BUTEDALE (July 3)

Since we didn’t have any cell coverage at Bottleneck Cove, we couldn’t get internet, so couldn’t read the morning newspaper, so there was little point in hanging around for long. We had our coffee, readied the boat and were off before 8AM. We have finally been able to sleep later than 4:30, when it starts getting light.

The weather was a slight improvement, at least it didn’t rain all day. We were able to see some of the scenery, which included many, many waterfalls. Elaine commented that the area reminds her of Yosemite, but on steroids.

Our destination for tonight was Butedale, currently a “ghost town,” but surprisingly popular with boaters. They have no services, and no facilities other than a floating dock, but they are positioned just right between other areas to make it a convenient stop, and there are no other good anchorages nearby. Butedale has quite a history as a fish processing plant and a cannery going back almost one hundred years. There is still a large lake above the village, with a dam to control the surface level, and provide runoff for hydroelectric generation. The last of the industrial activity ended in the 1960s and it has been abandoned since then, other than a lone caretaker who resides on the premises. Within the last few years, it has been purchased and there are plans to re-do the whole are into an eco-friendly marina and resort. The caretaker took us on an extensive tour of the “remains,” and explained plans for the new resort. I wish them luck, but that is going to be a very challenging project.

Part of their plan is to bottle the water from the lake and sell it as drinking water. Apparently, it is extremely pure, and it is the water which is piped down to the docks. Since the last water we took on (in Shearwater) had a somewhat “tannish” color to it, we are trying to use up our existing water - breaking all the water-conservation habits we have gotten into. Naturally, as we are trying to empty our tanks, the water level gauge is barely moving.

After our tour of Butedale, I took the dinghy over to a nearby point and hooked a couple of fish - and landed one. The one that got away, true to the storyline, must have been huge. I fought that fish for at least fifteen minutes and made very little headway. I figure it was either a large ling cod or a halibut, and I kept thinking of how I was going to get a fish that large into a dinghy that small. Well, I never had to finalize those thoughts, since whatever fish it was straightened out the hook and got away. The one I landed, however, is going to be fish tacos tonight…

Butedale Falls