It has rained all night and we are shrouded in mist as we leave Oyster Bay. Our prawn trap is a few miles away, so we follow yesterday’s GPS track back to the spot where we dropped it. Cliff goes to it in the dinghy and starts pulling it up, only to meet with such great resistance that he yanks with full speed on the outboard. Still it doesn’t budge, so we manoeuvre the big boat over and attach the prawn trap line to the anchor windlass. With great difficulty we finally get in all 400 feet of line – and at the end, still attached, is the prawn trap, broken and squashed as flat as a pancake! Another donation to King Neptune!!
Cliff spots an Orca spouting near the mouth of the inlet, but it quickly disappears from view. Later, a school of porpoises dance and play alongside the boat.
It’s a long motoring trip up FitzHugh Sound, past what must be wonderful scen
ery, hidden by the clouds. Having radar to identify targets in the fog is very comforting, but all we see is a seaplane, which bursts through the clouds at almost mast height. Eventually we come into Fisher Passage and turn up Cousins Inlet to Ocean Falls. When Cliff worked for Crown Z, he often did business with Ocean Falls
people, so he is naturally very keen to see the townsite.
Ocean Falls was once a thriving mill town with a population of about 5000, built in this location because of the unlimited power and water available. In 1973, Crown Zellerbach abandoned the operation. The government tried unsuccessfully to run it until 1980, when it too gave up and left the settlement to become the coast’s largest ghost town. Much of the town was bulldozed, but most of the downtown was spared and many houses were left standing, to remain as homes for the hardy 40 or so permanent residents and summer cottagers.
We arrive on typical rainy Ocean Falls day and are greeted by Sally, the friendly dockmaster, who directs 
us to the boaters’ shack which offers two computer stations, free wireless internet, (open 24/7 – I guess there is no thievery in O.F.), a book exchange, games, tables and chairs. We make reservations for dinner at a logging camp down the road, then kick back
until suppertime. Dinner is served cafeteria-style, and true to logging camp custom, is generous and tasty. The price of $23 includes all you can eat of salad, main course, (crab-stuffed fish, chicken, veggies and rice, )dessert, and drinks (non-alcoholic). This is the only restaurant /accommodation in town, and it serves seasonal workers, those who fly in on business, backpackers, fishermen and tourists, if any, who arrive by BC Ferry, boat , seaplane or Pacific Coastal Airlines goose.(
It has finally stopped raining, so after dinner we go for a walk. through the desolate down
town and along a rough road to the dam, which still supplies power to Ocean Falls, Bella Bella and Shearwater. I worry about bears on the trail, but we don’t see any. Everywhere there are masses of wildflowers, and remnants of a previous era being reclaimed by nature.
(Ph(
ery, hidden by the clouds. Having radar to identify targets in the fog is very comforting, but all we see is a seaplane, which bursts through the clouds at almost mast height. Eventually we come into Fisher Passage and turn up Cousins Inlet to 
people, so he is naturally very keen to see the townsite.
us to the boaters’ shack which offers two computer stations, free wireless internet, (open 24/7 – I guess there is no thievery in O.F.), a book exchange, games, tables and chairs. We make reservations for dinner at a logging camp down the road, then kick back
until suppertime. 
town and along a rough road to the dam, which still supplies power to 
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