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Bob looks on while some good-sized salmon are expertly cleaned.
On the docks at Zeballos. |
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Bob Spanfelner came aboard for the trip down the West Coast.
Right: On the West Coast. Sunset at Hot Springs Cove dock. |
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EIGHT WEEKS OF CRUISING THE NORTHWEST:
Bob Hale talks with us about his June/July 1999 cruise
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Bob Hale, author & publisher of the Waggoner Cruising Guide, answered some questions for us about his latest research cruise, especially his trip down the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
Bob, your annual long cruise to research the next year's Waggoner is over. When
did you leave and when did you get back?
We left our slip in Lake Union on June 11, and returned on August 5, a total of eight weeks on the boat. We went up the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert, then back down to Port McNeill, near the top of Vancouver Island.
My wife Marilynn flew home from Port McNeill, and Bob Spanfelner, an old sailing buddy, flew in from Seattle. Bob and I took the boat down the West Coast -- the outside -- of Vancouver Island and back to Seattle.
Marilynn didn't do the West Coast of the island with you?
Marilynn insists that she doesn't do oceans, and there's ocean out there. Also, both of her parents were in their mid-nineties, and after five weeks it was a good idea for her to get back to town. But she missed a fabulous three-week trip down the West Coast. The weather was as close to perfect as it gets. We had less than four hours of fog, and only one passage with wind. If we'd have waited until the next morning, we would have missed even that one windy run.
Since we're talking about the West Coast of Vancouver Island, what did you think
of it?
 The West Coast of Vancouver Island is the finest cruising grounds in the Northwest. It has no equal.
That's a strong statement. Would you explain?
It's wilderness, and it's hard to get to by boat. I can't describe how beautiful it is, I run out of words. Each of the inlets and sounds that indent Vancouver Island is different from the others. If you see one, you definitely haven't seen them all. And each of the ocean passages is individual. Each of the settlements and towns is unlike the others. Each day is its own challenge and reward, and there are no duplicates.
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