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DATE:July 27, 2002 DESTINATION: Foggy Bay UP BEFORE DAWN We leave the dock at 4:30 AM hoping to have a good day to get us over Dixon Entrance into Prince Rupert. I get up incredibly early to take Ziggy out. He does his thing very efficiently. We leave the docks while it’s slightly dark. Passed a tug heading down the channel by town. It's getting foggy again as we are beginning to head through Tongass Narrows. It's also getting a little windy and the seas are getting choppy. 5:30 AM: Going by Bold Island and heading now into Revillagigedo Channel. No more fog, visibility looks good with calm seas and minimal wind. Pumped the holding tank – the dang green light won’t come on, something must be stuck. Will try again later. Fishing boat ahead. Passing Annette Island where Metlakata Island is. The Indians own the island and have their own government by their own rules. No liquor allowed. Getting a little foggy but seas are calm. WITS END 6:10 AM: Passing Hog Islands. It starts to rain and waves are getting bigger. I'm wondering to myself, if it’s rough here, what’s it going to be like at Dixon. Larry asks me what I think. He says if it gets much worse he’s going back and calling Dave to take the boat down. He said he's getting tied of this @#!*. We have a 23 knot wind. I don't know if he's joking, just disgusted or is he serious? I don't find it funny. 6:25 AM: We pass the light at Hog Rocks. 6:45 AM: Passing Twin Island. Boat is pounding and water is splashing over bow. Passing tip of Mary Island. Wind is blowing SW against current. Current is supposed to change direction at 9:30. It’s getting very rough and we’re getting concerned. 6:55 AM: I ask Larry what he wants to do. I realize that he may be at his limit with this boating and maybe we should go back. Maybe he just can’t take this. After all he's lost an incredible amount of weight during this trip. Maybe he's not feeling good. What are we doing here? I don’t like it either but something tells me to go on. I can’t fathom the idea of giving up. Why isn’t there anyone else around? Why are we always alone out here? Are we doing something wrong? All these crazy thoughts go through my head. HEAD TO FOGGY BAY We decide to keep going. We think we'll try to duck into Foggy Bay. We change course slightly to take us that way and then if we need to, if the seas get much worse, we can go in to the protection of the bay and wait it out. We have 11 miles to go. It’s getting very rough and I can’t imagine what it would be like if it gets worse. I just keep watching the light to see when we will get there. Just have to hold out until we get there. Concentrate on the light. We finally get to the outer bay and the seas have calmed slightly but not much. It must be because we are close to the island and it’s cutting off the wind. WHERE IS EVERYBODY? We finally pull in to the inner cove of Foggy Bay and it’s what I call the X Files again. No cruisers are in here ducking for cover like us. We do see one weird old guy on a very small old fish boat. A state trooper boat is anchored but no sign of anyone. Again, where are all dang boats like us escaping from the rough seas? Does this mean that who ever stayed here last night left this morning to cross the Dixon in these conditions? If so, what’s the matter with us? Why can we do it? We know that Thatcher was here last night as that's what he said the day before. Did they go all the way and not stay in Foggy Bay last night then? We don’t understand a dam thing, nothing makes sense. Or did they disappear into outer space with the X-files? I'm getting mad and sarcastic but can't help it. COMFORT FOOD As we settle in – I make Bev’s Chili and hope I can remember the recipe. I use the new crock pot I bought in Ketchikan. Warm chili surely will brighten our outlook won't it I ask myself? We had oatmeal this morning out of the crock pot underway. It worked out great because you just put it on and forget about it and then it’s there when ever you want it, nice and hot. So I put the chili in the crock pot also. 1 can black beans, 1 can chick peas, 1 can kidney beans, 2 cans V8 juice, 1 cup onions, 1 cup bell peppers, lots of chili powder, garlic, mustard, vinegar, sugar. Zig curls up immediately on the sofa settee and goes to sleep, exhausted I think from all the stress of the pounding seas we went through. He was a wreck when we were coming through the bad area and I’m going to follow suit. I bet there have been many people who have collapsed in this cove, exhausted and stressed after crossing the Dixon in bad weather. I read the cruising book about the cove. I could care less about seeing a bear or marten as they describe in the cruising book. Are they nuts? Who cares about wild life watching after you've been through those seas? Who would want to stop here for sight seeing unless they had to? You just want to get the hell across Dixon while you can and put it behind you as fast as possible. I need comfort food. I promise to myself that once we get through this to Prince Rupert we are gunning it all the way back! I can’t stand these dumb weather reports anymore. We are in no man’s land between the US & Canada and they don’t cover the area we just went through. TWILIGHT ZONE AGAIN I make up a pan of "Myers Chuck Cornbread" with creamed corn and cheddar cheese in it. If nothing else I'm going to cook my way out of this funk I'm in. We listen to the weather report again. Now the reception is pitiful. It’s so static-y that we can’t get a clear read on it. We then listen to the 10:00 AM report and it’s the same thing. Oh great, now we're here stuck in some episode of X-Files and can't even get a read on the conditions outside to know when to get out of here! Larry calls on the radio to any vessel in Dixon Entrance to see what the sea conditions are – no answer. It's like being in the twilight zone, no one else is here or anywhere. This is a good example of how crazy you get in these anchorages waiting out who knows what. Now we can’t get a clear weather report and we are stuck here alone. We can see out to sea but not sure what we are looking at. We see lots of big white caps. WEATHER REPORTS GARBELED Larry decides to call Prince Rupert Coast Guard on the radio. They answer back right away. Larry asks for a weather report for Green Island Lighthouse. The Coast Guard tells us to stand by on Channel 22 A (Alpha). He didn’t come back to us again for a long time. I guess he was issuing a report and when he got done he came back to us. But, even then, the waiting makes you wonder if you've been disconnected from him also and everything else? He finally gets back to us and gives us the report but he too now is garbled. Finally after a 3rd try while he patiently and slowly repeated it, we get it. Larry decides it's bad and we need to stay. 20-25 knots of winds from the south and 6’ seas. LONELY IN HERE We have 10-14 knot winds in our protected anchorage so it's got to be bad out there. It's funny how we say "out there". You can hear the wind howl and blow – it’s lonely. Time goes by and suddenly I hear a sound like a boat. It's a State Trooper boat. He runs the boat to shore. We see some guy get out of the boat and take some crab pots into the woods. Then he comes back, gets in his skiff and takes off out of the cove. Where is he going? We eat our cornbread. It’s filling and warming. I finally go into the master cabin and fall asleep on the bed and Larry on the sofa. We sleep until late afternoon trying to obliterate this situation with sleep. CABIN HIDDEN IN THE WOODS We awake, and it’s about 3:00 PM. Zig wants to go to shore. We get the dinghy out and go by where the state trooper took the crab pots into the woods and discover there is a cabin hidden in there behind the trees. It’s so hidden by the thick woods that you’d never know it was there if we hadn’t seen him go to shore and drop off the traps. The shore is interesting. It' more of that rock like slate, layered in what looks like shelves and plates pushed up at oblique angles to ground. Silver and black colors.
"OUT THERE" We come back to the boat. We anchored in a location so that we can see out to sea, or "out there" as I refer to it with dread. It’s not the most protected from the wind and swells but at least we can see what’s going on out there though don't know what it all means what we see. We still see white caps but the skies seem to be clearing somewhat. The boat even though it's in this protected cove is rolling from the swells outside. The swells are now reaching over the breakwater between the island and shore of the cove because the tide is going out. Imagine what this place was like the day before when the weather reports were worse. WHO CARES? The book says there should be a bear and marten on shore. Right now I could care less. I can hear a one duck squawking. That's enough for me. If no one comes into the cove tonight, does it mean it was too rough out there for anyone to make it? If they do come into the cove does it mean it wasn’t that rough and we should have gone? Because, that means whoever it was, they came from some direction that we could have traversed. I hate this not knowing thing. It makes you nuts. FINALLY COMPANY Two fishing boats go by beyond the cove! It looks like they are splashing in the sea having a very rough time. They are heading towards the outer anchorage. It definitely looks like its rough. A sailboat comes in to the anchorage. Finally! Looks like it’s coming up from Prince Rupert direction but could have come from Ketchikan as we didn’t see him as he made the loop to get into the outer cove. Aaah, it’s so nice to have a boat come in at the end of a day. They must feel good like they did a day’s hard work and it has ended by getting that deserved anchorage of safety, rest, and comfort. Something's not right about us when we get in at 8:30 in the morning and sit and worry all day. We’ve got to get over this. The sailboat is called NYAD. We saw her in Ketchikan. So they did come from Ketchikan! It just took them longer than us! Okay we're not the only fools in here. Hooray! By the end of the evening, we had about 4 large sailboats, one large fishing boat and a small power boat. It felt good to have such welcome company even though we don't know who they are and don't say a word to each other. Such comfort to have them here all snuggled in. At least we have someone to leave with in the morning I say. "We won't be by ourselves!" Things are looking up. We have pasta for dinner. It was very good. We had Myers Chuck (I sometimes call dishes I concoct from the place we were staying at the time I concocted it) corn bread again but now it tasted heavy. Also had a salad. I also made a bad blueberry cobbler from a recipe I kept from Sunset Magazine. Too sugary, way too much butter and too much trouble.
We watched movie we bought in Ketchikan (Artificial Intelligence). We actually bought 5 movies in Ketchikan. All $1.99 each. Really came in handy for a day like today. We figured we were traveling in about 20 knot winds against the current this morning and that’s why it was so dam rough. DATE: July 28,2002 DESTINATION: Prince Rupert Well, we left Foggy Bay at 8:30 AM though we woke up at 5:30 AM when I heard the small powerboat from Sitka start its engine. We watched as they left and watched as they went in the outer channel to see which way they were headed. They headed North to Ketchikan. WRITTEN WEATHER REPORT! We studied all the currents and checked the books again. Larry got the Navtex weather report. He forgot that we might be able to get it now since we are in or near the Canadian Border. It gives us a written weather report that we can look at and review without listening to that difficult-(no impossible)-to-understand radio reports. What a break! Now we can make sense of this. We looked at every possible thing we should be looking at and decided the very best time to leave would be 9:30. But then, Twilight Zone again, as all the other boats started to get ready to leave. They were sailboats though we said to ourselves. They are slower than us so it would only make sense for them to leave earlier to catch the current at the right time. But we looked at each other and just couldn’t stay behind by ourselves again. Nope no more of that. It didn't matter if it wasn't the perfect time to leave we were going with everyone else. So what if it's a bit rough. LOST DINGHY IN THE STORM So we prepared to leave. Larry took Zig to shore and back. He just put the dinghy up when the big ketch that came in last night came over by us close. Larry thought they were just being friendly and then we found out that they lost their dinghy last night in the storm and it was grounded across the cove. The captain asked if Larry could take him to retrieve it in our dinghy. Larry wasn’t too excited about putting the dinghy down and up again but he did. "LORD GULLIVER" Their boat was named “Lord Gulliver”. Lord Gulliver had a black hull and looked something like a pirate ship. The couple aboard were from Vancouver they said. They had a dog just like Ziggy! His ears were black instead of brown and his name was Bert. She and I started talking across the water to each other about the dogs and the weather and hit it off right away. She has an English accent and frizzy hair all piled on top of her head. Their son was aboard too. Their poor little dog had his life jacket on ready to go to shore but his owners had to wait for someone like us to get going so they could ask if we could help them get their dinghy so they could take the dog to shore. The guy said he thought about swimming to shore to get the dinghy but it’s so cold. Nice couple. Once Larry helped them get their dinghy and we were leaving the cove, I looking back and them madly rowing the little wooden dinghy ashore with Bert perched out over the bow. They were lucky that dinghy didn’t go out to sea and become lost. BIG MONSTER CLOUD We left and followed the other sailboats out of the cove. It was still rough outside the protection of the cove. I could see in the sky a big monster cloud, black as all get out, heading our way. Geezuss! Winds are coming from the west at 15 knots. We hear the Coast Guard calling a boat name Jamal on the radio. They must be close to Prince Rupert. They want to know where they’re going and who’s on board, and if they have had a security check. Jamal answers back that they had one in May. It was a woman on the radio. She said the only people aboard were she and her dad. The Coast Guard seemed to be satisfied with that answer and told them to have a safe sail. At least we see some boats out here today. The winds are coming from the west 15 knots at Green Island and the current should be going with the winds there. The barometer has been pretty steady the last two days so that’s good. 55 degrees, 1019.5 and steady. At least the sun is out and that monster ass cloud is going west over the island away from us. At Cape fox the seas are rough with huge swells. It's forcing the boat to turn off to the right and then to the left. Larry is trying to keep the boat on course. 11:00 AM (Prince Rupert time): We have a time change between Alaska and British Columbia. We're passing Gnarled Island now (scary name) and the seas are much calmer. The swells have died down. 11:30 AM: Passing Green Island. Experiencing light winds from the ocean and the seas are choppy but no swells. A seagull flew by going faster than us. Pretty smooth sailing now all the way from here to Vern Passage. GILL NETTERS RACING FOR OPENING As we entered Vern Passage a million gill netters are coming out of the passage like they were in a race! They are in such a hurry to get ahead of each other that some are cutting the markers on the wrong side and coming uncomfortably close to our boat. It was a mad house! We followed one fishing boat headed in that had a black dog on it. Ziggy and the dog barked at each other for part of the ways. WELCOME SIGHT It was such a welcome sight when we finally began to approach Prince Rupert Harbor. Larry had called the PRYC on his cell phone earlier and left a message that we were coming and would like dock space. We also talked to Bernie and Bev our friends. She said she had left a message for us since she figured we wouldn’t be able to make it across Dixon because of the weather report that she heard. We got through to PRYC on the radio and they were going to put us on the outside dock. Larry asked for the Atlin Terminal on the perpendicular dock. As we got to the docks the YC had a young man there who took the lines for us. What a luxury after what we’ve been through for months! We actually even had cleats to tie to. Larry took care of customs and I put out every fender we had because the swells are so bad here. CONVENIENT AND EASY AGAIN When Larry came back I took Zig for a long walk on the long grassy path by the road behind the YC. He ran and ran and was so happy that he was friendly to everybody and didn't care to bite not one person today. Just kidding. We then all went up and had a latte and cappuccino. Another missed luxury. AAAAh so nice to be back in civilization where things are convenient and easy again. Larry said that as we docked, someone called us on the radio and said they were from Santa Barbara YC too (guess they saw our bergies). They were in a big 60’ sports fisher. Said they live in Solvang. Larry said he'd go by later and say "hello". HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET and IT BECOMES "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT" We settled in and took a little nap and read. You soon forget the last lonely anchorage, the bad seas and those X-File moments. Funny how soon it's forgotten and behind you and things are bright again. We've not had much boating experience really as Larry retired and decided we were going to Alaska almost immediately. Sometimes I think we bit off on more than we thought but then we've managed and enjoyed every minute except for times like yesterday. But as the saying goes, "been there, done that" and soon you have that experience behind you and know that your boat can handle it and soon you will handle it. RAVEN! We see a boat coming in to the dock near us. There's some grey haired guy on the front steering the boat. It was Reiner on the Raven! We laughed. This is where we left them in the beginning of our trip north and now here they are again! Fist thing Larry did was laugh and say we got their favorite spot. Who would know they would be pulling in the same time we were here. He really meant Patience’s spot. We said hello and said we’d talk later after they got settled. By now it was dinner time and we decide to eat at Smile’s for fish. It was the only place we didn’t try last time. Not very good food. I had the fisherman’s platter with salmon, shrimp, scallops and oysters. Don’t like salmon “steak”, too many bones. Larry had salmon steak but he liked his. We went back to the boat and saw Susan and Reiner on Raven. They invited us to go to dinner with them but we had eaten early. No problem, they invited us to their boat for drinks (tiddlies) and then to go to dinner tomorrow. They said they were inviting another couple. We said fine. DATE: July 29, 2002, Monday ROLLY NIGHT Got up after a rolly noisy night. Larry had been up a few times as evidenced by the towels stuck between the bathroom door and other places that were rattling with all the wakes last night. Apparently a bunch of boards from who knows where also got trapped between our boat and the dock and were knocking against the boat making a lot of noise. We brewed some coffee to wake up but then decided we'd go get a real cup of coffee and roll at the coffee place just up the road and take Zig for his walk. I wanted to check out the grocery store for any fresh produce items as it would be the last place to get some for a long time as we head south. So we headed up the hill to the town when it just started pouring so we went for shelter at the Museum. I went in to look at the gift shop and found some jewelry made with real Russian trading beads. I have been searching the shores this whole trip for some of these beads and I guess I'll just have to settle with store bought ones. Wonder if they really are real. We made several other little purchases so that little stop to get out of the rain was expensive GROCERY STORE A FORM OF INTERTAINMENT Went to the grocery store. I'm so starved for grocery stores that I just loved walking around to merely look at everything. Such a treat. Boy I'm getting weird on this trip. Got some fresh strawberries, blackberries, and rhubarb!! Yum. Everything else was pretty mediocre. Just got necessities like lettuce, milk and some things for appetizers because we’ll probably be getting together a lot for drinks now since Raven and Patience are all here. It looks like we'll be traveling together south now. COMPANIONS AGAIN Larry is so happy Raven is here now because he has someone to go with. It really takes the pressure off and I think it’s good. We'll have another head to bounce off these ridiculous weather reports. We spent the day around the boat and the guy from the boat “Pelican Point” came over on his aluminum dinghy to say "hi". He’s getting pretty ragged looking since the last time I saw him. In fact we all are getting to look a bit ragged without haircuts, etc. Weeks and weeks of remote cruising does take its toll on you. Another big boat came in. FUN CRAZY PEOPLE We had cocktails on Raven and met Roger and Ariel. He is hilarious and imitated the automated weather report like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He had it right on. Amazing how we hadn't thought that the computer generated voice sounded exactly like Arnold. He was so funny. He just kept coming up with one funny cruising story after another. It was good to laugh again. Another couple came that used to live in Alaska and now live in Washington. She had a real honker but very nice and intelligent. He was red headed and rolly polly round shaped. Roger, the funny guy, was tall and skinny. He had a big long nose with a funny little wart right on the end of it and thick bi-focal lenses. His wife was short and plump with small perfect features and I had absolutely nothing in common with her but she was very nice. She talked mostly about quilting. I know we have our funny traits too. He said they took their 30 foot go fast IO boat (Outboard) to Alaska. Can’t believe they brought a boat like that all the way up here. They said they went on the outside from Pelican Cove to Sitka! Amazing people you meet up here. Adventurous! Crazy but funny guy. POOR ZIGGY We left Ziggy in the boat thinking he’d be OK out of cage since we were right next door in Raven's boat but then the wakes got really bad and I watched out the window in horror as our boat started rocking out of control. I could see him jump up by the window crying and scared too death. I told Larry he better go put him in the cage but he insisted he’d be OK and don't worry about him. I then I saw him chew the screen apart (again). I almost knocked Larry’s wine glass over poking at him to go get Ziggy. Larry was so mad that I thought maybe he would spank him for chewing something up in the boat again but instead he just picked him up and calmly put him in the cage. I think really that Zig has been really good this whole trip and this rocking and rolling by himself was just too much for him. Poor little guy. We had drinks for quite a long time on Raven while I worried about Ziggy and then went to the Breakers Pub for dinner. The Alaska couple’s son came in to the Breaker's to join the rest of us for dinner but the pub wouldn’t let him in because they served alcohol. So, they had to get his food to go. He had to take it back to the boat and eat by himself. But his parents said he was OK because they got the TV working. We had a really fun time and we all laughed so much. It was great to be around people again. SMALL WORLD Later that evening back at the boat and we watched a huge sailboat came in. It must have been over 100 feet long. A tall couple got off and came over to our boat to introduce themselves to us. They’re from Santa Barbara and know our friend David Wyman. His name was Peter Weaver. They were acting as captain and crew for an older couple that owned the boat which is normally kept in Ventura, California just south of Santa Barbara. They said they brought the boat up June 23 and are now on their way back down. The “Lord Gulliver” people saw us and came down the ramp to say "hello". We talked to them for a long while and exchanged addresses. They are a really nice couple and she's a real character. What a night. Larry was still filling the water tanks at 9:30 PM. It was one huge party and a small world. |
