After departing on Saturday, July 27, I spent a few days in Virginia helping my sister with issues regarding my brother's estate. Kurt and the cats remained in Ketchikan doing boat chores (the cats supervise). Upon my return on August 1, we prepped to depart Ketchikan, though we had dinner out in celebration of my birthday. We also did the usual prederture laundry and provisioning.
On Saturday, August 3, we headed out with quite favorable conditions and anchored in Port Tongass. This is within spitting distance of the Canadian Border and allows the next day for a very short stretch of exposed waters, though the conditions the next day were benign. So we got to Prince Rupert Sunday afternoon, fairly early. Upon inspecting a document I had signed, had notarized and left with my sister and receiving her email regarding a legal document for selling Mark's property, I realized a page had not been completed. I needed to find the Canadian equivalent of a notary and notarize and fill out the incomplete page plus the new document. Unfortunately for our original schedule, it turned out that the next day, Monday August 5 was BC day, and a holiday.
While waiting out this unplanned day in Prince Rupert, I provisioned for Canada with the prerequisite forbidden-to-bring-in produce, "eyes, ears and pits" (e.g., no potato, corn or any fruit with pits such as cherries), and a few other items. I also got a Canadian salt water fishing license. Tuesday morning I tracked down a notary on the third try, first to a bank, then government offices, and finally a solicitor (attorney). The next stop was to the Post Office to express mail the documents to Cindee in Colorado. As an aside, it took longer to get from Prince Rupert, a major seaport, to Colorado Springs than when our boat builder express mailed documents from Doumen China to Seattle! We were able to depart around 11 a.m. and were glad to be heading out.
We went the inside—outside route, which avoids Grenville Channel. We had two anchorages to ourselves (the second was a total blank for prawns but sure had lots of jellyfish!) and the third anchorage, was selected because it routed us back inside, because the weather was kicking up.
When entering Cameron Cove, around 2 p.m. August 8, I couldn't help but notice that the fish (read salmon) were jumping as the song goes. Lots, in fact constant splashing sounds of fish jumping, right in our anchorage and the bay outside. So I got my gear, and we started trolling shallow. I got a bite and got a fairly large fish near the boat, but it got away, the barbless hooks you are required to use in Canada when fishing for salmon give the fish a real sporting chance! Though it started to rain, I was a little excited and so we continued. It started to rain harder. We were at a good turn around spot and I was about to say, "let's head in" when, I got another bite. I told Kurt, troll faster, I want to tire this guy out some. And so we did a lap, and I brought the fish in closer and it was fair sized and I worked really hard not to lose it, and I was able to get it into the boat, using the gaf, then bleeding it and putting it on a stringer. I did not mind the rain at all on the way back as I was fairly positive I had a king and when we got to the big boat, confirmed this and recorded the catch. A 28" king! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I gutted the fish, put it on blue ice and shortly thereafter filleted it.
The next day was a long one and we did Princess Royal Channel and then anchored in Bottleneck Inlet, a favorite, and one we have stayed at every trip north, either going or coming back. The next morning we timed our crossing of Milbanke Sound, which is open to the Pacific, to be at slack water to reduce the sea state due to swell and wind opposing the outgoing tide. It was very foggy and we watched with concern as two opposing radar targets, not far from us, came very very close to one another. And the fast boat had not slowed down much if any. We were all three converging, but we knew we were out of the way, and saw them pass, close—to close. But they did not collide. We headed into Seaforth Channel and found the fog had cleared and tried fishing where everyone else was fishing. And I caught a nice sized silver! We were able to hail our friends on Passages and arranged to meet at an anchorage, Wigham Cove, where we had a lovely potluck dinner, each bringing our own dinner, as they mostly eat vegan and we don't. Our dinner was leftover king salmon with a nice salad. Yum.
On Sunday we headed out and went to Ocean Falls. It was windy and we had to dock in the 15 kt wind. Oh joy. It was blowing us off the dock and it took two tries. There were a couple of folks on the dock that helped us and we secured ourselves OK. It continued to blow and calmed down ~ 9 p.m. We were sound asleep when around 12:30 a.m. we were awakend by a rushing noise. I thought it was the dam releasing lots of water above us, in my sleepy state. It turned out to be a BC ferry that was a very short distance behind us, with engines rumbling. Nothing to worry about, but sure noisy.
