Weewanie Hot Springs 08.18.2013

We originally planned to go up Douglas Channel to the town of Kitimat but the weather is not going to cooperate.  Winds are expected in Douglas Channel which will make traveling north through the Channel very uncomfortable.

Off at 8:00am PT to catch the flood tide north up Verney Passage through Devastation Channel to lovely Weewanie Hot Springs.  After having a couple of days of rain we thought a soak in the hot springs sounded wonderful.

Arriving early afternoon we clipped onto our first buoy of the trip and rowed over to the hot springs.

 

 

There was a father, his friend, and two 14 yrs boys (John, Corey, Bernie,& Kyle) from the M/V Seacrest  that were in the process of cleaning the tub so most of the time was spent refilling it rather than soaking in it. 

While the tub was refilling it gave us all time to visit.  The gentlemen were all from Kitimat.  John and Corey both work at the aluminum smelting plant in Kitimat.  They talked about local industry in the area.  The aluminum smelting plant is in the process of being modernized to be more efficient.  There is a methanol plant, lumber & pulp mill and a new liquefied natural gas (L&G) plant being built right now.  The real estate values alone in this small city of 10,000 people has tripled in the last couple of years!

John also talked about the fabrication and metal repair shops located in their industrial area that might be able to fix our port forestay pole (more on this repair later).  This conversation gave us confidence that if we came to town we could get our forestay pole repaired. 

Tomorrow we are off further north heading up Devastation Channel (rather than Douglas Channel) to Kitimat. 

Tonight we will try not to drown.