An Odd Start to an Odd Year

Our 2025 cruising season hasn't gone as we planned or hoped.  First some background and then a recounting of our trip so far.

Towards the end of last year's cruising season, we decided that it was time to replace our still functioning but very heavy 10' Bullfrog dinghy with something lighter. The 350 lb dinghy/motor combination was always a workout to launch using the topping lift on our boom.  Additionally, when the dinghy is beached, there is no way we can drag the it back to the water if the tide recedes very much (Alaskan tides routinely swing more than 20' on a cycle).  Our solution was to order a carbon fiber dinghy and substitute an electric outboard for the gas outboard we have now.  The combined weight would fall by over 60% to something like 120 lb.

Through the winter, Marcia worked with the builder on a schedule that would have it arriving in Washington in time for us to depart on our usual timeline of Late April/Early May.  Unfortunately, as is common, the timeline slipped and it became apparent that it would not arrive until well after the target date.  We resigned ourselves to not having a new dinghy until our return in September.  Once that decision was made, we prepped ourselves for departure but we were about 2-weeks later than we hoped.

We cast off from the dock on Friday, May 16 and headed north.  The tide cycle was such that we ebbed out of Puget Sound, crossed the Strait of Juan De Fuca to Cattle Pass and then flooded through the inner channels of the San Juan Islands to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island.  It started to rain shortly after our arrival so we didn't bother to launch a kayak or dinghy to go to shore.

The next morning, we started across Boundary Pass into British Columbia.  We have Nexus Cards (a US-Canada trusted traveler program) and we chose to clear at Port Browning on North Pender Island, which is a permitted Nexus entry point.  We did run into a glitch, however, when the Canadian border agent with whom Marcia was talking on the phone (and who was in a office back in Ottawa) asked us to go to the dock at Port Browning for a short time to be available for a border agent visit.  This is typical and most times an agent doesn't come and we are free to proceed after the short wait.  Unfortunately, the Port Browning Marina was full-up on account of it being Victoria Day Weekend and there wasn't a dedicated customs dock.  After some phone calls to and by the Port Browning Marina Harbor Master with Canadian Customs, we were cleared after the Harbor Master attested to our hovering offshore available for inspection.  We then dropped our anchor (which we could not do until being cleared for entry), and went to shore.  There is a full grocery store a short walk from the Port Browning Marina and we provisioned with those produce items we weren't allowed to bring with us to Canada.

Rather than remaining anchored in Port Browning, we proceeded to Montague Harbor on Galiano  Island and in its large harbor.  While very popular, Montague Harbor is so large that even on holidays, you can find a spot to anchor which we did.  An attraction to Montague Harbor is the presence of a provincial park with a dock for dinghy tie-up.  There are walking trails in the park and a nice field on which we can play ball with Drake.  Montague also has a small marina whose store serves up ice cream which is the whole family enjoys.  With a forecast for high winds in the Strait of Georgia the next day (May 18), we decided Montague was the place to wait until it lessened.

On the morning of May 19, we got an early start and rode the dying flood current through Dodd Narrows into Nanaimo Harbor.  Since the southeast winds had not totally died down in the Strait of Georgia, our destination was Northwest Bay about 15 miles beyond Nanaimo. This required us to travel for a short time along the edge of the Strait of Georgia which was a bit rolly during the times when the route put our beam to the wind driven waves.  The aptly named Northwest Bay proved to be a haven from the southeast winds in the strait and we spent a quiet night there.

With the southeasterly winds lessened the next morning, we continued on towards Campbell River.  We had decided to use Seymour Narrows as our route through the collection of islands separating the Strait of Georgia from Johnstone Strait.  The ebb current was still building at Seymour Narrows so we took the conservative approach and dropped the anchor in Gowlland Harbour, 6 miles short of Seymour Narrows, and waited for the ebb current to start dropping to a more comfortable speed (from 5-6 knots to 2-3 knots).  After the pause we continued through Seymour Narrows and made our way to Otter Cover behind Chatham Point in Discovery Passage.

The weather continued to be acceptable and the next day we travelled along Johnstone Strait, into Queen Charlotte Strait and anchored in Blunden Harbour.  We've stayed in Blunden many times over years as it is a convenient point from which to start the passage of Cape Caution.  The morning of May 22, was a little windy and there was an unpleasant chop but it did not go beyond that.  As we made our way past Cape Caution, the angle of the waves striking the boat changed to a more comfortable aspect and they never exceeded 2-3 feet in height.  We ended up not needing to put our stabilizing fish in the water.  We anchored the night in Fancy Cove, on the south side of Lama Passage about 8 miles south of Shearwater.

The next morning, with acceptable but worsening weather we continued north.  We elected to avoid the exposed portion of Milbanke Sound west of Ivory Island by cutting into Reid Passage east of Ivory Island, transiting Perceval Narrows, then rejoining Findlayson Channel via Jackson Passage.  We then avoided Heikish Narrows by using Sarah Passage into Princess Royal Channel.  That night we anchored in Khutze Inlet on the bar partway into the inlet.  One of these years we'll after seek permission and try the docks on Butedale, which is only few miles further.

The morning of May 24, with a forecast of upcoming storm force winds across the North Coast of BC, we decide we need to start looking for a safe haven to wait it out. Lowe Inlet, about 50 miles further along seems like a good choice and we anchor the night there.  After one night we decide it wasn't quite as protected as we were hoping for.  It wasn't unsafe but the chop from the wind interacting with the runoff coming from Verney Falls was unpleasant. 

The next day, May 25, we decided to look for something a little less open and went 17 miles further along Grenville Channel to Klewnuggit Inlet.  We anchored at the head of the East Inlet.  There are anchorages further along Grenville but they are not as well protected.  We ended up spending four nights in Klewnuggit Inlet.  The worst weather was the afternoon/evening of May 26 when we had a gust of 40 knots and sustained winds in the mid-20's.  Klewnuggit Inlet is long and there was enough fetch to give us 2-foot chop at anchor.  The other days were not that windy but the continual rain was impressive (Ketchikan had 9.76 inches of rain during the 5 days we spent in Lowe Inlet and Klewnuggit Inlet).

There was a weather window in which we could have gotten to Prince Rupert but, via AIS and the Marinetraffic website, we were able to see other pleasure craft heading into Prince Rupert.  We are a slow boat, not able to beat other boats in a "race" and we didn't want to go to Prince Rupert without a place to dock.  Finally on May 29, with a brief weather window and remotely observing some boats leaving the dock, we left Klewnuggit and headed into town.

We spent two nights in Prince Rupert, a very welcome respite. Drake got his requisite play sessions on nearby grassy public areas and we all got to walk on solid ground again.

We left the dock early on Saturday, May 31 with a forecast that was improving but was still not totally settled.  We started with the hope to get across the exposed Dixon Entrance portion, the channel of water that separates British Columbia from Alaska and is open to the Pacific Ocean, but were prepared to change the goal based on conditions.  In the BC waters of Chatham Sound, the winds were generally 10-15 knots and on our stern and pretty comfortable.  As we approached Dixon Entrance, we thought it would be rougher so we put our stabilizers in the water well before we needed them.  We were so glad we did because it was definitely "bouncier" than any of our 28 previous crossing of Dixon Entrance.  The SW seas were probably about 2 meters (6 to 7 feet) and were hitting our port stern quarter which would some times cause rolling and sometimes a corkscrew motion. Fortunately the winds were mostly in the 15-20 knots. The seas followed us up Revillagigedo Channel to within a few miles of Mary Island and over 20 miles from when we entered Dixon Entrance just north of Dundas Island. We didn't find conditions calm enough for us to stop and pull the stabilizers out of the water until we were within a dozen miles of Ketchikan.  Finally, at 1625 Alaska time, we pulled into a slip in Bar Harbor North and finished our 16 day, 683 mile journey from Bainbridge Island to Ketchikan.