I’ve been fussing further with the track data I extracted from the navigation computer and have uploaded all our anchorages up to both the Microsoft and Google mapping sites. These can be opened up as a separate browser windows and don’t require any downloads or extra applications.
Map of anchorages using Microsoft Bing Maps
Map of anchorages using Google Maps
The file has an individual track for each day we traveled so the little blue arrowhead symbol usually represents an anchorage. There are a few “bonus” anchorages caused by when I had to restart the navigation software and a new track was created. When you zoom in and see a symbol away from shore and with no obvious anchorage around, that is probably what happened.
Try as I might, I can’t get the above link to open directly in a download dialog box. Instead it takes you to a Microsoft Live web page from which you have to select download in order to get it onto your local computer.
Rather than pretend I am keeping up the blog by back dating entries, this post is a roll-up of things since Ketchikan.
There is a wonderful movie about birds, Winged Migration. I feel as though we’ve become a part of a human equivalent by joining the flocks of boats heading south for the winter. Boats that we’ve seen elsewhere in Alaska, for example Glacier Bay, Juneau or Sitka, cross paths with us along the main boat migratory paths.
We depart near noon on September 3, south for Canada. The Nagles pick up a couple hundred gallons of diesel on the way out and we motor at a slower speed so that they can catch up. The night is spent at Judd Harbor on the SE corner of Duke Island just north of Dixon.
We were able to get dock space at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club, which had been filled on the way north. While on the dock, we met a Seattle couple completing a four year trip around the world on their sail boat, S/V Marcy. They did the circumnavigation the hard way by going around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. They sailed from the coast of Chile (Puerto Montt) to Hawaii and then from Hawaii to Alaska. What an adventure they have had!
From Prince Rupert we took the “outside-inside” route which avoided the long channels of Grenville and Princess Royal but stayed inside the protection of some large islands. We saw only a few fishing boats and one cruise ship for nearly three days.
The next day, September 7, we continued down Laredo Channel until we got to Meyers Passage, a convenient route back over to the main southbound route. We were an hour past slack water when we reached it but the currents were not running so strong as to make it impassable for our slow boats. We anchored in Clothes Bay, a mile or so south of the village of Klemtu.
September 8 was the short (36 mile) cruise to Shearwater. The Nagles were meeting a friend David Cohn flying in from Vancouver to the nearby community of Bella Bella. This Spring, David put his order in with Seahorse for a Diesel Duck like the Nagles. This time on the boat was his opportunity to see how the boat handled and learn from the Nagles about the care and feeding of a “duck.”
The next day, September 9, we continued our southbound trip and stopped at Pruth Harbor. Both the Nagles and we stopped here northbound and found the beach (Hakai beaches) across the island from the anchorage to be stunning.
An early start of 7AM (it is Autumn and that is when the sun rises now) and a long day on September 10 got us across Cape Caution and into Port Hardy, the major community at the north end of Vancouver Island. We stayed at the public docks near the Coast Guard station.
Trying to get some miles in before the forecasted winds picked up, on September 11, we traveled the short distance (25 miles or so) further down to Port McNeill. We first tried the docks at Sointula, across from Port McNeill but they were filled. Rather than staying at the city docks which can be tight, we stayed at the recently added docks attached to the fuel dock. Their orientation was perfect for docking in the 15 to 25 knot gusts that were now blowing. Lunch was at our favorite Port McNeill restaurant, Gus’s Pub. Marcia got here cajun shrimp with sweet potato fries.
Since we have cruised this section more that the Nagles, they let us set the route back down to the San Juans. From here, on September 13, we continued down Johnstone Straits. On account of adverse currents (wrong time of the month to head south), we were going less than 5 knots much of the time. Before we got to Seymour Narrows, we cut off along Okisollo Channel through Upper Rapids into the Octopus Islands Marine Park. This was our first anchorage on the northbound trip where we felt like we were really away from civilization (Octopus Island Marine Park). We took the kayaks down and paddled around the coves.
An early start on September 15 gets us down Malaspina Strait and past Texada Island to Smuggler Cove Marine Park. We stayed here in 2007 on our previous boat Dragontail (MV Dragontail blog). The anchorage is tight so the BC Parks has put in rings on the shore to which you tie your stern after dropping your anchor. The idea is to eliminate all of the boats swinging and to pack in lots more boats.
We haven’t done a huge number of stern ties and none on Alpenglow. After three anchor drops we find a good spot and hook. We drop a kayak and Kurt paddles to shore with a lap full of line. He passes the line through the ring and pulls himself back to the boat while continuing to trail out line. We then cleat off the bitter end on the boat and start pulling in slack on the spool side. Eventually we get the boat turned around so that the stern is pulled tight towards the anchor ring on shore. I am sure with practice we can smooth out the process.
September 16 was the crossing of the Strait of Georgia into the BC Gulf Islands. The Gulf Islands and the Washington San Juan Island are really part of the same archipelago. An international border happens to cut through them is all.
If I thought there were a lot of boats at Prideaux Haven, I was certainly not prepared for the Gulf Islands. Our original destination was Wallace Island but as we got close we could spy the narrow Princess Cove had at least a half dozen boats already in it. We continued on towards Montague Harbor where we anchored on the north side of Gray Peninsula. It was a little more exposed than I would have cared for but it had plenty of swing room and good holding.
We head towards Ganges Harbor on Saltspring Island. It is only a short distance, less than 10 miles, from where our anchorage so we are in town with plenty of time to walk around. Our yacht club has an outstation here which means we can stay for only $8 a night, a real bargain compared to the dollar a foot we often pay.
Ganges has a busy art community and there are many galleries. Marcia finds a few items that she likes at a price she is willing to pay. We eat out at one of the many restaurants in town. Besides art, it looks like a good food town, as well.
We reenter the United States the next day, September 18. Besides recreational boat traffic, ferry and commercial traffic is lots higher than up north. We have to dodge BC ferries shortly after leaving Ganges, alter our course to avoid two freighters in Boundary Pass between Canda and the USA, than hug the shore to allow room for Washington State ferries in Thatcher Pass.
As we cruise through Wasp Passage between Orcas and Shaw Islands in the San Juan Islands, we are hailed by a vessel about 200 yards behind us. It was Summer Song a 72 foot Hatteras owned by a couple we met in Ketchikan two months earlier. After conversing with them, we are hailed by another vessel hearing our boat name on the radio. It was Abacus, a Nordic Tug 42, operated by a couple we first crossed paths with on our northbound trip in British Columbia in early June. Its a big cruising area but a small world.
Immigration and Customs clearance was easy as we went through the “trusted traveler” program this Spring and have been vetted by both the Canadian and US immigration services. We are cleared for entry by phone as we motor along Guemes Channel towards Anacortes where we spend the night in the Cap Sante Marina.
The next morning, September 19, we lighten our pocket book and load up on 1042 gallons of diesel at Cap Sante fuel. For a change we have favorable currents, riding the ebb out of Guemes Channel, down Rosario Strait and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We pick up the flood as we start down Admiralty Inlet. We pull into the QCYC Winslow outstation dock shortly before 5 PM.
Mileage from Ketchikan – 753.1
Cumulative Mileage – 3208.3
Engine Hours – 512.0
After six weeks of poking around north and west of Ketchikan, we motored back into Bar Harbor marina this afternoon.
Before pulling in, we stopped at the fuel dock and took on 200 gallons of fuel. I estimate that we had somewhat over 300 gallons of fuel remaining which ought to be enough to get home but the 200 gallons is our reserve so that we don’t worry. At the engine RPM we typically motor (~1500), we use about 2 gallons per hour and average pretty close to 7 knots which is a bit over 3 miles to the gallon.
We can certainly tell that the cruising season has pretty much ended here. The pleasure boats still in the marina tend to be homeported in Alaska. We don’t see many folks on the docks that look like cruisers, mostly commercial fisherman.
The weather is also telling us it is time to head south. The forecast is for rainy and windy weather the next several days. We will head towards Canada at the first weather window. Once past Dixon Entrance, we can travel a couple hundred miles in pretty protected waters.
Today’s mileage – 38.0
Cumulative mileage – 2455.2
What a great day! First, the weather was perfect, light winds and partly sunny as the day wore on. Second, the scenery was spectacular as we motored through protected channels created by the dozens of little islands in the bay. Lastly, we had some unforgettable whale viewing.
The picture to the right is of a humpback that was using a rock at the entrance of a pass between some islands to which we were heading as its scrub brush. Later we saw another humpback doing likewise on rocks next to the shore almost inside the pass.
Today’s mileage – 42.0
Cumulative mileage – 2417.2
We departed at oh-dark thirty in order to hit slack at Tlevak Narrows, about 19 miles from Craig. Even though we were only about forty minutes past slack, we already had a 2 knot current (in our favor fortunately) in the narrows and nearly knots after exiting. Fortunately, the whirlpools and overflows the guide book talked about had formed by then.
The original goal for the day was to pass around the bottom of Prince of Wales Island at Cape Chacon. The day before, the weather forecast suggest that tomorrow (8/29) would be marginal. After listening to the updated forecast, we realized the front was delayed so pulled up short for the day and went into a lovely anchorage, Kassa Island Bay.
We saw a number of humpback whales and one occasion had to back off to neutral because a whale passed within a few hundred yards of us and we weren’t sure where it was going to come up. As far as sea otters, when the DavidEllis entered the bay in which we were anchoring, they startled a big pod of sea otters which took off away from them by porpoising through the water. That was a behavior none of us had ever seen in sea otters, who are mostly blasé about boats. We speculated that the otters may be hunted by the native Americans who live at Hydaburg, a community about 20 miles away, and are more fearful of boats.
Today’s mileage – 53.2
Cumulative mileage – 2375.2
We got a fairly early start in order to get close to slack water through the Tonowek Narrows. The cruising was pleasant and we arrived in the town of Craig shortly after 12PM.
Craig is the major community on Prince of Wales Island. Its population today is about 1200 people, supported mostly by fishing, both commercial and sport. Prince of Wales Island has been heavily logged in the past and the island is laced with logging roads. Clear cuts are very common and many forests are second growth.
Logging today, though, is not common in SE Alaska. The practice of clear cutting can severely damage the salmon streams besides creating a long-term eye sore. The fishing industry and conservation have pretty much won out over the logging industry.
Today’s mileage – 37.7
Cumulative mileage – 2322.0
From Dry Pass Lagoon, we traveled a few miles further and anchored a short distance from the dinghy dock for the El Capitan Caves. In hindsight, we probably should have skipped last night’s anchorage and just anchored here. Next year, maybe.
After the tour, we returned to the boats, had lunch and continued down El Capitan Passage into Sea Otter Sound. We have been seeing sea otters regularly in the cruising areas near the outer coast and Sea Otter Sound was no exception.
Today’s mileage – 23.4
Cumulative mileage – 2284.3
