Home Up Southern BC Nothern BC TO BELLA BELLA TO PRINCE RUPERT TO KETCHIKAN

 

 

PART 5: BELLA BELLA TO PRINCE RUPERT

DATE:                Sunday, May 26, 2002
LOCATION:         Shearwater
WEATHER:         52 degrees, pressure 1012
DESTINATION:    Bottleneck

 

We were up a little before 7:00 AM.  Larry’s listening to the weather report.  He said everything still sounds OK, so we get ready to go.  The group is leaving at 8:00 AM but we have to take Zig out, fill up with water and be ready in time to leave with them. 

As I take Zig up the ramp, the resident eagle is on his perch and waiting for his morning meal.  God forbid anyone forgets to feed this bird, he may not remember how to hunt anymore.

When I get back to the boat, we take off from the dock to go to the fuel dock to get water.  The attendant at the fuel dock, we think, is never going to get off his cell phone.  Larry puts some of their water in my white salad bowl to see the quality and clearity of it.  We’re checking to see if we see any discoloration or cedar sediment.  It looks clear so we begin filling our water tank.  Zig as usual jumps off the boat onto this new dock to investigate and sniff around. 

About midway full, Larry decides to stop and check the water quality again in the salad bowl.  This time it’s brown!  I ask the attendant (as he finally got off the phone) what the deal was.  I asked if the water was purified by a filtration system.  He showed me the two black tanks that do the filtering (they’re about the size of standard helium tanks).  I told him the water was brown and he said that’s because you have to turn the nozzle a ¼ turn not a full turn so the pressure doesn’t go through so fast.  I’m thinking why *%#@ didn’t he get off the @#!* cell phone and tell us that before?  Now we have bad water in our tanks!  This place is something else.

As I talked to him about the water he said because Shearwater was an old military camp they don’t really know what kind of “crap” they dumped into the water storage.  Apparently they’ve discovered a lot of toxic things the military had dumped or buried here.  He said a lot of people around the area aren’t that healthy from the chemicals and toxins.  (Now we know why a lot of the boaters go all the way up to Ocean Falls to fill up on water.)  Guess that’s why Arlene, the hairdresser, told me not to get the water here.  She probably didn’t want to say much as it might jeopardize her relationship here at the “resort”.  I’m wondering why Bill who’s been up here so many times and went to Ocean Falls didn’t tell us.  I guess he figures everyone has to figure the ropes out on their own.

There was also a bad smell in the air and the attendant said it was sewage.  He said you can smell it when there is no wind.  Yesterday we noticed a lot of junk floating in the water.  I guess that was it.  This is about the only place around though in this remote wilderness to dock and get fuel and food, so what can you do?  You just have to come here and put up with this.

I told the attendant I was surprised you can’t get fresh fish in the restaurant only frozen.  He said even the locals can’t get it – it all goes to Japan.  He said the fishermen aren’t doing very well so the guys have now started getting Qualihogs (a large clam) and are making lots and lots of money exporting those.  The Japanese love them and can’t get enough.  He said even the seaweed goes to Japan.  I asked him if the locals go to Ocean Falls to get their water and he said no they just drink it, but he said again, a lot of people are sick. 

7:50 AM:  We’re passing Idol Point on our port.  The seas are a little rougher but nothing to speak of.  We can see down the channel to the open ocean and the light flashing at Ivory Island.  Ziggy is very nervous and shivering.

I looked up in my book, that I was reading (about a girl solo kayaking through the Inside Passage), to see if she came through Shearwater.  She did and wrote that she had had a bad experience in Bella Bella.  When she landed at the Bella Bella dock and went to the band store to provision someone had filled her kayak on the dock with water getting all her belongs wet.  She then said she had a scary confrontation with some drunken sports fishing men at Shearwater.  I’m glad to be putting this place behind us.

10:23 AM:  We are going into the entrance of Reid Passage just before Ivory Island Light.  We have been following Patience and Raven in that order.  Patience is usually the leader as he has the most experience.  He is king of the Guru of the Alaska Cruising and well deserving as they’ve both been up here several times and have a lot of knowledge.

We’re experiencing a slight swell but it’s calm and clear.  We spot a white marker on the rocks to our port and see the red can marker in the channel.  We will keep the can to our starboard as we enter the channel and look for Carne Rock to line ourselves up to head down the channel. 

 

 

Part way down the channel I noticed our depth sounder read 00.1 depth!  I yelled to Larry and he tried to stop and suddenly the autopilot locked up the steering.  (We weren’t steering by autopilot as he was manually steering in the standby position.) It took him several long seconds to free the steering as we were precariously heading towards the rocks in shallow waters.  He quickly then managed to back us up and the depth reading changed back to 10-11 feet.  He was able to get Knotty Dog back on track but the group was now far ahead.  That would have been a desasterous end to our trip.  We were very lucky to have come out of that situation safely.  We carefully plodded our way through on our own.  At Cairn Rock there was a huge log directly a breast of the rock and marker ahead.  It was lying over at least ½ the width of our passageway which was already a narrow area.  We passed OK.  What a hair raising experience.  Patience and Raven had noticed that we had stopped and lingered behind but didn’t really know what was going on. 

This steering system has locked up twice on us now but this was the worst place yet right in a dangerous narrow rocky shallow area.

We left Reid Passage and turned to our port around Cid Rocks and Walter Island and then entered into Perceval Narrows.  The current was running a good clip but it was not difficult.  There were rocks nearby with waves crashing on them to our starboard.  I’m thinking you sure wouldn’t want to come through this area in bad weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re coming up to Mathieson Channel and it is filled with lots of debri such as logs, tree branches, and seaweed.  I had to take our two-way radio and stand out on the bow to point out obstacles so Larry could go around anything that might damage the boat or get caught in our props.  This area is very picturesque though.  There are low lying hills along the channels, almost meadow like, and then rising behind them are beautiful tall mountains.  White puffy clouds are high in the sky clustered around the mountains.  It was a beautiful sight.  Strangely it very much resembled pictures I’ve seen of Tahiti.

Larry’s very concerned about the steering system locking up again and says he’s going to have to get the problem figure out because it’s too dangerous especially here in these remote areas.

Our main weather station to listen to in this area is Ivory Island.  The report says the weather is good with patches of blue sky.

12:00 NOON:

We’re nearing Oscar Passage.  There is lots of  fresh cut logging in this area.  We passed Tom’s Bay where Hugo Anderson’s, Secrets of Cruising: BC Coast and Inlets, says they have good luck crabbing.  Well we haven’t any luck catching a crab since we left Canoe Cove by Sydney on Vancouver Island.

We heard a “Securite, Securite” announcement from the Coast Guard reporting an urgent update and alert of a gale force storm.  We couldn’t hear where it was as it cut out(of course).

Patience called us on the radio to say he was going to take a side route to check out Rescue Bay.  He wanted to wait until 2:00 PM before going through the narrows and it would be a good place to wait. He said he didn’t know when the tide was slack yet and we answered back that it’s slack now and we thought now probably would be the best time to go through.  So we all decided not to go into Rescue Bay continued on through the narrows. 

Larry chuckled and said “If they don’t start going a little faster he’s going to have to turn his engines off.” 

We went through Jackson narrows.  We actually were going through against the current and it wasn’t bad but we had to watch for rocks.  All three of our boats called in “Securite, Securite, this is the Knotty Dog (or Patience or Raven), entering West through Jackson Narrows, any opposing traffic please call on Ch. 16”.  It the narrows is a quick “S” turn and you couldn’t see what was coming on the other side so this measure let someone know on the other side we were coming as you wouldn’t want to encounter anyone coming the opposite direction in there.

Mid-passage, there is a Salmon farm to our starboard. You could see the fish jumping and splashing completely out of the water in the netted man made troughs.  It must be the salmon going through the act of going upstream.

Ziggy wants to ride out on the bow.  He’s sniffing the air like there are some good sniffs out there.  Maybe he smells a bear or some wolves.  We see a crab boat ahead dropping traps in the Channel. 

It’s a picturesque long narrow channel.  The clouds are getting denser and it’s very misty wet.

Last night we were talking about different anchorages.  Patience said he had a friend that holed up in one anchorage to avoid a storm.  The anchorage was protected with steep mountains on all sides.  The steep mountains created williwaws that sounded “like the devil” in there.  He was holed up in there going on four days listening to these scary williwaws blowing down the mountainsides and on the 4th day he heard someone he knew on the radio talking to another cruiser.  He hailed his friend and asked “How it was out there? Where are you and what’s the weather doing?  His friend said he was nearby going down the channel and “It’s dead calm.”  The other guy at anchor had not beenable to receive weather reports in the anchorage and he thought the winds from the williwaws were representing a big storm.  He spent 4 miserable days in there for nothing.

The temperature is warming a little to 56 degrees.

We’re passing another fish farm on the left.  It looks like they have a dock with a welcome sign.  Maybe you can buy fish or have a tour?  It has a sign by the door “Disinfect your feet here!” with a square plastic bucket by the door.

We passed the crab boat and they were pulling up their traps but they were empty except for one that had an octopus in it which he threw back in.  This place seems to be cleaned out.

1:30 PM: We’re coming out of Jackson Pass and heading into Finlayson Channel.  It’s very white and damp in the Channel but it’s not like fog as we can see through it.

2:15 PM: Larry puts on the running lights.

3:00 PM: We arrive at Bottleneck anchorage.  We anchored about midway near the only green patch that we could find so we would be close to a place where Zig could go to shore.  Every other place looked unapproachable with the dinghy.  Thank goodness for this one little green patch.  It’s a beautiful inlet with a variety of tree types to look at.  There are what looks like waves of birch trees adding a light green cast to the usual dark mass of evergreens.  The inlet’s mountain sides were steep with slick shiny granite sides in places.   The waterline was mixed with moss covered granite of varying colors, fallen trees and a low cut green cover.  Some of the shoreline was thick with blooming berry bushes and other bushes with clusters of white poofy flowers.  There were quite a few small mosquitoes in the air but nothing bothersome.  Nearby there was a little stream where we took Ziggy.  It is so perfectly beautiful here.  The hills are laced with a few misty clouds.  As we look back out to Finlayson Channel, there are tall mountains in the background covered in snow.  We feel protected here against whatever might come.

It is really pouring rain now and the barometer is dropping to 1009.5.  It is 54 degrees out and the winds with about 12 knots.

Patience and Raven think there will be a weather window in the morning to get farther north.  They said they’re planning to leave at 7:00 AM and might try to get to Kitamit.  Larry says that’s a 100 miles and 50 of it is out of the way.  So, he said we’ll go part way with them and then will go our own planned direction.  We also may leave the pack to gain speed and distance before the storm is expected to hit full force at Monday noon or just after.

We had brown rice and steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onion) sprinkled with a little cheddar cheese for dinner.  We’ve got bread cooking in the bread maker and it smells terrific. 

The windows are all steamed up again.  They are just dripping with water on the inside.  

Ziggy is getting into the habit of thinking he’s supposed to get a blow dry with the hair dryer every time he comes in after he gets wet from the rain.  He likes the warmth from it.  It’s a big ordeal when Larry and Zig come back in from their dinghy trip to shore when it’s raining out which is everyday.  First Zig runs down the side deck to the door where I’m standing and I get him in and dry him off with the towel.  Then Larry comes in and I wipe him down with a towel, front and back, head and boots.  Then we take all the foul weather gear off and hang it in the guest shower and turn the portable heater on to try and dry things out.  The humidity inside the boat is extreme.

We saw a little sea otter swimming by and some beautiful white silver seagulls that all seemed to be passing by and diving low over our boat to see what we were all about, snooping I guess.

“Dauntless” and “Grand Impulse” (2 Grand Banks) came in to the anchorage and are rafted together looking like lovers at the inner part of the cove.  Two other trawler boats are in the anchorage also, one is called “Thrasher” and one with burgundy canvas is called “Kulane”. 

Our Shearwater water is turning brown in the master head toilet now.  I could taste the chlorine a little in the water when cooking.  I won’t drink the water now nor will I cook with it since we tainted the tank.   I don’t even like to wash with it.  It’s a concern because we are getting very low on our bottled water.

 

We’re planning and plotting our course for tomorrow.  Here’s our plan:

 

  1. Leave Bottleneck and head north up Finlayson Channel, Chart 3734

  2. Head up Finlayson Channel, meet Sheep Passage and turn left up Hiekish Narrows to Graham Reach.  We could anchor at Goat Cove if the weather gets bad or Swanson Bay but we have to watch the tidal streams.  The currents for Finlayson north and south meet here! Chart 3738.

  3. Pass Khutze Inlet on the right or anchor if needed.  Go on up to Buttedale Passage with Work Island on our right to Fraser Reach. Chart 3739.  Stop at Butedale if weather gets bad?

  4. Continue up Fraser Reach where it meets Ursula Channel.  We could anchor at Goat Harbor if needed.  Continue on and turn left at McKay Reach where it meets Wright Sound.  Chart 3740.

  5. Take Wright Sound where several small passages meet (watch the tide stream and weather at this point!) Go left and NW up Grenville Channel.  Could pull into Hartley Bay if the weather gets bad.

  6. Continue up Grenville Channel past Lowe Inlet.  Can pull into Lowe Inlet if necessary.  Make a note that at Springs the streams attain a  2 knot ebb which runs for 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Continue past Lowe Inlet and up Grenville to Klewnuggit. Note that at Evering Point by Klewnuggit the tidal streams meet N and S.

 

We’re trying to cover all bases in case the bad weather hits and comes in when we’re out.

 

DATE:                  Monday, May 27th, w003
LOCATION:         Bottleneck
WEATHER: 
DESTINATION:  Stay put

We’re up at 5:30 AM to listen to the weather report.  It sounds pretty scary, lots of gales and high winds predicted and a severe drop in the barometer.  According to the Douglas cruising guide, the predicted weather conditions in Douglas Channel are exactly the same conditions that can cause “treacherous seas” (a drop in the barometer just before a strong front).

So, we decided to stay put.  Patience and Raven left early thinking they will beat it and if not, pull in somewhere.  Kulane (the Canadians) decided to stay also.  They are a nice couple from Sidney, in their 70s, named Barbara and Jay.

Thatcher and the other two Grand Banks from San Francisco followed them out.  It was a terrible feeling being left behind.  I felt this strange feeling like we were abandoned and then we began questioning our decision to stay when everyone left.  We are in no rush and it’s no fun to be in dangerous conditions so we think we did the right thing.

We took Ziggy out and dropped a crab trap to give us something to do.  We went over to see Kulane.  They are a nice couple.  They said they were so glad we didn’t leave.  They felt the same way we did, kind of depressed and doubting that we made the right decision.

We kept looking out into the Channel and it looks flat as a pancake.  It sure didn’t look bad out there.  As time went on we came to the conclusion that we blew it on the weather window.  We probably should have gone on and tried to get farther North.  Now the wishy washy weather report says the storm is coming tonight.  I wish it would make up its mind.  We’re supposed to have a slight break after this storm and then the second one will come on Tuesday, tomorrow.  We’re baffled with this mixed information.  The weather report is contradictory from the earlier report.

Two more boats came in to the anchorage later in the day.  One was a large sailboat with four older men on it and another boat that looks almost like a Nordhavn but has a round porthole on the side. I think it was one of those new Selenes.  We had planned to get together with Kulane later in the day.  We hailed them 3 or 4 times but no answer.  They must have had the radio off or were sleeping.  They were a little nervous about the weather like us. I think it’s because they just bought this older boat and are not too familiar with it.  They were sailors and are converting to a power boat.  So everything is unfamiliar to them.  It also seems to be listing to one side and the dinghy doesn’t work so they can’t get off the boat unless they are at the dock.  There’s no place for them to get out of the boat to walk around on the boat so to me would be claustrophic during these dreary rainy days.

We learned from them that you can send faxes on the Single Sideband to an out post.  She types the fax on the computer and sends it that way.  She said you can only write a paragraph or so as you’ve got to keep it short.  They also communicate with the other boaters on the boaters net by Single Sideband.  They find out the weather conditions where others are anchored.  That sounds better than the standard weather report to me that we can’t make heads or tails of. 

Jerry thinks our lock up on the steering could be from a strong radio beam from another boat.

We still have TV although when it rains it breaks off a little and the picture starts to break up into little squares.

For lunch I sautéed some pot stickers that we bought at Ganges.  Those pot stickers stunk up the boat so bad that I couldn’t stand to eat them.  I tried to open the windows to get the smell out even though it was so cold out and sprayed the boat with Lysol.  I finally resorted to baking a box of brownies to change the smell and it pretty much did the trick.

We’re on our last bit of milk.  We’re using it sparingly. I made a container of dried milk to use for baking and coffee and we can always dip into our boxed liquid milk when the fresh runs out.

(This trip isn’t good for my ego as the longer we are out here, the more helpless and stupid I feel.  The weather reports are confusing and I don’t understand them.  They never seem to pan out the way you think they are supposed too.  I have trouble reading these cruising books because they’re written with out a clear overall map so half the time I’m not sure of the location of someplace I’m reading about unless I get out a large chart and find it that way.  There are so many different places and channels.  I don’t know how Larry is planning it all.  It’s really overwhelming.  There are too many different routes to take and you have to figure which one will be better for the time you leave or which way the current flows, or how strong the winds will be or which direction they’ll blow, or when the next front is due to arrive, or where is a safe anchorage with enough shallow water to anchor in and still be safe from the elements.  It’s exhausting. Now that we are by ourselves in this anchorage, we don’t have the advantage of asking other boaters that have experience up here in these waters about the questionable and what I think are not very useful weather reports and where the safe places to go are.   I’m sure we will be fine but it’s very stressful to me.  I don’t feel like playing the guitar or piano keyboard because I’m worrying about all this stuff and trying to make sense out of it which I can’t seem to do.)

The temperature is getting warmer.  It’s up to 53 degrees.  It’s still raining of course.  Larry’s thinking the front has finally come through and we should experience the storm and winds soon.  (See, there’s another thing I don’t understand and that is “the front”.  What is it?  High pressure, low pressure, is it a storm or not?  Why are the winds coming after it? I ask Larry but everything he explains doesn’t make sense to me.  I guess I’m totally out of my element here.)

The toilet water is looking dirty from the Shearwater water.  I washed our salad and veggies with bottled water.  I have to be careful to save enough.

I need to get more things like box mix of brownies to brighten up a gloomy day when you’re stuck somewhere like this.

The weather report says there’s a warning alert for the Prince Rupert area.  There are more than normal logs and debris from the spring run off and all mariners should proceed with extreme caution.

Ziggy is having a good time outside the boat keeping watch on all that goes on.  There’s a lot for him to watch like the seals, fish jumping out of the water, and he had a pretty good yelling match going on with a seagull.  Later he was entertaining himself barking back at his echo.  I came out to see what he was barking at and there are about 5 echoes coming back at you in this place.  It sounded like several dogs barking.

On a discouraging day like this I wonder how it will be to make this whole trip.  We’ve got a long way to go yet.  I find myself thinking and doing the goofiest things that I’d never do at home but when you don’t know where your next supply stop will be, I guess that’s what happens.  Things like: washing out zip lock bags to reuse instead of throwing them away or using every bit of food so nothing gets thrown away.  I can now make a red pepper last for 5 different meals or uses among other things.  I’ve found that boiling water in the pressure cooker for spaghetti is 10 times faster than the old way and doesn’t steam up the windows.  I could go on but it seems so silly. 

Zig had a big plate of spaghetti with parmesan cheese.  He loved it.

Larry’s been really great with Ziggy.  He takes him to shore out in the pouring rain several times and never complains but I know he hates it. 

He tried to catch crabs again but no luck.  We had to sacrifice a fresh hunk of ham for the soup stock to put in the trap.  We checked it once and 1 little crab was in it.  The ham was still there untouched so Larry put it down again.  We came back later and hauled the trap up but this time the crab left and now there was a piece of wood in the trap and no one took the ham.  How that happened we have no idea.

We tried to fish but again no luck.

9:00 PM:  No sign of any storm yet.  Where the heck is that dang thing?

 

 

 

DATE:                  Tuesday, May 28th, 2002
LOCATION:         Bottleneck
WEATHER:          54 degrees, pressure 1000.2
DESTINATION: Stay put.

We’re still here and still crazy in this place.  We listened again to the weather report.  Now everything is “storm” reports and “gales”.  Douglas Channel is still not too bad though.

We talked to Barbara on Kluane and she said she’d call us back after she listens to the Boater’s Net at 8:00 AM.  We’ll out what some of the other boaters say the conditions are in their anchorages.

Larry took Zig out – no poop or pee – just sniffs.  That’s really irritating when its poring down rain and we go through all the trouble of taking him out and no success!

I made oatmeal with powdered milk and our usual dried cranberries.

Barbara called back on the radio.  She said everyone out there is hunkered down!  Yea!!  At least we aren’t the only ones sitting in some lonely anchorage wondering if we are doing the right thing.  Patience and Raven made it to Hartley Bay.  I know that’s the last place on earth Patience said he would go so they must have been desperate.  One of the first things he said to us was that he wouldn’t go back to Hartley Bay.  He said that’s where they send all the Indians with drinking problems because it’s dry there, no alcohol allowed.  He said the kids just get on your boat without permission.  You have to pick up a mooring and the wakes are miserable. 

So, looks like we’re in for at least another day of this.  Barbara said all the boaters on the net said this was the best place to be (Bottleneck)!  They said it was the safest place around. 

So now I can settle down and play the piano and practice the guitar.  I feel much better about things like we did the right thing by staying here.

The large sailboat left.  Larry hailed them as they went by and asked them “Where are you going?”  They mumbled something back like “somewhere out of the storm”.  We saw them head south down the channel then a little bit later heading north up the channel.

9:45 AM:  I noticed “Oleana” the Selene trawler was gone.  I pushed Larry to hale him on the radio to see what the conditions were out in the channel.  He asked him where he was headed.   He replied “Just North”.  Larry asked if he had listened to the weather report.  He said he hadn’t listened to the weather report today.  Larry said the report doesn’t look too good but the guy didn’t seem interested or concerned. 

 

Now I have anxiety again.  I wished that Larry had asked more about the conditions out there.  This guy seemed unconcerned about any of it but also he wasn’t informed as he said he didn’t listen to the weather report.  Oh well – guess this will all make sense at some point.  Or maybe these boats that are leaving aren’t being careful.  It’s a mystery to me.  Sometimes I think men’s egos sure get in the way of the real situation sometimes.  Sometimes I think they won’t admit that they don’t know or that it’s less of a man to stay put and be safe.

10:10 AM:  It’s raining and we have 6 knot winds in our protected anchorage. The barometer is reading 999.6.  We’re starting to have gusts of 22 knots.  Finally. Let’s get this monster over with!  Come on, come on!  I feel like we’re waiting for someone to have a baby.

11:00 AM:  It’s pouring and the barometer is 999.9. Larry got out the piano keyboard for me.  I played a couple hours.  Rain, rain, rain.

Barbara called us on the radio.  We chatted about the weather.  We invited them over at 3:00 for afternoon tea.  I made chocolate muffins in anticipation and took a nap.

3:00 PM: It’s still raining like cats and dogs.  Larry went over and picked them up on our dinghy since there’s wasn’t usable.  They’re a very nice couple.  It was her birthday!  She said coming to our boat made their day on her birthday.  They are very funny and have a great sense of humor about the situation we are all in.  It was good to be able to have a good hardy laugh about our predicament.

She said she gets on the boater’s net each day and logs everyone’s position.  She records where they are and the weather condition at their location.  She talked to the lighthouse keeper at Cape Beal this morning.  He said, "Stay where you are in Bottleneck." So we are reassured that we all did the right thing.

They just purchased their old trawler.  They finally gave up sailing to buy this boat and are planning to restore it themselves.  They used to race sailboats so this is quite a change for them. 

They said there was a landside in our inlet.  I thought I had felt something like a little earth quake but thought I was imagining things or thought the boat was just moving weird in the rain.  You could see very clearly though on the mountain where the slide it occurred near our boat.

We all think the weather is OK to leave tomorrow.  We’re going to try to make it to Lowe Inlet.  They’re going to try to make it to Hartley Bay or another anchorage nearby off Grenville Channel.  We offered them some port and scotch after our tea and sweets.  They left about 5:00.  They are a cute fun couple.

Another boat came in.  There are three of us now.

I made macaroni and cheese out of the Cooks Afloat book.  It was delicious. 

It never occurred to me that we could start running low on toilet paper (3 rolls left).  We only have one gallon of bottled water and one distilled bottle that Larry saves for the batteries.  I can’t believe we’re still eating celery that I purchased way back from Lund.  Everything is holding out pretty well though with good management.

 

 

We all went to shore to get some fresh air in a downpour.  Every time someone comes back in the boat though, we again have to do the major wipe down and then hang everything up to dry.  I feel like we are towleing off after steeping out of the shower.  We also, wipe our boots top and bottom.  Sometimes we have to squirt Zig off with the fresh water spout at the back of the boat.  That’s if he’s gotten into the salt water or some dirt.  He then gets a towel dry, followed by the blow dry.  Imagine doing this 3 times a day!  Then we hang all the foul weather gear and wipe down towels up trying to dry them out.  Larry was hanging everything up in the shower and accidentally turned the shower on and didn’t realize it because he had hung my jacket over the shower head.  He was down in the engine room and he heard the water pump running.  So we checked everything to see what was on and fnally discovered the shower running.  Valuable water was wasted.  My jacket, two bath towels and a door mat (that Zig threw up on earlier that we washed and were drying out) were all sopping wet.  Also, my rice cooker and the small portable electric heater that we were storing in the shower got wet.

So we had to take everything out to dry.  We had things hanging everywhere.   This is just misserable a miserable situation.   

Now Larry’s making bread in the guest bath of all places.  He’s plugged the machine in there on a free space on the counter.  You can hear it in there grunting and groaning but the place smells great.

I’m beginning to wonder what we’ll do when Bill and Bonnie Wilson (our friends from the Chesapeake) come for a visit on the boat for a couple weeks.  We’ve slowly taken over the guest quarters almost completely.  We store all our water under their bunks along with the guitar and piano, vacuum cleaner, life jackets and foul weather gear, and some dry food storage.  All the wet jackets are hung on door hooks in their area.  I can’t imagine 2 extra people in here especially if we were all stuck together in an anchorage for days like this.  The guest shower is functioning as a butler’s pantry, storing all the boxed milk, soymilk and  rice drinks in the shower locker and on the floor we store the rice cooker, bread maker, heater and hanging up on hook are a gazillion wet towels and clothes that are constantly drying out. 

Everyday we just sit in here looking out fogged and dripping wet windows.  We can’t see out and the minute we wipe the interior of the windows down they get wet and fogged almost immediately.  There has been non stop constant sound of rain drumming on the roof above us.  It never lets up.

Now our boat is turning like a slow carousel.  The winds are picking up and it’s slowly twirling us round and round and round.

I manage to get a foot massage from Larry.  I’m reading Alaska by Michener and John Muir’s Travels to Alaska.

9:15 PM:  It’s still light out.  It doesn’t get dark until very late.  The barometer is reading 997.9 and it’s a chilly 54 degrees.  The storm is finally coming through.  We’re getting gusts up to 35 knots in this protected anchorage so it must be pretty bad out there.  The boat is moving in all directions but the anchor is holding.  We glance up at the clouds above us and they are moving across the inlet very fast.  We have small white caps in the anchorage and we can see large white caps and rough seas out in the Channel.  We can hear the williwaws coming down the mountain.  It’s very exciting.  The average wind is at 17 knots at our protected anchorage.

We put our anchor lights on and then noticed Kluane put theirs on so we called them to see how they were doing.  They said they are trading two hour watches hoping their anchor will hold.  We told them we’d leave our radio on all night in case they needed anything.  They said they would too.

 

I’m still trying to sort out the weather locations so I write them down in my log, trying to memorize them and look up their locations relative to where we are and where we are going so when I hear them on the radio weather report I can make sense of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weather Report Locations:

Ocean Buoys:  N. Nomad, W. Nomad, W. Dixon Entrance, Central Dixon Entrance, N. Hecate, Is. Straight, S. Hecate, W. Moresby, S. Moresby. Nanakua Shoal, W. Sea Otter, E. Delwood.

Automated Reports:  Gray Is., Lucy Is., Pr. Rupert, Holland, Fallen Rock, Bonill Is., Rose Spit, Angara Is., Bakin Rocks, Sonskit Airport, Cumstrone Is,., Cuthdial Pt., Herbert Is., Satine Is.

Lighthouse Report:  Green Is., Triple Is., Bonille Is., Egg Is., Pt. Langara, Mc Ginnes Is., Abry Is., Dryad Pt., Addenbrooke Is., Egg Is.,  Cape Scott, Pine Is., Scarlett Pt.

 

DATE:                  Wednesday, May 29th, 2002
LOCATION:         Bottleneck
WEATHER:          53 degrees, pressure 1003.0, raining, storming, windy, winds averaging in the anchorage 10 knots.
DESTINATION: Stay put
 

 

 

The weather report is now identifying a milibar low of 977 @ 53 degrees north and 147 degrees west. They are still reporting Storm conditions everywhere.  There is a report to all mariners that the 33 foot wooden boat “Matilda P” went down, her Location 54.06.5 N, 132.15.6 W. We figured it must be at the top of Queen Charlotte Island.  The winds and storm conditions are even stronger now.  We’re realizing it could be another day or day and a half before we can leave.  Everyday the report is different. You abide by the report and stay put and then the next report is different.  It’s like a bad kid lying to you.  You abide by the latest report and then the next report is contradictory of what was projected on the last report.  It’s extremely confusing and frustrating for us.

Barbara called and said she talked to everyone on the boating net again.  Those in Desolation Sound reported sunny and beautiful conditions but all other boaters in our area are hunkered in for another day or TWO!  We heard Patience and Raven are still in Hartley Bay.  Patience told Barbara on the boater’s net that if it clears, they may try to go up Grenville Channel.  From the weather report it sounds like the conditions are really bad at Prince Rupert and we are thinking he shouldn’t want to get up in that area until things get better but he’s more experienced with cruising up here so must be planning on ducking in somewhere if it is too bad.

So, here we are again.  I told Barbara we were starting to run out of drinking water.  She offered some of theirs but we didn’t want to take any of their water.  Everyone’s water is precious and rationed carefully up here.  If worse comes to worse we’ll have to drink the Shearwater water.  If we only had not filled up with that bad water in Shearwater we could be drinking the water from the tank.  She suggested we put something out on our decks to catch some rain water.  We said we would try it.  I’m sure we’ll be just fine.  I still subbonrly refuse to drink any of the water from Shearwater though or even to wash any of our foods in it after listening to the dock guy there talking about it.

9:50 AM:  The pressure is 1006.4 and its 51 degrees out.  We’ve still got strong winds for being in a protected anchorage.  They’re running about 9 knots and we see plenty of white caps in the channel.

We had some toast for breakfast from the bread we made last night.  I finally found my flour that I had been searching for.  It was stowed in the forward galley floor.  I had miss-inventoried it.  I made a batch of curry sauce from Cooks Afloat.   I’ll put it on some cauliflower, potatoes and peas tonight for dinner.

It looks like the other boat is staying in the anchorage too.

We talked to Barbara again after she got off the Boaters Net.  She said everyone’s still hunkered down.  Patience and Raven are still in Hartley Bay.  Guess it hasn’t cleared there yet. I played the guitar and read more of Alaska.

We’ve had strong winds all day with no letting up.

A sailboat came in.  It had a small dog aboard, the first boat we’ve seen in a long time with a dog aboard.  The man took it to shore, the same place we’ve been taking Ziggy.  Ziggy put his nose out the door and sniffed the air.  He could tell a dog was in the anchorage even though it was far away.  We let him out to run around on the outside deck of the boat.  He did some barking to let the other dog know he was in charge of the anchorage and to say hello I guess.  He’s been a really good dog being cooped up on this boat for days and only a 10’ x 10’ patch on shore to investigate and do his business in.  Most of the time he just lies in his bed quietly and watches us.

A fishing boat came in and anchored for a couple hours and then went out again.  Guess the bad weather doesn’t hold the fishermen up. They have to work no matter what.  There are still large white caps in the channel.

10:30 AM:  The weather report is getting better.  We both took naps out of boredom I think.

5:00 PM:  Jerry called us.  They said they’ve decided they’re leaving about 9:00 AM tomorrow come hell or high water.  We had been thinking the same thing and had discussed leaving at 7:00 AM.

Temperature is 51 degrees and the pressure is rising 1013.4

 

 

 

DATE:                  Thursday, May 30, 2002
LOCATION:         Bottleneck
WEATHER:          45 degrees and pressure 1015, RAIN!
DESTINATION: Lowe Inlet

Larry says there’s a window to go so we’re going to leave at 8:00 AM.  Kluane called and they said the same.  They’ve about had it along with us.  They said they may just go to Ketchikan and then turn around and go back to sunny Sidney.  We laughed because Larry’s saying the same thing.  We’re wondering why we are here suffering in this gunk when we could be somewhere nice.  Especially when we hear it is 100 degrees in LA with a heat wave.

The fishing boat is back.  Must have been to rough our there.

We got almost a full bottle of rain water from the pans we put out on the deck.  I’m boiling the water just in case.  I don’t know whether I have to or not.  I soon discover that’s not a good idea as it is fogging up all the windows and it’s becoming entirely too damp in the boat.

We pulled the anchor up and it was a muddy mess.  The mud got all over the deck.  Our hose didn’t have enough pressure to wash it off.  I’m hoping the mud won’t get in the chain locker and start to stink.

A fishing line that we accidentally dropped in the water two days ago was all tangled around the anchor too.  I managed to get it off while Larry was below flaking in the anchor.  Larry and I talk to each other on the two way radio while we’re pulling up the anchor.  He is below flaking the chain in the chain locker and my job is to tell him when we reach a certain mark so he knows when to come up. 

We came out of Bottleneck with no problems.  I hope I never see that place again.  It’s raining like crazy and it’s very hazy.  There are lots and lots of dead heads and the visibility is not good. We turned into Heikish Narrows.  We got mid way through the channel and the water was getting flatter but there was so much debris to watch for and it seemed like it was on the verge of turning foggy.

I can’t sit because I have to continually wipe the inside of the windows so we can see out.  I’ve got my foul weather gear on now as I have to go outside to walk to the blow of the boat to watch for the debris and direct Larry away around it because we can’t see clearly from inside at the steering station.  Ziggy is very nervous.

9:45 AM:  We are out of Heikish narrows and head into Graham Reach.  It’s flat but we’re going against the current.  We’re behind our planned schedule a little.  We’re passing lots of streams that are emptying into the channel creating more of a current than normal.  We’re too nervous about the weather and watching for logs and deadheads to really enjoy the scenery.  It starts to all look alike anyway I think.  The sky is filled with low lying clouds and the rain is coming down in a torrent.  It’s 46 degrees out and I’m freezing.  The the barometer is reading 1015.8.  Our temperature inside is reading 59 degrees.  We turn the heater off so the windows won’t fog up.  We cruise faster than Kluane so haven’t had them in sight for awhile now.  Larry called them to tell them the conditions up ahead are flatter and cleaner, less debris.

 

 

10:05 AM:  We’re passing Green Inlet.  That was on our list as a possible anchorage if we had to get out of the weather again.

We’re passing lots of little waterfalls and streams.  Larry was going to take another picture of one and I said they all start to look alike, more of the same old, same old. I said can you imagine coming all these miles just to see the same thing over and over again.  Same trees, same streams, same type of mountains.

10:15 AM: We’re quite a bit behind our schedule.  We’re doing 8 knots and Larry says he had calculated at least doing above 9 knots.  Kluane called again.  They said they can’t pick up the weather report as their reception is bad.  They asked if we could try to get it and let them know what it says.  We tried listening to it but it was very bad reception full of static.  We could barely hear it.  It sounded like the same synopsis though.  Larry called them back and told them.  They said "good" because they were getting worried as there are some huge black clouds and skies coming in behind them.  Yikes!  I didn’t see those!  Kluane said they were just coming out of Heikish Narrows.  The mountains to each side of the channel are filled with new snow on the tops.

10:35 AM:  We’re coming up to the opening of Swanson Bay and Khutze Inlet just beyond.  It must be very picturesque in clear weather.  It’s a valley with snow covered peaks.  The forest is scattered with dark green cedar trees mixed with light green birch trees filling in the logged areas.  The waterfalls are actually getting interesting and the shear granite wet jet black cliffs are majestic.

10:50 AM:  We talk to Kluane and told them it was nice and flat up ahead.  They said they’re doing well but it was slow going against the very strong current.

11:00 AM: We just off Griffin Point at the entrance to Khutze Inlet. 

Now, the forward head is not pumping water into the toilet!  What next?  We’ll have to deal with that later when we get to our destination.  Larry checked the engine room to make sure a hose didn’t break and was pumping the toilet water into the bilge.  We turned the generator on to get some heat and charge the batteries.  I’m making a second pot of coffee with our rain water.  Larry says the coffee brewing is fogging up the windows.

There is a beautiful out pouring of water across the channel from Khutze Inlet.  It’s coming form Canona Lake.

11:20 AM: We’re crossing the entrance to Aaltanhash Inlet.  The waters are now flat with just slight rain.  The landscape again is beautiful.  We can see out the windows much better now.  Ziggy has finally settled down.  He probably senses that we are more relaxed.  The landscape is becoming more and more picturesque.  The mountains are snow laden with misty clouds clinging to their sides and the waters are still pretty flat.

11:40 AM: We’re at the entrance to Klekane Inlet and Redcligg Point.  We’re entering Butedale Passage with Work Island coming up to our right.  Conditions are continuing to be good.

We snacked on rice cakes with almond butter for a pick me up.  I made another pot of coffee for Larry, again with our precious rain water.

I haven’t taken a shower for 3 days and Larry 4 days. It’s too cold to get in that cold shower I guess.  I looked at us and we look like slobs.

This boating is really getting to us.  We passed a boat flying an American flag called “Captain Jack”.  It was going South.  Couldn’t read where it was from.  We pass a tremendous waterfall at Butedale.  We decided to go in to take a better look.

11:50 AM:  Butedale – what a sight.  There are several buildings falling off into the water.  A pleasure boat is tied up to a float at the bottom of the pier.  There is another small motor boat on top of the pier.  There is a Canadian and an American flag flying on the pier.  The waterfall is truly something spectacular.  This abandoned place looks very interesting.  We read that it is only inhabited now by a caretaker. 

Across the channel there is a sailboat anchored right along the the step side of the channel in deep water. Actually they must be just tied to the trees along the side as there’s no shallow water there.  It seems a very weird place to be.

We no longer can pick up TV reception and of course cell phone has been out for weeks.  Running the generator helped dry out all our wet stuff hanging around and clear the moisture off the windows.

12:15 PM:  Its 45 degrees out, pressure 1016.

The humidity inside the boat is now 47 from 65 when the windows were totally fogged.  The windows are almost completely clear now.

Ziggy is sitting outside on the back deck looking in and scratching softly at the window like “please take me to shore”. 

Larry put a clothes line in the engine room and we hung a wet towel and wet socks on it to see if it dries them out.

We see a cruise ship and pass by it.  It’s a smaller cruise ship.  Its name is Seaborn Spirit.  There is an old fashioned looking one trailing behind it.  It looks like an old steam ship.  Kluane is about an hour behind us.

1:10 PM: We’re in Mc Kay Reach and the sun is trying to come through.  It’s reflecting slightly on the water like a moon glow.  We can hear the cruise ships talking on the shipping channel.  Little Spirit of 98 is coming up on Seaborn Channel and will over take them on the port side.  Glacier Bay is coming up the channel.

 

 

1:25 PM: A boat is coming up on our port side.  Looks like about a 55 footer.  Another is about 3-4 mile behind us.  The boat coming along side of us is called “Heather” from Bellevue, WA and he put out a wake bigger than the Seabourn Spirit.  We’re coming to Point Comings and now entering Wright Sound. I spot a tug pulling a large barge in the same direction we’ll be going. 

1:50 PM:   We’re heading on a course 273 degrees to Sandy Point.  Larry says it will take us about 45 minutes to reach Sandy Point.  That puts us there about 2:35 PM.  The tug is now off to our port so it requires no maneuvering from us.  Heather is about 1.5 miles ahead on our same course.  Douglass Channel was supposed to be blowing 15 knots and there’s nothing near that.  It was also supposed to be gale force winds in the sound coming up the channel.  Obviously it’s not blowing up here.  We’re thinking we probably could’ve come up here the last couple of days except for yesterday.  As we’re crossing the Channel the wind picks up.  It’s blowing about 10 knots.

2:10 PM: We call Kluane again and told them we were in Wright Sound, the center of Douglas Channel and we have 10 knot westerly winds, and about a 1 foot swell.  They said “great!”  We were all concerned about crossing this body of water as this is the most dangerous place.  They were just coming around into Mc Kay now which puts them about 1 hr and 10 minutes behind us.  They said their little boat has been doing a good job.  I enjoyed how they talked about their boat like it was a real being.  They have plans to really fix her up and I bet they do.

It’s 46 degrees and the barometer is reading 1015.4.  The inside humidity is up 5% (52% overall humidity).  The windows are starting to fog up again.  We ran out of water in one of our tanks so Larry switched to the spare.  We have 80 gallons of Shearwater water left.

2:20 PM: We’re just off Promise Island.  We can see a barge up ahead in Grenville Channel.

2:30 PM: We’re passing Waterman Point.  The tug and barge are directly ahead just to out port.  It’s called “L.T. Campbell”.

2:35 PM:  We reached Sandy Point, right on time to Larry’s calculations.  (T=D divided by S). 

We are shocked to see a low flying plane coming down Grenville Channel.  He must be 30-50’ off the water flying just under the thick cloud cover!!  I guess he doesn’t have to worry about electrical wires up here in the wilderness.

2:55 PM: We figure we should get to the entrance of Lowe Inlet where we plan to anchor about 4:30 PM.

3:10 PM:  We’re just off Hawkins Narrows and boy is that a tight squeeze.  Larry and I are discussing Douglas’ cruising guide and his description of caution for Wright Sound.  It really threw us off.  In the future we’re going to take his information with a grain of salt as they say.  Although I complain, as without their great guide, none of us would be up in these waters.

The toilet flusher is working again. It had to do with the empty tank of water.  Thank goodness!  I was trying to figure out how we were going to manage with that broken.  Larry was thinking we could put salt water in each time to flush it through.  It brought to mind Renee Douglas’ book Cape Horn, (a great story) when she said they had to hang their butts over the rail to go and when they ran out of toilet paper they used sheets from their paper backs. 

3:30 PM: We finally have the current going with us.  It’s still rainy, cloudy, and semi-foggy.  The temperature shows 47 degrees and the barometer is 1014.8.

 

We hear a “securite warning” over the radio saying that the weather has changed to gale storms in Queen Charlotte Sound now and the tip of Vancouver Island.  Sounds like the storm is finally on its way south.

There are some beautiful ducks up here.  We just saw two large black headed ones with white and black striped bodies.  I think they are loons.  We saw some others at Bottleneck that were reddish brown and white. 

3:35 PM:  We’re going 11 knots with the current now.

We’re discussing how we’ll anchor.  We may have to run a stern line to shore.  We haven’t done that before so we were going over how we would do it.

We’re coming into Lowe Inlet.  There are some squirrelly waters in the inlet channel.  As we enter we see on the right that someone had painted a large red patch about 2 ½ feet in diameter on a rock to our starboard.  There was a large rope hanging from the trees there.  We were the first boat to arrive in the inlet and took a secluded spot South of the west corner.

It’s a beautiful setting with low flat lands by a dramatic low waterfall from the lake beyond that we can’t see.  It’s like a huge water slide.  To the side is a massive shear granite mountain.  There is a mixture of trees, meadows and colors.  It’s a beautiful spot with lagoons.  There is an ancient Indian fishing pen in the inlet to the left of the waterfall.  Near our anchorage there was another smaller one.  There were 4 posts that still remain standing.  We saw huge piles of bear poop or scat on the shore nearby.  It was fresh and steaming.  We’ll have to be careful when taking Zig to shore here.

We took Ziggy to shore immediately.  It was a long day.  I watched carefully worrying about the bears.   He did his business quickly.   He didn’t do a thing later though when we took him out.  He was so overwhelmed by the smells of the bears and other wild animals that he forgot all about going to the bathroom.  He just wanted to sniff everything.  It was all he could think about.

A Grand Banks followed us in and anchored nearby.  Later two large Ocean Alexander type boats and a Norstar type came in and all rafted together.  They tried several times to anchor in front of the waterfall but were unsuccessful.  We think the storm run-off was too strong.

We had canned chili with cheese and onions and a salad that’s starting to taste old for dinner.  I made some hot corn bread too.  Ziggy had cornbread, cheese and chili too.  Two helpings.

Its 47 degrees and the pressure is reading at 1014.7.  It’s still raining and freezing cold.

We will be glad to get to Prince Rupert to get water and a fresh shower.  When I was washing the dishes I felt like I was creating a dish sculpture on the dish draining rack trying to pile and balance all the dishes so when I rinsed with the prescious water it would rinse them all at once in a waterfall effect.  It was teetering like those rock sculptures you see in Arizona.  I think I must be getting a little nuts on this trip.

 

 

We hung our wet stuff in the engine room.  The things we put in there earlier were so nice and dry and warm when we arrived at the anchorage.  We opened the hatch too and let the engine heat warm up the cabin.  We’re very tired.  Too bad we discovered that trick so late.

Larry figured if we left at 5:30 AM we’d be going with the current.  We think we’ll leave at 7-7:30 though because we’re just so tired.  We realized we’re missing one chart.  It’s the one getting us out of Grenville Channel and to Prince Rupert!  It’s the area between Smith Island and Kennedy Island.  Larry has it on his electronics but I panic if I can’t follow along on paper.  I’ll still monitor our course from Douglas’ book of proven paths.

 

DATE:                  Friday, May 31st, 2002
LOCATION:         Lowe Inlet
WEATHER:          45 degrees, pressure 1017.7, overcast, misty, no wind, raining lightly
DESTINATION: Prince Rupert

 

The humidity inside when we awoke was 67%, the windows are totally fogged.  We had an uncomfortable night.  We woke up several times during the night.  The winds and rains were very strong.  The boat was twirling in swift circles all night long and the anchor chain was dragging over some granite below as it turned and we thought we were dragging.  The anchor noise sounded like thunder.  We both were getting up and checking our location in relation to shore.  We were checked the depth frequently but we had a 20 foot tide.  We were snuggled in very close to a drying bed and boulder size rocks on each side along the shore and worried about dragging and hitting them.  We were fine the whole night though and didn’t move. I don’t think we budged an inch just swung around the circle.  Larry did a good job of anchoring but it took us several hours to feel confident about it.  We didn’t get much sleep though and we really needed it after the exhausting day we had yesterday and now we have a big day ahead of us.  We’re very tired.

We’re up at 6:00 AM.  The other 3 fast boats have gone already.  Maybe they left at 5:00 AM to take advantage of the current.

The Grand Banks is still sleeping.  We’d like to follow him into Prince Rupert because of our missing chart but guess that’s not going to happen.  We don’t want to leave any later than 8:00 AM as any later would be a struggle with the currents. We hope it won’t be blowing too much in the open ocean areas near Prince Rupert.  There’s some patches there that are exposed to the ocean.

 

Larry’s Synopsis:  There’s a weather window now because there’s a low behind us and the current is weak right now.  What we’re messing with is a second storm in the Gulf of Alaska.  It’s weakening and moving upward.  The winds in Hecate Straight are forecast to be gale but will lightening around noon.

We left Lowe Inlet at 7:55 AM.  We entered Grenville Channel at 8:00 AM.  It’s flat but overcast and misty.  There are no apparent winds and it’s raining lightly.  The temperature is 45 degrees and the pressure reading is 1017.9.

We will be fighting a 2 knot current the first hour. 

We spot a tug and barge in the misty fog ahead coming southbound towards us.  We hear two cruise ships discussing their locations and where they project they will be at a certain time.  It’s helpful to know these locations.  Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the locations because they are so used to the names they don’t annunciate them clearly and sometimes we can’t quite understand it and then are unable to locate it on the chart.  This whole world up here is so unfamiliar to us that every new name and location is a challenge to locate.  So we have to watch the sea forward and behind and check our radar constantly to watch out for any cruise ships or large freighters or barges.  When these big vessels go by there usually is a pretty huge wake to get ready for.  Ziggy is in his bed and settled.  Guess he was successful on his early morning outing with Larry and feels pretty good this morning.

We’ve heard warnings on the radio that there is a tremendous amount of log debris in the waters from the storms.  It seems to gather in groups with other debris (all natural, not human trash).  Larry has to maneuver past all the debris and then move over to avoid the tug with the big load.  He is pulling a huge container load that would make it impossible for him him stop for anyone in his way.

8:23 AM:  We’re passing “Pacific Titan” at Orniston Point.  We’re making 3 miles in 23 minutes at this point.

The mountains on the left are fairly steep to 2900 feet in places.  The clouds conceal the total height so you don’t grasp the enormity of them.  We see mini-glaciers and heavy snow pack at the upper reaches.  There are numerous waterfalls.

We were talking about anchoring this morning and that situation we were in last night.  The inlet was very deep until you reached the shore line that jumped dramatically to a shallow of 42 feet but the drop off between the two depths was sharp like a cliff.  Once you reach the 40 feet depth you find yourself very close to the drying shoals and rocky tree lined edges.  We concluded that you have to drop the anchor right after the steep drop and lay chain down and hope the anchor and the weight of the chain will keep you secure.  We kept hearing the chain moving all night.  It must have been moving on the stone bottom as we twirled like a top.  I don’t understand how to select the spot and then drop the chain and then know where the boat will end up as it makes its circle as it drifts.  I can’t comprehend the size of the diameter circle it will make (the swing).  When Larry anchored he had to take all these things into consideration like the steep drop, the 20 foot tide, and the swing length so we wouldn’t collide with the rocky boulders nearby.  When we pulled the anchor up we had a gnarly 2 foot piece of wood hooked into the anchor.  Larry had to release it once he came up after flaking the chain.  At least the chain was clean of mud this time.

It’s strange, when you are anchored and the windows are fogged you have the impression that the weather is much worse outside than it is.  When you get out of the boat and take Zig ashore it seems gentle out.  When we left the cove it was completely calm but back at anchor it was intimidating.  In addition to that, the Douglas cruising guide emphasizes the dangers and it can put a damper on your perspective. 

It’s also intimidating when you’re heading down the channel and you cannot see what’s ahead because it’s foggy.  You can only see what’s around you close by.  Everything ahead is a mystery except what you can make out on your charts and radar.

8:40 AM:  We’re passing Sanders Lake area and making 2 ½ miles in 17 minutes at 8 knots.

9:00 AM:  We’re passing Bachelor Creek on our right and Stella Creek Falls on our left.  We see a pack of about 20 ducks streaking by in perfect formation about 3 feet off the water’s surface going about 40 knots.  Those little speed demons – wonder what they are up to and where do they think they are going.

9:10 AM:  We’re just south of Nabannah Bay.  The water current is starting to turn in the other direction.  We had a strong sudden pull on our port side.  The water is becoming choppy with white foam forming on the top. 

9:15 AM:  We’re passing Evening Point by Nabannah Bay.  The water is smoother and no more white foam.  Larry says we’re not through the turn yet.

9:20 AM:  We’re passing Morning Reef marker.  There’s lots of flotsam.  We’re picking up speed now getting 9.2 knots.  We had been averaging 6-7.5 knots.

9:46 AM: We’re passing Kxngeal Inlet and Ormond Point.  We can hear a cruise ship on the radio that will be at Baker Point soon.  It’s the Queen of the North.  We see a cruise ship coming down the channel heading our way and hanging over the middle of the channel.  It looked like a huge pig hogging the channel.  We have to move to avoid him.

9:50 AM:  We hear Queen of the North on the radio.  It is passing Evening Point so it works out well for him to pass another ship now instead of the narrow part of the channel.

10:20 AM:  Passed Baker Inlet and it’s very narrow, especially considering if you had to navigate a cruise ship through there.

10:40 AM:  We’re passing Kimealon Inlet.  There is a huge boat behind us.  We had listened to the 10:30 weather report.  Prince Rupert has 8 knot south winds and Hallard has 15 knot south winds with a 1 foot chop. 

11:10 AM:  We’re passing Pitt Point.  The water all of a sudden is changing colors.  It’s water from the Skeena River.  It’s a brownish murky color.  We see Gibson Island ahead.  There’s a crab boat off to our left at the tip of Pitt Island.  The huge boat is now clearly in view and it is the “GROUSE ARROW”, a huge freighter on our starboard quarter.  We have to make a turn ahead and are getting worried the the Grouse Arrow might not see us.  We are like a spec of debri on the water compared to them.  Larry called them on CH 71 to make sure he sees us.  He said he did and thanked us for the call.

11:25 AM:  We’re passing Gibson Island and Watson Rock.  Grouse Arrow passed us and we now have them to follow through our missing paper chart area if we could only keep up with his speed.

12:00 NOON: We’ll be passing Herbert Reef on our port soon.  I’m now using Douglass’ Proven Cruising Routes as I don’t have a paper chart for this area.  They are OK so far.  Grouse Arrow is getting too far ahead and is making a turn that we wouldn’t.  Must be some shipping lane that he has to follow or maybe he is going farther up the Inside Passage continueing on to Alaska.

12:25 PM: We’re passing Green Island with the Queen of the North coming at us.  The water is light colored again from the River.  It is amazing how much it lights up the atmosphere!  It’s cheerful compared to the dark black water we’ve been running in this whole trip.

12:50 PM:  We’re back on our paper charts again, thank goodness.  We have Holland Island in view.  The landscape of Prince Rupert reminds me of islands in the Pacific from movies I’ve seen.  They have high peaks coming down steep to the low flat areas at the water line.  We still have light mud colored seas and dark skies giving the water a strange iridescence.

12:55 PM:  We’re passing Holland Rock.  It stopped raining awhile back.  Ziggy’s giving us the look like I can’t wait much longer.  Larry says to him “You didn’t pee enough did you?  It takes you three pees to empty you out and you only did one!”

I was relieved to have Prince Rupert in view and starting to feel relaxed finally.  I still kept a close watch on the markers.  There’s a green Channel Harbor entrance marker that was over to the right farther than I expected.  Larry caught it.  We could’ve had a Port Hardy experience (a large yacht went on the wrong side of the harbor marked and got stuck on the rocks).  I think I would’ve caught it though because I check all the locations on the charts but Larry caught it first.

We hailed the Prince Rupert Yacht Club 50 million times on CH 72 and no response.  Finally Larry tried CH 16 which is a no, no and someone immediately came on and said call them on CH 72.  The cruising guide had the wrong number.  Still no answer.  As we got closer in we could see their clubhouse and on the outside of the building it said CH 73! We tried that and they answered immediately.  It says CH 72 in all the books (all three of them).   We could see Raven and Patience docked nearby.  Reiner from Raven was on the dock waiting to help and welcome us in.  Larry came in very quickly.  I don’t know why but all was OK.  They have a new concrete dock with high pillars on the other side.  It’s the dock for the ferry terminal.  What a dream, 20 and 30 amp power and full force good water (so much force that when Larry hosed down the boat later he had completely sprayed himself by accident and got completely soaked). The dock had oversized cleats every 20 feet or so and wood blocks in between with no tie ups.  In order to secure the boat we had to overlap our line on the boat ahead and get some longer lines out for the spring lines.  This is definitely designed for big ships.  We managed and it was good to be there.

Raven and Patience had arrived a day ahead.  Susan was out looking for more C-Map cards with more detail.  Reiner said she wanted to ask Larry something about them.  We found out the Kluane stayed in Hartley Bay.  Dauntless and Grand Impulse (the two Grand Banks that rafted together in Bottleneck) got passed on down the channel to the public docks because there wasn’t enough room here.  So, looks like we were lucky.  Patience said he called ahead with his satellite phone the day they left Hartley to reserve their spots.  I guess that satellite phone was pretty expensive he said but sure came in handy. 

Raven invited us to join them for dinner, that is, if it was OK with Patience.  They said that they are cruising together until they reach Ketchikan.  Raven said they’d like to follow them the whole trip if they could because of the experience they have cruising up here.    Patience has done this trip five times.

 

 

We saw Patience at the top of the ramp.  He was kidding us about getting stuck in Bottleneck.  He said they stayed at Hartley Bay at a dock, with 15 amp power and chuckled that we got stuck in Bottleneck for 3 days.  Guess he was right as we misfigured the weather and should’ve gone on.  I can remember early on in the trip though that he said that number one on the list of places he didn’t like to go was Hartley Bay.  Well, I guess it was better than getting stuck in Bottleneck like we did for three days.  We’ve never been to Hartley Bay so we don’t know what’s it is like.   Patience said Hartley Bay nowthough has a new dock and sea wall so it was a good place to be.  Anyway, they invited us to go to dinner.  They said they had reservations at 6:30 at the hotel restaurant up the hill.  They’re leaving at 6:15 or we can come over earlier for “tidlies” (cocktails).  Our dock situation is pretty rolly polly here but the Waggoner book says just “be happy” and don’t complain at Prince Rupert.  In other words, be happy you’re here and forget about it.

Larry and I went for a walk with Ziggy.  We checked in at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club (PRYC) and got an electronic card for the dock gate.  We tied Ziggy up outside the Cow Café and went in to see if we could get something to eat.  It was late, about 3:00.  The owner said they were closed but they would make a little something for us.  Now that’s hospitality.  The food was very good too.  We also had a nice hot pot of tea.  Ziggy was really good tied up outside.  We then walked up town and bought two round ball fenders and line to tie them.  We need to get some marker pens to put our name on them right away.  I want to get two more balls tomorrow.  Patience said we’ll need them for the docks in Alaska and in the likely event we’ll be rafting occasionally alongside some fishing boats.

It’s a cute town and everyone seem to give you a big smile and are very friendly.  I can’t wait to investigate it more tomorrow.  There are taxis’s everywhere too so we’ll be able to get around if needed.

We came back to the boat.  Larry had filled the water tanks and the pressure out of the dock waterline was so strong he was sopping wet as I mentioned earlier.

I took a long shower and washed my hair.  It was great after no shower for 3 days.  Everything was going great except we’re starting to have problems with the water pump.  It went out in the middle of the shower and only pumped out hot.  Larry has to keep turning it on when it flips off.

We all walked to the Waterfront Restaurant in the Crest Hotel.  It was a very nice place!  I was surprised how sophisticated it was after what we’ve come across for the last month.  I had a delicious salmon steak.

Raven and Patience are leaving tomorrow at 5:00 AM for the next weather window.  We’ll probably see them in Ketchikan.  We had a nice evening with them. 

We walked back to the boats.  Patience said he was going to use the pay phone to make a call.  I wondered why with their satellite phone aboard.  Go figure as I don’t understand much up here.

John, the sailor off “Veracity” and a friend are here.  They arrived this afternoon.  We took Zig for a long well deserved walk.