Port Hardy

Posted on 17 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 17, 2021

We spent the morning walking around town and checking out the Quatse Loop trail that goes along the Quatse river. Tonia was excited to finally break in her new hiking shoes bought just for this trip!

The town has a nice park and a few sculptures commemorating their history. My favorite was the Carrot Campaign monument commemorating their efforts to get the country to quit dangling the carrot and actually build a road to North Vancouver Island.

The hike was a nice level trail. It was good for us to stretch a bit after being on the boat so much. We ended up logging over 6 miles so I’m sure we’ll feel it tomorrow.

While Matt and Steve ran errands, Tonia checked out the local town museum.

After lunch and Steve wrapping up his errands, we decided to move the boats south. The wind forecast is pretty much the same no matter the day this week, so we knew it was going to be a bit choppy. And it didn’t disappoint. Luckily the trip was only a couple hours, and the end was in the protected area.

We ended up the day in Port McNeill. After a nice diner we decided to check out Gus’ Pub. It was a decent place but with all COVID-era restaurants was a bit understaffed. We did have some nice banter with a couple driving up from Vancouver to their home Port Rupert.

After dinner we checked out the “World’s Largest Burl”! What’s that you ask? A big tree tumor.

Fury! & The Real Fury! (8/15-8/16)

Posted on 16 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 15, 2021

Another 6am departure. That should be fury enough when we’re supposed to be on vacation!

The original plan was to spend the day relaxing and checking out Bella Bella. But that was thrown out the window when we looked at the weather reports for the upcoming week. Basically, the report said if we didn’t travel around Cape Caution on Sunday it was not going to happen for the foreseeable future – as in the projected forecast of 5 days did not show any weather windows after Sunday. The trip down from Bella Bella was relatively uneventful in the beginning. Then as we traveled down the Fitz Hugh Sound the wind and waves started picking up. When we poked our nose around the tip of Calvert Island it was pretty clear it was not going to happen. We were direct into the waves, and it was not going to be a fun 4 hours if we continued on.

We turned the boats around and pulled into Fury Cove on Penrose. It’s a nice large cove and filled up with a lot of boats, big and small, over the afternoon.

August 16, 2021

We awoke to most of the boats in Fury Cove departing. What did they know about the weather that we didn’t? After coffee and getting the new wind model downloaded, we decided to poke our heads out and see what the situation really was. The waves were better than Sunday afternoon, so we decided to press on. The model when we left said less than 3-foot waves and it may have been for a while. However, I suspect we were in 6- to 8-foot waves for about half of the crossing around Cape Caution. Why do I think that? Because when we were dipping down between swells the bow and sides of the boat were below the top of the wave. The good part is the wave period was still good (spread out) and we just had to suffer the rolling and the uncomfortability of it all.

Pics do not do justice to the waves experienced!

I’d say we made it through pretty well. Tonia was a bit woozy from the day, but overall, we didn’t seem to have any major problems. We traveled around 10-12 knots for the crossing so burned about twice as much fuel. But hey, we can stop at the fuel dock this time thru Canada so there isn’t a reason to conserve other than the pocketbook.

We settled in on the Port Hardy public dock in the outer harbor. Not a perfect dock as it’s somewhat out in the open. It is totally empty because of that but it’s very close to town so it’s what we’re staying with. After today we can definitely sleep through a bit of wind and a little bouncing on the dock.

Bella Bella: ShearWater Resort

Posted on 14 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 14, 2021

The ride down to Bella Bella was a very nice relaxing journey. We took a little side pass to go by Klemtu. They had big signs up like Hartley Bay to say their moorage was closed due to COVID.

After the offshoot and back in Finlayson Channel we were able to watch a couple whales doing their thing. One was continuously raising it’s fin out of the water.

In Bella Bella we decided to give the ShearWater Resort a try. The harbor master was on the dock to assist us, and they were very friendly.

Since it was late in the day, the shops in ShearWater were closed so we were only able to have a couple beers and dessert at the lodge.

Afterwards, we walked around a bit and took some pictures of the displays and artwork.

Back in the Ditch to Hartley Bay

Posted on 13 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 13, 2021

Back to an early start. Today was a planned 10-hour day back thru the Grenville Channel (AKA “The Ditch”) to Hartley Bay. The sunrise was a nice addition to the trip.

Overall, The Ditch was all we expected. A nice “long” pretty much straight line. We were lucky to have current with us most the day, so the current prediction actually matched the conditions for once.

We peeked our head into Hartley Bay but sadly they were closed to transient moorage due to COVID. So we headed over to the nearby anchorage and settled in for the night.

Prince Rupert (8/11-8/12)

Posted on 12 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 11, 2021

After our check-in with the Canada border, we were allowed to leave our boats. We headed out to find some dinner though it was a little late for most places or there were long waits. We found Opa Sushi with a short wait and took a few pics on the way. We were moored in Cow Bay Marina.

August 12, 2021

We gave Barista Steve a day off and ventured to Cowpuccino’s Coffee House. We said it would be an experience, and well, it was…just not a great hot cocoa experience! Lesson learned!

Next stop was Kwinitsa Railway Station Museum. We may have to implement the Brown Merit/Demerit system…

We hit up Breakers Pub for a light lunch and Wheelhouse Brewing Company for some refreshing beverages on this extra-warm day.

We bumped into Noel & Gary from S/V Illimite on their way to do laundry and invited them to happy hour on Coda. Then all five of us headed to The Pavilion Restaurant for a very nice dinner. No pics but delicious food! Tonia was sold when she saw the beet salad on their website and it did not disappoint! All in all, a great day and lovely evening with new friends!

A few last random memories from Prince Rupert:

Our time in Prince Rupert coming to a close…

Leaving Ketchikan & Alaska: Heading to Canada! Will they let us in??

Posted on 11 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 11, 2021

Goodbye, again, Ketchikan!

We were greeted with sunshine shortly after our 5:45am departure. What a welcome sight!

There were some “nice” swells (translate to Tonia doesn’t enjoy them but they weren’t all that bad really) across the Dixon Crossing though things smoothed out again after that. When Tonia was at the helm, she was treated to dolphins crossing the bow a couple times. They are quite quick and elusive!

Out of a 30-second video, captured about a few seconds of the dolphin sightings (pared-down version)

Our Canada border crossing went smoothly as we had our vaccines and negative COVID tests all in order. They did ask some of the other standard questions, like our entire bar stock inventory, and called to clarify Matt’s name prior to stopping by our boat for the check-in.

Scenes from the last bits of Alaska…

Ketchikan (8/9-8/10)

Posted on 10 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 9, 2021

We made our way from Snug Harbor Bar Harbor to Ketchikan in about 6 hours’ time. This time City Dock did not have space for both of us so we moored at the Bar Harbor. This actually worked out well as it was near reprovisioning stores, closer to the airport shuttle for Barbara, and in walking distance of the COVID testing site, which we needed for entry into Canada this time around.

After getting settled in and doing some reprovisioning, we decided to go out for dinner before Barbara left the next day. There was a nearby Italian-Mexican restaurant to satisfy a range of culinary desires! The cocktails were tasty! Can you guess which drink is whose?

August 10, 2021

The morning of the 10^th saw us saying our goodbyes to the lovely Barbara and wishing her safe travels back to San Diego. We should be seeing her again soon though in early September.

Next, it was off to get our COVID test to meet the requirement for the Canada border. We were early and a few cars were already in the drive-up line so we opted to grab breakfast across the street to stay out of the rain. We’d hoped the line would go down quickly once the testing site opened up, but not really. So we stood in line waiting our turn amongst the cars and a few other walkups. At least the rain had stopped! We did meet two other couples – Mark & Karen from S/V Chaos and Noel & Gary from S/V Illimité – during the 2.5 hours to get tested and get our negative results. They too needed theirs to get into Canada.

Afterwards, we headed back to the boats for a break and to tackle chores. Then we headed the ~1 mile to downtown for some last Alaska souvenir shopping and dinner.

Snug Harbor

Posted on 8 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 8, 2021

After a long day of boating, we anchored in Snug Harbor where there was only one other sailboat. Tonia and Barbara kayaked around that evening finding a few really cool starfish and picking up trash. Also came across an old log pit area cordoned off in one section of the bay.

The next morning the two of us went out for a quick kayak before heading out for the day. We could hear the chainsaws in the distance – one of the only/few times were heard tree cutting, though we saw lots of evidence of it on the hills and mountains. Saw a few more starfish, including a sunflower starfish, which are more rarer nowadays.

We were also surprised by two critters – we think minks? Caught a video of one with its breakfast.

Red Bay

Posted on 7 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 7, 2021

Saturday took us down the Sumner Strait to Red Bay. We need to be in Ketchikan on August 9^th as Barbara is planning to fly south on the 10^th to tackle some work projects while we transit back thru Canada. That gives us three days to get there and it’s a 14-hour total trip.

The issue we have is the area is not the most conducive to what we want for time and so we’ll probably end up with 3-hour, 7-hour, and 4-hour days over the timeframe due to the geography and amicable anchor locations.

After our 3-hour day, we anchored in Red Bay, which just happened to have one other boat: Ticket to Ride! Frank & Mary Grace weren’t on their boat when we dinghied by so the four of us bopped around the bay to check it out. We followed a stream up a ways and found a bridge, perhaps not too unexpected on Prince of Wales Island, the third largest island in the U.S.

Funny enough, we saw someone standing on the end of the bridge just out of the photo on the right; we waved and went on our way. Turns out it was Mary Grace waiting for Frank to paddleboard back down the stream! Steve stopped by Ticket to Ride later when they’d returned from paddleboarding with an invite to happy hour and dinner. What a great evening with the two of them!

Ticket to Ride spoiled us with crew shirts!

Rocky Pass, The Summit & Devils Elbow

Posted on 6 Aug 2021 by netgoof

August 6, 2021

Saw whales, seals, and otters on our voyage across the open water.

Cranes on island and “floating” seals to right

Then it was time to traverse Rocky Pass. Rocky pass is a 2-hour trip that takes one thru The Summit and Devils Elbow. Both are very shallow areas that were certified to 4 foot in 2009. Of course, we did it at high tide and think the lowest water we saw was in the 15-foot range.

The Summit is a roughly 12-minute stretch that was basically a kelp field with some markers on the side. Pretty sure we had a garden hanging off the rudder after that passage. The other fun part is the documentation states of known obstacles. Luckily the sonar charts were somewhat up to date and showed us the way.

After The Summit there is a 15-minute regroup period and you enter the area called Devils Elbow. The coast pilot says look out as the atons are not in the correct locations. And true to that, they were not even close. The red buoy that was supposed to be at the south end was at the north end. This took a bit of technical maneuvering using Coast Pilot to guide while also referring to three sets of charts.

We made it through without a problem. Phew! We decided to end the day after the pass since we’d been at it for 6 hours and pulled up to Monte Carlo Island. Don’t get too excited by the name as it’s a no-frills anchorage that barely gets 2 stars. It’s not well protected in bad weather. We were fortunate to have little wind and the anchorage was perfect for the overnight. Tried a new recipe of beet risotto and wonderful greens for dinner.