Telegraph Cove, Vancouver Island

We topped off the water tanks, before our departure, giving us time to contemplate how we were going to get out of our moorage space in Port McNeill.  It was down a narrow fairway with boats on both sides.  Boats that had left before us were bouncing off various boats, including Talos IV (no damage as we had put fenders out to avert just such an event), as they backed down the fairway and we did not want to follow in their wakes.  With a little help from John, the owner of a very sharp looking Pacific Seacraft ’34, we pulled the bow in and pushed the stern out into the fairway and proceeded to slowly back out.  As it turns out, we had no issues and negotiated the departure in fine form.  Once out, we pulled over to the fuel docks to top of the diesel.  It was the least expensive diesel so far at $4.66 per gallon.

Once under way, we again had the wind on our nose (I am beginning to think that there is a wind conspiracy here in the North Island that keeps sailboats from doing what they do best, sailing).  Our destination today is Telegraph Cove, about 10 miles east and a little south.  We are in Orca and Humpback country, so were hopeful that we would see some whales today.  The orca live website indicated that they are hanging in the Robson Bight area, which is beyond our destination for today, but one never knows.  As it turned out, we saw no whales, but our path tomorrow should take us through the area of their habitat so again we will be vigilant.

Telegraph Cove is a very small harbor with two marinas, each flanking their own side of the harbor.  We were assigned a spot deep into the marina on the left.  It is a good slip, with what we think or hope is adequate depth.  Since we have a new moon tonight, the tidal swing is pretty dramatic, with low water at about 1.3’.  The marina operator says that we should have about 6’ at zero tide.  If that is true, we should have about two feet under the keel at 9:20 AM tomorrow.  We watched it very carefully, getting up at 6 AM to ensure that we were not going to be high and dry.  As we watched and waited, the water kept going down and the depth sounder was giving us a very uncomfortable margin.  The solution was to push Talos IV as far out of the slip and into the fairway as possible to gain just a few more inches under the keel.  By low tide at 9:20 AM all ended well with a whopping 6 inches under the keel.

The historic side of the cove is lined with old buildings along a wooden walkway and platform.  At the far end is the Whale Bone Museum.  We had met the parents of one of the volunteers who assisted in assembling many of the bone exhibits here back in Ganges earlier in our trip.  He had strongly recommended a stop here.  The museum is an excellent interpretive center to learn about the whales and their habitat.  It was a highlight of our stop here at Telegraph Cove.

Telegraph Cove

The Bones" Project Building

Talos IV 

Leaving the cove

Working Tugboat