising the shore on a bear hunt.