SVBeTrue Welcome to SV Be True 2 and our adventures on the water

Heading Home

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

26 June

With time now running short, we started turning our attention to getting home before we had to get back to work on 02 july. Our first step was a wet but lively sail form Joe's bay to Bamfield. Arriving in Bamfield in pouring rain we first moored at the east dock and investigated the shop. We soon realised however that there was more life on the west dock so as there was room, headed over there for the night. Docking was a bit frisky with a significant cross wind but after a couple of attempts we managed to get in and safely secured. That evening we headed over to "The Wrechage" and met up with a couple (Tom and Hannah) who were just getting ready to head off on the South Coast Trail. Both were also from the UK and worked repectively for EY and Deloite! - what;s the chance! We had fun chatting wiht them and left them to head back to their accomodation on the east side around 10 (last ferry) - feeling somehwat smug going back to our boat knowing they would be camping for the next few nights! (anyone can be uncomfortable).

27 June

The next day was still overcast but we decided to stay another day and get an early start heading back into Juan de Fuca Straight the following day. So we had a lazy day to fill and went to explore Brady Beach, a fantastic spot to while away a couple of hours with great rock pools and some very impressive sea caves.

It was low tide and I mnaaged to get right into the caves but it was very ominous hearing the waves coming in. After grabbing a couple of photo's I was happy when I was back on the rocks outside the cave - getting trapped in there with a rising tide would not have been fun!

28 and 29 June

We woke as dawn was just breaking on the Friday and motored out of Bamfield into a flat calm. An uneventful, but long day motoring saw us into our usual spot at Becher Bay for the night. The next morning we made a leisurely start and sailed wide of Race rocks to get on a course that should have allowed us to sail all the way back to the RVYC. Unfortunately the wind died though and we puttered into RVYC early afternoon after a great month away

With the round island trip now behind us and some overnight passages we were both more confident in both our own and the boat's abilities. On our way back to RVYC we started discussing what we needed to to for the next major trip out - when we aim to head south and away for the next four years!

Chilling out in the Broken Group

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

22 June.

Now we were on familiar territory, and 3 weeks into our trip, we finally started kicking back and relaxing. AFter a good night's sleep we had another putz around the amazing shell beds and then headed over a couple of miles to the Pinkertons in rainy weather. It was great being back at 'Hummingbird Cove' again even with the rain, We went out in the Dinghy again though and found lots more amazing clam beds - we couldn't believe that we had missed them the first time we were here!

23 June

We were still socked in with overcast weather and so instead of sitting around in the Pinkertons we decided to push on and explore a little further afield. We left the Pinkertons in drizzle and then ghosted along in light winds. We got the fishing rod out with high hopes of catching diner as we went past what was billed as one of the hottest fishing spots in the Broken group; Swales Rock. After drifting around for an hour though, we didn't have any nibbles so packed up and headed to Nettle Island. Although it looked like there was lots of bays they were all pretty deep. We ended up tucking into to a very tight anchorage as the sun finally came out.

24 June

The day dawned bright and still and so we decided that we should do a bit of exploring. First off, in the morning we headed over to JArvis bay to investigate what is listed as an amazing anchorage, if you can get in due to a very shallow entrance. Even on the dinghy we were a bit shocked how shallow it was and we were surprised to find a couple of fairly big cruiers tucked aroudn the back. The lagoon was definitely worth the trip though, with more massive clam and oyster beds in a fantastic setting. I'm not sure whether I'd ever want to take BeTrue in though - it was very shallow and tight on the way in

After a bite to eat we went exploring again in the Dinghy, this time heading around Dempster Island to visit the big sea caves on it's ocean facing side. This was probably the longest journey we had done in the Dinghy. Even with only a gentle swell it was quite the ride. The caves were amazing but what really shocked us was the way the water dropped into them. We went as close as we dare but there was no way we were going to venture inside!

On the way back to the boat we found some wonderful bays that begged out for more investigation

25 June

The next day we continued exploring aroudn the Broken group, this time heading across to Joe's Bay; a great anchorage with lots of room. Once settle we again got out the Dinghy and toured around the Tiny group - a fantastic set of islands which seemed hardly touched since the first nations used them for harvesting muscles, as evidenced by the extensive shell beaches.

Back on familiar territory in the Broken Group

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

20 June

We spent a great day in Ucluelet sorting things out and getting our admin sorted. We wandered around on a lovely sunny day and also got some clothes with "Round the Island 2024" on them to celebrate. During the day we moved around to the small boat harbour and did some maintenance on the boat as well as taking things easy. Syntropy also turned up and we had a good time catching up with them. For diner we went to the floathouse bar and grill and set looking out over the harbour feeling mighty pleased with ourselves.

21 June

Now fully provisioned we were ready to head out to the Broken group to kick back and relax, knowing that we had no more big unknowns in our journey. We had a lazy morning and spent a good few hours chatting with some locals who walked past our boat. Max, one of the foreshore team, owned a Wharran Tiki38 and we discussed my original plans when I left the army which were to build one of these and then sail off round the world (Heidi quickly disabused me of this idea when she pointed out at the time I struggled to work out how to even use a hammer!). We then got into a conversation with Jeff who ran a charter fishing business. He was a mine of information on fishing. He showed us how to tension our reel and even gave us some hooks and spinners encouraging us to just get out there and fish. In between the conversation we also set up the windvane. We hadn't felt confident enough to try it before now but being in known waters we were now more confident.

We left the dock around 11 and headed down the channel and into fog at the entrance. As we turned east and went inland though this soon cleared and we put up the sails in light winds. Next we connected up the windvane and for the first time sailed on this amazing simple device. We can see why people call it a third hand onboard and we still need to come up with a name for him. As we were coasting along at just 2 knots we also decided to get out the fishing rod and so for the first time got ourselves set up for a gentle cruise

AFter a few hours we got to Brabant Island where we tucked in using a stern anchor to keep us in the small channel. We soon had the dinghy out investigating the local islands and were astounded at the richness of the Oyster and clam beds.

That evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset rounding off a great day.

Round Estevan Point and onto Ucluelet

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

18 June - Bligh Island to Hot Springs Cove

Tuesday dawned bright with very little breeze and so we decided this was a good window to get around Estaevan point, the last of the 'challenging' headlands heading south on the coast. As we left Nootka sound we motored into a growing swell with no wind. The rest of the way down to Estevan Point was uneventful as we bobbed along in 2 - 3m swells. As all the guidebooks say, it seemed to take forever to get around the point but eventually we managed to head east having passed the only bit of North America to have been hit by the japanese in World War 2 (a submarine appeared in early 1942 and shelled this very isolated point)

In a few more hours we pulled into Hot springs cove. We were really lookiing forward to experiencing this amazing natural phenomenon but we waited until the last of the float planes and tourist boats had left before heading over to the dock and hiking the 1 1/2 km down a very well maintained boardwalk to the hot springs. They are truly spectacular with wonderful deep pools that you can lounge in at varying temperatures. The last of the pools are lapped by the sea and it is quite an experience sitting in a warm pool that occasionally gets inundated with cooler sea water. After a wonderful long soak, and some interesting conversations with a few others that had come over in the evening to enjoy the hot springs, we headed back to the boat refreshed and clean :)

19 June- Pushing on to Ucuelet

With settled weather and limited options to explore around Tofino, we decided on Wednesday to head for Ucluelet. For us this would bring us back onto familiar ground, crossing our path from last year and gave us both a feeling of having 'done the island'. We set off early as it was still a long slog and as we got into the ocean swells again we had little wind so motored until we got level with Tofino. After this this wind picked up and we managed to get the sails out. As the afternoon wore on, as forecast, the wind kept increasing and by the time we rounded Amphitrite Point into Ucluelet we were being pushed along by 25 knots of wind in quite lively seas. Once we got round the corner though, thingscalmed right down and we were soon tied up against the 52 steps dock. We went for a pleasant stroll round town and then had a nice dinner, settled into somewhere we knew. As the evening wore on, we started hearing some live music coming from downtown and on investigating, we found most of the town had come down to a free concert being thrown for the first year anniversary of the opening of the Break Cafe and Bistro; a fitting end to the day for us

Finding a little bit of Paradise on Bligh Island

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

16 June

We had a restless night up against the pontoon and dock at Friendly Cover what with the swell and the squeaking of the pontoon, as well as the rubbing of all our fenders against the rusty dock side!. The weather wasn't bad thought and we went for another walk in the morning before departing. I also had a little explore up to the site of the Spanish fort built in 1789. After clambering around I found a likely position and would love to think that some of the regular holes in the bog on top of the rocks could have been the actual post holes from the fort. At least my imagination could be sated!

Back at the boat we decided that we should do a bit more exploring and decided to head over to Bligh Island and seek out what looked like a sheltered spot right in the middle of the Island, After slowly running up a central channel, we pulled inot a spot that proved truly wonderful. Totally protected and surrounded on all sides it porvided a wonderful view across mountains to the South. We got the paddleboards out for the first time and I went around the bay in the calm of evening soaking up the stillness. That night we slept well in silence.

17 June - Exploring Bligh island and avoiding mutinies

Having found such a wonderful and isolated spot we decided to stick around for another day. With good weather we kicked back, read and paddle boarded around. Late morning I decided to go exploring and try and reach the freshwater lake about 3/4 mile from the boat. I'd found a way into the bush the day before and, with this being old growth forest, the undergrowth was not too bad. The climb to the lake though was incredibly steep and it took over 45 minutes of bushwacking to reach it. When I arrived at the lake there was no clear shore to get into it and so, after dipping a toe, I turned round and headed back down to the boat.

In the afternoon, Club Paradise arrived and we were invited over to celebrate Bill's birthday with them. They have been gifted some salmon from a fishing boat a couple of days earlier and we had a lovely evening with Bill and Leslie before heading back to Be True 2 on our paddleboards, being extra careful since we had had a few drinks by this time!

Time to explore a bit of history - Yuquot (or Friendly Cove) in Nootka Sound

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The next morning it was still damp and overcast but now we had a few more provisions, and more importantly, some clean underwear, it was time to head off exploring again.

The next stop on our journey now involved following up on some places that had a unique history that I was keen to visit. The first colonial contact with native americans in this part of the world occurred when Captain Cook visited Friendly Cove (Yuquot) in 1778. At the time this cove was populated by the Mowachaht Tribe of over 1500 souls led by their Chief Maquima. Cook had good relations with the natives, and, on his return and publication of his journal in 1784, this spot on the west coast became a focus for trade in sea otter pelts for english, spanish, russian and american ships. The life of the tribe is well documented in John Jewitt's book documenting the two years he lived with the tribe. In addition as this place was such a nexus of traffic and trade it also became a central place for some events that almost caused Spain and England to go to war in 1789. The subsequent treaty (the Nootka Accords) laid the groundwork for the international laws regarding freedom of the seas for trade.

The trip down to Friendly Cove was, to say the least, wet. We passed Euphoria who were on their way up to Tahsis but other than that it was a soggy trudge down to Nootka sound. Whilst in the sound we were swamped by heavy rain which thankfully cleared as we go tot Friendly Cove. Heidi had put her back out earlier in the day so instead of anchoring off and struggling with the dinghy we moored at the very rusty dock.

After confirming that there were no commercial boats due we went for a walk. Firstly we went over to the master first nations carver, Sanford Williams, workshop. Samford is a legend in Native American carving and he was sitting in his workshop, using traditional tools to carve a number of commissioned pieces. Next stop was at the only remaining dwelling occupied by the first nations on the island where we met Darryl Williams and paid our respects for being allowed on their land. After this we walked over to the singing beach, a wonderful expanse of pebble beach facing the ocean that had great breakers on it, causing the pebbles to 'sing' as the waves crashed on them.

Next stop was an old church, erected by the spanish government, that has been turned into a museum by the tribe. It had some amazing carvings in it as well as a very good history from the tribes point of view.

Final stop on the walk was a visit to the lighthouse. As we approached we were met by Janet, the current lighthouse keeper. We had a great chat with her about their duties and how to apply to become a lighthouse keeper; a job both Heidi and I could see us going for after our travels!

We then spent some time soaking in the stunning views from the lighthouse before heading back to the boat for dinner. After dinner I explored a little more along the trails behind singing beach finding the lake where sacred reutals used to take place to cleanse the members of the band before setting out on a whale hunt.

Heading back to something close to civilization (well at least it had washing machines!)

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The next morning we had intended to head around to Friendly cove but when we realised that we had run out of clean underwear we decided a stop at Tahsis was needed. We called 'Club Paradise' and asked them to confirm, using their starlink, that Tahsis had space the day before and then set off after a leisurely morning. The weather was overcast and rainy and the cruise up all under motor. The only points of interest was that we were being chased down by Uchuck III but she pulled into a new fish farm. Going through Tahsis Narrows we had to play dodgems with an active fishing boat as well. Heading into the marina we fueled up and then had to do a three point turn in order to dock with a port tie. With that completed we ended up tied up alongside Club Paradise again.

We quickly got organised to get the washing on and also get a run into town and the only general store they had at 3pm. In pouring rain we were driven by one of the marina staff to the store which was again, sparsely provisioned but we managed to pick up the basics and then headed back to the boat in pouring rain. Later that afternoon a sport fishing boat arrived with an impressive haul and then we went for dinner with Bill and Leslie at the marina's restaurant.

The servers were from the Czech republic and the chef was Mexican; a group that had just arrived the previous week from Sayulita, a little fishing village that we had visited in Mexico when we went to Puerta Vallarta a few years ago, small world!

Exploring Queen Cove.

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Queen Cove had much promise to explore and so after a leisurely morning we dropped the dinghy and decided to start by exploring up Park River. It was a beautiful little inlet and we were soon out of sight of the bay, rowing up an idilique unspoilt land. As we rowed gently up the stream towards the first rapids, we looked and up and came face to face with a bear just browsing on berry's about 30m away. After making sure the bear knew we were there (he didn't seem too bothered!) we beat a hasty retreat! We then went across the bay to a logging slip. After tying the dinghy up well above the high water mark (!) we headed off on what the guidebook had indicated was a trail leading round to the old Indian village and church. For the first hundred metres it was easy going, then it got progressively worse and we gave up after probably a quarter of a mile. This wasn't a track, it was bushwacking of the first order!. We went back to the dinghy and decided we should be able to get most of the way to the village site on water so pottered around until we reached the drying flats at the end of the cove (it was low tide).

We got out of the dinghy and immediately noticed a large pile of recently opened clams on the beach, along with some pretty massive paw marks! Never mind, we thought, we can't see any bears and we had bear spray and an air horn. We walked around the dried out beaches for maybe another quarter mile but although the views were spectacular, neither of us saw much, having our eyes peeled for bears. We realised that, with our new found concern over meeting Benjy's family again, this wasn't for us so we headed back to the dinghy and back on board the boat. On returning, the forward heads got jammed so, in the spirit of maintenance in beautiful places, we spent the next hour or so cleaning out the plumbing! In the late afternoon, whilst sitting on the boat deck, we were thrilled to watch a mother and baby bear saunter along the beach we had been on and right past the boat.

Fixing the heads therefore may not have been the most fun we could have had but it was definitely safer the exploring the land! Syntropy had left in the morning but by mid afternoon we were joined again by club paradise. It seemed that the four boats were destined to keep in touch all the way through this wild landscape.

Experimenting with bigger sea swells.

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

By the next morning the storm had passed and the rain had stopped. As the sun came out we decided we should move on. We knew that the swells were forecast 2 - 3m but with sunny weather and only light wind we thought it a good time to try ourselves in a little more than the flat calms we had been lucky to experience until now.

We were the second to leave Dixie cove behind Syntropy. They stopped to exercise their dog along Rugged point beach but we carried onround the point. Our first course took us through some of the barrier islands and with the wind a pleasant 10 knots we soon had the Jib out and engine off dodging through the many reefs.

After about an hour of this we left the protection of the barrier islands and were in the open sea. The swells were definitely bigger than before but not something that concerned us. As the day went on the wind increased and we were soon romping along in 15 - 20 knots of wind. With the wind came bigger seas and we soon found ourselves occasionally losing sight of the coast in the troughs of the bigger waves. It was a bit sobering looking back to see the next wave higher than the arch but BeTrue rose gracefully over them and soon gave us bags of confidence.

As we played spot the markers at the entrance to Gillam channel the wind kept freshening and we galloped down the channel before putting on the engine and furling the Jib. Our first target for an anchorage was Nuchatlitz on the outside of the sound although the guides said the almost landlocked bay was sheltered and there was lots to explore. As we snuck around the tricky entrance though, the wind never really fell below 16 knots with occasional stronger gusts. We dropped the hook and had a late lunch but eventually decided that it was just too blowy and so headed out and over to Queen Cove, a place I was keen to explore with promise of signs of an indian village and a church to find among the trees.

As we pulled in it was dead calm and we were followed in by Syntropy. We settled in then for a pleasnt evening.

Moving on to Kyuquot Sound

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

With itchy feet we decided it was time to move onto the next major sound. Syntropy and Euphoria had already left as we motored out of the Bunsby's in loverly weather. Heidi turned round to me and said "the only thing to make this perfect would be if we saw a bear now" and as she said it we looked over and saw a bear wandering on the beach we had been walking on the day before!

After a couple of hours of motoring inside the barrier islands we cruised carefully into the small community of Walters Cove. This truly was a small fishing community cut off from the rest of the world. There was no cell signal and no roads.

On getting off the boat and heading onto the main dock, we bumped into a couple of people, one of which owned the "inn" that we had seen a big sign for as we cam in the entrance. She told us a little about the settlement and advised us the general store would open at 1pm. We then went for a walk 'through town". The main drag was a path that ran just behind the shore and wound its way through peoples front and back gardens.

It must have taken all of 15 minutes to walk end to end!. At the east end we found the café. The door was open and so we went in but were told they were only just setting up for summer and they weren't open for business so we pottered back to the boat. At 1pm we were there as the general store opened to see what produce they might have (precious little) and so we only took some milk and bread, headed back to the boat and navigated carefully out of the cove. Having seen all we could see at Walter's cove, and knowing that some weather was due to come in the next day, we sought shelter at the back of the sound in a beautiful little anchorage called Dixie Cove. As we came in we found all our friends (Club Paradise, Syntropy and Euphoria) had run to the same bolt hole This evening it was Euphoria's turn to host appies and we had yet another social evening swapping stories and plans.

11 June - Hiding in Dixie cove as the storm passes.

Even within the incredible sheltered anchorage at Dixie cove, we were still woken early by some strong gusty winds. This was accompanied by torrential rain that kept coming the whole day. The wind stayed strong all morning and we were very glad of the shelter inside the cove, and thankful we hadn't plumped for anything less than the most sheltered spot we could find. With time on our hands we decided to have a sort out of all the nuts, bolts, washers and odds and sods that we had collected on the boat. Half way through this good rainy day exercise, Kevin came over from Syntropy to help us troubleshoot our engine starting problems. He educated us on the intricacies of engine wiring looms and we checked all the connections. Nothing was obviously wrong but since reattaching all the connections we haven't had any further problems (so far!) with the engine starting. Perhaps BeTrue just wanted us to learn about the wiring and knew Kevin was going to be able to help!. That evening the weather calmed and we went over at Syntropy for appies and more tall tales of sailing adventures!