Day 17 morning - Sointula to Port McNeill

As soon as we opened our eyes, we knew it was sunny. We haven’t had wake-up sun for more than a week now, it was sure great to see it return. We hopped out of bed, ate a quick breakfast, and were pleased to see that there were 2 bicycles at the marina office, just waiting for us to borrow!

We peddled back into town on a New-Hoodie-Mission for Cap’n Adam. And there were so many photos ops, I’m posting some more from this morning before we head back out into the sea.

We are in Port McNeill now, bidding fare-ye-wells to our second crew. Mike & Jeannette – thanks so much for coming! That was a total blast, and it is great to have some friends to share those memories of Mound Island, Village Island, Alert Bay & Sointula. Mike, your protein gathering skills, and Jeannette, your galley keeping skills, were appreciated. Welcome to the red toque crew. See you back in Vancouver!

From here, we are headed across Queen Charlotte Strait, to Drury Inlet near the mainland. We are headed to the most north-western part of the Broughton Archipelago. We will wind our way south again through the village of islands, and we will post blogs wherever possible. We did experience big sections with no Telus reception in the south part of the archipelago, so we may be out of communication for a little while. See you on the other side!

Day 16 - Alert Bay to Sointula (Malcolm Island)

The overcast mornings of late today became a blue sky with low lying fog. In light rain we left Alert Bay and headed north for Sointula, a town on Malcolm Island. We crossed Haddington Passage at trolling speed, and were followed almost all the way into the marina by a pod of about a dozen porpoises.

Sointula is a Finnish settlement, since 1901. From the water you can see its distinctly European flavour – colourful square houses with thickly framed windows, each a little different from the last. We found a nice spot on the dock, enjoyed some hot onshore showers and laundry, then walked 2 km on an oceanfront road, passing by unique properties and homesteads, into “town”. Being Sunday, almost everything was closed, but we were able to order a couple of pints at the Whale Rub Pub.

Sointula is another one of those “secrets” of British Columbia. There is BC Ferry service here from Port McNeill, but the pace of life is pretty darn slow. It is, afterall, an island community of an island. Losing some of its Finnish purity, it is becoming a retirement community. I hope this place always stays a secret little gem tucked away near the Queen Charlotte Strait.

And tonight, we saw a rainbow! You can see its reflection in the water, too, in the last picture.