Wait, what? It isn’t the start of summer?
Actually, we did start the summer in Desolation Sound In June, but we decided to return to Desolation Sound and stay for a few days on our journey south, and we are finally gifted with sunny, warm days. Our time in BC/Alaska has warped our sense of heat – the 70 degree days have left us fanning ourselves and seeking out water to jump in.
Quick side – before Desolation Sound, we trudged through the alarmingly hot, sunny 73 degree day in Campbell River to a playground while waiting for the currents to be more favorable to our SeaXII chug. While at the playground, we saw a group of people with cameras, celebrating the retirement of Martin Mars water bomber – the largest water bomber of its kind, able to drop 25,000L of water on a fire. It was cool to witness.
Back to Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound. We dropped anchor, and watched skiff after skiff, paddle boards and kayaks heading to the “beach” in the inlet. Hoping to find social connections, we abandoned school work loaded up our kayaks and headed into the Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound Marine Park. We quickly wandered over to a stream, which was warm and found a great swimming hole with small waterfalls to swim.
A couple enjoying the area told us that there is a lake a 10 minute walk in, where everyone was heading to swim. Never wanting to miss a thing, we followed their advice and all enjoyed swimming in the warm, fresh water beautiful lake.
After swimming, we returned to the boat and took a exhilarating swing off the crane into the water before all cramming into the steam shower.
The next day, my kids were thrilled (rolling of eyes means thrilled, right?) when I announced that we would tackle the 4.7 mile scramble, out and back hike along the lake to Melanie Cove. Unfortunately in the 70 degree sweltering heat, we dropped like flies. Claire fell, so Hannah stayed with Claire and walked back to the swimming rocks to wait for us. Andrew and I hiked 2.6 miles (uh, I thought we were supposed to be at the half way point already?) and there was no end in sight, so we turned around.
Paul and Kathryn made it the furthest but still didn’t reach the end point (did All Trails lie to me?). Kathryn was the superhero of the day; hiking like a pro at lightening speed that no one could match.
By the time we got back to the swimming area, Kathryn, Hannah and I were too cold to swim but Claire and Andrew had a great, refreshing swim. Followed by…..taco Tuesday!
All the toys were brought out!
The next day we decided to head out in the Fournado to Pendrell Sound – where the water was warmest due to a tidal “quirk” for a day of watersports. We had a blast tubing and swimming, but decided we were too cold to wakeboard.
Paul found a small town (no roads; you come in by boat or seaplane) to get ice cream at the general store, so we headed to Refuge Cove. True to its name, it was a quaint, adorable cove of about 15 houses that run the town as a cooperative and we decided to stick around and eat dinner at the unexpected restaurant.
