Off for Alaska, May 19-23

Thursday, May 19

The first day of our big trip, dawned sunny and beautiful.  We were off at 7 am and cruised north through Swinomish Channel and out into the San Juans.  We were greeted by an eagle, looking for breakfast, and this seemed a good omen for our adventure.

This first day’s destination was to anchor in Montague Harbor, BC, after clearing Canadian customs in Tsehum Harbor, just north of Sydney.  We’d been through customs here before and knew it to be an easy place to get in and out of.  The customs dock was delightfully not busy and we were even able to stay there long enough to have a quick bite of lunch.  

We were off again by 1245 and began talking about going further than Montague Harbor.  Stopping at Nanaimo for the night seemed like a possibility but we had to traverse the dreaded Dodd Narrows, about 5 miles south of the city.  We knew we had to coordinate our arrival to get to Dodd Narrows within half an hour of slack…1847.  To insure our arrival at the narrows at the safe time, we shut the boat off and floated for about an hour in  Trincomali Channel, yep, a nice big body of water!  We took showers, read, and got ready for the traverse.  

 Looking at the Nobeltec chart as we approached the narrows, showed us the currents were pretty strong.  The highest flow we saw was 7.5 knots.  The map on the right shows the water flow with those big, scary, red arrows!  Because the the water is forced through such a narrow channel, that fast flow creates quite a bit of turbulence.  





        
We spotted Aristreia, a 65-foot cruiser, headed in the same directions and gave them a call.  Sure enough!  They were headed for Dodd Narrows, had been there many times before, and thought it was a piece of cake! So, we got behind this big beautiful boat and learned from a pro!  Although Dodd Narrows is only 150 feet wide, at slack water it was very doable.

We arrived at the Nanaimo City Dock about 1930, happy and pleased with our first day.  We found a “local” tavern/restaurant” for dinner and strolled the waterfront.  It was light until after 2200, but off to bed for another busy day!

Friday, May 20, 2011

During the previous evening’s walk, we spotted a starbuck’s-like coffee shop with free WiFi.  So we grabbed out laptops and spent an hour connected with the outside world as we sipped Perkins Coffee.  We were obviously the only tourists in the place.  Everyone else, in business attire, bustled in to grab a coffee before heading off to work.

Today’s destination is Squirrel Cove at the edge of Desolation Sound.  Concerning this area, Waggoner Cruising Guide, says “Desolation Sound is one of the Northwest’s most dreamed-about and sought-after cruising destinations.”  Fortunately, we’ll be there long before and, hopefully, long after the summer crowds descend.  Our cruise up the east side of Texada Island proved to be uneventful and a little monotonous.  Not many towns, not many boats, not ANY wildlife!  Where are the whales?  Wasn’t that last summer’s theme?

Squirrel Cove Marina (I use the term loosely) was an OK place to tie up but I don’t think the local citizenry had on their summer party clothes yet.  It was pretty quiet.  We opted for grilled flank steak rather than the marina restaurant.  Another quiet night was in store for us.  We awoke to sprinkles and a lowering sky, but no wind. 

Saturday, May 21

Today’s plan was to go through Yaculta and Dent Rapids and eventually arrive at Forward Harbor, which would be our first anchorage.  Our boater friends Dale and Anita had well-coached us on the dangers of these rapids and that we should go through each set as close to slack water as possible.  As we got within a couple of hours of the first set of rapids (Yaculta Rapids) we found ourselves in a mini parade of boats, seemingly all headed where we were.  We called Georgia Lee, a converted 65’ fishing trawler to discuss the rapids.  Sure enough, Georgia Lee, was planning to proceed through all five sets of rapids and confirmed our calculations for approaching Yaculta Rapids.  Whoa!  Wait a minute!  Five sets of rapids???  We thought there were only three…Yaculta, Gillard, and Dent.  We saw lots of whirlpools and eddies.  The deepest whirlpool was about 5 feet deep, and we dodged all of those.  Even little ones which looked innocuous on the surface were enough to spin the boat several degrees off the heading.

We were a little early, according to our new BFF, to approach the final rapids…Whirlpool.  So we slowed down quite a bit and watched as a four-passenger helicopter landed on the stern of Georgia Lee, out in the middle of Sunderland Channel .  It looked like two or three people got off…2 adults and a child.  Quite a way to board the ship!

Chart of Whirlpool Rapids

All in all, the passage through the five sets of rapids was interesting and not too difficult.  Chuck piloted us through easy as can be.  Georgia Lee was behind as we went through Whirlpool Rapids and gradually fell behind.  

We did hear from her once more.  As we cruised by the entrance to Forward Harbor, the boat captain called us on the VHF to let us know we’d missed our entrance!  Sure nice to have someone looking out for us.  We told him we had decided to cruise on to Port Neville and spend the night there.  We hope to run into Georgia Lee


We anchored in Baresides Bay, just beyond Port Neville, about 8 PM.  We had been on the water for about 10 hours and we were glad to be done.

Sunday, May 22

We spent a bouncy, noisy night on anchor.  There was enough wind and wave action to create an annoying bow slap.  Our boat really swings on anchor, even with an anchor bridle, so, unless the weather is absolutely calm, anchoring is not a restful means of parking.  Jan was up about four and had lots of time to write this blog, before the guys awoke.

Today’s destination took us down Johnstone Strait and out into Queen Charlotte Sound.  The plan was to spend the night in Port Hardy before we head across the “big water”  across Queen Charlotte Sound.

Our cruise to Port Hardy was delightfully uneventful.  We had almost no wind, the water was smooth, and the ride down the strait was actually kind of dull.  We had forested mountains on both sides of the channel and could see higher, snow-covered peaks behind them.  We didn’t spot any eagles, otters, seals, whales, or Bigfoot!

We arrived at Port Hardy at 3 PM and set off to explore the town. Because it was Sunday and tomorrow was Victoria Day, not much was happening in this bustling metropolis.  Their economy revolves around fishing, mining, and tourism, and we must be early in their tourist season.  We did find an surprisingly well-stocked grocery store and resupplied our stores of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Everything looked amazing fresh and delicious!  You know that it must be quite a process to get produce imported this far north!

We had dinner at the pub at the head of the dock and enjoyed their delicious menu.  Jan had halibut stuffed with crab and spinach…yummy!  Several fisherman were cleaning their day’s catch of salmon and several eagles were perched on masts nearby as they waited to grab the scraps.  This is the first time we’ve seen these big birds swooping around above us.  Quite a sight!

Monday, May 23         Victoria Day!

Unfortunately, none of us know the meaning or significance of Victoria Day, but we 


thought this would be a great day to cross Queen Charlotte Sound.  We were away by 8 AM and probably should have left two hours sooner!  We had smooth cruising until about 1230 as we passed Egg Island.  The wind picked up to about 15 knots which put a chop on top of the 3 – 4 foot swells.  This made for a rolly ride.  In the photo you can see Chuck's method for eating breakfast!  Jan thought she had safely secured all the dishes, but this trip across the sound disproved that theory!  Nothing broke but lots of stuff slid around!  Smokey the boat cat wasn’t too thrilled with the bouncy ride, either.  She doesn’t usually sit on Jan's lap but she did for awhile during this crossing!

We entered Fitz Hugh Channel about 1330 and the water calmed considerably, to the point of being almost glassy.  Yay!  We met a big Disney cruise ship…quite a floating hotel!  Originally we thought we’d anchor in Pruth Bay for the night.  It’s supposed to be a beautiful area, with some hiking trails and places to go in the dinghy but we decided to push on.

Shearwater Marina was our ultimate 
destination.  Waggoner's Cruising Guide made this destination sound absolutely exotic...ample power, water, and Internet access on the docks.  A pub, grocery store and restaurant.  Well, we've agreed that the cruising guide must have been well paid to put in such glowing terms for Shearwater!  We arrived about 8 PM (seems to be our standard quitting time!) and found the last spot on the marina dock.  Water available....nope!  Power available....nope!  Internet....stay tuned, the marina office as closed so we had to wait until tomorrow to find out.  


The one thing that the marina did have was Georgia Lee,  tied up at the dock!  As we were getting settled, the captain came down to visit with us.  Jim was from our area in Washington and was a soft-spoken, friendly guy.  The boat was built in Washington state to just look like a converted fishing trawler.  The boat was returning to Alaska for the summer, with the owner and his family on board.  The owner, who was 80, was making his 62nd trip to Alaska.  Wow!!


Our next Internet access sight is probably Prince Rupert, in a few days.  The saga and the adventures continue!