Leaving Sooke we were surrounded by the local sport fishermen as we steamed out at 4:45 AM. The forecast was for light to variable winds, and there was talk of going all the way home in one final day. I was skeptical and declared we would decide when we …

The return journey is on as we return to Bamfield and our same old spot at the end of John's barge at the Harbourside Lodge. John's docks were chock full (that being a total of about 6 boats) with fishermen cleaning, vacuum sealing, and cooking their catches. We saw several …

Day 7 of the Barkley Sound trip took us from Ucluelet to Effingham Bay.

On our way out of Ucluelet we saw a tree that had at least eight eagles whirling around it. Did some more fishing on our way back to the Broken Group to hit Effingham Bay with …

On route to Ucluelet, what did we do? You got it, MORE FISHING. The chartplotter's fishing charts revealed a few promising rock piles where sure enough, many rockfish were lurking waiting to strike on our MacDeep jigging lures purchased in Bamfield. We fished off one island featuring a resident eagle …

Barkley Sound trip day 5, the Pinkerton Islands

We did some more fishing before making the very short hop into the Pinkerton Islands, described in the Douglas guidebook as "virtually bombproof." The Pinekrtons are just north of the Broken Group and are not part of the protected marine sanctuary and …

As we set out at a decent hour ("no more of these bullshit 4 AM departures" declared one member of the crew) with full tanks to explore the islands, there was a great breeze blowing just outside the protection of Bamfield Inlet. We tacked back and forth to clear the …

Barkley Sound Trip Day 3, Sooke to Bamfield

It is about 75 nautical miles from Sooke to Bamfield. It is a looong ways, at best about a 12 hour journey, with much of it in the Pacific Ocean.

This was the long stretch, through the whole length of the Strait …

This is day two of the 2018 Barkley Sound trip.

Day 2: Victoria to Sooke

Sooke is a short hop from Victoria, only about 15 miles. We left early enough to catch the current ebbing through Race Passage past the famous Race Rocks, giving us a good three knot speed …

I'm breaking this trip report up into one post per day. This first one has no photos as nothing photo-worthy happened on day 1, and in fact much of what happened that day is probably best forgotten. More on that later. If you stick with the subsequent posts, I promise …

Last summer's cruise was kind of an epic cruise, at least by our standards. Five different crews, about a month total duration, and Kenmore Air crew swaps at Princess Louisa Inlet. The year after a cruise like that, we go more low-key. For example when we went to Desolation Sound …