Octopus Islands

View of forest trail from Octopus Islands

Last view from Prideaux

Anemone (huge, you will have to take my word for it)

Ghost Banana slug (huge!)

Seastar cluster

Oregon stonecrop

Yellow lined nudibranch (aka sea slug)

Maiden spleenwort

Lyngby's sedge

A peek at Octopus Island at low tide

Ian's glee

Jeff at the helm

Ian watching for rocks in the passage into Octopus Island Marine Park

We said goodbye to Prideaux Haven and went back around the south end of Cortes Island and north again headed to the Octopus Islands. We had been there last year and enjoyed them a lot and decided to have a replay. We had to time our travels to make sure we hit Surge Narrows at slack to avoid a ride in the rapids. We were a bit eager to get there and ended up having to tour the channel south of the rapids for about two hours before the slack was scheduled. The channel is wide with steep sides. There was supposed to be a little store with the a dock where we could bide our time until slack came, but the store was closed and the dock taken over by locals. So we just toured the area via boat. Surge Narrows is one of the smallest tidal rapids up here, but still it can throw a punch and one does not want to cross through them outside of slack unless they have a fast powerful boat. Our time finally came and we headed on through without adventure. It is just a few miles up to the Octopus Islands and we were anchored by dinner.

Last year there were boats everywhere in the Octopus Islands, but this year there were no more than 5 in the entire bay while we were there. It felt as though we had the place to ourselves and we spent a few days enjoying the luxury. Vikki headed out in her kayak to explore the oncoming low tide on the first morning. The low tide life was amazing, with anemones, shrimp, nudibranchs, all types of cool algae, crabs. Mammals were not shy as she floated at the tide line and watched raccoons on the beach next her foraging for tidal goodies, a river otter that played hide and seek with the kayak, many seals that kept popping up and down it was very magical. Other cools sightings included a pair of red-throated loons (different from our common loon) that were in the bay calling all the time. They sound a bit like a cross between a loon and a wolf calling. We managed a fun walk to the next cove via a wonderful rainforest and picked wild mint for tea. We investigated an old home site and picked up some fresh oregano and thyme, so we are set for some gourmet cooking, particularly when you add the fresh basil from the basil plant I have on board. Our last day there we sat through some stiff wind which kept us boat bound most of the day, but the boys read and Vikki painted and the cats slept and all was well. We left these islands today and headed back to Gorge Harbor on Cortes to see if we can fix a couple of mechanical issues (we lost all of our fresh water in our tanks due to a bad valve and the starter on one of the engines is not getting the signal to start). We may have to head to Nanaimo to get these things figured out. If we do we may revise our plans and see what happens. Always an adventure.