Sea Foam Anniversary Cruise VI – Leg 5 June 27 – September 8, 2009
	Once in Port McNeill we noticed another Eagle at the docks. It was Lew Thomas from the Perigee. He was waiting for his wife to join him the next day and they were headed north for a three week holiday. We had him over for happy hour and talked about our lovely boats and our adventures since last seeing Lew three years ago in Poulsbo at a Trawler Fest.
Fog to deal with from Clam Cove to Port McNeill. Radar was on and all was well. My Captain loves to motor along with his radar telling showing him the way. His techno-talents come into play once again.
Another of our favorite anchorages in the Plumper Islands. We spent one night in Port McNeill to get fuel, water, groceries and to do our laundry and we’re off and running ready for the next three weeks of our trip.	Outside our anchorage in the Plumpers is this giant eagles’ nest. Last year we showed it to friends and there were two eaglets hanging their heads over the side waiting for mom or dad to bring home some grub.
Not far from the nest was this character. Why do eagles always look so menacing?	One of the reasons we always stop in the Plumper Islands on our way up or back from our summer cruise is the amount of marine life we are sure to see while we are here. The waters of Blackfish Sound, Queen Charlotte Strait, and Johnstone Strait all converge here and result in much current and therefore much life. This year we didn’t see any Orcas but did hear of other people who did. For the last two years there were only about 8 sea lions in the area and we were pleasantly surprised to see between 35 and 50 this year as these animals are on the endangered list. They have been disappearing in the Alaska area and the scientist can’t figure out why. We spent three days visiting this rookery and got some wonderful pictures. You can hear these characters roaring and snorting from quite a distance away. They are always arguing over who gets what rock perch but there are some characters that don’t get bugged at all. We were surprised to see one sea lion climb the rocks like a mountain goat. They use their front and back flippers and have remarkable strength. The young males are always roaring and arguing and biting at each other. Some of them have cuts on them from their rough play – or at least I think it’s play! Others sit nearby with their eyes closed and their noses in the air and seem oblivious to the antics going on around them. We have a video below showing some of this behavior.
Believe it or not Rick went diving off this island! Of course I flatly refused. Not long after he went into the water these two characters took to the water to investigate what he was up too. I was top-side taking some of these pictures and I, to be honest, forgot all about Rick under the water because I was having such a wonderful time watching the sea lions and their antics. He came up 20 minutes early from his dive because 8 of them were buzzing around him letting him know they didn’t like him in their territory. Initially just one came up to him and he was able to detour him by flashing his light in his eyes but soon after more reinforcements arrived and he surfaced with his adrenalin running. My husband the adventurer.	Four females with their big male. The females are considerably smaller and apparently weight about 800 pounds full grown. The males go to 1500 or so pounds and are not ready to mate until they are between 7 and t0 years old. I went on the internet to find out if they have ever eaten a scuba diver and that’s how I learned all this other stuff.
	The only pup we saw in the bunch.
The grand-poo-bah you see roaring on the left is the same guy you see on the right resting and looking like a fat yellow Labrador dog without ears.
My favorite Also Watch Sea Lion Video
Returning from a satisfactory luncheon in the rip tide of Weyton Passage	Several charter boats pass the rookery in a day as well as local folks who know they live there so the animals appear quite used to attention .
We met Sue and Ron Lange of the MV Popeye several years ago in Shoal Bay. Their boat is lovely and that is what initially got us into a conversation. Ron and Sue are great people and we ended up taking pictures of their boat and we had an article appear in Passage Maker Magazine featuring their boat and the work that Ron and Sue had done to make it so unique. Ron is a former fire chief and restores old cars as a hobby. He painted the Popeye as a fire boat and the 343 number on the side of the hull is to commemorate the firefighters who lost their lives in the 911 tragedy. We were really excited to have them connect with us this year as we haven’t crossed paths for two years. We saw them once in Johnstone Strait but we were both heading in opposite directions.
Some exploring on Grassy Island and a good lookout over Blackfish Sound	Forestry Service Trail at Blind Channel. There are too BIG trees on the trail that are over 800 years old.
We met Ron and Sue once again at Blind Channel after they had spent a night in Port Neville and were fueling up and heading for Shoal Bay.	We met Mike and Jay on a rock in Cordero Island Anchorage near Greene Point Rapids. They drove by car from the US and put their kayaks into the water in Victoria. They are heading for Prince Rupert and if time permits they will take a ferry to the Queen Charlottes and then get themselves back to Port Hardy and drive down island to finish their adventure. We had a great dinner together and made plans to meet again in October when they pass through Abbotsford by car. They will return two books we lent them and we’ll hear all about their adventures.
Another happy Eagle owner aboard the Zucchini motoring out of Cordero Island Anchorage early morning.