Ever since men first ventured out onto the ocean they have named their craft after the women they admire – Queens, wives, goddesses, lovers – the special women worthy of having their names inscribed on the bow of a ship. And so it is today with the Frances Barkley and the Karey M, the two ships that took us and our kayaks from Port Alberni to Sechart and finally out to the western fringes of the continent.
The Frances Barkley, a 128-foot coaster owned and operated by Captain Brook George of Lady Rose Marine Services, bears the name of Frances Hornby Barkley, the first European woman to see the northwest coast. Born Frances Trevor in 1769 this adventurous lady, at the age of 17, married captain William Barkley in Ostend, Belgium and set sail for the West Coast of North America to buy furs from the natives. They arrived in Nootka Sound in 1787 and in the course of their travels named several west coast features including Barkley Sound, where the ship that bears her name now provides year round freight, mail, and passenger service.
The Karey M, a 42-foot blunt-ended aluminum skiff based at Sechart, is named after Karey Monrufet and operated by her husband Henk. Unlike Frances, who came from "away", Karey grew up on the West Coast. Her dad once owned the Lady Rose and ever since she was a child she has lived on or near the sea. Today she manages Sechart Lodge for Lady Rose Marine Services and the ship that bears her name ranges over the Barkley Sound area from Bamfield to Ucluelet. Never more than a cell phone call away, Henk and the Karey M are available to pick up and deliver everything from trucks and explosives to kayaks and groceries to and from almost anywhere in the Barkley Sound area. And if you get into trouble it will most likely be the Karey M that gets you out of it.
We dropped off our kayaks and gear at Argyle Pier in Port Alberni, left the car in a nearby parking lot, and boarded the Francis Barkley for the three hour trip to Sechart Lodge. While chief engineer Bill Put and crew slung the gear aboard we slipped down to the galley, grabbed a cup of coffee from the self-serve pot and tied into a big breakfast. By the time we were finished the ship was well on her way down Alberni Canal and we climbed up to the wheel house for a visit with captain George and engineer Put, the two guys who brought the Frances Barkley from her birthplace in Norway to the West Coast of B.C.
Launched in 1958 the ship, known then as the Hidle, worked as a small passenger and car ferry in the fjords of southwestern Norway until she was replaced by larger vessels and put up for sale. The timing was perfect for Brook George and his partners in Alberni Marine whose ship, the Lady Rose, was barely able to keep up with the increasing tourist traffic. They purchased the Hidle in 1990 and set out on a 41-day voyage across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the West Coast to B.C. By 1992 the renovated Hidle, renamed the Frances Barkley, was fully certified and ready to assist the beleaguered Lady Rose. Today the two ships operate in tandem, spelling one another off on scheduled and charter trips.
After a couple of mid-channel stops to let off passengers into runabouts that pulled along side we arrived at Sechart, where Karey and Henk gave us a warm greeting on the dock and a hot lunch in the lodge. Located on the site of an old whaling station, Sechart Lodge is only a few minutes paddle from the northern boundary of the Broken Group Islands. On previous visits we have combined a few days at the lodge with camping at one or more of the eight sites scattered among the islands. This time we elected to pamper ourselves, stay at the lodge, enjoy the luxury of hot showers and tasty home cooked meals, and have Henk kick off our day trips with an early morning lift in the Karey M.
By the time we finished breakfast and picked up the bagged lunches provided by Karey, Henk was ready to go. With our two kayaks aboard we pushed off the dock and headed for Dicebox Island, 12 km away, near the southern edge of the Broken Group. It was one of those classic calm days when an upside-down image of every tree and mountain along the shoreline was mirrored on the glassy surface of the ocean. Henk opened the throttle, the Karey M responded instantly and we headed south, planing smoothly across the un-rippled surface.
"It’s not always like this," Henk reminded us.
We all knew that weather on the West Coast can turn ugly – that wind can churn the tranquil water into a seething cauldron of whitecaps and sea fog can cut visibility to zero in a matter of minutes. As part of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Henk and the Karey M have seen lots of it and on the way out to Dicebox Island he recounted a recent experience he had with weather and people.
About 10 o'clock at night a distraught family reported to Coast Guard that two of their members were overdue somewhere in the Broken Group. It was pouring rain, black as the inside of a tar barrel, and the sea was being lashed into a fury by strong gusts. Using his radar and GPS plus his intimate knowledge of the area Henk searched until well past midnight, scanning the shoreline with a spotlight and calling on the Karey M's loud hailer. Nothing.
The search was abandoned until first light when the missing couple were discovered in their tent at one of the camp sites. Hadn't they heard and seen the search effort? Oh yes, they explained, but it was raining so hard we didn't want to come out and get wet.
A lesser man might well have abandoned then on the spot but Henk loaded them into the Karey M and delivered them safely to their family.
"But I was so mad I charged them for the trip," he said.
We slid past the corner of Gilbert Island and headed for Dicebox. "Last stop before Tokyo," Henk announced as he lowered the ramp, and nosed onto a gravel beach. We pulled out our kayaks, the Karey M backed off, and we were on our own.
The early morning sea was still calm as we paddled from Dicebox south around Howell Island and out into the open ocean. But there, beyond the last protective island, the glassy surface was warped into long ridges and valleys by a gentle swell rolling in from the open Pacific. We skirted a couple of ominous "growlers", rocks lurking just far enough below the surface to rise up into the troughs like giant sea creatures and then disappear in a swirl of foam beneath the next crest. We were headed out to a cluster of tiny off-shore islets when I heard the first explosive blast of air and spotted a column of vapour hanging just beyond the nearest islet. Whale!
We stopped paddling and waited, hoping to see it surface again somewhere off in the distance. Instead the next sounding was even closer and there was not just one whale but two. First the blasts of air, then the long glistening black bodies with their tiny dorsal fins – two large humpbacks swimming directly toward us. They pulled up to the opposite side of the islet and spent about 20 minutes feeding, heads down, giant tail flukes waving above the surface. It was a spellbinding show and we had front row seats.
The whale encounter was definitely the highlight of this, our sixth trip to the Broken Group, but there were other memorable moments. A dozen seals followed us in to our lunch stop on the Faber Islets, a cluster of rocks and white shell beaches in the middle of Coaster Channel. Overcome by curiosity they stayed with us right up to shore then, with a sudden back-flip and resounding slap, the lead seal sent them all diving for cover.
But we still shared our remote and rocky resting place with hundreds of other creatures – gulls perched as motionless as statues, a flock of raucous oyster catchers squabbling over bits of food left by the outgoing tide, and a single eagle watching us warily from his perch a hundred yards away. It was tempting to just lean back against a warm rock and spend the rest of the day there but we still had eight km to go.
Back at Sechart we swapped tales of the day's adventures with new friends, nursed a cool beer on the deck while waiting for Henk to ring the dinner bell, and suddenly realized how deliciously tired we all were. Returning to the relaxed atmosphere and gracious hospitality of Sechart Lodge after a long day of paddling is the ultimate in holiday luxury.
