We're Back - Not a lot of Wi-Fi Up Here

Eucott Bay HOT SPRINGS

We leave Ocean Falls for Eucott Bay down the Dean Channel that If you keep putzing along you would end up in Bella Coola at a paved road. If you take the road from there you will end up in Williams Lake and could eventually end up where we all started this Blog in Vancouver.

Now Penny is a hot tub person and left to her own devices would set up camp in one for days. I know this comes from growing up in the Deep Cove Motel on the North Shore. It had a main cabin that was of log construction with chinking to fill up the gaps between the logs. In a cold winter the gaps would let in the North wind. It was not uncommon for the gold fish tank to freeze up. The main heat was a large river rock fire place and her Mom cooked on an electric/diesel combination stove that gave very little heat. The floors were real black slate, cold to the touch even on a blistering hot summer day. The ceiling was a rock board with no insulation above.

 

I don’t know about you but I believe the winters were colder then. I remember the beach at low tide was a sheet of ice that would continue out into the distant cove. Penny IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A WARM PLACE TO CUDDLE UP IN.

BACK TO EUCOTT BAY. Now the trip is fairly uneventful other than seeing 2 humpback whales feeding and it is boring as there is no tail flipping or deep diving.  It is lunch on the surface. It is a sunny day and we have a stiff wind on the stern which thrills Penny as this means we are going faster and we will arrive sooner. She will be able to plunge her sweet little body into the steaming cauldron of water sooner.  The hot springs are set back on the shore past the eel grass. Mother Nature has provided huge large boulders to form the foundation for the tub, the remainder filled in by some long ago enthusiastic tubers.  Some ingenious constructor, in the distant past has diverted the very HOT HOT stream into the tub through an old cast iron pipe. The temperature and the flow of spring water is regulated by a stick plugging the pipe, more stick in, the cooler the tub. Some nice persons have gone to the effort of building a deck to park your butt on to launch yourself in the brine.

Being here is a very surreal experience as it has been known that while dipping in the pool there has been   large grizzly’s ambling along the beach noshing on the tall eel grass growing there.  I try to regulate Penny to one glass of wine in the tub as two would mean her over my shoulder dragging her back to the boat. She can be very feisty when you take her hot tub and wine away.

A number of years ago Terry and Cindy came here and Terry stuck out to shore to discover the condition of the tub facilities. He discovered that there was slim and other things growing with enthusiasm in the pool, back to the boat, pick up a scrub brush, back to the pool. Drain the pool, scrub and wash away the slime and critters. Back to the boat, dawn swimming apparel, gather up Cindy, a couple of glasses of wine…………WHAT………in scoots the CANADIAN NAVY in fast rubber boats in relays. They are scampering up the beach into Terry’s squeaky clean tub. Dozens of them, the cadets have been away for weeks in there Y boats with no showers. After witnessing the fray Terry was not enthusiastic about experiencing Mother Nature in the raw.

This year the Deerflies’ swarm in never ending hordes and bash at the screen doors on the boat. They are tenacious and will not retreat even if warned off that with fly spray or you threaten. I will kill them dead. Out of self-preservation we have developed a form of retaliation. It goes like this, you do not swat at them right away at they are too fast for you and only return when safe. You invite them to dine on you at leisure. They are very fussy about food and will walk along on your body looking for the best lunch spot; they stand for a moment, rub their front feet together and then go in for the BITE. They are now totally focused on yummy you. That is the precise time to swat them, unfortunately you tend to overdo it and hurt yourself with this action. The swiftness of the swat accelerates with the thought of the little buggers having the nerve of chewing on the free lunch, being you. They are very tough and if you just tap them they fly away with a piece of your hide Scott free. There is no point in hosing them away in spray as they are water proof. Thus end the lesson on how to kill a deerfly unless you can develop a tail like a horse and swat at your leisure you will have to go with the one we have developed.

It was good to leave Eucott to others. I am sure that the Deer flies will find tasty younger meat to feast on perhaps some young lambs?