June 14 – Prince Rupert

It rained heavily overnight in Coghlan Anchorage but the winds let up by morning. Anchor pulling went fine. The bottom must be sandy because there was no mud on the chain or anchor despite it having dug in deeply on account of the wind.

Two miles later, we are motoring up Grenville Channel, an equally narrow (yet deep) channel as Princess Royal Channel. The channels are generally less than a mile wide yet nearly a 1,000 feet deep. The peaks on either side are several thousand feet high. You can almost visualize the glaciers gouging these channels out during the ice age.

Besides small craft like ourselves and fishing boats, commercial traffic such as tugs with barges and passenger vessels use Grenville Channel. No cruise ships today but we did pass going south bound the B.C. ferry that goes from Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert, the last major community on the British Columbia Pacific coast.

Based on the weather forecast, we did a long day and made Prince Rupert our today’s destination. As we got within cell phone coverage, Marcia started calling the various marinas.

We knew that Prince Rupert pleasure craft moorage is tight during the summer. It proved to be so last night so we motored across to a cove on the north side of Prince Rupert Harbor, Pillsbury Cove, and dropped our anchor for the night.

During the day, as we motored north, the weather continually improved. We were in full sun when the anchor was snubbed and the engine turned off. Our attitude was decidedly improved over 24 hours earlier when we were in strong wind and rain.

Today’s mileage – 76.9

Cumulative mileage – 706.7

Current position