m/v WILD BLUE Cruising Blog

#19 Princess Louisa To Anacortes, WA and the end of our 2011 Alaska Cruise

2011-09-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 - PLI to Secret Cove

Today we left Princess Louisa Inlet on the way to Secret Cove on BC's Sunshine Coast. Unfortunately, Alex made two mistakes today. The first was a miscalculation of current at Malibu Rapids. The second was not turning on the video to record our wild ride in the Rapids.

It started with what seemed logical. The tide change today was only 3 feet between the early morning high, and the 11AM low tide. Since we usually see 6 feet or more, this typically means the tidal currents won't be as fast. But that assumes open water without water flow restrictions.

So we were ready to exit via the rapids at 9AM or so, a full 2 hours before slack current. We figured we had it right because there was a 70-foot boat just ahead of us about to exit. At the last minute, they pulled aside to let us go first. Alex gave his Securite call on the VHF and prepared to exit. One look at the rushing water told the story, but by then it was pretty much too late to turn back, without major damage to our egos. The depth and width of Malibu Rapids is just too small to provide unrestricted water flow, so faster flow makes up for the restricted volume. It's like a 1/2 inch water hose with the valve turned on full blast: the water just shoots out very fast. Now the Wild Blue was going against this boiling and rushing stream. Suddenly the boat slowed from 8.5 to 3.5 knots and rolled as we rounded the bend in front of the Malibu Club. The crowd at the Club seemed more interested in our boat than usual. The speed drop caused the active fin stabilizers to disengage which happens automatically at slow speeds, which caused the boat to roll a bit more. Alex just drove the boat as best he could trying not to get sideways in the Rapids. He was able to drive with only the rudder, without thruster help of which both were ready to assist if needed. The boat was tossed around quite a bit for a 90,000 pound vessel, but eventually floated out into calm waters. It would have made a Youtube hit, if only Alex remembered to turn on the video. Oh well!

Looking outward through Malibu Rapids with the current running close to 5 knots.

Looking behind us to the turn we just completed.

Close up of rapids.

Once outside, the 70-footer called us to ask for a current report. We reported a conservative 4.5 knots. About 45 minutes later we heard their Securite call before exit. Alex took a break to change his shorts, then we settled down to a more leisurely motor.

As we exited Jervis Inlet, we geared up for some salmon trolling. Alex and Ira had a couple hits, but no fish. After an hour or so we got going again to Secret Cove.

The Admiral looks a bit worried as she studies the depth sounder.

Ira shows his best fishing form.

Ferry passes Wild Blue.

By 5PM we were tied to the docks at Secret Cove. After dinner Marsha rummaged through the refrigerator and was able to produce a delicious Raspberry Chocolate Truffle. Awesome!

Entering Secret Cove

Back to Back Selenes: Aurenbach (x-Joya del Mar), a Selene 55, and Wild Blue.

Marsha's Raspberry Chocolate Truffle.

Sunday, September 4th, 2011 - Secret Cove to Montague Harbor

In the morning, we slipped the dock lines and headed for Montague Harbor a 6-hour run across the Georgia Strait (aka Salish Sea). The ocean was flat and winds were calm. The sun shown. We followed a Selene 43 for several miles and chatted with the owners. Then cruised through Gabriola Passage with a 3-knot current push. At last we anchored with the masses at Montague Harbour, a BC park on the south end of Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands. Pat prepared a wonderful spicy jambalaya with fresh store bought prawns and Williebird's secret ingredients. Pat's Chocolate Chip and ice cream helped tone down those Louisiana spices.

Merry Island Light Station in a flat calm ocean.

Gabriola Passage

Montague Harbour

Pat's prawn jambalaya.

Chocolate Chip cake and ice cream.

Sunset over Montague Harbour.

Monday. September 5th, 2011 - Montague Harbor to Ganges Harbour

It's just a 40-minute hop to Ganges Harbour. We have fresh homemade cinnamon roll french toast from the local "bakery boat". Then we burn off those carbs on a wilderness walk at camp Montague.

Alex heads to the "boat bakery" (in background) for "boat" made cinnamon buns. The bakery is an old ferry that has a commercial kitchen. It's pretty much drive through these days: drive your dinghy up and they bring out the goods to you. It's quite popular here in the Gulf Islands.

Marsha sliced the fresh cinnamon buns and produced a delicious French toast.

Our wilderness walk took us to the real "Shell Beach", Billions and billions of broken clam, crab, oyster, abalone and other sea shells. That other beach in SLO County with the same name should change it to "One Shell Beach"

Some trees in British Columbia grow horizontally.

After our walk we moved over to Ganges Harbour, an art, culture and bust island community. Ganges is supposed to have the highest concentration of millionaires in all of BC. We strolled the town and the girls sort of "shopped till they dropped". The boys hung out at Moats Hardware. Tomorrow we leave Canada and re-enter the USA.

Saltspring Island fire station: all volunteer.

Alex is booking it with "Cutting for Stone".

Marsha prepared a tasty lemon caper chicken just for lunch. Can't wait for dinner!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 - Ganges Harbor, BC to Roche Harbor, WA

After Ganges it was the USA and Roche Harbor US Customs. Every US customs experience is different. It seems like the rules change each time. It's kind of like city planning and building codes, except the changes are even more frequent. This time the plants were a problem. Our house plant, Wilson, has been on Wild Blue since 2005. Lately US and even Canada Customs says Wilson is persona (planta?) non grata. But each time he gets in after a lecture about plant diseases etc.

The new thing this time was Washington registration tags. Apparently the US Customs and Homeland Security is now acting on behalf of the Washington State Department of Revenue. So the US Customs Agent is lecturing us about Washington rules. Of course we know the rules, and we also know he's way outside his jurisdiction, but we cant really tell him to f--k off because we want to get back home. So we take his lecture like good students and play dumb, and even thank him for this information. Some officials like to exert their power. Whatever happened to power to the people! Oh well.....

At Roche we get back to civilization and enjoy the many beautiful boats that line docks here.

Wednesday September 7th, 2011 - Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor really IS civilization. They have cars, busses, airplanes, ferries, a supermarket, hardware store and even a West Marine. Plus there are a few great restaurants. Our favorite is Vinny's. We dined out for a change and really enjoyed Vinny's.

Thursday, September 8th, 2011 - Friday Harbor to Anacortes

Today we arrived at or dock here in Skyline Marina, Anacortes, WA. It's good to be back to a town where we seem to spend more and more time. Tonight we'll dine at wonderful Cameron's Restaurant. This place is special but would seem to have more in common with Santa Monica or Brentwood, CA.

Tomorrow everyone leaves while Alex stays to prep the boat for fall and winter cruising. So until then, happy boating.

#18 Port McNeill to Princess Louisa Inlet

2011-09-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 29th, 2011 - Port McNeill to Port Neville
Over the weekend we relaxed then visited and enjoyed the company of Vera and Len from the Selene 53 Chatham II. These Canadians cruise to Northern BC each summer and we seem to run into them about this time of year in Port McNeil. Vera made sure to have a good supply of Sleeman's Honey Brown Ale for Alex and we enjoyed many cruising and Selene stories.

On Monday morning the new Wild Blue crew arrived via Port hardy airport. We borrowed the marina van and picked them up. Most of the provisioning had been completed so only a few items were needed. After a quick trip to the Port McNeill market, we shoved off southbound at 1PM for Blind Channel, a long 6-hour run. Our guests want to visit the Princess Louisa Inlet, which means we need to get south quickly in order get in and out of the Inlet. PLI is 40 miles inland from Pender Harbour so we will need to put in several long cruise days early in this week, to allow time for the visit. of course as always, it depends on how far the weather lets us go. Today's forecast calls for strong winds in Johnstone Strait. We will go as far as comfort allows us!

Eastbound in sunny Johnstone Strait

Marsha and Ira Alpert our neighbors from San Luis Obispo are the new Wild Blue crew. Ira is a retired hospital administrator who volunteers on several non-profit boards in our community. Marsha is retired form several businesses but, according to Ira, is still employed as a "consulting weather witch". It seems that most everywhere Marsha travels, the weather improves. After months of gray and rainy skies, we will put her talent to good use. And with just a few hours cruising under our belts, the sun shines again. Wow...what a talent!

Pie in the sun for the Skipper. After months of gray, overcast and rainy skies, it's time for a little Vitamin D.

Marsha's "weather witching" was working on the sun, but not on the wind which began to build as the afternoon wore on. By 5PM a nasty chop punched into our eastbound travel. We decided to anchor in Port Neville instead of continuing further. There's always tomorrow. By 6PM we were securely anchored in a blustery winds.

Port Neville is a convenient spot just off Johnstone Strait.

Port Neville Public Dock. A great place to tie up, however as the tide fills and empties Port Neville Bay, the current across the float can be mighty. We chose to anchor just around the corner further inside inside the Bay.

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 - Port Neville to No Name Anchorage in Desolation Sound
This morning's forecast again calls for high winds in Johnstone Strait. So instead of continuing, we decide to pull out of the Strait at Chancellor Channel and push through Greene Point Rapids, then Dent Rapids and finally Yuculta Rapids arriving in Desolation Sound for an anchorage. For a slow boat like Wild Blue to traverse all three rapids in one leg, the "Rapid Trifecta", timing is essential. The idea is to arrive at Greene Point with a manageable ebb current, then and hour or so later at Dent and Yuculta near slack or a minor flood current. The problem is that we are 25 miles away from the first rapids. So calculating using a conservative speed, we estimate a 4-hour run at 6.5 knots. We should make it with time to spare leaving at 6:30AM. We need to be at Greene Point by 10:30 to have a chance to cross all three rapids.

Killer Whale on the bow.

Once underway all is well until Current Passage. Living up to it's name, we see our forward progress drop from 8 knots to 2 knots as a 6-knot ebb rolls through the Passage. Obviously we won't make the first Rapids at this slow speed, but after 30 minutes of creeping between 2 and 3 knots, our turn into Chancellor Channel, and the speed over ground slowly begins to increase. At last we make Green Point Rapids at 10:20, just 10 minutes off our estimates ETA.

Weather Witch Marsha has been doing her magic as the sun has been shining and the temps are warm. She still needs to keep working on the winds.

Logging operations in Chancellor Channel.

Greene Point Rapids.

Dent Rapids.

Yuculta Rapids.

You know you've done a good job of calculating slack current when there's lots of traffic in the rapids at the same time.

By the early afternoon we're in Desolation Sound. We pause just offshore from Squirrel Cove to get a wifi connection and our email. Next we look around for an anchorage and eventually decide on a spot on the west side of Malaspina Inlet next to the Josephine Islands. The cove has no name but gives us good protection form the expected building northwesterly winds.

The chefs get active. After dinner it's a friendly game of Monopoly, and the Skipper has a bit too much property management luck (experience) tonight. Hopefully he can take his winning approach to collecting the rents in real life!

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 - No Name Anchorage to Pender Harbour

Today we had a leisurely motor to Pender Harbor in sunny skies, warm temps and little wind. Marsha's magic was working. In general it was a pretty dull cruise but with lots of boat traffic. We found moorage at the Pender Public Dock which is close to the Marketplace, a full-sized supermarket. Provisioning is in our future today.

Tug and Tow.

Big boat wake.

Arriving in Pender Harbour.

Our Pender Harbour moorage sets us up to enter Princess Louisa Inlet tomorrow. The Inlet has Malibu Rapids in front of it and crossing the rapids needs to be near slack current. The current reaches over 12 knots on spring tides. As Labor Day Weekend approaches, the Inlet will fill up with boats and securing a vacant anchorage spot could become an issue. So we decide to cross the rapids and enter the Inlet at the 9:45AM slack tide. From Pender, it's about 36 miles to the rapids, a 4.5 hour motor if no adverse current. Giving us a little wiggle room, we decide to leave at 4:30AM in the dark. But that's for tomorrow. It's time for dessert!

Fresh blueberries with ice cream and chocolate syrup.

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 - Pender Harbour to Princess Louisa Inlet

At 4:30AM it's black dark. Silently as possible we back out of our dock as to not awaken the snoring, and then try to adjust our vision to the black. The chart-plotter guides us and the radar keeps us from bumping the rocks. Just outside the Harbour we are passed by small boat, but we only see its running lights. Pat, Ira and Marsha man the foredeck squinting to see logs, boats or rocks. Running in the dark builds tension which is relieved when dawn finally arrives. By that time we are 9 miles up Agamemnon Channel.

The suns rises over Agamemnon Channel.

We arrive at Malibu Rapids at 10:30 some 45 minutes late, but even though the chart warning reads "Extremely Hazardous Currents and Eddies", all is well with only a 2.5 knot current against us as we enter. Once inside we slow to minimize our wake and cruise the final 5 miles to the head of the Inlet where we plan to anchor. After locating our favorite anchor site and its associated submerged stern tie hook just north of the Falls, we drop the hook. We won't be able to reach the stern tie hook until low tide this afternoon. Then we will thread a line through the eye and back to the boat. Being the start of Labor Day weekend, we are surprised that only 15 boats or so have entered the Inlet. The weather is overcast again, so I guess "weather witch" Marsha has not been focusing on the sun.

Entering PLI via Malibu Rapids

Approaching the head of Princess Louisa Inlet.

This weeks guest crew is Marsha and Ira Alpert of San Luis Obispo. Here they pose just in front of Chatterbox Falls.

Wild Blue on the hook in PLI. Waiting for low tide to hook up the stern tie hook which is submerged at high tide.

The Chatterbox Falls in Princess Louisa Inlet.

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 - Princess Louisa Inlet

At last the sun is out again. We're spending an extra day here in PLI enjoying Yosemite Park of the North. What a relaxing place!

Marsha and Alex go kayaking.

Looking northwest up PLI.

#17 Lewall Inlet, Frypan Bay, Sullivan Bay, Turnbull Cove and Port McNeill.

2011-08-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 23, 2011: Lewall Inlet, a Pruth Wifi stop, to Frypan Bay

Although still gloomy, the rain has stopped. Today we will follow the Maritime to Pruth Bay on Calvert Island. Rob and Donna want to visit the Hakai Institute. The Wild Blue crew wants to use the Institute's open wifi signal to get the email. It's about 5 miles from Lewall Inlet just across the Hakai Passage.

Once there, we hover near the wifi signal and later leave Maritime anchored. We learn from email that our friends on Z-Worthy, another Selene, were behind us in Shearwater two days ago. So today they should be close if they haven't already passed us. We'll keep a lookout for them.

Once out in Fitz Hugh Sound going south, we give the Z-Worthy a call on the VHF. No answer.

We want to end the day in a secure anchorage near Rivers Inlet such that we will be about 4 hours or so from Cape Caution. We need to cross Queen Charlotte Sound which is an exposed ocean run. The nearest anchorage probably is Fury Cove on Penrose Island however it is exposed to southerly winds. We decide upon one of the Frypan anchorages: either Big Frypan or Frypan. The names probably come from their shape. Like Alaska, these anchorages have a handle which is a narrow entrance. The bays are round, much like a frying pan. Frypan is more popular because it is not a deep anchorage.

We arrived at Frypan and anchored as the lone boat then took the tender out exploring local lagoons. Back in the Bay, the Grocery Boy of Anacortes had anchored. This charter boat goes to Alaska each year. We visited on the Grocery Boy and talked about the fishing. THat day Rivers Inlet had yielded them multiple salmon and a huge halibut. The charter crew was quite happy. They will fish again tomorrow. We plan to round Cape Caution.

By 6PM about 7 boats had anchored inside "our" bay. Thirty minutes later we hear "Wild Blue, Wild Blue, this is Z-Worthy" calling on the VHF. Seems they found us via AIS and were heading for Frypan. We invited them to side-tie to Wild Blue and to join us for dinner. Ron and Bonny told scary stories of high winds and nasty seas on their run down northern British Columbia. They seemed too happy to be in a quiet anchorage.

Entering Frypan Bay

Lagoon has it's own ecosystem.

Bill examines this lagoon's flora and fawna.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011: Frypan Bay, Cape Caution to Sullivan Bay

Any Cape Caution rounding starts with the 4AM BC Marine Forecast for Queen Charlotte Sound. Information on the current conditions at the West Sea Otter Buoy and Egg Island Lighthouse is also desirable. Alex monitored the weather broadcast. Our rule of thumb for rounding is: "a Queen Charlotte Sound wind forecast less than 20 knots and a sea condition report at West Sea Otter Buoy less than 1 meter". The seas were already 2 meters at 5AM but the Egg Island Lighthouse reported "Seas rippled with a low northwesterly swell". So at first light, the crew detached Z-Worthy from her side-tie, secured the tender to the boat deck, raised the anchor, and headed south into the Sound. The winds were less than 10 knots but the seas occasionally reached 2 meters (6 feet). Thankfully these larger seas were well-spaced apart so that the rolling motion was mostly dampened by the boats active stabilizer fins.

We took the inside route, just off the coastline, threading our way between the many rocks and reefs that litter the Cape area, but that also provide smoother seas close off the beach. We stayed behind Egg and Table Islands with good sea conditions. Z-Worthy and another yacht followed close behind. By 10AM we rounded Cape Caution as the winds and seas slowly decreased to nothing, and a fog enveloped the boats. We passed a few northbound boats within 1/4 mile without seeing them but the radar and AIS allowed us to pass without collisions. We turned into Wells Passage as the fog lifted and tied to the dock at Sullivan Bay around 2PM in front of Three Wishes another Selene 53. Neil and Nancy invited the crews to a dinner of Greek fair at the floating town's restaurant. The sun came out near the end of the day.

Selenes line the Sullivan Bay Dock: Z-Worthy, Wild Blue, and Three Wishes.

Our first sunset with real sunlight in 5 days!

Thursday, August 25, 2011: Sullivan Bay to Turnbull Cove

Only 40 minutes away, Turnbull Cove is a great place to enjoy the sunshine. Along the way we dropped the prawn traps in 280 feet outside the entrance. Inside the cove we started the crab traps soaking too. Soon after anchoring and side-tying with Z-Worthy, we visited the Nepah Lagoon. The entrance to this 4-mile by 1/2 mile body of water is restricted to 3 feet at low water and is only 50 feet wide so that the current races by at 10 knots, unless you enter at slack. We did so about 30 minutes after slack and the dinghy needed an engine RPM boast. The lagoon is BIG. We motored to the end searching for salmon rivers. Great scenery gave way to the need to exit before the entrance rapids escalated. Upon exit the water fell like a water fall, albeit only a tiny one. We squirted out without incident.

Approaching Turnbull Cove

It's Karen's birthday. No worries, her young age will not be divulged. Tonight's dining venue is on the cleared boat deck of the Wild Blue in brilliant sunshine. The menu is impressive:

Karen's Birthday Epicurean Dinner

Happy Hour: Wiser's Whiskey cocktails with Z-Worthy's fresh sushi

Main Course: Wild White King and Coho Salmon bbq'd on cedar plank, Willie-Bird bbq'd duck breast, wild rice and vegetable medley

Wine: 2004 Opus One

Dessert: Homemade Key Lime pie with fresh-whipped cream.

At last summer has arrived in the Pacific Northwest!

Dining at Wild Blue Skylounge.

Wild Cedar Plank Salmon and BBQ duck breast.

Bonny, Pat and Karen.

Happy Birthday Karen.

Friday, August 26, 2011: Turnbull Cove to Port McNeill

Port McNeill is the destination of choice for exchanging crew. Lately we secure moorage at the Port McNeill Fuel Dock and Marina as opposed to the city run dock. Besides great accommodation and 50-amp power, they provide free use of a van for picking up or dropping off crew at the Port Hardy Airport.

It's a short 3-hour tour of Wells Passage and Queen Charlotte Strait to get to McNeill. The water was flat calm and the Strait displayed little wind. You could see small groups of Dall's Porpoise breaking the surface more than a mile away. As we approached Ledge Point just outside McNeill, many sports-fishers were trolling close ashore. Later we learned that the Coho and Silver Salmon are biting big-time in the early mornings.

On the dock we see the a pretty green Selene 53 named Chatham II. Vera and Len are Canadians who have been cruising BC waters all their lives on sailboats and the last several years on their Selene. They have a cool fireplace inside their saloon. We'll be sure to join them to swap a few sea stories.

Karen and Bill, the Wild Blue crew this past week or so, leave for San Luis Obispo tomorrow. It's been a fun time with the easy going Almas'. Monday a new crew arrives. Pat and Alex will take a few days to wind down.

Evviva arrives in Port McNeill. This 160-foot Westport super-yacht is owned by the guy that built 4000 Bayliner Yachts for years and then sold out to Brunswick Corp. Later he re-entered the boat building business with Westport yachts an "economically priced" super-yacht line. This one sells for an economy minded $30 million. Contrary to the video narrator, we didn't get an invite to dinner aboard Evviva.

#16 Bella Coola, Namu to Lewall Inlet

2011-08-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 21, 2011: Bella Coola to Rocky Inlet (Namu)

Rain and southeast winds are predicted today. The Wild Blue and Maritime will slowly cruise westward, down Burke Channel, towards the building winds and rain. There are several places to duck into if it gets nasty including: Cathredral Point anchorage, Fougner Bay, Namu or Rocky Inlet behind Namu. So off we go examining the various creeks and rivers, which because of the heavy rains, are all flowing like big rivers. We are looking for salmon amassing near these water mouths.

Maritime holds her course.

We fish our way along and all goes well, for the weather, but not the fishing. At Cathedral Point, about 30 miles southwest of Bella Coola, winds are light, rain is heavy and we continue. 20 miles later, the winds are building with gusts over 20 knots so we decide on Fougner Bay. This Bay is small but nicely preotected and upon close inspection, we find two boats already anchored there. We continue and as we turn left into Fitz Hugh sound, the winds are gusting in the upper 20's and the seas are punchy. The Namu dock looks to be too exposed to these southerly winds, so we sneak back into Rock Inlet, just behind Namu and anchor in calm waters with a few other boats. It's a good place to be as the winds are less than 10 knots.

Wild Blue battles the building seas and driving rain. (Rob Bonner photo)

Namu was once a busy fish canning town. The killer whale that was caught in a fisherman's net near the town assumed it's name. Namu now serves as a overnight spot for visiting pleasure craft.

Entering Rock Inlet

Rock Inlet after the wind dies. The top is live, the bottom is a reflection.

This is not a Rorschach diagram.

Pat's homemade tabbouleh, Karen's Teryaki salmon, and seasoned potatoes made us forget the rainy weather..

Monday, August 22, 2011: Rocky Inlet to Lewall Inlet

The storm has passed and just spotty light rain remains. Today we'll cross Fitz Hugh "Sound", which really seems more like a "Strait". On the way we'll fish just outside Namu, then the Nalau Pass area. The plan is to stay inside well-protected Lewall Inlet for the night, just in case.

Our Route for the next few days.

Exiting Rock Inlet

The ocean is quite calm and once trolling, it's easy to see our flashers down to 20 feet deep. We troll at 35 and 50 feet using Apex lures: Alex's shiny bright Hot Shot, and Bill's dull green Apex. It's a dull green kind of day and Bill begins landing fish. A small King, a big Coho, another King, all this as Alex watches. Finally the skipper gets a bite and lands a King, but it didn't have the fight to detach from the down-rigger! Oh well.

After a short day of cruising-fishing, we squeeze through the narrow entrance to Lewall Inlet on Stirling Island and anchor for the night. We invited Rob and Donna for dinner aboard, and Donna brought some yummy crab artichoke dip. We served Pat's homemade meatballs with Karen's tasty Italian sauce over linguine. All crew survived a dessert of homemade brownies and ice cream. We slept good!

Veteran Wild Blue crew Bill Almas shows how easily it is to catch a salmon. This Coho is around 30 inches or so.

Today's haul off Namu and inside Nalau Pass area after 90 minutes of trolling. Bill caught three fish and chopped the head off Alex's fish. Note how small Alex's fish looks.

Entering Lewall Inlet on Stirling Island

#15 Shearwater, Ocean Falls, Eucott Bay and Bella Coola

2011-08-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 18, 2011: Shearwater to Ocean Falls Again

Our new crew jumped off the Bella Bella water taxi just after noon. We grabbed a lunch at the Shearwater resort restaurant then got a BC fishing license for the crew. We were off the docks by 2PM on the way to Ocean Falls. The "drinking" water at Shearwater resort has always been marginal with its diluted Wisers whiskey color. On the flip side, Ocean Falls water is the tastiest water we've ever drank and feels supersoft in the shower. It was an easy motor to the "Town of the Rain People"under sunny skies for a change. Ocean Falls receives the second most rainfall per year of any city in all of Canada, something like 158 inches per year, so it was unusual to see the sun out when we arrived.

Our Route over the next 5 days.

On the way to the dock we dropped a couple crab traps to soak, just in front of the spillway form the large dam that forms Link Lake behind and above Ocean Falls. Then we tied up and the city run dock and rendezvoused with Rob and Donna on the Selene 47 "Maritime". Maritime is also cruising south from Alaska taking it slow and easy. Looks like we make hang with them for part of our trip.

Once tied up, the Almas', our new Wild Blue crew for a week or so, wanted to tour the town. Bill and Karen are friends from San Luis Obispo. Bill is with Chevron and Karen is a zoologist. They've been aboard for many previous voyages and are a bunch of fun for various reasons. Among them: Karen's great chefing talent, and her nature to examine in detail any plant or animal we happen to run across. For example when we catch a fish, Karen is ready to dissect it and examine its stomach contents.

We walk the town then return for happy hour. Besides Rob and Donna, we ask another cruiser couple Rick and Ann from Kandu to join us. Rick grew up in Ocean Falls from 1956 to the mid-1960's. He lived there in the 3,900 people town's heyday of logging, Crown Zellerbach paper mill and cruise ship tourism. Rick has some compelling stories about Ocean Falls. We learned the when built, the local hotel was the second largest in British Columbia.

Dam behind and above Ocean Falls forms Link Lake.

Spillway adjacent to town.

Friday, August 19, 2011: Ocean Falls to Eucott Bay

We pulled our crab traps and were pleasantly surprised to find 4 keeper crabs. We then set our course for Eucott Bay. The Bay provides excellent shelter as BC Weather is forecasting a 40-gale over the next sevral days so it's best to be prepared. We might actually get a storm this time!

One the way we stop to fish Rattanbury Point near the entrance to Cousins Inlet. The Ocean Falls locals tell us Coho salmon are there. We set out two salmon trolls, one with a herring bait, the other with Alex's lucky Apex Hot Shot lure. After about 40 minutes with two hits on the bait, a good sized Coho takes the lure and Bill and Alex land it. Then we motor on to Eucott Bay while crab and fish are cleaned, cooked and/or processed for the freezer.

Along the way we stop at the Alexander MacKenzie Monument. MacKenzie was an explorer who searched for the Northwest Passage by land. He was the first person to cross North America north of Mexico in 1793, just missing Captain George Vancouver by six weeks. The Monument records where Alex left a sign on the rock that reads "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22d July 1793" using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease. We saw the rock and markings just below the Monument on the north side of Dean Channel.

Alexander MacKenzie Monument. Alex was the first man to cross North America above Mexico in 1797.

Alex left this message for Captain Vancouver. Originally written in "bear grease" the rock has been engraved to memorialize the feat.

Eucott Bay turns out to be a fine place: it's shallow with lots of room for many boats; it's flat calm; it has a hot springs with easy access that does not stink of sulfur; and the the views remind one of Yosemite with a half-dome look-a-like.

Crab from Ocean Falls.

Karen is a happy crew and crab picker.

Processing the catch.

Maritime at anchor in Eucott Bay

Donna, Rob, Bill and Alex enjoy Eucott Hot Springs

Saturday, August 20, 2011: Eucott Bay to Bella Coola

Bella Coola is probably one of the largest communities in the area. It's only about a 3-hour cruise from Eucott. It looks like a fun place to explore. But before we can leave Karen scratches out a delicious crab scramble. Along the way we enjoy tasty crab cakes and excellent vistas in glacier colored waters. Life is rough on the ocean!

The fare: Karen crab scramble.

The View: BC Inland Coastal Waters

Karen's crab cake.

We made it to Bella Coola, about 50 miles inland from the coast. We're tied to the dock. It's raining hard and the wind is blowing only about 20 knots so far. High winds and heavy rains are predicted for the next day or so. Tomorrow, we'll head southwest towards Fitz Hugh Sound and into the yukky weather.

#14 Penn Bay, Klemtu, Rescue Bay, Wigham Bay, Beales Bay and Shearwater

2011-08-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 14, 2011: Penn Bay, Meyers Narrows, Klemtu, Jackson Passage, Jackson Narrows to Rescue Bay.

We left pretty Penn Bay at 9AM to insure we arrived at Meyers Narrows at high slack tide. The narrows is only 4 foot deep at low water. Today the prediction is a plus 14-foot tide so we should see around 18 feet minimum depth at 2:30PM. We putt south westward down Surf Inlet and merge into Laredo Channel. It's raining with about 3-mile visibility. The AIS shows 4 commercial tug and cargo ships within range as well as the Voldendam, a 900-foot Holland-America cruise ship. This year we've noticed these ships cruising the interior waters of the Inside Passage. Passengers get a “close up and personal” view of the passage and are guaranteed flat calm waters while inside. The BIG ship glides past us within ¼ mile doing 23 knots. We activate the stabilizers to keep the dishes in their cupboards.

The Voldendam

Route from Penn Bay to Rescue Bay

Then we cross rocky Laredo Sound to Meyers Passage, and things level out again. We switch off the stabilizers and prepare for skinny Meyers Narrows. All is well and make a U-Turn over the top of Spit Head and turn south into Tolmie Channel. After a couple miles we stop in front of the Boat Bluff lighthouse. The Boat Bluff lightkeepers usually leave their wifi open for passing boaters. In 2009 we shaw 20 boats or so stopped here and thought it was a big salmon run. It turned out to be a big wifi run! Today their wifi is off, so we head down a few more miles to Klemtu, the Indian tribal council village. The Klemtu dock is full but McKnight's wifi is open, so we loiter in the harbor downloading our emails. After checking Google News we motor on down through Jackson Passage and find the fish farm wifi open. Again we loiter while answering our emails. Finally we squish out east through Jackson Narrows and anchor in nearby Rescue Bay. What a day!

Navigating Meyers Narrows

Cruising by the Boat Bluff Light Station

Rainbow waiting for us in Rescue Bay

Monday, August 15, 2011: Rescue Bay to Wigham Bay

It's a short run to Wigham near Bella Bella, another Indian village town. We want to be near Bella Bella for cell service as Pat wants to check on her mom. We hope Wigham is close enough.

Wigham is another pretty spot. We anchor in a private little bay inside. There are two other boats, each in their private bay inside Wigham Bay. It's cool! Wild Blue becomes the center of a huge bait ball, with thousands of herring circling around her. But no bigger fish came around, perhaps scared away by the large underwater profile of the looming hull.

Pat makes her calls and all is well.

This is NOT the logo for Canadian Target Stores.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011: Wigham to Beales Bay

Beales is another bay close to Bella Bella's cell service. By the way, no AT&T service here, just Verizon. We anchor again under the threat of yet more high wind forecast. I'm sure there's big winds somewhere, just not here.

Peering into Beales Bay Lagoon

Tomorrow we will take to the dock at nearby Shearwater Resort to gather crew arriving Thursday at the local airport. Then its off to that ghost town of Ocean Falls yet again for their tasty super-soft water. We'll be out of touch for several days as we move down the BC Coast crossing Queen Charlotte Sound into the protected waters inside Vancouver Island, arriving there around August 26th or so. Chow!

#13 Prince Rupert, Pillsbury Bay, Hunt Inlet, Baker Inlet, Lowe Inlet, Chapple Inlet, to Penn Bay

2011-08-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 8, 2011: Pillsbury Cove in Prince Rupert

We had planned to stay at least two nights, but after a rocky evening tied to the bouncy docks at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club, we were ready to move. PRRYC is exposed to passing boats on their way to and from one of several marinas in Prince Rupert Harbor. Unlike most harbors, PR does not have a speed limit so the Yacht Club docks are continually subjected to large boat wakes. There's really no advantage to staying at these docks as the power is marginal. Our 30-amp circuit kept tripping the breaker at 20 amps. The only reasons to moor here is for good fresh water and shoreside business access, otherwise it's not worth the $100 US per night, in our opinion.

Even though there was plenty of empty dock space, it took some yakking with the PRRYC harbormaster to allow us to stay 60 minutes beyond the 10:30AM checkout. We raced to the town's Safeway and did our final provisioning for 20+ days and made it back to the boat, avoiding an additional $5 per hour charge. We then pulled away for our next destination, Pillsbury Cove just 3 miles across the Prince Harbor. Here the waters are calm and we enjoyed a peaceful afternoon. The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Arrow Point also joined us in Pillsbury Cove. Later we launched the tender and took a cruise to town so Alex could mail in his ballot back to SLO town. That night the waters continued their calmness and we slept soundly, all for a great price!

Our Route across Prince Rupert Harbour to Pillsbury Cove

Canadian Coast Guard Neighbor in Pillsbury Coce

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011: Pillsbury Cove, Kinahan Islands, Hunt Inlet

We've already crossed the Dixon Entrance so we have extra weather days to spare and decide to visit on a local anchorage, just 15 miles south of Prince Rupert. The commercial fishing fleet is arriving as we exit the Harbor. We plan on Lawson Harbor which should be in cell phone range so Pat can stay in contact with her mom as she recovers form health issues. Later the evening forecast calls for strong winds so we opt for Hunt Inlet on the northern edge of Porcher Island, in the same vicinity as Lawson Harbor. Hunt provides excellent protection 1.5 miles deep inside it's shallow waters. But for now the winds are light and seas are flat. We stop the boat and rig for salmon trolling near the Kinahan Islands along our route. After 90 minutes without a bite, we anchor inside the Island for lunch.

The Route from Prince Rupert to Hunt Inlet

Later we head for the Inlet arriving in the late afternoon and note the several homes that line the coast. We want to anchor deep inside but a narrow channel with just 7-foot depth keeps us pondering. Finally we add our 9-foot plus tide and line up in the passage. It's an uneventful entry into the Inlet's inner sanctum. We drop anchor in the flat calm waters, ready for any big wind.

Hunt Inlet Anchorage

Hunt Inlet Neighbors

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011: Hunt Inlet to Baker Inlet

We awoke this morning debating routes south: inside versus outside. The outside route offers many remote anchorages we haven't yet visited, but the inside route down well-traveled Grenville Channel offers us Hartley Bay's cell phone coverage by tomorrow. Alex has a meeting Thursday at 1PM which he plans to attend via tele-conference. Only lack of cell phone or internet access prevent him. The native village of Hartley Bay has cell, so the inside route it will be, with tonight's stop at Baker Inlet. It's an easy motor in flat seas amongst the commercial seiners working their nets across the top of Porcher Island. We pass Lawson Harbor then notice two police boats, a Coast Guard Ship, helicopter and a Canadian warship intermingling with about 10 commercial fishing boats. Not sure what the beef was as we minded our own business. Let's hope it was some kind of joint exercise?

Canadian Warship #709 cruising up Grenville Channel

After 10 miles of cruising into Grenville Channel we arrive at Watts Narrows, the skinny entrance into Baker Inlet. We've timed our arrival for slack current at 1PM. Next we point Wild Blue east into the Narrows, announce a Securite call over the VHF to alert any outbound boats and begin our entry. All is well except our GPS plotter has the boat out of Watts Narrows, off course, running over land! This occasionally happens when the GPS signal is blocked by high mountains, so occasionally, even we computer geek captains have to use our eyeballs.

Watts Narrows Route

Baker Inlet Route

Once inside we maneuver to a spot about 275 feet deep and launch two prawn traps. We'll soak them overnight and see what shows up tomorrow. We anchor at the head of Baker Inlet, alone amongst the cedars, spruce and hemlocks. It's a pretty site.

The Wild Blue at anchor in Baker.

Thursday, August 11, 2011: Baker Inlet to Lowe Inlet

Alex needs to get Hartley Bay cell service by 1PM. He's up early gathering the prawns traps then loading the dinghy on to the boat deck. Finally we're off at 7AM. It's a 5+ hour motor south down Grenville channel. We've moving along OK with a good chance of making it when the current reverses. Suddenly instead of 9 knots, we're making just 6 knots. We realize Alex will miss his tele-conference by an hour. Oh well, we can always reschedule, and we pull into Lowe Inlet to wait out the adverse current.

We passed 5 Wave Runners traveling north at high speed. It took 8 exposures to get one with a subject in it.

Lowe Inlet

There are three other cruising boats waiting as well and after a couple hours the Inlet is boat free, as the others continue their journey. No longer in a hurry, we reset the anchor at the foot of Verney Falls at the head of the inlet and begin watching many huge salmon jumping up the falls, some into the mouth of a large black bear. Soon a sportsfishing boat arrives, motors inside the 'no fishing zone” at the base of the falls, and starts reeling in huge salmon after salmon. Alex spies the ubiquitous “Buzz Bomb” fishing lure on the fisherman's pole, and begins to gear up!

Anchored in front of Verney Falls

With the tender launched, Alex packs the “Buzz Bomb” and “Apex Hot Shot” lures, pole and net, as well as other essential salmon handling gear (fillet knife and rubber mallet). He positions the tender outside the “no fishing zone” but where many salmon are repeatedly leaping from the liquid. He does not have a good casting pole but manages to fling the weighted “Bomb” far enough to get a short troll. The Bomb's weight takes it deep, under the many huge salmon lingering near the surface. After numerous casts without bite, he switches to the “Hot Shot”. This lure is light and stays near the surface. It has great action and can be seen for a good distance. It's lightness makes it too difficult to cast with the stiff fishing pole, so Alex devises his own “motor casting” technique. As the tender is motored across the salmon zone for 100 yards or so, occasional line tension is applied to keep the lure near the surface. The boat is stopped and the lure slowly reeled in. Bingo! A huge salmon attacks the lure and cleanly breaches the surface some 50 yards away. The fight is on and after a few minutes the big beast is alongside. It takes a bit of learning to land big salmon singlehandedly, but after losing one, the second is hooked on the next troll. Within 40 minutes three out of five hookups are in the box. These Coho salmon range from 30” to 36”. One thing is for sure: salmon fishing is a hoot!

Verney Falls at high tide with sports fisher inside the "No Fishing Zone"

The ubiquitous Buzz Bomb lure.

The Apex Hot Shot did it's job!

This 30-incher was the smallest of the three fish.

Pat is dreaming about salmon dinners.

Pat's fresh tomato, garlic and mushroom pasta sauce

Fresh Baker Inlet prawns with Orecchiette del prete in Pat's pasta sauce.

Back at the Wild Blue the fish cleaning process begins. Having never cleaned and filleted a salmon before, Alex learns it takes a bit to become any good at this. But after hacking away for longer than it took to land the fish, and spewing fish guts and blood here and there, Alex is able to create some 15+ pounds of salmon fillets. Pat says she is impressed and adds “Now clean up the boat!” She retreats to the salon for shrink wrapping and deep freezing, exclaiming “Fresh prawn pasta tonight, and fresh salmon tomorrow”. Okay!

Friday, August 12, 2011: Lowe Inlet, Hartley Bay, to Chapple Inlet

We're on our way to Hartley Bay by 10AM. A large BC Ferry passes up in the Grenville Channel, requiring us to move a bit so the big ship can pass. We get to Hartley Bay by 1PM, feast on cell service and fill our fresh water tanks. Then it's off to a secure anchorage for the night as 30-knot southeast winds are forecast for early tomorrow AM.

Route from Lowe Inlet, to Hartley Bay, to Chapple Inlet.

Wild Blue moves over for BC Ferry.

We're back on the outside route passing Gil Island, very near the site of the 2006 sinking of the BC Ferry “Queen of the North”. The villagers of Hartley Bay were the heroes who rescued 99 passengers and crew after mid-night on that fateful March evening. Wiki “Queen of the North” for the latest theory on why the ship ran into Gil Island.

We cruise down Campania Sound under gloomy skies and light rain. We're open to ocean swells but there are none. A good anchor spot is Emily Carr Cove but the tide is too low for us to enter. Chapple Inlet is described by the guide books as a “bombproof” anchorage so we wind our way up the 3-mile inlet, squeezing through two shallow narrows to keep our hearts a pumping. Finally we drop anchor at the Inlet's head in 40-feet, with 5 to 1 rode, and set the depth and drag anchor alarms. The rain intensifies but so does our appetite as we savor fresh salmon fillets, grilled to perfection. Yum!

Exiting Chapple Inlet is exciting!

Saturday, August 13, 2011: Chapple Inlet to Penn Bay

This morning the big breeze has been pushed back until late morning, another typical outcome for BC weather prediction. The wind in Chapple Inlet hasn't surpassed 12 knots but outside reports winds in 25+ range. We delay our departure for another reason: we want high water to sooth frazzled nerves when re-crossing those shallow narrows. Finally at 2PM we start the engine for a 90-minute run up Surf Inlet to Penn Bay.

Penn Bay is the only real anchorage in Surf Inlet. It's protected on all sides and has a deep water entrance, something we seem to like lately. We may visit the abandoned hydro-electric plant at the head of the Inlet as well, if the sun comes out.

Penn Bay turns out to be awesome with multiple creeks and a racing low waterfall at it's head. Outside the cabin house, the aroma of fresh trees fill the air. Hemlocks and fir smells remind you of a Christmas tree lot. The wind never exceeds 5 knots but it continues to rain lightly. Pat says put Penn Bay on our highly recommend list, so we will! Best to view the video and photo and make up your own mind.

The Penn Bay Waterfall

Tomorrow we will run down Surf Inlet, south along Laredo Channel, into Myers Passage, arriving at Meyers Narrows at 2PM high tide and slack current, then on to Klemtu for the evening. We hope to have wifi to get these updates to the Blog. See you there.

#12 Craig to Prince Rupert

2011-08-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 6, 2011: Craig to Nina Cove

We got off the dock and on our way by 8AM. The wind and seas are calm and the skies are partly cloudy as we make a slow left hand turn around Prince of Wales Island. By 10:30 we are through Tlevak Narrows heading southeast down the inside route between POW and Dall Islands.This is the same route we traveled in 2008 into a worsening southeasterly gale. That time we overnighted in Elbow Bay on Long Island. Tonight we go a bit farther to Nina Cove, a well-protected anchorage. We're the only pleasure boat in a day of cruising among a handful of sportsfishers and another 5 or so commercial fishing boats.

Waterfall Lodge is one of the larger fishing lodges near Craig. Many of it's boats were on the dock indicating that there have not been as many sports fishermen this season.

One of the few commerical boats around southeast POW Island. Besides us, there were no pleasure craft.

Along the wat we try our luck trolling for salmon. Pat drive while Alex trolls. We land three: two small king salmon less than the 28-inch limit and a small rockfish. We're 3 for 3 on frozen herring and have more questions than answers about trolling: Why does the downrigger sing? How do you know there's a fish on if the line doesn't pull free from the down rigger?, etc.... We will yak with Jay and Gerard for answers to these and more.

We drop anchor in Nina Cove about 5PM and settle in for shrimp tacos and a restful night.

Sunday, August 7, 2011: Nina Cove to Prince Rupert

It's a bright and sunny morning without wind. We're in no hurry to get going as it's just a 3-hour motor to Nichols Bay, our spot for tomorrow's early morning departure to Prince Rupert. After breakfast Alex turns on the VHF weather forecast to learn that a low is moving in and Monday doesn't look as good as it did for crossing Dixon Entrance. We make a quick decision to head to Prince Rupert today, a 10-hour motor. It's 9AM before we clear Nina Cove and turn for British Columbia, an uncharacteristic late start for such a long crossing. Normally we'd be up at 4AM to leave at first light and be halfway across by 9.

The seas is slightly rippled by light wind and you can see 40+ miles to the southeast. It looks good out there and we set a near straight 90 mile course past Nichols Bay and Cape Chacon to Prince Rupert. The sun continues and Alex moves to the foredeck to work on his tan. Heck we didn't see much sun up here in Alaska this summer and he's probably low on Vitamin D. The ocean turns into the predicted 4-foot combined swell and sea making a bouncy but comfortable ride. It's a "fair winds and following seas" kind of day, the best for a long crossing in a powerboat. and one of the easiest crossings of the mighty Dixon Entrance for us.

Cape Chacon, the southern tip of Prince of Wales Island, is easily identified by its three humps.

A glass on the bow tie post stayed put for the entire Dixon Entrance crossing, a testament to a great day for big ocean travel in a small boat.

We arrive at 8:30PM at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club and after clearing customs settle in for a bouncy night on the outside breakwater float. Tomorrow we'll move to a calmer anchorage then begin out slow cruise down British Columbia. Hopefully one of the BC lighthouses will light up our wifi so we can blog. Otherwise it's August 15th or so before out next communications with the outside world. Have a nice couple of weeks.

The Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club. Can't wait to get to the Club bar.

#11 Back on the Cruise

2011-08-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

After a 3-week break, we have arrived back in Craig Alaska and are prepared to continue our cruise. Today we'll motor south and east along the protected waters of Prince of Wales Island. After fishing a bit we hope to end up in Nina Cove on Long Island located along the southeast coastline of POW Island. Sunday we'll move down to Nichols Bay on the southern tip of the Island near Cape Chacon. Monday looks like our best weather day for the 8-hour ocean crossing of Dixon Entrance into British Columbia. We hope to make Prince Rupert by Monday afternoon. As you may know from reading this Blog, we've always encountered rough seas around Cape Chacon. Crew and Admiral Pat is not too happy about this leg. We won't be in cell or wifi range until Prince Rupert.

Our Route for Saturday, Sunday and Monday if weather holds.

In California we attended to Pat's mom Barbara who is recovering from a heart issue. We moved her to an assisted living facility near our home. Pat who has been assisting her mom and hasn't been aboard since May, seems a bit worried about the move, but so far so good. Hopefully she can now relax and enjoy cruising.

Last week Alex traveled to Anacortes Washington to prepare a vacant rental property. While there he enjoyed another fabulous dining experience at Jay and Micky Field's home. Jay of Dash One Sports Fishing Charters, and Micky of Village Pizza fame, always dine heartily. Smoked salmon, smoked albacore, fresh Dungeness crab, barbecue flank steak and grilled vegetables helped extinguish our hunger. For hunger insurance, fresh berries on ice cream topped off the evening.

This giant was a 9-inch crab caught in a trap placed about 1/4 mile east of the Anacortes Ferry Dock.

As reported in this Blog at the start of the cruise, Alex immensely enjoyed Micky's fresh key lime pie (see key lime pie). So for the past 3 months we've been searching the various grocery stores along the inside passage and Alaska for fresh key limes. We've a stack of pie crusts in the freezer waiting for fresh key limes to build a pie. It's similar to that episode in the Showtime "Dexter" series, where Dexter, a serial killer, helps a friend with terminal cancer. She wants to die, but won't until she tastes a great key lime pie. Of course Dexter assists with her suicide, but only after she finds the ultimate key lime pie. Well Micky has located a fresh key lime substitute. So now we're searching the stores for "Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice". Stay tuned.

Fresh Key Lime Substitute

So we're off again. Hope to have something to Blog about on Monday or Tuesday.

#10 Heavy Selene Trawler Traffic in Alaska

2011-07-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

So far we have passed 11 Selene Trawlers cruising Alaska this summer, more than any other builder. It's as though there's another Selene in every port and anchorage. Perhaps the fleet should organize an Alaskan Selene Rendezvous? I've probably left someone out, but here's the list so far:

1. Z-Worthy, a Selene 48, Z-Worthy Blog
2. Tranquility. a Selene 53
3. Raindancer, a Selene 59
4. Peregrine, a Selene 53
5. Morning Star, a Selene 53
6. Spirit, a Selene 55, Spirit Blog
7. Elipsis, a Selene 59
8. Porosity, a Selene 59
9. Maritime, a Selene 47
10. Oriana, a Selene 53
11. Kononia, a Selene 59 *

There are two other Selenes we've heard are in Alaska (see the Spirit Blog) but we haven't yet run across. They are:

12. Sojourn, a Selene 53
13. Moonstar, a Selene 62

So including the Wild Blue, there are 14 Selene Trawlers (owners) presently cruising. That is pretty amazing!

* Note: Just like in sports, some records have an asterisk for special situations. We ran into the crew of Kononia on a Juneau street last month. We wondered just where their boat was moored. After several beers among the screaming people inside the Red Dog Saloon, the Kononia crew finally admitted to cruising to Juneau in a jet plane, instead of their beautiful Selene. Oh well.

#9 Sitka, Goddard Hot Springs, Kalinin Bay, Warm Springs Bay, Red Bluff Bay, Port Walter, Coronation Island, to Craig, Alaska

2011-07-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 7, 2011 - Sitka: The New Crew Arrives

Vince has stayed behind to help crew the boat this week. Over the last couple days, he assisted Alex in completing "mid-cruise" maintenance. This includes main and generator engine oil and filter changes, and raw water strainer clean-out, including the seawater cooled deep freezer. We inspected the zincs, engine fluid levels, and finally added 600 gallons of diesel at $4.20 per gallon.

Sitka's Eliason Harbor our home for the last 6 days

This afternoon Rick from the Selene 53 Tranquility came by and we swapped fish stories. He reports that many boats are catching "white" king salmon this season. The "white" salmon appears the same from the outside as a "red" salmon. Only when filleted, can you determine whether a fish is white as opposed to red. Rick says less than 1% of king salmon are white fleshed. We just hope to land a king salmon of any color!

In the middle of this white salmon fish story, the new Wild Blue crew arrive -- all geared up! Suddenly we're loading special fishing poles, boxes of lures, multiple reels, and two hefty down-riggers with custom made mounts. Gerard Ages and Greg Gubser have arrived and they are twitching to get fishing!

Gerard, a general contractor from Los Osos, California. is a water guy and a fishing maniac. He's has his own boat and regularly fishes off Morro Bay. He's crewed on two prior Alaska expeditions aboard Wild Blue and holds the record for the biggest fish farmed (approximate 200 lb halibut) as well as the biggest fish boated (111 lb halibut), breaking Vince's record.

Greg, a harbormaster at Oyster Point Marina in San Francisco Bay, lives in Pacifica, California. He too is a water guy and fishing freak. A prior US Coast Guard officer, this is Greg's first cruise aboard the boat.

We immediately go into fishing prep mode. The mounts are installed and the down-riggers are tested and adjusted. We visit the local marine store, Murray Pacific, to stock up on bait, rigger weights, more lures, hooks and fishing licenses. Along the way Gerard chats up all the locals gathering fishing techniques and preferred locations. After several store visits we're geared up for fishing. Finally we top off the day with a provisioning spree at the local market and settle on a light dinner aboard. We hope to be up early to fish south of Sitka.

Friday, July 8, 2011 - Fishing Our Way from Sitka to Goddard Hot Springs

After consulting the Alaska Fishing Guide and the upcoming week's weather forecast, we decide on a route that places us in Craig, Alaska on the 14th. 8-10 foot seas are forecast for Baranof Island's the west coast, so we'll need to take the longer but more protected route north, through Peril Strait and down the east coast of Baranof. Today we re-route to fish south of Sitka, in East Channel, around Biorka Island and in the Necker Islands, ending up at Goddard Hot Springs for the night.

This week's route from Sitka to Craig, Alaska

Sitka has many benefits for the fisherman, the best being it's proximity to the most productive fishing grounds in Southeast, Alaska. By 7:30AM we are off the dock, and by 8AM we are fishing East Channel 4 miles south. In just 20 minutes Gerard hooks our first king salmon and the 32-incher is in the box! Wow, this seems too easy. The license limits us to 2 kings salmon per day, or 8 for the boat. Each must be greater than 28 inches. We troll up and back in East Channel and soon Greg has boated a few silver salmon. Even the rockfish are biting. By 9:30 the bite is off and we move further south to Biorka Island.

New down-rigger at work aboard Wild Blue. A 12-pound lead ball keeps the trolling gear deep in the water where the king salmon swim.

Just a couple hours fishing near Sitka.

Next we head out to sea following a current line near Biorka. The commercial troller fleet is out in force. The seas are a bit lumpy and Wild Blue's stabilizers don't operate at our 2-knot trolling speed. We spend an hour without action then begin trolling the protected passes between the nearby Necker Islands. We note other commercial boats doing this and soon we have boated several more silver salmon. About mid-afternoon we head for Dorothy Pass and the Goddard Hot Springs, just a few more miles away.

Navigating Dorothy Narrows

Once anchored near the hot springs, we take the tender, some beer and towels ashore. As we arrive the group ahead of us is undressing for the springs and the first hot tub is filled with naked bodies. Unused to this avant-guard approach to hot tubbing, Gerard, Greg and Alex continued on up to another tub. Later, we did share some cold beer with our cooked neighbors. Smelling like sulfur, we returned to the boat and consumed a tasty salmon dinner.

The upper of two hot tub soaking rooms fed by Goddard Hot Springs.

View from the hot tub.

The first of many seafood dinners. This one is a silver salmon entree.

Saturday, July 9, 2011 - Goddard Hot Springs, Sitka, Kruzof Cove, to Kalinin Bay

Early Saturday morning we left Goddard for Sitka. We needed a few more provisions and fishing gear and decided to temporarily tie up. We timed our cruise to arrive at East Channel about the same time as as yesterday's good fishing and we were trolling again by 8:30. The kings were off the bite but Gerard a small halibut

While fishing in East Channel, a large white yacht approached us from Sitka. It was the ubiquitous Yachette, a Delta 70 out of Vancouver. Anyone who has cruised Alaska in the last 3 or 4 decades has had to have passed by Yachette. I called Mike on the VHF to confirm this is his 33rd year cruising somewhere in AK. Of course he asked about fishing the Channel, and was bit bit surprised we had only landed one king here.

We continued back to Sitka where Greg prepared the ingredients for fresh rock cod taco-burritos.

Entering Sitka from the south.

Gerard is a Licensed General Contractor. He knows taco-burrito construction.

The finished construction project.

While docked in Sitka, we met Carl and Melody from the Selene 59 Ellipsis. He was looking for fishing tips and we gave him all of our experience leaned in our first day of king fishing. For the afternoon we fished north of Sitka in Katlian Bay and Krestof Sound. We landed a couple silver salmon and then temporarily anchored for dinner in the cove just south of Sukoi Inlet. Vince prepared our favorite pasta carbonara. At 9PM we left for Kalinin Bay off Salisbury Sound, a 4-star king salmon fishing area. We arrived at 11PM and there was just enough light to allow us to anchor in the middle of 20 other boats.

Genuine Italian pasta carbonara, our favorite.

Sailing into the sunset on the way to Kalinin Bay.

Cruising North from Sitka.

Sunday, July 10, 2011 - Kalinin Bay, Peril Strait, Waterfall Cove to Warm Springs Bay

Today we need to be at Sergius Narrows in Peril Strait promptly at the 7:30AM slack current to make Warm Springs Bay by early afternoon. But the boys want to fish and it's a good thing daylight starts before 4AM. By 5AM most of the commercial fishing boats are on the troll just outside the Bay. We start trolling circles close to shore just a mile west of Kalinin Bay. Soon Gerard hooks up a good-sized king. After 90 minutes of fishing we leave for Peril Strait.

A happy fisherman.

Ready to be shrink-wrapped and flash frozen.

There is little boiling water in the Narrows this time. Once Peril Strait widens, we stop the boat and drift fish. We're dragging the bottom for halibut and casting on the surface for silvers. We catch a few of each including a good-sized halibut.

A good-sized halibut.

Greg adds to the freezer haul.

Halibut Cerviche and chips anyone?

After Greg cleaned the big halibut, he served us cerviche and chips. We landed a king just off Elovoi Island then saw the Selene 59 Porosity on the AIS. We chatted with Bill with who last year we side-tied next to in Tofino on Vancouver Island's west coast. This makes 9 Selenes we have seen cruising Alaska this summer. Eventually we cleared the Strait and turned south along the east coast of Baranof Island.

The Selene 59 Porosity with Bill and crew passed us in Peril Strait.

Landing a king salmon.

Baranof Island's pretty east coastline.

In the afternoon we anchored inside Warm Springs Bay with a stern line tied to shore. We took the tender ashore for another hot springs experience. Once there, Vince recognized the owner of George Lepp's old photography school from Los Osos. Amazing that you can go 2000 miles away and run into a neighbor! Some of us enjoyed the springs while other stretched their legs.

Gerard, Greg and Vince: The all-star fishing crew!

Stern tied to the shore.

Processing the catch.

Fun in the hot springs.

More fun riding down the waterfall?

Tonight's dining experience: barbecue halibut, grilled onions, chibatta rolls, and brussel sprouts.

Kasnyku Waterfall

Warm Springs Bay Waterfall from the top.

Warm Springs Bay Waterfall from the bottom.

Monday, July 11, 2011 - Warm Springs Bay to Red Bluff Bay

It's a short cruise to Red Bluff Bay so we'll fish along the way. Kings and silvers seem to want to jump in our boat so we let them. About 10 boats are anchored deep in the Bay, so after setting two prawn traps near the entrance, we anchor on the bight half-way up. Then we launch the seal team for an assault on the waterfalls and bears at the end of the Bay.

Looking into Red Bluff Bay from our anchorage

Seal team deployment. Ever since the Navy Seals got Osama, we want to be just like them.

. Seal team assaults waterfall.

Bear thinks seal team mighty tasty!

Gerard is king of the falls.

The silver salmon herds in Red Bluff Bay.

Yakkers.

The Selene 53 Oriana with Jan, Vicki and family have the choice anchor spot, just next to the bears ashore. They may not know that bears are good swimmers!

Finally, a non-seafood dinner with Pat's homemade meatballs.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - Red Bluff Bay to Port Walter

This morning we pulled our prawn traps. Some 50 prawns rode the basket to the surface. We fished our way further south along Baranof's east coast, dropping our lines in Gut Bay and other spots. Surprisingly we landed one of the rare "white" king salmon today. After setting the anchor at Port Walter, we set out two crab traps to soak overnight.

There is a better boat than Wild Blue?

Entering Port Walter

NOAA Fish Testing Facility inside Little Port Walter

It's time for a taste test! We prep both flesh colors for a cedar plank barbecue using fillets from the same areas of the two fish. The cedar plank is thoroughly soaked for two hours. Greg mixes up some cilantro butter and spreads equal amounts on each fillet. The salmon is slow-cooked to maximize cedar smoke infusion. Fresh prawns are added for palette cleansing.

Please twist my head off. I like it!

Red and white salmon. The only question is taste.

Ready for serving.

Plated for taste testing. See the video!

Red vs White: The taste test video.

After dinner we enjoyed another spectacular Alaskan sunset. It was a good moon arising.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - Port Walter, Coronation Island, to Bob's Place on Prince of Wales Island.

We pulled the traps and counted three legal Dungenous crabs, just enough for a crab snack that won't ruin tonight's dinner. Today we head for Coronation Island, beyond Chatham Strait, out in open Gulf of Alaska ocean. The weather is clear and the ocean calm as we leave Port Walter. Once past the end of the Strait, the sea builds, and a fog blocks our sunlight. Visibility is running about 300 yards and thankfully the radars aren't showing any targets. The seas and winds build as we pull into Egg Harbor. A 30-knot gust encourages us to continue on to Prince of Wales Island and sheltered areas. Crossing the top of Coronation Island turns out to be a pretty rough ride for 20 minutes. Crashing sounds in the salon: damage report is just one broken wine glass but the portable ice maker takes a nose dive to the deck. We'll have to check it out later.

At last we get on a decent run in the lee of the Island and enjoy less intense sea and wind. Once inside the many islands surrounding Prince of Wales Island, the ocean flattens and the winds lessen. We start a trolling run for more kings.By the days end we've made it ti Bob's Place, an old Indian village anchorage. We're just a 90 minute cruise away from Craig. We'll get in early tomorrow and prep the boat for the next leg.

Coronation Island Run

Approaching Coronation Island

A crabby crab.

Thursday, July 14, 2011 - Bob's Place to Craig, Prince of Wales Island.

About 7:30AM we started our engines for Craig. The flat water, gray skies and calm winds ushered us along. Just a few miles from the harbor, a humpy gave us a nice sendoff by jumping out of the liquid and into the air. Greg was ready and captured two great shots.

Our Alaska cruise will pause for a short while. Alex will travel back to SLO to assist Pat while we make care arrangements for her mother, who has a health issue. Be back soon......

Humpback whale send off.

Quick, turn on the stabilizers!

#8 - Juneau to Sikta

2011-07-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - Juneau

A new crew flew into Juneau today. We provisioned lightly hoping to empty the freezer still packed with Williebird.com poultry products. We'll get underway tomorrow after dinner at the busy Twisted Fish restaurant. The Black Cod pan fired in lemon, butter and capers is awesome!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - Juneau to Funter Bay: Crab Time Again

Obviously in this time of high fuel prices, one tends to cruise the least distance between destinations. The shortest route from Juneau to Funter Bay is via Gastineau Channel across the Mendenhall Bar. This Bar is marked with clear navigational aids, but drys completely at low tide, at times leaving a few boats high and dry as well. A Mendenhall Bar crossing saves two hours but requires very high tide and steeled nerves. Fortunately, we have neither so opt for the long way around Douglass Island.

This could happen if you misjudge the tides. Unfortunately this was the case for Scrimshaw, which was anchored on July 2010 near Ketchikan, and got hung up on a rock on a minus tide. Click for the Coast Guard summary.

After making a U-turn over the top of the Mansfield Penninsula on Admiralty Island, we cruise south to Funter Bay and find an open spot on the State float. Since most of Alaska recreation is water bound, the State spends money on "water parks" in the form of docks in protected waters. These are heavily used by boaters and fill quickly as ours did today.

Funter Bay once had a cannery like so many well-protected Alaskan bays.

After tying up, we launched the tender and set a couple crab traps soaking for the night. We hope the males muscle out the females for our traps.

The Droid Group includes Carolyn French, Marianne Fonte, Vince Fonte and Chuck French all of San Luis Obispo. Like most crew these days, when a cell tower is in range, their attention moves to smart phones. Hopefully somebody is looking out for deadheads!

Our crew this week in the Fontes and Frenchs of San Luis Obispo. These folks have a lot in common including real estate, retirement, poker, cowboy-ing and Droid phones. The Droid Group has crewed with us many times in the past, held the biggest fish record (87-pound halibut) for the 2008 season, and survived the worst storm aboard Wild Blue (rounding Cape Chacon in 2008). They are a fun group.

Thursday, June 30, 2011 - Funter Bay to Tenakee Springs: Dining on Fresh Crab

This morning we pulled our traps and found 5 legal sized crabs. Only one was a female, so that left enough for dinner hors douerves. We clean the crab at the handy fish cleaning station mounted on the end of the State float. Unfortunately a crab kicked our best butcher block knife overboard. Don't tell the Admiral.

We left Funter Bay cruising south in North Chatham Channel (the one in Alaska not British Columbia). We were against the current and wind and ocean spray splattered the foredeck which was promptly washed away by the continuous rain. Don't get me started on he rain. This was supposed to be a sunny year per the weather almanac. It's been raining since mid-June with one full day of sun. We arrived at the town of Tenakee Springs and tied at the nearly empty transient dock. We took a rainy walk "uptown" and were surprised to see a good mix of new and vintage buildings. We chatted up a local resident who explained to us about Tenakee: it is its own city, has about 60 year-round residents, has city owned fuel and power station, a natural hot water spring and bath house, and has some homes that are heated with hot spring water. Sounds like a nice place to be, but after living here 23 years, this resident is yearning for warmer winters!

A newer beach home and beach garden in Tenakee.

There are interesting character older homes and some are being restored.

The Tenakee beach collects various flotsem which become house decorations.

Crew Vince was raised in Italy and is an expert Italian chef. Tonight's entree, after fresh crab with garlic butter, is Pasta Carbonara a Fonte family favorite. It's now a Wild Blue favorite too.

Remove shells and boil crab legs in seawater with Pappy seasoning. Add hot spices if desired. Remove from boiling water after about 10 minutes as crab will continue to cook. Serve warm with garlic butter.

Vince prepares Pasta Carbonara per his family recipe.

Friday, July 1, 2011 - Tenakee Springs to Sukoi Inlet via Peril Strait

We left Tenakee at 9:30AM hoping to transit Sergius Narrows in Peril Strait at 5PM slack current. Our goal is to get to Sitka for the July 2nd spectacular fireworks show and we want to be beyond the Narrows for an Saturday morning arrival. Sitka harbor fills up with boats arriving for the show which is sponsored by the local fuel company. The fireworks emanate from three locations around Sitka harbor. This year a pirotechnologist is orchestrating the show near midnight July 2nd, as he has show in other locations for July 3rd and 4th.

Our route through Peril Strait between Chicagof and Baranof Islands

After about 6 hours we near Sergius Narrows with lots of other traffic bent on crossing at slack current. The Narrows current will reach 8 knots or so on the peak flood tide which of course is beyond our cruising speed, so timing is everything. When there's lots of boat traffic, chances are all these boats can't have miscalculated slack time, so lots of traffic is a good thing.

Boat traffic means you timed the transit correctly.

Boiling Water

Tug and Tow

We crossed with minimum excitement and after another hour dropped two crab traps and our anchor in Sukoi Inlet. The rain continues so once again we plan a feast which this time is Williebird's BBQ duck breast.

Barbecue Duck Breast. Caution: when barbecue-ing duck fat will ignite!

Saturday, July 2, 2011 - Sukoi Inlet to Sitka: The Fireworks show is Tonight!

At 9AM we pulled our anchor then our crab traps. They were empty this time. We moved on to Sitka through the narrow but protected passages named Neva and Olga. Luckily we arrived at Elaison Harbor Sitka soon enogh to be assigned a slip for 6 nights while we enjoy the city and exchange crews.

Empty crab traps.

Whitestone Narrows

The Sitka fireworks began at 11:30PM on July 2nd this year.

Sitka July 4th Parade features US Coast Guard helo flyover.

It stopped raining for a bit near sunset in Sitka.

Happy to be in Sitka.

Sitka fawna.

The Sheldon Jackson museum of native culture is quite entertaining.

The town cemetery is also interesting.

20 to 40 pound King Salmon litter the dock. I wonder if these guys will miss just one?

Chuck French celebrates his 69th with a home made cake prepared by Sous Chef Carolyn

#7 - Petersburg to Juneau with Fords Terror and Glaciers Along the Way.

2011-06-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - Portage Bay

Willie has left future Wild Blue crews numerous poultry products: duck, turkey, chicken, excetera so just minor additions were needed to the ships provisions. About mid-morning the Wild Blue with new crew departed Petersburg for Portage Bay on the top end of Kupreanof Island. It was overcast but pretty on the run up Frederick Sound. Snow covered mountain peaks fill our starboard view. We made radio contact with the Selene 47 Maritime. Rob and crew were fishing at the entrance to Thomas Bay and we made a schedule to rendezvous tomorrow in Cannery Cove.

The Alaska Marine Highway is really just a bunch of ferries. This one is cruising at over 40 miles per hour.

When you have lots of crab to consume, you find many ways to enjoy it. This one is Barb's melted crab and cheese.

Skip Shaw and Barb Renshaw of Los Osos are this week's Wild Blue crew.

We arrived at Portage Bay and set the anchor near the entrance. After a dinghy ride and 3-mile hike of the shoreline, the crew was ready to relax. This week's crew consists of two long time friends from Los Osos, California: Skip Shaw and Barbara Renshaw. The 3 of us worked together at Jacquard Systems, a small company in Santa Monica, California in the 1970's. Later Skip and Barb founded Peerless Systems, a software and systems development company and took it public. Now retired, they continue as philanthropists to the great benefit of many San Luis Obispo nonprofits. Barb prepared a wonderful dinner of fried halibut and cod fillets then we retired for the day.

Scenic Portage Bay is quite a calm anchorage.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - Cannery Cove and Humpback Whales

The humpys were in force today and we stopped the boat to take in a whale view on our continued route up Frederick Sound to Pybus Bay and Cannery Cove. The guidebook tells us the Cove is full of crab but the previous crew has left us a 4 pound bag of fresh picked crab and it will be a challenge to figure out the various ways to consume it.

This is not crab. Our lunch today consisted of Willie Bird's smoked chicken sandwiches.

After setting the hook (anchor) we set off on another shore excursion. The Cove opens up to a scenic valley and snow patched mountain view. It's slow going along the rocky shore and the bugs seem to want to have us for lunch as the Alaskan sun shows itself. We take note of several large animal scats, but Barb assures us that these are elk or moose poop, and definitely not bear! After 1-hour of tromping around and wading across a few streams, were satisfied with the Cove's shore flora and fauna.

Barb and Skip tromping around at Cannery Cove

Well-protected Cannery Cove

The view from the Cove.

The flora....

.... and the fauna.

Late in the afternoon Rob and crew Paul on Maritime dropped their anchor near us. Four other boats are also anchored here. They join us for a dinner of fresh crab cocktail, crab salad, and pasta with spicy crab sauce. As Paul is a retired alaskan fisherman, we have a detailed conversation about long line fishing technique.

This is pasta with crab in red sauce. Chef Barb again pleased our palettes.

Thursday, June 23, 2011 - Ford's Terror

Last night Rob of Maritime talked us into visiting Ford's Terror in Endicott Arm. We had already planned to go up the Arm to visit Dawes Glacier, but of course we were warded off by the place's name. It turns out Ford was a sailor in the mid-1800's who entered Ford's Terror but because of the strong tidal current, couldn't get back out for six hours. This story does not make the place any more inviting, but Rob assured us it is worth a visit.

According to the guidebook, and common boat sense, timing your arrival at the entrance at slack current is critical. Slack current occurs approximately 1-1/2 hours after juneau slack tide. A waterfall of up to 3 feet high has been observed when you get it wrong. We departed Cannery Cove at 7:15AM to insure this from not happening, however we couldn't control our wicked imaginations. It took us 6 hours to reach the entrance to Ford's Terror.

Fords Terror Chart

Ford's Terror Entrance is narrow and shallow.

We were a bit early for the slack current prediction but the narrow entrance looked calm. We slowly entered keeping multiple eyes on two depth sounders and the forward looking sonar. As the depth shallowed to 9 feet we slowed the boat to less than 2 knots. Finally we overcame the 200 foot narrows and entered a different world. We were immediately reminded of BC's beautiful Princess Louisa Inlet: tall granite walls, numerous waterfalls, glassy water and zero wind. After another 40 minutes we set our anchor at the end of the inlet, just in front of the largest waterfall. Rob was right: Fords Terror is a spectacular place well worth a visit.

Crab and beef tacos for dinner.

Friday, June 24, 2011 - Dawes Glacier then Tracy Arm Cove

We awoke to waterfall sounds in our spectacular quiet setting. The boat hardly moved at anchor in the still water of Fords Terror. To exit and continue our cruise, we needed to arrive at the inlet entrance by 845 am to make slack current. When we did, two other boats had already entered the inlet but we floated out at high water slack current without incident.

New arrivals admire the beauty of Fords Terror

Glaciers near Stephens Passage

We then continued further up Endicott Arm to the Dawes Glacier. About 3 miles away the ice chunks became more dense. From previous experience we learned that when cruising close along the either side of the arm, an ice free path can usually be found. Such was the case today until we were within a mile of the glacier face. Then it was all stop and slow going with ice pole crew on the bow. Skip did an excellent job of pushing the bergy bits away from the hull until the next ice free path was discovered.

We made our way to within 1/2 mile of the glacier face, but the ice was thick and the nursing seals were embarrassed and bothered, so we kept our distance. The seals rear their babies here on the ice bergs away from the waters and shores with hungry Orca whales. Suddenly we saw a large section of ice calve off the face. Then we heard the big BOOM! The falling, house-sized chunk of glacier fell into the sea, creating a mini-tsunami, These big waves churned up the surface causing floating ice to rattle against each other, much like shaking ice in a drink glass. The waves then ricocheted off the walls of the arm. It was like being in a washing machine, without the soap!

After a fun-filled day of battling ice bergs, viewing seals and watching a moving glacier, we exited Endicott Arm and anchored in Tracy Arm Cove.

These seals raise their young on the ice. They get a great view of the glacier, plus their babies don't get eaten by the Orca whales.

"Hey mom I'm hungry. Lie still!"

Dawes Glacier up close has bergs with seal moms nursing their babies

Saturday, June 25, 2011 - Sawyer Glacier, Orca Whales then Taku Harbor

We spent a restful night with three other boats including the Selene 53 Morning Star in Tracy Arm Cove. It's the best anchorage near the glaciers so most cruisers include it in their itinerary. Today we want to see more glaciers, so we will cruise up Tracy Arm to the Sawyer Glaciers. Hopefully the ice will allow us another closeup view.

It's a 3-hour tour to get to a Y-intersection near the glaciers. One turns right for South Sawyer Glacier, or left for North Sawyer Glacier. A local tour boat alerts us via VHF radio that the South fork has only a few dense ice spots. That and the fact that the North fork has always been stuffed with ice on our previous visits, means we go for South Sawyer. With careful boat handling and Skip's new found adeptness at keeping the small bergs at bay, we are able to get within 1/2 mile again.

After viewing the South Sawyer for 40 minutes we backtrack through the ice to make our run up to North Sawyer. On the way our new tour boat friend calls to say there is clear water just past the Y-intersection. Yippee! It's time to land some glacier ice and celebrate.

We land our own piece of glacier ice berg. It's a genuine "bergie bit".

What's a 10 over 10,000 cocktail?: That's 10 year old Grey Goose vodka over 10,000 year old ice!

The face of North Sawyer Glacier was nearly ice free.

After another great day at the glaciers, we head down Tracy Arm, past Tracy Arm Cove and up Stephens Passage for Taku Harbor, our last stop before Juneau. Along the way, the Orcas come out to play, completing a great Alaskan experience.

Portion of the old cannery at Taku Harbor.

Old cannery equipment is now picturesque.

The piles that once supported a large Alaskan cannery.

A few cruise boats gather at Taku Harbor near low tide.

Sunday, June 26, 2011 - Juneau

We complete the week with a leisurely 2-hour cruise to Juneau and tie at the Intermediate Vessel Float in the center of downtown. It's been a fun week reliving old times with Skip and Barb while enjoying the sights, tastes and aromas of Alaska.

#6 - East Coast Prince of Wales Island, Wrangell and Petersburg

2011-06-21T01:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June12, 2011 - Seattle Airport

Alex was leaning against the wall at the Seattle to Ketchikan gate, when two old guys approached. The guys said hello, waiting for a response, as it took a few seconds for Alex to realize these old guys were his college roommates up for another cruise on Wild Blue. Willie and Mike had arrived together from San Francisco. Willie is a turkey rancher and Mike owns a CPA and audit business. A few minutes later Joe, another college roommate and chicken rancher, joined the group arriving from San Diego. The group has been cruising together in Alaska and British Columbia during the past three summers. All four graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1971 and all now are aging gracefully..... sorta.

After landing in Ketchikan the college crew dined at Annabelle's alongside a handful of cruise ship passengers looking for something not found aboard. Willie has been feeding everyone else ever since those college days and once again he arrived with a large cooler packed with product. Smoked turkey, smoked chicken, duck breast, prawns, turkey bacon, chicken wings, lamb steaks, baby shrimp and Cajun spices were tightly packed into the giant cooler. This bag was definitely overweight and costly to check. Needing just a few more items, the crew final provisioned at Safeway for a week in the Alaskan wild, as wild as the Wild Blue can get. After just a few libations, the gray haired crew retired for tomorrows cruise to Prince of Wales Island.

Monday, June 13, 2011 - Ketchikan to Thorne Bay: Too Many Girls

By noon the Wild Blue was off in a northwesterly direction towards the northeast coast of Prince of Wales Island. The course took us up and across Clarence Strait to a small town on well protected Thorne Bay. The town harbor was quiet and Wild Blue secured moorage at the transient dock. With $220 recently spent on licenses for 7 days of Alaska fishing, the crew immediately launched the tender boat and placed two crab traps for an overnight soak. Willie then created his New Orleans spicy gumbo to the delight of many a taste bud!

Our Route from Ketchikan to Thorne Bay

Entering Thorne Bay

Overcast skies and more light rain awakened the crew to a 5AM dawn. The tender boat was manned for crab trap retrieval. Joe did the honors and was initially excited to see 11 crabs staring back at him from inside the cage. Heck the limit is three each so this was just one short. However, they were all female.....yes, just too many girls! All fisherman know there no equality of the sexes in the sea, as only male crabs can be harvested. And to add insult to our crab injury, just outside the Bay in deep water, our two prawn traps yielded just 3 small prawns, or about $72 each in license fee costs. Let's get out of this Thorny Bay....

Chicken Rancher Joe knows too many girls means the roosters will get tired, but crab ranchers only harvest the males.

These three small prawns were relished and consumed.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - Thorne Bay to Exchange Cove: Too Many Males

Today we fished the northeast coast of Prince of Wales Island on our way to Exchange Cove. We choose fishing spots near rocky outcroppings in 60 to 100 feet of water. We also employed the sonar to assist us. After locating what appeared on the sonar to be amazing fishing spots, we had no bites, hookups, and our fish box was empty.

Our Route from Thorne Bay to Exchange Cove

The sonar shows a crowds of fish down there, but none seem to want to ride our hooks to the surface. (Note: The water temp really wasn't 111 degrees. It's a sensor issue).

After what seemed like hours of tedious fishing, actually it was several hours, we arrived at Exchange Cove, dropped two crab traps and our anchor. This is a beautiful and large anchorage with easy access. The water is calm. We decided to fish in the shallow 24 foot depth and were surprised to get a bite. Willie reeled up a large crab, that promptly fell off the hook, a promising sign. We didn't wait too long before pulling our traps and reaping our reward. Willie prepped a spicy seawater boil and cooked all twelve large male crabs. We stuffed ourselves with warm cooked crab dipped in garlic butter, then picked the remaining crab meat for storage. Awesome!

At anchor in Exchange Cove.

Scenic Exchange Cove.

Twelve large male crabs take up space, These claws are ready for cooking and dining.

Willie is at home in the galley displaying 1/2 of large crab, ready for boiling seawater.

Wednesday - June 15, 2011 - Exchange Cove to Red Bay: Epicurean Delight.

On Wednesday we continued our bottom fishing ways around the top of Prince of Wales Island. And as before, the fish stayed in the water. We entered Red Bay late in the afternoon near slack tide to navigate two narrow channels inside the Bay. After a long day of fishing, we dined on crab salad and Willie's own grass fed lamb chops. After that awesome epicurean experience, some of us even finished the last episode of HBO's War in the Pacific. Hopefully the fish will bite tomorrow.

Exchange Cove to Red Bay

Thursday, June 16, 2011 - Red Bay to Wrangell: There are fish in the sea.

The sun appeared for the first time in several days. We cooked up the remaining crabs and decided to pick the meat for easier storage. Then we will continue our fishing ways on the way to Wrangell.

Red Bay to Wrangell with Fishing Stops

After picking the crab, the boys are ready for reel (or real) fishing. Alex stops the boat outside St. John Harbor to fish the rocky points. After an hour without excitement we move onward toward Wrangell. Alex stops again off the south end of Vank Island, about an hour outside Wrangell. Finally Willie gets a byte and pulls a small ling cod. After returning the juvenile fish, Alex and Joe return similar fish. Willie's "Well you caught something" didn't really help our mindset. Then Willie got a big tug, the pole bent good, and he eventually landed a good-sized fish which we learned was a Pacific Cod. Mike then promptly landed a larger Cod. And as if that wasn't enough, he then reeled in a 36" halibut! At last the fish were biting but after a busy hour, we cruised into Wrangell, docking at the new Heritage Harbor just south of the downtown.

Always one for the spotlight, Willie shows off Mike's halibut for his local newspaper.

The makings of a crab salad. Of course lettuce, tomatoes and onions are optional.

Wrangell always reminds Alex of the "Leave It To Beaver" set.

Moored on the float next to Wild Blue were three other Selenes: the 53 Peregrine, the 53 Tranquility and the 59 Raindancer.

Friday, June 17, 2011 - Wrangell to Wrangell Narrows Anchorage:Another Epicurean Extravaganza

Once again we awoke with full bellies, our breath reeking of crab salad, fried fresh cod and halibut. We decided to work our way to a point near the entrance of Wrangell Narrows and anchor for the night. This would give us a leg up for entering the Narrows and making Petersburg earlier on Saturday. Soon after leaving Wrangell the Alaska Marine Highway, in the form of a ferry, passed to starboard. We fished our hot spot again, but it was now cold, I mean frigid! We anchored in a cove near to the southern entrance to Wrangell Narrows and planned another seafood feast.

Wrangell to Wrangell Narrows Anchorage with fishing stop.

The Alaska Marine Highway is really a ferry.

Yet another way to dine on crab: Crab cocktail.

How about crab cakes? But what about the other 5 pounds in the refer?

Saturday, June 18, 2011 - Petersburg: La Fonda for a Mexican Fix.

Usually you want to enter Wrangell Narrows at the end of a high tide cycle. That allows the boat to be pushed up the Narrows until reaching a mid-point, where the tidal current reverses and pushes the boat some more. Since high tide occurs late in the day, we decide to buck the current by entering at the end of a low tide at 9AM this morning. This puts us in Petersburg in time to enjoy this Norwegian rooted town.

We start up the Narrows with a 1 to 2-knot current against us. At 10AM slack we are halfway there and the current is zero as expected. By 11AM we are nearing Petersburg with just a 1-knot adverse current. Not the optimum approach but good for this day. Once there we head for a town tour and visit to La Fonda, a Mexican restaurant inside a bar. The food is great but as you might guess, no one orders seafood.

It's been a fun week of reliving our college experiences. Some of the things we did back then seem quite absurd today. The college crew is looking forward to another year and another cruise.

Petersburg via Wrangell Narrows

Just had to have one more fresh fried fish sandwich!

Petersburg South Harbor is filled with fishing boats. Wild Blue is on the far right.

#5 – Ketchikan: Eavesdropping on the Cruise Ships

2011-05-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

For the last several days we've been tied to the dock here at City Float in downtown Ketchikan. With our rent-a-wreck, we've driven the entire coastal roadway, from the hydroelectric plant at the southern end, through most of the downtown Ketchikan streets, to the last fishing lodge/marina at the north end, about 25 miles or so. It's a great town, but we've pretty much run out of things to do.

So with our spare time, we've learned to listen in on the crew conversations aboard the cruise ships. Today we watched the Disney Wonder dock while we monitored the ship's bridge officers on the their semi-private radio channel. Most boaters know that ships communicate to shore and other ships via the standard marine VHF frequencies, the 150-170 megahertz band. But it turns out aboard the big ships, there's a separate set of Authorized UHF Maritime Channels in the 450-460 megahertz band for internal communications. Many tanker, cargo, utility, large tugs, ferry and cruise ships use the Maritime Channels. There's a website that lists the channels known to be used by certain ships. See http://scanmaritime.com/frequencies.htm to see the list.

We found the Disney Wonder maritime channel, and tuned our Icom IC-7000 ham SSB and all band receiver to the specified frequency of 467.750 mhz. We set the the receiver for FM-TONE reception, setting the tone squelch to110.9 hertz as called for by the frequency list. Then we listened to 20 minutes of docking and tie up commands and responses issued by the Disney Wonder bridge. It's great entertainment. Many cruise ships use multiple maritime channels for say the hotel, engineering, bridge and entertainment. So if your around big ships, and run out of entertainment, tune into live shipboard conversations using the maritime channels.

The Disney Wonder. We no longer wonder what they're saying aboard this ship.

#4 Prince Rupert, BC to Ketchikan, USA

2011-05-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

Monday through Wednesday, May 16^th–18^{th _}Ketchikan

On Monday we prepared to leave at 4:30AM once we had digested the 4AM BC weather Forecast for Dixon Entrance East. Dixon Entrance is the exposed ocean area between BC and Alaska. At times it gets pounded by large seas as a result of strong currents and high winds. Today the wind forecast is 5 to 15 knots and seas are 1 meter (3 foot) seas. Just in case, we time our crossing to be in the center of Dixon Entrance at slack current, which means we need to leave Prince Rupert at 430AM. After about 10 hours we should be in Ketchikan.

It's still dark with a hint of sky light, just enough to see the logs, tree stumps, small timber, kelp patches and crab pot buoys that can pop up in front of the boat. We turn off all the pilot house lights, and dim the displays and instruments, and close the laptop to enhance our night vision. Pat is fully prepared for any excitement, sportingly clad in her thicker morning robe and warmest slippers as off we go.

Cruising north across Prince Rupert Harbour is simple enough as we make sure to dodge the PR airport shuttle boats that approach us on a reciprocal course to ours. We then make our way through winding Venn Passage. Although the Passage is well marked, it's narrow and shallow. Even in broad daylight we pay close attention to our chartplotter, so this mornings darkness is no hindrance to this snaky passage.

Once through Venn we turn northwest up Chatham Sound. The seas are just a bit rolly, about 2 feet or less. So far so good, except for one thing: there is loads of floating obstacles that require us to concentrate on the water ahead. Every so often, we turn the boat, zigzagging through more sea junk, and this keeps us on our toes. By 7:30AM we begin our crossing of the Dixon Entrance, with light rain, calms winds and little seas. It turns out to be a comfortable day for crossing into Alaska , or as our old salt friend Dick Squire would say: “Piece of cake!”

Our route from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan.

Wild Blue leaves Canada in it's wake. Hello USA!

Just about noon or so, Pat gets dressed for the outside. We arrive in Ketchikan at 1PM local time, or 2PM PDT. After tying up at City Dock next to the Selene 55 Spirit, the US Customs Agents board and administer a very pleasant customs experience. The Harbor Staff has all our info from our 2009 stay, and an esay check-in occurs aboard the boat. We relax and then are greeted by Patrick and Miriam, the Spirit crew, who invite us for dinner at the Cape Fox Lodge with the crews from Sea Jay and Raindancer. A nice end to an nice arrival back in the USA.

Mary Island Lighthouse in Revilla Channel. These US light houses are just not maintained like those of Canada.

The Mist Cove on her way to Alaska. This is a moving fishing lodge, complete with sport fishing boats and staff that follow the salmon runs around Alaska. High paying guests arrive by float plane.

Since we'll be in Ketchikan for almost a week, on Tuesday we decide to rent a car. With time, Alex decides to “shop it”. He canvasses all the local car rental companies. Most range from $350 to $400 for the week, all except for Southeast Car Rental. For $250 we get the equivalent of what Juneau calls a “Rent A Wreck”. Wow it's a chore to crank up windows and manually lock each car door. Pat doesn't like waiting in the rain when Alex forgets to manually unlock the passenger door.

Spirit leaves Ketchikan for points further north, being careful to not sideswipe the cruise ship.

Alex began working through the boat's To Do list. The inverter temperature sensor faulted and the spare part was waiting at Frontier Shipping. The inverter was dissembled and the sensor was replaced. The noisy Bosch washer was fixed when three coins were removed from inside the pump impeller housing. An additional AC receptacle was installed in the salon to insure that our guests have enough outlets to charge all their electronic cameras, phones, computers, etc.

Every boat, small and large, has maintenance and repairs. Here two divers prepare to dive the hull of Celebrity Millennium, a cruise ship docked next to the Wild Blue. They examine an area of the starboard hull just below the waterline, between the thruster and stern. Maybe the ship tapped a Glacier Bay iceberg just a bit too hard and the engineers wanted to check it out? They must be pretty concerned to wear wet suits in this 40F degree water. Most everybody these days wears a dry suit. The facial expressions of the divers after their 15-minute sea hunt told the story: they were frigid!

Celebrity Millennium divers prepare to dive the hull.

These wet suits are better suited for the Caribbean!

We've toured the City, saw the tallest totem poles, visited the hydroelectric power station, dined out, and visited the Walmart. This helps prepare ourselves for integration back into the SLO life. The cruise itinerary is below. See you after the horse, house, book club and wedding breaks. Alex and Pat.

2011 M/V WILD BLUE ALASKA CRUISE

1. MON, MAY 2 SIDNEY, BC TO TUE, MAY 10 PORT MCNEIL, BC. This leg is complete.

2. WED, MAY 11 PORT MCNEIL, BC TO SUN, MAY 22 KETCHIKAN, AK. This leg is complete.

3. SUN, JUNE 12 KETCHIKAN, AK TO SUN, JUNE 19 PETERSBURG, AK.

Alaska Northbound: Ketchikan, Thorne Bay/Snug Anchorage, Coffman Cove, Roosevelt Harbor, Wrangell, Butterworth Island Bay, Petersburg - 8 days.

4. MON, JUNE 20 PETERSBURG, AK TO MON, JUNE 27 JUNEAU, AK. Alaska Northbound: Note: Call Juneau IVF 907-321-0429 to verify June 26-28 reservation. Petersburg, Ideal Cove or Thomas Bay, Five Fingers Island-Windfall Cove, Tracy Arm Cove-Dawes Glacier, Tracy Arm Cove-Sawyer Glaciers, Juneau, Auke Bay - 8 days

5. TUE, JUNE 28 JUNEAU, AK TO TUE, JULY 5 SITKA, AK. Alaska Westbound: Juneau, Funter Bay, Tenakee Springs, Peril Strait, Sitka. - 8 days (4 cruising, 4 in Sitka).

6. THU, JULY 7 SITKA, AK TO FRI, JULY 15 CRAIG, AK. Alaska Baronof Island Southbound: Sitka, Kliuchevoi Bay-Goddard Hot Springs, Herring Bay, Scow Bay, Still Harbor, Reannes Relief, Port Alexander, Egg Harbor, Craig - 8 days, remote cruising with water limitations.

7. SUN, JULY 17 CRAIG, AK TO WED, JULY 27 KETCHIKAN, AK. Alaska clockwise around Prince of Wales Island: Craig, Cyrus Cove-Orr Island, El Capitan Cave-Hamilton Island Cove, Point Baker, Red Bay, Meyers-Chuck, Ketchikan - 11 days.

8. FRI, JULY 29 KETCHIKAN, AK TO WED, AUG 5 PRINCE RUPERT, BC.

Alaska-BC Southbound: Ketchikan, Pond Bay-Duke Island, Morse

Cove-Judd Harbor, Foggy Bay-Very Inlet, Nakat Harbor, Port Tongrass, Prince Rupert - 8 Days.

9. FRI, AUG 7 PRINCE RUPERT, BC TO TUE, AUG 16 TO SHEARWATER, BC.

British Columbia Southbound: Prince Rupert, Captain Cove, Ire Inlet, Emily Carr Inlet, Mary Cove, various northern BC ports, Shearwater - 10 Days.

10. THU, AUG 18 SHEARWATER, BC TO SAT, AUG 27 PORT MCNEIL, BC.

Central BC Southbound: Shearwater, various Central BC ports, Port McNeil - 10 days.

11. MON, AUG 29 PORT MCNEIL, BC TO FRI, SEP 9 ANACORTES, WA.

Southern BC Southbound: Port NcNeil, various Broughton Island marinas and anchorages, various Desolation Sound anchorages, Princess Louisa Inlet, Vancouver, Anacortes - 11 days.

#3 The Inside Passage along BC's Coast

2011-05-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Monday Afternoon and Tuesday, May 9th-10th - Pruth Bay, Calvert Island, then Codville Lagoon.

First it's great to know that so many people are enjoying the blog. For those of you (about 80 or so) that inadvertantly received that "Reply All" email response, and are wondering........ Ken's gall bladder surgery was a success! He will only miss one week of poker......

On Monday afternoon we launched the dinghy and motored over to the Hakai Beach Institute. The Institute, which previously was an upscale fishing lodge, is now a nonprofit learning/research center. The resident chef give us a tour of the facility, which includes lodging, conference center, dining hall, and ocean research capabilities. Pat and I took a short trail across an isthmus to the beach, which opens to the Pacific Ocean. There we admired the various float'sem and jet'sem which is discarded or lost, then drifts across the Pacific to end up on the Hakai beach.

Wild Blue anchored off the Hakai Beach Institute dock.

Lodging is upscale at the Institute.

Pat hikes the beach trail.

Basketball court in the wilderness? Good place for Kobe and the Lakers to practice, out of the spotlight!

The Hakai Beach is open to the Pacific.

Tranquility arrives in Pruth Bay.

Late this afternoon Z-Worthy and another Selene named Tranquility made it around Cape Caution arriving in Pruth Bay. As the wind piped up another coast guard ship and the yacht Spirit of Endeavor anchored here, seeking shelter from the forecast high winds.

Sometimes the anchor can be a drag. Such was the case at 1 am when the "beep beep beep" of the anchor alarm sounded, interrupting our snores. The wind had increased to a steady 18 with gusts of 25 or so, causing the anchor to drag. This shouldn't happen, but that night it did. The alarm uses the GPS to alert you when the anchor is slipping. The chartplotter showed we had dragged about 100 feet. To correct the problem Alex let out another 50 feet of anchor chain and reset the anchor alarm. After that we slept soundly.

On Tuesday we met Rick and Pat from Tranquility over fresh baked cinnamon rolls aboard their boat. They too are headed for Alaska for the 4th year. We will follow them for a couple days.

In the afternoon we pulled anchor and headed north up Fitz Hugh Sound, then Fisher Channel to Codville Lagoon. Screw the cod, once inside the narrow entrance we set our prawn trap then anchored at the head of the Lagoon. This was a scenic and calm place.

The Pilot House is all lite up on the way to Codville Lagoon.

Wednesday, May 11th - Ocean Falls

Today we celebrated Bonny's (of Z-Worthy) birthday aboard the Wild Blue with the crews of Z-Worthy and Tranquility. It was a surprise party and we had a surprise chocolate-chip cake that Pat prepared, candles and all. We also had a surprise in our trap, about 30 good sized BC prawns.

After prawning and partying most of the day we left at 630 pm for ocean falls, a 3-hour run, leaving the other 2 boats behind in Codville for more fishing. It was still quite bright at 930 pm when we pulled into the Ocean Falls dock. Pat prepared those fresh caught prawns, and we stuffed ourselves with their sweet taste!

Yum these prawns are tasty!

During the peak of the tourism, lumber, and fishing booms in the 1950-1970s, as many as 5000 persons resided in Ocean Falls. Today the city is a ghost town with just about 30 year-round residents. We wandered the town, noting some fine architecture and taking a few photos. Then we topped off our water tanks for the rest of the trip north.

The courts do need resurfacing after 40 years.

This home has a nice design, but needs some work.

Oceans Falls hospital, or was it the hotel?

The Wild Blue is the only visiting boat in this quiet ghost town.

Thursday, May 12th - Rescue Bay

This morning we left the ghost town behind and headed through Gunboat Passage, west in Seaforth Channel and then north up Mathieson Channel. We hoped to make contact with our boat friends and watched for them on the AIS. You can think of the AIS as a "facebook" for cruising boats. The chartplotter shows the names, size, location, speed and course of all the AIS boats within 10 to 20 miles. You just "friend" another boat by calling him on the VHF. At about 8 miles away we saw Z-Worthy in Oliver Bay on our chartplotter. Shortly thereafter Ron saw and called us to say we should meet them at Rescue Bay. The three Selenes dropped anchor in a quiet bay just off the Inside Passage. Due to Rick's (of Tranquility) fishing prowess and prolific catch, Ron prepared fresh crab-prawn cakes and we all enjoyed the bounty of the BC sea.

Anchored with Tranquility in Rescue Bay

The view from rescue Bay.

Friday, May 13th - Hartley Bay

Just after first light today we left Rescue Bay, Z-Worthy, Tranquility, and entered Jackson Passage. This is another narrow, shallow passage that connects to Seaforth Channel and points north. After a couple hours we stopped just off the Boat Bluff lighthouse north of Klemtu and attempted to connect to their usually speedy wifi internet. Unfortunately the wifi was turned off or maybe is no longer offered. We continued up Finlayson Channel and Princess Royal Channel. We passed an old cannery town called Butedale, but after 8-hours, only a very few fishing boats as we approached Hartley Bay.

Just one of the many scenic waterfalls along our route today.

Once the queen of the fishing canneries, Butedale continues its deterioration.

Hartley Bay is a small native peoples village with a nicely protected harbor. We tied up for the night at no charge including free electricity. This compares to a typical charge of $100 a night. Of course there is no wifi and no night life, just many friendly native fisherman who wish to chat. The town is famous for rescuing 99 passengers and crew aboard the sinking Queen of the North, a BC ferry, in March, 2006. After touring this boardwalk village, we spent a restful night.

Pat strolls along the main boardwalk. This is NOT your Monopoly Game Boardwalk!

Saturday and Sunday, May 14th-15th - Kluenuggit Inlet, or Baker Inlet, or Kumealon Inlet, or Prince Rupert

It's difficult to make up your mind to stop for the day when the weather is so great. Sunny skies and a favorable tidal current pushed us north along Grenville Channel. This channel is a 50-mile long, nearly straight canal. It's so straight that it seems man-made!

We had timed our departure to take full advantage of the tide push leaving at 8:45 am from Hartley Bay. We expected to stop and spend the night in Kluenuggit Inlet, but the the sun and current egged us on. We have spent many days hunkered down in a cove or tied to a dock, waiting for decent weather to continue our journey. I remember waiting out three stormy days in Prince Rupert where the crew threatened to fly home! We continued on and decided to look into Baker Inlet.

Peeking into Baker Inlet via Watts Narrows.

Grenville Channel was lonely today. We saw only 3 small boats and a tug with log tow in 60 miles. We made it to Baker Inlet, peeked inside the skinny entrance, noted the sunny skies, good current, lack of wind, and pushed onward to Kumealon Inlet. It's been a confusing BC weather forecast calling for 25 knot northwest winds, but it's nearly calm. The barometer is almost steady, just ever so slowly falling. We get to Kumealon and, well it was just too nice to stop! We entered Prince Rupert harbor at 6PM and anchored in the still waters of Pillsbury Cove, on the north side of the Harbor. Glassy water, clear blue skies and bright sunshine ended the near perfect cruising day.

The Port of Price Rupert is unexpectedly busy. Could it be because it's two days closer to China?

This newer China Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO) vessel is equipped with a breakwater to keep the forward most containers from being washed away by ocean waves.

On Sunday, we moved the boat over to Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club. No worries, yacht club membership is not required, but Canadian dollars are! Normally we would stay anchored, but the lazerette is full of trash and recyclables looking for a bin. Plus how can Pat stay away from the shopping bonanza offered here in PR. We enjoyed our first breakfast dining out at the Cow Coffee Cafe, and had a late lunch at Smiles Seafood restaurant.

Wild Blue on the end tie at Prince Ruppert Rowing and Yacht Club.

It been another good week of cruising north. We are ahead of schedule and the weather continues to hold. We'll try for the United States and Ketchikan early tomorrow, leaving at 4:30AM's first light. Until Ketchikan......

#2 The 2011 Alaska Cruise Starts

2011-05-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

We've been cruising to Alaska on the Inside Passage for a week now and we've passed the northern tip of Vancouver Island arriving yesterday in Pruth Bay on Calvert Island. The weather's been pretty nice for British Columbia in May: bright sunshine, clouds and rain, then sunshine again almost everyday. The ocean has been cooperating as well with light winds and flat seas until Cape Caution and then only 3 foot rollers, well spaced apart. However tonight will be a different story as gale force 40 knot winds are predicted on the BC Marine Weather Forecast. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Easter Sunday, April 24th - A Key Lime Pie To Die For

This year's cruise began on a Key Lime Pie high in Anacortes, Washington. Pat had not yet arrived at the boat so Alex was invited to Jay and Micky Field's home for Easter dinner. Micky, Chef and co-owner of the Village Pizza in Anacortes, served the traditional roast lamb Easter fare, which was quite tasty. However Alex's tastebuds came alive when Micky brought out her home made key lime pie! Awesome would be in understatement. Let's just say Alex enjoyed more than one piece. After savoring every morsel, heaping praise upon the chef, and swearing never to share it, Alex was able to negotiate just one handwritten copy of the recipe. We have hidden it aboard Wild Blue and Pat agrees to only break it out when any crew brings along a good-sized bag of fresh key limes.

In the days just after Easter, Alex completed final boat preparations for long term cruising. The canvas top was installed, new equipment installations were completed, the engines were serviced, another coat of varnish was added, and the dinghy was readied for operation. Pat joined the boat on Tuesday and completed the food and beverage provisioning in one long day of visits to Trader Joes, Fred Meyers, Costco, and the Red Pie Barn. Lastly a large tanker truck with 1200 gallons of diesel fuel was delivered to the boat and the fuel was purchased at the highest possible price point. Ugh!

Thursday- Saturday, April 28-30, The Selene Rendezvous, THE Wedding, and THE Crown Succession Prediction

On Thursday we cruised from Anacortes to Roche Harbor San Juan Island for the 10th Annual Selene Rendezvous. The Rendezvous is a gathering of Selene owners and their boats. 30 boats and owners showed up to share ideas and enjoy camaraderie, but this year's event was less about the boats and all about THE wedding.

The boat portion of the Selene Rendezvous

At 2 am friday morning 3 pajama clad women joined Pat in the salon of the Wild Blue to watch THE wedding live from London. Pat served english tea and fresh baked scones, while Alex enjoyed sweet dreams.

Thinking we would get back to the boats, surprizingly 6 more women and their husbands showed up Friday afternoon to watch THE wedding highlights. This time the husbands were compelled to watch, and most did quietly withholding critical comment. The discussion soon turned to the English crown succession. An official committee of eight Selene women, including 3 Canadians who grew up in school system that sang "God save the Queen" to start each day, was formed. This Select Committee on the English Crown Succession, after a lengthy discussion, then developed their startling prediction: within 1 year Kate will become pregnant, and once the new royal is born, Queen Elizabeth, because of Camella Parker Bowles will skip Prince Charles, and Prince William will become King with Kate becoming Queen! There will be a new King of England by 2014! Remember you heard it first on the Wild Blue Alaska Blog..... Oh yes we did talk a little bit about the boats as well.

Sunday, May 1st - Butchart Garden pre-Color Explosion.

It was tulip time at Butchart Gardens again. We left Roche Harbour and THE Select Committee on Crown Succession behind to view those spectacular gardens, just a 3-hour cruise into Canada. This time of year 10's of thousands of tulips are usually exploding at the Gardens. But this has been a colder than normal winter. We anchored in Tod Inlet, dinghy'ed to and entered the Gardens though the exclusive boaters entrance. We were early and so only every 3rd tulip had blossomed. It was a pre-color explosion, but we did get a few nice photos and eyefuls of blooming tulips.

Monday, May 2nd and 3rd - Re-connecting in Downtown Vancouver

Today we pulled anchor and headed up Sansum Narrows against the current for Porlier Pass, the Georgia Strait (aka Salish Sea), English Bay, False Creek and downtown Vancouver, a 7-hour motor. This favorite city port provides shopping and dining options. We completed our liquor stocking at BC Liqour, added the final touches to food provisions at Urban Fare and the Granville Island farmers market. Alex installed a new backup battery charger as the older unit needed replacing. West Marine and Stevestons Marine provided excellent marine parts for Alex to complete his installation.

Entering False Creek

The docks at Quayside Marina

Our choice spot Yaletown Vancouver

Wednesday, May 4th - The Secret of Secret Cove

We left the dock around 8AM under sunny skies bound for Secret Cove. After an easy 4-hour run up BC's west coast, we tied up at the Cove. Proprietor Scott greeted us again describing the pleasant winter he and his family had..... in Palm Springs! We can never tell if Scott is a real Canadian, because he's always talking about Palm Springs. Although he says he likes ice hockey, so maybe he really is Canadian.

Pretty Merry Island Lighthouse on the way to Secret Cove

At the dock in Secret Cove with Z-Worthy

Ron on Z-Worthy, a Selene 48, has been cruising along with us up the Inside Passage this past week. He is single-handing his boat until Bonnie can join him in Port McNeil. He says he really enjoys soloing the boat, because no crew ever questions or second guesses his commands! Although he reaaly is looking forward to his crew joining him on May 8th.

Well it's early May in BC and that can mean only one thing: prawns (aka shrimp to non BCers). Yes the prawns are here and we have observed many a prawn trap set. Tomorrow the commercial prawn season opens, so get yours today, as they'll be scarcer tomorrow. Prawns are the Secret of the Cove.

Miss Ella, a BC prawn boat, is stacked high with traps ready to stake out an area and start soaking them tomorrow at noon.

Thursday, May 5th - Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island

Our destination today is Gorge Harbour for a visit to the newly remodeled Resort. From Secret Cove we go north along the east side of Texada Island, then northwesterly to the south side of Cortes Island. Gorge Harbour has a narrow entrance but serene waters once inside. We tie up at the Resort but nobody is home, yet.

Z-Worthy runs across the top of Texada Island with soloist Ron at the helm.

It's almost noon and this prawner is ready to begin littering the ocean floor with hundreds of traps.

Purple starfish march out to greet us at the Gorge Harbour entrance.

Skinny Gorge Harbour entrance looks meaner that it is.

The Resort has new docks, landscaping, outside BBQ, swimming pool, and many remodeled cottages for rent. A small coffee house just behind Resort offers home made baked items, breakfast, lunch and special coffee in a "Jamaican" setting. After our brief tour and forest walk, we retired to the comforts of the Wild Blue cottage.

Friday, May 6th - Lagoon Cove Prawn Feast

We left at 6AM for the Blind Channel Resort, but if the Johnstone Strait weather cooperated, we'd continue to Lagoon Cove. Our route took us through snaky Uganda Passage, then Surge Narrows, where we expected 4 knot currents pushing us. We made our S-Turn through Uganda then approached Beasley Passage for Surge Narrows. The current was quite pushy, so much so that Wild Blue and Z-Worthy were forced to make a sharp left turn coming out of Beasley Passage to avoid the current pushing us into the rocks! Surge Narrows was also boiling and pushed the boats around a bit as well. Finally we made upper rapids when the current was pushing us at 5 knots, for a total speed of 13 knots. The winds and seas in Johnstone Strait were mild and with the current pushing us along we decided to stretch our day to Lagoon Cove.

The rapids were boiling today!

Seaducktress is a steel-hulled "Diesel Duck". This Duck has cruised the Pacific from Hong Kong to Seattle.

Once out of the Strait, we headed up Chatham Channel. Lastly we managed squeezing through the blow hole "short cut" to be happily greeted by Bill, Pat and Bob at Lagoon Cove. Bill, Lagoon Cove's owner, harvests fresh BC prawns by the bushel each day, then cooks them to perfection. He chills and serves them each evening to his moorage clients at happy hour. As always it was "all the fresh prawns you can eat" as we dined indoors at Bill's residence.

Saturday, May 7th - Sullivan Bay, or Blunden Harbour, or Allison Harbour

After several mornings of 5AM-7AM starts, we slept in today leaving around noon. The sun was out as we cruised through the narrow passages at the southern end of Queen Charlotte Strait passing the ruins of old settlements. We decided on taking the direct route to Sullivan Bay across QC Strait in the less protected waters. Once there, the seas were flat calm, the sun continued and the wind died, so we decided going further to Blunden Harbour, putting us closer to an easy Cape Caution rounding. After 5 hours of clear sailing, we decided to may hay while the sun shone, and continued past Blunden to Allison Harbour. We dropped anchor in a picturesque setting with calm weather at 7PM.

Abandoned Ruins

Providence Passage to South QC Strait

Lone kayaker along rugged BC coastline.

Entrance Channel to Allison Harbour

Stay in the tree lane.

Sunday-Monday, May 8th-9th - Cape Caution Rounding to Pruth Bay, Calvert Island

At 5AM we awakened to calm weather and weighed the anchor for the rounding of Cape Caution. The weather would be good until noon when the wind was forecast to blow. Our anchorage at Allison put us in a great position to complete the rounding withing 3 hours and be at Calvert Island before noon.

Once outside, the ocean was rolling, but with only 3-foot, well spaced swells again, an easy ride. The wind cooperated and no spray was aboard. We took the inside route, cruising behind Egg, Table and False Egg Islands. This route eliminates the ocean swell for periods, but puts us closer to rocks and reefs, and it pays to pre-route and watch the chart plotter!

Rounding Cape Caution

Soon the ocean swell dies as Calvert Island blocks it and flat water prevailed to Pruth Bay, our present anchorage.We arrived to see the Canadian Coast Guard cutter Gorden Reid anchored ahead of us with no other boats in the anchorage. On shore we toured the Hakai Beach Institute and walked across the isthmus to the beach which is open to the Pacific Ocean.

More later, it's time to prepare for some stormy weather. Later.

Tree at sea.

Passing the tree at sea.

Arriving in Pruth Bay, Calvert Island

#1 Breaking Ice in British Columbia

2011-03-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Over the last several winters we've enjoyed a new tradition – New Year's cruising to Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia. Each year shortly after January 1st, we make our way north to Vancouver BC. As soon as the weather permits, we motor northwest along the BC coastline to Pender Harbor, then easterly, eventually arriving at Princess Louisa. Being from sunny California, we're always hoping for snow and ice. In 2009 we saw lots of snow and “margarita” ice. (See Cruising PLI in Winter from the January 2009 entry). Last year it just rained a lot and we didn't see snow or ice. This year we had it all: rain, snow, and thick ice! Here’s the story.

Saturday, January 1st:

We flew in from California last evening and got an early start today for the 8-hour motor to Vancouver. Leaving at 6AM from Anacortes, the first 90 minutes of boating was in the dark. We hoped to avoid the deadheads and floating logs so prevalent in winter, and as it turned out, Lady Luck was with us. For the first time ever, and even though we had on the satellite TV, Pat did not watch the Rose Parade, deciding instead assist in deadhead watch. The seas cooperated for most of the day, except on approaching Point Roberts where a following current and NE winds produced a nasty chop for about an hour. Once we cleared Tsawwassen, it was smooth sailing into False Creek and Canadian Customs. Upon clearing, we moved over to our favorite moorage, Quayside Marina in downtown Vancouver’s Yaletown district. Vancouver was cold but not layered in snow like 2009.

This winter cruise has turned out a small fleet. Wild Blue has been joined the Selene 48 Z-Worthy with Ron and Bonnie from Seattle, and by the Selene 50 Seeker with Mike and Susie from Shell Beach, California. The crews gathered at Quayside’s Provence restaurant for cruise planning, and more importantly, a wonderful dining experience.

Sunday, January 2nd:

Fresh water is difficult to find in winter. Most marinas winterize their water lines, which means among other things, the water has been shut off. Seeker needed fresh water and luckily found some running at the False Creek YC. Once her tanks were topped off, the boats started their northwesterly journey about 9AM. It was sunny skies and picturesque scenery along our route to Pender Harbor.

Wild Blue leaves Vancouver with First Narrows Bridge behind. The boat looks different in winter without its canvas top.

As easy as it was getting to Pender Harbor, entering the Garden Bay Marina proved to be a small challenge. There is a fresh water creek that empties into Garden Bay, and as you probably know, fresh water floats on top of saltwater. When it’s cold enough the fresh water freezes. As Wild Blue maneuvered towards to the dock at the north end of the Bay, the ice thickened to about ½ inch. It was good that an RCMP Police boat was just in front cutting a path through the ice; but it was bad that the Police boat was so skinny. The beamier Wild Blue crunched the path about 4 feet wider, causing ice piles to mark the route for Z-Worthy and Seeker. It’s a noisy experience and the Admiral (Pat) was ordering the Captain to reduce speed. We noticed the boats behind closely followed our lead, not wishing to be trail blazers. Once inside, we all turned our bows south and moored to the dock, deep inside the Bay, near the running creek, ordered first in - last out. Let’s hope for an ice-free exit tomorrow.

It was the Garden Bay Pub’s last night until their late spring re-opening, so the place was jumping and the dinner portions were large. We enjoyed our burgers, fish and chicken then retired for a long days cruise to the Inlet tomorrow.

Monday, January 3rd:

Besides weather, the other thing limiting access to Princess Louisa Inlet is its small opening. This S-curve-like entrance, known as Malibu Rapids, is just 100-feet wide, shallow, and the tidal current can reach upwards to 15 knots. So it is important to time your entry near slack tidal current. The Rapids slack current over the next several days occurs near and after sunset, so we wanted to be at the entrance long before sunset. As we leaned on last year’s winter cruise, transiting the Rapids in the dark is a bit spooky!

It’s about a 4-hour cruise from Pender Harbor to the entrance and with slack water projected to be at 4PM, it made sense depart around 11AM. Lucky for Wild Blue and Z-Worthy, Seeker was lead boat leaving the marina. Overnight the floating fresh water had frozen again, creating a ¾ inch thick ice sheet. Susie on Seeker was not happy about being the trail blazing boat for the first 200 yards of our cruise today. Creeping at 1 knot, Seeker noisily crunched ice to clear water. As a badge for Seeker’s trail blazing, the ice wore off the first 12 inches of her bottom paint, exposing the blue barrier coat.

“Seeker on ice.” Hey that’s sounds like the name of a tasty new cocktail!

Seeker cuts a path through the ice.

¾-inch ice chunks along Seeker’s wake. This scene was repeated later in our journey once inside Princess Louisa Inlet.

Z-Worthy and Wild Blue closely followed Seeker’s lead and soon clear water prevailed. Ice free waters and sunny skies smiled on the fleet along our route up to the approach to Malibu Rapids.

Z-Worthy exits Pender Harbor.

Wild Blue and Seeker are dwarfed by high peaks along Jervis Inlet

Ice reappeared on the approach to Princess Louisa about 2 miles out. Wild Blue led the fleet doing its part in ice breaking. This ice was less than ½ inch thick and required slowing to 3 knots or so at times. We arrived at the Rapids about an hour before high slack current. Since the difference from low to high tide was not great, the current was easily managed. We noted that the Rapids were ice free, probably because of the constant water flow.

During our January 2009 Winter Cruise, thin ice and snow blanketed the Inlet at the entrance. The ice and snow thickened as we approached the Falls. But that was 2009. Today, once past the Rapids into the Inlet, there was no ice and clear waters as far as we could see, or about 1 ½ miles. The fleet looked forward to unrestricted passage to Chatterbox Falls.

Seeker Entering Princess Louisa Inlet

The ice started at 2 ½ miles into the Inlet. From a distance, the ice field looked like a large, loose kelp bed. But soon we were into ½-inch ice with 1 ½ miles to go. At 1 mile the ice thickened even more. This was solid ½ to ¾ inch thick stuff. As the ice thickens, the breaking ice noise increases in volume, and the broken ice chunks increase in size. The boat vibrates and slows dramatically. One knot boat speed, or less, reduces the vibration and noise.

Surveying the water ahead caused us to change course several times. Similar to our experience in Tracy Arm, Alaska, the ice around the edge of the Inlet seemed to be a bit … less-thick. After what seemed like many hours, but was more like 60-minutes, we arrived at the Falls and tied to the float. With Wild Blue in the lead, the rest of the fleet just needed to “stay in the ice lane”. When out of the lane, you do get instant feedback: a loud grinding sound. Z-Worthy and Seeker arrived at the float, admiring Wild Blue’s bow, which had its bottom paint rubbed away for almost 3 feet.

Wild Blue cuts a path through the ice.

Video: Thick ice means large ice chunks and loud noise. Since the chunks are small, this is the thinner stuff.

Tuesday and Wednesday, January 4th and 5th.
The fleet stayed for two nights enjoying hiking, dining and socializing. We built a fire in the park's tepee and roasted hot dogs. On Wednesday we eased away from the dock about 9AM to make slack water at the Rapids. By now the temperature had risen to a point that thick ice had melted and only ice slush remained. As we neared the rapids it began to snow completing our trifecta goal: rain, ice and snow.

Snow begins to fall in Princess Louisa Inlet.

And begins to accumulate on deck

We made our way back down Jervis Inlet, past Pender Harbor, and entered the hopefully ice-free port of Secret Cove. Although the big wind was making our docking maneuvers trickier, we prevailed and Proprietor Scott Rowland welcomed us again. We snacked on Seeker's famous scones then dined on Wild Blue's hunters stew.

Thursday and Friday, January 6th and 7th
It was a great cruise and the fleet enjoyed fair winds and following but flat seas back to Howe Sound and Vancouver. The fleet is looking forward to next January's PLI cruise.

Credits: Almost all the beautiful, in-focus, crisp and colorful photos are from the hand of professional photographer Ron Zuckerman of Z-Worthy. A few fuzzy photos and all the boring videos are from the shaky hand of the amateur author.

#68 Friday Harbor Again and the last days of our 2010 Cruise

2010-08-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

On Sunday it was time to get to the San Juan Islands and Friday Harbor. We arose early for a 5AM departure. Normally we go early because of weather, boat traffic or tidal current. The overriding consideration today is moorage in busy Friday Harbor, where it's first come, first served, and it's 8 hours to our destination

At 5AM you'd think boat traffic would be minimal, but on a Sunday in salmon season it's bumper-to-bumper boats especially in a big marina like Edmonds. Even on an end-tie with easy merge into the outgoing fairway, we had to wait our turn then hustle into the line of boats waiting to exit at this 0-dark AM hour.

Once outside, the sun happened, scaring the clouds away. The seas were flat and winds calm, a great day for power boating. We moved up Admiralty Inlet then entered the eastern portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Lady Anne was able to sleep in an extra hour or so since she cruises about double Wild Blue's speed of 8+ knots. She passed us near the middle of the Strait.

We did make it Friday in time to secure moorage inside the Harbor. Of course the Lady Anne was moored and washed by the time Wild Blue arrived. This fast yacht is owned by Hugh McIntyre. In 2008, the Lady Anne cruised alongside Seagate and Wild Blue in Alaska, Haidi Gwaii and BC. See www.baywoodinn/blog for that story. Hugh met Alex and Pat as members of the California Yacht Club. Hugh is a recently retired MD. Crew Cecilia is a professor of music. Yon, a retired engineer, is a long-time crew member for Hugh on various power and sail boats. He has great stories about growing up in Nazi occupied Netherlands during WW2.

Wild Blue crew Gene and Steve were able to grab two seats on a Kenmore Air float plane and left for home later in the afternoon. We've known the Grays for many years as they were our next door neighbors. Pat and Alex learned a lot more about health insurance and were greatly entertained by the Gray's many exciting life stories. Our favorite: frustration with a brand new Droid, then jettisoning it out the window to watch it disintegrate. Somehow Gene and Steve avoided this blogger's camera, so we don't have a photo to prove anything. Maybe next time!

Wild Blue northbound at 8 knots in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Lady Anne pedal to the metal at 15+ knots loves these conditions.

Hugh and Cecilia drive Lady Anne fast!

Over the next week or so we'll visit our favorite local marinas before putting the boat away in Anacortes. Poets Cove Resort and Vancouver's Quayside Marina will fit in there somewhere. And we'll finish off near where we started in Pat's favorite Brentwood Bay and Butchart Gardens. Have a great rest of the 2010 summer.

Cecilia and Pat make this piano come alive.

Hugh, Cecilia, Yon, Alex and Pat cap off another cruise with a great dinner.

#67 Edmonds

2010-08-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Although the Poulsbo Marina was full without a slip available, we decided to move onto Edmonds. The Grays wanted to visit Friday Harbor, and Edmonds just below Admiralty Inlet, put us closer to it. It was an easy 2-hour voyage and the salmon sports-fishers followed by the Kingston-Edmonds Ferry, lead the way, across the shipping lanes, right to the marina entrance.

Our route from Poulsbo to Edmonds.

The Marina is very nice but has one of the narrowest entrance openings around. Just after entering, a hard port or starboard turn is required. Unfortunately a low-profile boat, is hidden by the break-wall, and upon exiting, can't be seen by an entering boat. We found out in a hurry why everybody slows down! Thankfully no fiberglass was exchanged.

The exciting Edmonds Marina entrance.

Edmonds is a clean marina with lots of activity. Narrow fairways can make transiting the harbor a "white-knuckle" experience.

Crews of the Lady Anne and Wild Blue dined ashore at Arnie's, one of the many seafood dinner houses populating this big boating complex.

Sunset in Edmonds looking towards the Olympic Penninsula.