Update

We have just finished having family on the boat for almost 4 weeks now, and we are now ready to leave Juneau to continue on our travels. Unfortunately, our WiFi has proven to be unreliable, even when in decent sized cities. Due to this, I may not have the opportunity to add many more posts this summer, if at all.

Enjoy your summer.

Tuesday, June 3 Foggy Bay to Ketchikan 43 miles 4 hours

We have a glorious run of sunny, warm weather.  We had a smooth ride into Ketchikan.  Again we were surprised that we did not see any cruise ships or ferries pass us.  In Revillagigedo Channel we had 3 foot rollers coming up from Dixon Entrance but the ride was comfortable.  Tongass Narrows was smooth and easy.  We are running on fumes and stopped at Petro Marine to fill up before going to a marina.  US Customs likes to meet the boat at it's first stop so we had a customs officer waiting for us when we got there.  They were very nice when they said it was OK to leave the boat briefly to walk the dog.  Merlin really appreciated it.  The customs officer was polite and we were approved for entry after reviewing our documentation.  Amount of fuel was startling.  We hold 600 gallons of diesel and we took 535 gallons!  We really didn't want to fill up in Prince Rupert because fuel costs more in Canada.  We were hoping to get into City Floats dock by the cruise ship docks but it was full.  We got a nice slip assignment in Bar Harbor South on dock 9, berth 9.  The wind and current are favorable and Fred did a great job getting us docked. 

Bar Harbor South
 

Monday, June 2 Foggy Bay

It is a beautiful sunny day and we are going to spend it here in Foggy Bay.

 

Merlin in his life jacket ready to go kayaking

 We saw a dozen mature and immature bald eagles circling the cove.  We never found the nest.

A juvenile bald eagle.  Same size as the parents but brown and gold in color for now.
 

 

 

 

Sunday, June 1 Prince Rupert, BC to Foggy Bay, AK 58 miles 5 3/4 hours

We took Fred's favorite (not!) out of Prince Rupert.  Venn Passage is narrow and twisting, with shoals on either side.  Buoys and range markers help with navigation.  This route saves about 12 miles compared with leaving Prince Rupert and rounding Digby Island. 

We have to travel through Dixon Entrance which is pretty much open top Japan.  We encountered 3 ft. rollers but not too bad.  Foggy Bay is about halfway between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan.  It is a spectacular anchorage with a small opening looking out to Revillagigedo Channel.  When we crossed the border (in the middle of Dixon Entrance) between Canada and Alaska Fred called US Customs.  We are cleared to spend a night or two in Foggy Bay before we get to Ketchikan.  Welcome Alaska!

 

Alaska Flag

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 30 Prince Rupert

We are planning to leave in the morning but we have been asked to move Emerald Star to the inside of the breakwater because the owner of this slip is returning.   Normally this would not be a big deal however, the wind is blowing 20 knots pushing us away from our specified destination.  Fred did an amazing job but not until we had rubbing the port side of the boat up against the huge metal, floating breakwater.  Of course it was rusty too.  Needless to say we weren't very happy.  We now have a scrape down the side.  At least there are no holes. 

Thursday, May 29 Klewnuggit to Prince Rupert 50 miles 5 hours

What a difference a day makes.  Grenville Channel is like a pond today.  We didn't see any ships, ferries or fishing vessels.  That is a little weird.  We encountered 2' swells and a 4 knot push in Chatham Sound but still smooth sailing.  We received a call from Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club that they have a slip fort us.  Our slip is on the outside of the breakwater but  that is ok with us.  http://prryc.com/

Wednesday, May 28 Khutze to Klewnuggit, Grenville Channel 73 miles 7 hours

Gosh we hate to leave Khutze but we must continue moving north.  The fog was thick when we got up but burned off to be a beautiful sunny day.  We continued our search for bears, dolphins or whales without success.   The wind is up to 35 mph and the seas up to 3' in Grenville Channel.  We had the wind to our bow so cruising wasn't too bad.  It was heavenly when we reached the protected waters of Klewnuggit.  Poor Merlin doesn't care for much boat movement at all and I finally remembered we had a Thundershirt for him.  http://www.calmingvests.com/thfordo1.html#.U5zpNzwU9jo
It really helped, if you don't count the "what did I do to you?" look from him. 

Tuesday, May 27 Khutze Inlet

We got our quota of crab this morning and after Fred cleaned them we cooked them on the deck.  Yum!  I had enough crab meat to freeze several packages. 

 

 

We anchored at the base of this waterfall.

 

Monday, May 26 Kynoch Inlet to Khutze Inlet 52 miles 4 3/4 hours

The sun is breaking through and it just magical here.  We are alone and the water is like glass.  We have a 10 km trip back out to Mathieson Channel.  We entered Heikish Narrows 30 minutes before slack and had a 3 kt push without any turbulence.  We kept Princess Royal Island to port and kept a lookout for bears.  This island is a good place to see white colored black bears.  They are also called spirit bears.  No such luck.  Haven't even seen a black bear.
http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9511/spirit_bears/

Spirit Bear (not our photo)

We finally reached our favorite anchorage in BC, Khutze Inlet.  This is another wonderful fiord with high granite cliffs and wonderful waterfalls.  We were a little disappointed to see two other boats there but we did get our favorite spot in front of the tallest waterfall.  We did have to re-set our anchor but we are now snug. 
After Fred went out to drop our crab pots, we had a visitor.  It was Greg off of Allure and he says he has trouble.  Apparently both of his GPS and chart plotters are off the air.  He wanted to know if we could buddy boat up to Prince Rupert.  We had a better solution.  We have a back up Garmin GPS we were able to lend him.  He is very grateful and we are happy to do it.  He says his electronics will be repaired in Prince Rupert. 

Sunday, May 25 Shearwater to Kynoch Inlet 63 miles 6 hours

A rainy day makes for a nice cruising day.  Before we left we met Greg off of the Grand Banks, Allure.  We are both heading to Alaska and expect to see them again up the road.  Seaforth Channel only had 1' chop and we passed through Reid Passage at low water.  It is a beautiful area with several anchorages.  Mathieson Channel is enormous but has spectacular waterfalls everywhere.  We are now entering Fiordland.  Kynoch Inlet is amazing.  It has a huge waterfall at the entrance to a fiord with snow, capped granite cliffs up to 3000 feet.  Nothing we have ever seen compares.  We anchored at the head of the inlet near the outpouring of Culpepper Lagoon in 108 feet.  We thought everything was fine until the depth meter showed 2 feet!!  We quickly pulled anchor and headed into deeper water.  The wind is a steady 15 kts, we are getting turbulence from Culpepper Lagoon and it is pouring rain.  As soon as the wind let up we were finally at peace.

Kynoch Inlet

Falls at entrance to Kynoch Inlet

Saturday, May 24 Allison Harbour to Shearwater Marina 89 miles 8 1/4 hours

The first thing Fred did this morning was to pick up the crab pots.  We only had one small one so it was given it's freedom.  We had a nice mixture of weather as we head north around Cape Caution today.  As you can see from the map we are going to experience open ocean as we cross through Queen Charlotte Sound.  We had 3' to 4' rollers coming in but we were able to find a comfortable point of sail.  Our auto pilot doesn't handle these sort of seas well and Fred had to handle the boat all the way around Cape Caution until we reached the protected waters of Fitzhugh Sound.  Since the weather was good we made it a long day and reached Shearwater Marina.  This is a nice little village with fuel, groceries, laundromat, and a restaurant.  Therefore they charge $1.50/night!  We are only staying one night but we did have a nice dinner in the restaurant.  We ran into Chris & Mike off of Aqua Therapy again.

Friday, May 23 Port McNeill to Allison Harbour 44 miles 4 hours

We have been waiting for some good weather to cross around Cape Caution but the winds are still howling.  The weather buoy that is the most important at this time, West Sea Otter, is "not working".  It is a gloomy day but we are heading out across Queen Charlotte Strait to Allison Harbour.    We had winds from 5-20 mph and big rollers coming in from Queen Charlotte Sound.  It was 1' - 3' but not uncomfortable at all.  Allison Harbour is just south of Cape Caution and a good place to wait out the weather. 

Monday, May 19 Port Harvey Marina to Port McNeill 3 hours 33 miles

It is a very grey day and many logs to pass through on our way up Johnstone strait to Port McNeill.  Again we had the current with us.  2 kts most of the way but up to 4kts past Alert Bay.  We are staying at the Port McNeill Fuel Dock and Marina instead of the city dock.  There are two main reasons for this.

 # 1 They try harder (want to borrow a car?)

# We can be fueled right in our slip.  They have very long hoses and we only have to dock once.  Speaking of fuel, we took439 gallons at $4.09/gallon.  

Steve Jackman met us at the dock and we received a warm welcome.  We planned on a bow ion, starboard tie but there is a 130 footer coming in and we have to make room.   It is quite impressive.  http://www.charterworld.com/?sub=yacht-charter&charter=my-mary-alice-ii-6864 

While Fred was out having a cigar on the deck, the captain of Serengeti came by and they had a nice talk.  Later in the evening we heard a funny buzzing sound.  We looked up and saw a remote-controlled quad-copter with a camera and LED lights.  It was being operated by one of the young crew on Serengeti.  Apparently this copter is very stable and takes excellent pictures.  Now Fred knows what he wants for Christmas.  It sure would be nice to have on the boat.

Sunday, May 18 Blind Channel Resort to Port Harvey Marine Resort 3 ½ hours 35 miles

We had wind up to 25 kts and 1’chop on Johnstone Strait today.   We had the current with us though we actually achieved 15 kts over the ground (9 kts through the water) through Race Passage.  

Actual photo of chart plotter

As we neared Havannah Channel we had to pass through an enormous field of logs.  We definitely had to be on our toes here. Port Harvey is a long bay with the marina at the head.  There are logging operations along the shore which are very unsightly.  If we didn’t like George and Gail who run the marina we might not stop here.   http://portharvey.blogspot.ca/  Of course when I passed the line through the bull rail to tie up when we landed I managed to put it through a rotten piece of wood that pulled up and caught our line in the screws under it.   George came down to help release the line.  We are the only ones on the dock but George & Gail came to say hello. The Red Shoe Restaurant isn’t open yet but we had a nice visit.   

The Port Harvey Yacht Club is now open for membership and we are charter members at #20 & #21.  We purchased the burgee and may display it at some point.  

 George is a great baker and we ordered six cinnamon rolls for morning to take with us when we leave