Evening on De Courcy Island, Pirate's Cove
Paddling in Ruxton Passage
South Beach of De Courcy Island, with View of Herring Cove and Stuart Channel
Cedar fence on South Beach
Kayakers on South Beach
What a way to wake up....
Non judgemental onlooker to trawler grounding
Rudder, keel, barnacles - all exposed to the morning sun
Lovely wooden boat anchored not too far from the 'other reef' in the Cove.
Diesel leak plugging operation by a De Courcy resident, who happened to be a Coast Guard captain as well as a captain of an Arctic icebreaker - qualified help indeed.
Here come the Heavies.....Coast Guard & Dept of Fisheries inflatable, frigate standing by outside of Cove.
Assessing the situation....
More Heavies from Rescue Team Nanaimo.....
And here the story:
Rattling of chains travelling across the dark waters...another latecomer anchoring in Pirate's Cove. Crawled out of my cabin to cast a glance around, to see who had arrived at 22:00 in darkness under a brilliantly starry sky. A confusion of anchor lights all around from the 25+ boats already anchored...no way to tell where our latest guest to Pirate's Cove had parked for the night.It was sufficiently clear during daybreak: right on the reef in the centre of the Cove.
07:30 in the morning. Here she sat, a pretty good sized wooden trawler, high and dry on the impressive exposed centre reef, and the tide still falling for another hour. A man in an inflatable kayak was tying a rope leading from the upper corner of the trawler's cockpit to a rock on the reef. As the boat was heeling between 30-40 degrees, a good idea to keep it from toppling over into the water.
Ever the dutiful host, I dressed and climbed into my dinghy to row over to the boat. Owner, now lazily paddling around the cove, told me he had 'just woken up and noticed the boat heeling'. Must have been a pretty good sleep, not to notice that boat was probably up there at an acute angle since a few hours...He said 'I came in with GPS guidance, and the charts did not show a reef here....'.
Hmm, funny charts....
A strong odor of diesel filled the air, and a thin layer of iridescent oil covered the waters of the Cove down-current from the stranded boat. A liquid thread of oil poured steadily from the lower side of the deck. Boat itself seemed to be undamaged. Tidal movement as they were, this slick would spread for a few hours, not a good thing in a small cove. The owner opined that he could not plug the leak, nor did he want to climb onto the leaning boat. Neither did I, nor get below the lower side to check the offending vent. Did not want to be pinned under a toppling trawler.
'I am required to report the spill' I advised. That was OK with him.
Back to my boat, and onto the Coast Guard. Reported the relevant information. The Coast Guard wanted to chat with the owner, who by now had gone ashore and disappeared somewhere.
I went - that is - rowed, in search of him.
Hailed him relaxing ashore from my dinghy, and both of us returned to my boat.
'How do I operate the microphone of the VHF', he asked (first clue). I showed him the basics. ' I have no radio license and don't know how to use a VHF'', he said to the Coast Guard.
He explained to the officials that 'a liter or so of diesel might have leaked from the fuel vent'.
'How much fuel do you carry, and how big is your tank', asked the Coast Guard man.
'I don't know, but I put 200 bucks into it', answered the owner. (second clue)
The Coast Guard man did the math and computed the boat's fuel load. A bit more officialese, and the chat was over.
I offered the owner a granola bar to tide (pardon the pun) him over the wait. Wait was all one could do for the boat to be back afloat maybe early afternoon. He commented on my 'small space' in my sailboat and then paddled off again.
A couple of other boaters came to the host dock, complaining about the fuel spill and the damage it would do to their dinghies and lines. Hey, what about that poor seal, who was just now drifting around in the spill?
'They should do something about this. They should put a containment boom around this. No swimming here today', and so on and so forth.
I rowed to shore again, to the 'office', meaning hiking to the south beach, where my Rogers cell phone would actually work, and phoned the spill emergency number - just to be sure 'they were doing something about it'.
They were already aware of the Bluebird (name of the boat) and had notified their units.
Back to rowing around and assuring people, that all had been done and authorities were informed.
Late morning one of the Island residents rowed out to the wreck, saw the thin diesel stream painting the Cove like a rainbow, and creating a smell of dirty garage, and said: 'I get back in a minute and plug it'. He came back with a rubber hammer and a plug, and a couple of bangs later - no more diesel spilling out. Meantime, owner of boat was still paddling around somewhere in the Cove.
Authorities finally turned up en masse around 11:00.
A Coast Guard frigate standing by out in Pylades Channel, a large red Coast Guard Inflatable inside the Cove. The resourceful resident, who had plugged the leak turns out to be a Coast Guard Captain himself, as well as being Captain on an arctic ice breaker...no wonder he knew exactly what to do. Inflatable crew used to be HIS crew.
Then Nanaimo Rescue boat arrived and hung around.
By noon, the spill had dissipated somewhat from heat and sun, that means, quite a bit had travelled into the farthest reaches of the Cove, where it had been pushed by the incoming tide. No one checked there.
The imposing armada left, after some consultation and inspection and helpful hints re 'getting off the reef later'.
By 14:00 boat was back on even keel, by 15:00 anchor was up. Boat motored out of the Cove.
By 16:00 PC Parks aluminum boat turned up with two rangers, all the way from Comox, to 'check up on the action'.
By 17:00 De Courcy Island Fire Chief turned up to do the same. Usually he comes by with Candycane, his big Newfoundland dog, to say hello. This time - no dog. When he had cast off to visit me, he didn't notice the dog's absence (forgotten ashore) until he was well on the water. How can one 'forget' anything as large as a NEWF in a small boat?
By 18:00 tide had turned to ebb again, and the fugitive slick was back travelling through the Cove.
Comment by one boater who visited the float today: 'They should have a warning if there are really low tides'. (third clue)
Ever heard of tide and current tables???
Well, the usual entertainment happens in the Cove apart from this particular grounding.
Another question of the day: 'Did they move the red spar buoy at the entrance, the one marking the reef to port. The entrance looked narrower today. So I came in on the wrong side of the buoy, the other side just didn't look right.'
Lucky man, high tide when he came in in a shallow draft power yacht. and no, the buoy had not been moved, neither had the rocky reef.
Something for the voyeurs. Twice this week, a trawler from Nanaimo anchored just across from the host dock, stern tying to a ring in a natural rocky cave. As soon as they were secured a couple of young pretties dinghied ashore, wine glasses in hand, and posed inside the cave, flashing bare naked boobs for a photo op for their male boat crew. Hilarious partying ensued, until they crawled into the cave for some serious graffiti art to commemorate their visit. Rowed over and suggested that 'BC Parks don't smile upon graffiti, but they could eternalize the occasion by putting a message in a pop bottle and depositing it into the kid's treasure chest ashore.'
They brushed the stuff off next day, when they were sober.
Same boat returned a couple of days later with the same guys, but different ladies. Another 'Bare Naked Ladies' show, and more hilarious extended partying - but no graffiti this time.
People ask me: 'What do you do all day, don't' you get bored?'
No no, much more riveting than reality shows on TV....
