Day 8: At last, Desolation Sound! Misguiding Guidebooks & Problem Painters

July 7 2012:  Copeland Islands to Refuge Cove, then Squirrel Cove, 
Desolation Sound Marine Park

Rustic Refuge Cove, just across the way from Squirrel Cove.
Open only during summer, it's a great place
for a pit stop and minor provisioning.

A week’s worth of travel and at last we reached our destination.  Why a place so stunningly picturesque is dubbed “Desolation Sound” is a mystery.  Hmmm… maybe a future topic post? Unless someone else wants to chime in!

A popular area for boats to "raft"
(tie together) , in this case
likely to party together

Widely lauded by guidebooks and other “yachties” (boaters), Squirrel Cove was on our “must do” list.  We were less enchanted.  Don’t get us wrong -- Squirrel Cove is a pleasant enough spot, wide enough to accommodate a crowd with ease.  

We got an inauspicious start, our wrapping dinghy painter (the rope which is used to tie off the boat we use to get ashore) around our propeller.  In case there’s any doubt, that’s a really, really bad thing to do. A few months earlier I crewed a boat through “the graveyard to the Pacific” which was taken out from it’s prior run from a wrapped propeller, which required a local shipyard fix.  Fortunately, Wayne realized instantly what happened and shut our motor off -- pronto -- stopping further rope wrap.  Thanks to his quick thinking, I was able to untangle it without having to dive, use a knife or get rescued. 

On the upside, I got to indulge my desire for local fare when we noticed a fishing boat doing the rounds amongst the boats.  They ignored my persistent arm waving until they visited the bigger boats with larger crews, and eventually decided to come by.  

Eventually, Dana's persistent
hand waving beaconed
these shrimpers our way

Shrimp:  before

Shrimp -- welcomed
to our hot tub

We bought their locally caught shrimp and treated them to our hot tub, with much lip smacking afterward.

Wayne pulling seaweed off
our anchor -- streaming
~5' long and HEAVY!

The next morn, our planned hike went awry as we were unable to find the trailhead based on our guidebook’s no longer existing landmark, “Marilyn’s Salmon” Café.  After two tries, each at different anchors, where we rowed ashore, we gave up.  

We still had to anchor one more time then dock for some minor re-provisioning, as the receding tide would have grounded our boat, according to the folks at the General Store.

Recently built Indian
community center

We ambled about, determined to get in some kind of walk before taking off.  Our turnaround was the new local Native American community center.   On the way back, we chatted for a while with another cruising couple who tried to entice us the night before to head over to the local creek swimming hole.  Turns out the water there rose quickly with a wicked current, trapping the swimmers there until 10 pm!