08:05 Low tide and we're on our way. I had convinced myself that there was enough depth for us in the channel even with this morning's -0.6 tide and I was almost right. We only touched bottom a couple of times, and then not enough to slow our idling pace. We'll have a few scratches on the keel.
08:30 Started fishing. Lots of action but we couldn't seem to keep them on the hook. I had three on which got off before I ever saw them. Lois got one up to the boat but I managed to get the net all tangled up and finally swung it up into the fish cleaner by the leader where it gave a big flip, tore the hook loose, and went over the side. Another of hers broke a leader and took hook and hoochie. The good news is that she kept hooking them and managed to bring two beautiful Coho in. Very successful morning.
10:10 Still having fun but decided that, if we wanted to get to Ketchikan early, we better move on. Lots of fishermen trolling around Lemesurier Point, both commercial and sports, and lots of fish showing. Wind picking up from the northwest but that's great. We're heading southeast and the sun's out and it's warm on our faces. Great run.
14:30 I give the harbormaster a call as we pass the ferry landing and he assigns us slip 4 on float 10 in Barr Harbor. It's big, easy to get into, and right near the ramp. Got out the cart, walked to the mall about a quarter mile south and stocked up for the trip through B.C. Ate half of our crab for dinner.
08:50 Going again. Beautiful, sunny morning. Little breeze from the north and a current in the same direction to push us down the channel. Couldn't ask for a better traveling day. Quite a few seiners heading north. From the radio talk it sounds like there's to be an opening next week up in Sumner and Chatham straits.
12:30 Rounding Mary Island. We'd planned on stopping in Foggy Bay for the night but the weather's so perfect for crossing that we decide to keep going. The forecast is good for tomorrow too but you never know, so we put out the poles and head for Brundige Inlet on Dundas Island which we can already see twenty-five miles to the south on the other side of Dixon Entrance.
13:35 Tree Point. Wind has died completely and the sea is turning galssy but there's a bit of a swell coming right on our beam so I drop in the starboard foil. We're almost to Canada again so we set our clocks forward an hour to Pacific Daylight Time.
16:30 Into the inlet. Brundige is a narrow inlet almost five miles long with several side arms and islands. Most of it is about a hundred feet deep and you could anchor anywhere but we'd like to find a nice fifty foot spot. Took a couple of tries. Bottom's mostly rock and we dragged the hook off of our first set and ended up in 18 foot water...we're at high tide and due to loose about 16 of that in the next six hours.
17:15 Hook down in a pretty spot almost at the end of the inlet. Pulled in the poles, went to home configuration, and had our evening drink while enjoying the warm sunshine. It was so pretty that I got out the barbecue and cooked our salmon outside. Oh, that Coho is good fish!
08:50 Around Whitly Point at the north tip of Dundas and heading south, a gentle breeze on our quarter. Fog banks off in the distance but crystal clear where we are. They seem to be dissipating as we approach.
11:00 Into Venn Passage. We're an hour after low tide and it's a narrow, shallow, and intricate pass but well marked and we manage to run it never having less than fifteen feet of water under our keel. The only spooky part was when we turned one corner and saw nothing but fog. As before, it cleared just in time.
12:00 Docked at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club. Signed up, called customs, and changed clothes while waiting for the young customs lady to show up. She cleared us in with no problems - Clearance No. R0629-K1. Walked up town, got some Canadian money from a cash machine, did a little shopping, bought a few groceries, and then lazied around for the afternoon. Went to dinner at the Breakers Pub where we sat on the deck in the sun and were entertained by young people having a drinking party at the next table...pretty good baby back ribs.
10:00 Stopped at the south end of Kitson Island for a try at halibut. The kid at the next table last night told us that there was a good hole here. Couldn't find it but we fished for half an hour in about 100 feet of water. Thought Lois had one on once but it turned out to be a dogfish shark. Where there's on of those there are more so we quit.
Ran south through Arthur Passage but then, instead of turning left down the Grenville Canal, we turned southwest down the Ogden Channel on the west side of Pitt Island.
13:00 Hadn't seen much sign of fish but we decided to give it a try anyway and trolled around Comrie Head. No action.
14:30 Gave up fishing and started looking on the charts for a place to light for the night. The best spot seemed to be just around the corner at Captain's Cove so we ran in there take a look. Very nice, about a mile deep and a quarter mile wide with a logging operation at the head. Dropped our hook behind a row of islets on the south side away from the noise of the logging camp and settled down to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. Sure has been perfect weather for traveling, and the weatherman says more coming.
08:15 We'd just pulled in the lines when there was a huge splash as a big, fast moving Orca broke water in front of the boat. All by itself, it swam very rapidly toward the shore, surfacing every few yards, then stopped and started normal feeding diving and blowing. We seldom see Orcas alone, or see one move so fast.
10:20 At the junction of Petrel Channel and Principe Passage a pod of Dall's porpoise join us and stay for almost half an hour. They must have been going our way.
13:50 Into Estevan Sound now and we spot a black object bobbing up and down in the water ahead of us. At first we thought it was a deadhead but it seemed to be riding too high out of the water for that, and it was the wrong shape for a buoy. Then, as we got closer, it rose about four feet out of the water, hung there for a couple of seconds, and sank. It was a big sea lion who'd been watching our approach.
15:15 Entering Caama|o Sound, open to the big waters of Hecate Strait but glassy smooth this afternoon. A small whale with a very sharp pointed dorsal fin surfaces and blows several times as we pass. A U.S. fishing boat called the DAILY passes headed north.
15:45 The NORDIC PRINCE passes us heading north up Estevan and another cruise ship comes out of Laredo Channel and turns northeast up Squally Channel. More traffic out here than I expected.
17:45 Anchored in a very pretty little nook on the south side of Smithers Island which guards the entrance to Helmcken Inlet at the north end of Laredo Channel. This is probably as scenic a spot as we've every been in. It's only about a hundred yards across, and a hundred feet deep in the middle. We found a place on the south side with about sixty feet of water and sort of draped our chain and anchor over the rocks on the bottom. We're so tucked in here that there's little chance of anything moving us. Had a perfect view of the sunset between the little islands and rocks at the entrance. Had halibut for dinner. We'll try again tomorrow to find a salmon.
09:30 Passing the end of Aristozabel Island and out into Loredo Sound. Fog bank in the distance...guess we're in for it.
10:30 Yep, deep in it now. Nothing to look at but the radar screen as we run down the sound. And there's nothing on it but the shoreline and the blips marking the Jeffrey Rocks. I turn on Raider I but no picture appears on the screen. I jiggle his connectors and a picture comes up but it's so noisy that I can hardly pick out the targets from the noise blips. I need to take him apart and polish all his connections. Raider II is working great though. It's nice to be able to sit back and see the screen while also peering out the window into the fog...even if there's nothing out there to see.
13:00 Rounding the south end of Price Island into Milbank Sound I call Prince Rupert traffic on Channel 11 and asked if they've got any reported traffic in the area. "None", the man says, but Raider soon picks up a moving blip off to the left. It's angling across the sound and seems to be heading for the same destination as we - Seaforth Channel which leads to the inside passage. As we watch it it gets bigger and bigger and becomes a series of five blips in a row, almost like a radar transponder.
14:30 My big blip is closer now, only a mile and a half off to the left and closing fast, so I call on the radio. PASSTIME comes back and explains that my big blip is really it and four fishing boats it is following through the murk. They all swing into Seaforth behind us but now there's another reason for concern...a whole series of blips is coming down the channel headed right for us. The first is passing less than a quarter mile away when we're finally able to get a glimpse of a big seiner drifting by in the gloom. Then the others come, a long line of gillnetters in a steady stream.
15:00 Clearing now, we can see a mile at least, and still the gillnetters come. From the conversation on the radio there's an opening starting this evening so they're all headed out. It's going to be short and very crowded and they're not very happy about it, but they've got to go.
16:00 Bella Bella. Bright sunny skies now, and fish, fish jumping everywhere, big Cohos; and whales feeding right in front of the village to the delight of several small skiffs which are running around hoping for a close look at the big guys. We think about stopping to fish but it's been a long day in the fog and we'd like to get settled in Fancy Cove, still an hour away.
17:00 We're there. We stayed in Fancy Cove on the way up in '87 and it's just as fancy now as it was then...pretty little inlet about a mile deep and a hundred yards wide with several small pockets with plenty of swinging room for one boat. We're the only boat here. We drop our hook and settle in. Lots of fish jumping even in here. We drop the crab ring over the bow and I start casting a lure while Lois is preparing dinner. One nice little breakfast sized Coho took it but my arm got tired before I could entice any more on the line. Nothing in the crab ring but small rock crabs and starfish. Had broiled salmon for dinner, frozen of coarse. Fresh would have been better. We'll work on that tomorrow.
10:30 Fishing our way out of the cove by radar. Kind of spooky being within fifty yards of shore and not being able to see it. Started catching fish almost immediately though. Lois was really doing well. She brought in a couple of 12-13 inchers and then hooked a big one. The line went zinging out but she played it well and had it almost to the boat when it gave a big flip and broke the twenty pound test leader. Later she had another big guy on but it went wild while far behind the boat, made a huge jump into the air, and somehow broke the thirty pound test leader on the flasher. The last we saw of it it was still jumping, trying to get rid of the hook and that big green flasher. We fished our way from Fancy cove out to Pointer Island on Fisher Channel with lots of action...nine small salmon, two rock fish, and a small ling cod. Decided to quit when the traffic got too heavy. Almost got run down by an idiot fisherman running fast along the shore. We were at idle and couldn't move. He saw us just barely in time to miss us. Then the QUEEN OF THE NORTH, a huge cruise ship, went by a couple of hundred yards away but we never saw her. So we pulled in and got out in the channel where we could dodge anything coming at us.
14:00 Fog starting to clear and the sun come out so we fished again for a while near the junction of Burke Inlet and Fisher Channel. Picked up a couple more small Cohos. They seem to be everywhere.
15:00 Ran into Namu hoping to find some fresh milk. No luck. Store open but not much on the shelves. Bought a flasher to replace the one we lost this morning.
16:00 Running back across Fitz Hugh Sound. I was headed for a neat little pocket we'd checked out on the way up in May, Goldstream Harbor on the northeast tip of Hecate Island; but as we approached the fog moved in again, a long, thick arm of it drifting in through Hakai Passage. Didn't look like a place to spend the evening. Looking on the chart we found an alternative in the island group just north of there. Nothing in any of our books about it but we decided to take a look.
17:00 Anchored in the fourth super pretty spot in as many days. This one has no name but we're tucked in on the north side of Nalau Island (Latitude 51o 47.35' N, Longitude 128o 01.35 W) behind three tiny unnamed islands which provide protection from all directions. The bottom is rock but nice and flat with good swinging room in fifty feet of water. The other nice thing is that the fog, so thick in Hakai Passage just a couple of miles away, didn't come in all evening. We sat enjoying the sunshine and watching the antics of the seagulls feeding in the channel.
10:30 Passing Safety Cove. Fog not quite as thick as yesterday. At times we get a glimpse of the rocky shoreline a half mile away. From a radio call we learn that the blip, now 2.6 miles ahead, is a seiner called the FREEDOM.
11:30 Cape Calvert. Fog opens up enough to see the cape and we catch just a glimpse of FREEDOM out in front, then it all closes in again. We're sure not alone out here in the fog. There doesn't seem to be anyone behind us but there are eight boats ahead in the murk: INFINITY, BAMBOO, ACUBE, SILENT RUNNER, DIVINE, ISLAND RUNNER, RAMBLER, and our friend, FREEDOM. Several of them have no radar and are on the radio comparing headings, distances, etc.
13:00 Egg Island. We have a few minutes of sunshine and a nice view of the island before the fog closes in again. The lady in the Egg Island light house, called Egg Yolk on the radio by the visiting supply boat, says that the fog horn has been going constantly for six days now, a double blast every minute, and it is a loud one. Wonder how she stands it?
13:30 The infamous Cape Caution drifts by on the radar as we ride the smooth swells. Sure no problem with the seas today, Several boats have passed heading north but we see them on the radar far before they get to us and most pass too far away to see through the fog.
15:30 Pine Island, another lighthouse, another fog horn. We've almost caught up with two small sailboats motoring through the gloom: INFINITY and SILENT RUNNER. We pass them about half way between Pine Island and Scarlet Point.
16:30 Scarlet Point is another lighthouse and fog horn, but suddenly the fog lifts and we can see. Wow! I'd been heading for a place which Charley calls God's Pocket, a jumping off place for Queen Charlotte Sound. It's just inside Christy Passage on Hurst Island. But when we got there it was full of stuff...boats, float houses, warehouses, etc. So we kept going. I remembered a neat little cove on Bell Island which I thought would make a better parking spot for the night.
17:00 Well, it was a neat little cove. As we tucked into the narrow entrance behind the protecting small island on the south shore of Bell we were met with the sight of a huge barge with a sign lableing it the PENDER LADY LODGE parked in our cove, and farther in a fish farm has closed the far end. Oh well, that's progress. We dropped our hook in front of the little clamshell beach which is the former site of an Indian village and settled in for the evening. Generators running at both ends of the cove but they are too far away to be annoying. Wonder how people who live there get used to it? Had our little fish for dinner. Some were very much like the Kokanee of Coeur d'Alene lake, others were white meat and didn't even taste like salmon. Strange, I didn't examine them very thoroughly when I cleaned them but thought they were all the same.
11:30 Alert Bay. Government float filled with fishing boats so we tied to a buoy, dropped Stormy in the water, and went ashore for our groceries. Sure like the Alert Bay Foods store. They had some cheese sticks hot out of the bakery oven that were the best I've ever tasted.
12:30 Going again. Flat calm sea and no wind but the sun can't quite break through the clouds.
13:15 Telegraph Cove. Pretty much as I remembered it except for a lot more people...the last time we were here was in early November. Stopped at their fuel dock and filled our water tank while Lois went shopping at the store. Quite a few fish being cleaned at the cleaning station but the gas guy said the Coho are either late or aren't going to show up this year in the usual numbers.
15:00 Decision to make...we're in front of Growler Cove but it's another four hours to the next anchorage, Port Harvey, so we wouldn't have time for any fishing. We decide to fish for an hour or so and stay here for the night. Might as well have gone on. Only action was a couple of rock fish when we went over a shallow spot on the reef.
16:30 Anchored in Growler Cove. Pretty nice spot, open to the west but otherwise surrounded by high walls and forest. One small sailboat here when we arrived, the NATU from somewhere in Washington, but it wasn't long before the fishing boats started arriving. A dozen or more trollers parked either in the cove or in the bay just outside. Weatherman's predicting north winds tomorrow. We'll see.
08:40 Lois kept the boat in gear and moving forward while I hauled in. It's times like this I really appreciate the hydraulic windless...when we had a time like this in the days when we were hand cranking I'd have to do it all myself without stopping and it would damn near kill me. Now it's a matter of watching the chain roll in and guiding the anchor aboard. Got a nice saltwater washdown as we cleared the entrance and the small islands outside. The seas were running three to four feet and the wind gusting to thirty-five. It was only about ten minutes though before we could turn downwind and from then on it was a wallowing but smooth ride down Johnstone Strait for the rest of the morning.
11:00 Passing Port Neville. We're sure making good time. We're on a flood tide and with the wind behind us we're doing over 10 knots. At times when we catch a wave just right the sounder shows 12 or 13 as we surf down the front. Except for the wind it's a beautiful day, bright sun and blue sky above, quite a change from the fog of the past few days.
12:30 Helmcken Island. I choose to go around on the Current Passage side so we can take a look at Billy Goat Bay. It looks pretty good to me, nicely protected from the west wind but Lois isn't enthused and Blind Channel Resort is only another couple of hours away so we keep going. Got a little too close to Ripple Shoals at the east end of Helmcken and fought some wild and wooly waves for a few minutes. Two big waterways meet and then split again over a shallows there and really cause some confused seas.
14:30 Blind Channel Resort in Mayne Passage. Only one other boat here, a big sailboat flying the flag of Great Britain. Restaurant closed as it was when we came though in May...they must have a pretty short season... but there are power and water on the floats and it's protected from the wind so we stayed.
On the way out of the bay we noticed something on the far side of Nodales that we hadn't seen as we came down the channel, a high waterfall which seemed to come right out of the rock cliff and fall a hundred feet or more toward the forest below. Wondering what could be the source of such a spring this late in the summer, we ran across to take a better look. Not until we got right under the fall were we able to see that it is frozen, a perfect painting of a fall done by nature on the face of the rock. Every little detail is there, right down to the impression of mist rising from the splashing water. Only when you get very close can you see that there is no motion.
12:15 Fishing off Howe Island at Chatham Point. Here's where the fishermen seem to think the fish are but it doesn't do us much good. An hour doesn't bring one strike. Saw one commercial boat bring in a line of fifteen flashers and hoochies with three fish on but we never got a nibble. He was using green edged flashers and pink hoochies...s'poz that was the difference?
13:15 Into Okisollo Channel in time to catch the 14:40 slack at the upper rapids. We hit it just right, about a half hour early and rode through at a fine 11 knot pace.
14:45 Hung our pick in the Bodega Anchorage right at the entrance of the narrow passage into the Octopus Islands Marine Park. What a pretty spot. Sun's bright and warm, no wind, and dozens of tiny islands all around us. We dropped Stormy in the water and went exploring. As the book says, the marine park is "undeveloped" which means that there are no mooring buoys, campsites, or toilets, nothing but a single sign proclaiming it a Provincial Park. As we toured around the many islands, nooks, and crannies of the area we found three other cruisers, each in their own little pocket. Sure a nice place to spend a little time. Back at the boat we sat on the deck and enjoyed the peace and sunshine. I'm already starting to dread going back to the busy country below. It's been a great summer.
08:50 Surge narrows right on schedule but there's something wrong with the schedule...the tide has already turned. No problem, we slide though on a flood of maybe a couple of knots, but it's the first time the tide and current predictions on our computer have failed to be right on. Checking the books afterward, I find that it isn't Micronautics fault; the U.S. current tables for Surge Narrows show slack twenty minutes later than the Canadian tables. From our experience this morning the Canadian tables are right and the U.S. wrong. Something to remember in the future. Once though the narrows it was down Hoskyn Channel and out into the big Strait of Georgia. Weatherman's predicting more windy weather coming tomorrow so we figured we'd take advantage of the flat calm and run down the strait a ways today. Couldn't have asked for better traveling weather.
11:45 Off Grant Reefs out in the middle of the strait in about a hundred feet of water. There are a couple of commercial boats trolling and Fisher is showing all kinds of fish under us so we stop and drop in the lines. Bamm, Lois pulls in a nice, bright Coho still covered with sea lice. That was it though. Had a couple of more strikes and one shaker while we made another pass but that's all. Didn't work at it real hard.
14:00 More sign of fish off the north end of Texada Island across from Powell River. Coho must be running. We didn't stop though; there's not much incentive to catch a lot of fish when your freezers full of it.
16:00 Into the same little nook in Blind Bay where we stayed last spring with the idea of picking up some clams and oysters. Haven't had any since we left here heading north. It's high tide now but in the morning we should be able to get some if the summer cruising crowd hasn't scarfed them all up. Fresh salmon for dinner. Hard to beat that.
09:45 On our way. Weatherman's wind hasn't materialized so far. We have a gentle five knots on our tail as we head down Malaspina Strait.
11:30 We've decided to spend the afternoon in Smuggler's Cove marine park but first we make a run through Buccaneer Bay, just across the way. It's a deep, mile long, half mile wide bay with sand beaches all along one shore. Lots of houses both near the mouth and at the head of the bay; looks like a popular summer destination for a lot of Canadians. There's a government wharf near the mouth on the island side where we stopped and used the B.C. Tel phone. Tried calling Kris, Nan, Allyn...nobody home.
12:30 Anchored in Smuggler's Cove. Kind of spooky getting in, and not a whole lot of room inside. Very shallow, less than twenty feet in the fifty foot wide entrance and all of the three small basins. We anchored just inside the entrance in the outer basin. There are three private homes on three tiny islets in the park, here under a grandfather clause from when the park was set up. During the cruising season we hear that this is a very popular place; fortunately, it's not crowded now. Only one other boat here when we came in, and only three more appeared during the afternoon.
Took a tour of the cove in the ding...dozens of little nooks and crannies here, and even some sign of a few clams and oysters. Sat on the deck in the sunshine and shucked our oysters. Had barbecued oysters for dinner wishing that Kris and Bob could have joined us...that's one of their favorite activities.
09:30 On the other side now and traffic everywhere...ships, ferries, tugs and barges, big boats, little boats, coming and going. The radar screen is filled with blips, including the big coded respose of the Racon beacon off the Nanaimo Reefs.
10:00 Through Gabriola Passage right at slack tide. Inside it's the same traffic story. Sailboats, power boats, going all directions. We're certainly back in busy country. We ran past Pirates Cove marine park on DeCourcy Island...it was full of boats...then down the side of Valdez Island. I've always been facinated by the carvings of mother nature on the sandstone cliffs of Valdez. Intricate shapes and fabulous figures cover the walls for several miles. The birds make use of some of the deeper carvings to make their nests.
11:30 Stopped and fished for a while across Porlier Pass. No luck, we're on the wrong side of the pass. We could have gone through and fished on the downsteam end but it would have been a fight with the current to get back.
13:00 Ran down the east side of the Secretary Islands. Several boats in the anchorage between them. At Wallace Island we saw several people climbing over the rocks on the shore. Curious, I swung around the south end and up the west side toward Conover Cove where we saw four boats running inside the reef toward the entrance. It wasn't until we got abeam the cove that we could see the B.C. Marine Park sign...and ten more boats inside that tiny cove. The Seattle developers must have finally given up and turned the island over to the Province. It would be a better marine park if it had a bit more anchorage. Princess Cove at the north end was also filled with boats today. And that seemed to be the story everywhere. We heard boaters on the radio fighting over the last two buoys in Montague Harbor, another marine park.
15:30 Anchored in James Bay on the north end of Prevost Island. Only one other boat here, a small schooner anchored near the head. Lots of room, open to the north but with the weather as it is that's not a problem. Sun came out, beautiful afternoon. Bunch of crab buoys in the bay so we put out the crab ring and pulled up a couple of rock crabs, no dungeness. Steamed clams and fried oysters for dinner. We do eat good.
09:00 We swing through Hope Bay for a look at the facilities...nice government wharfand float, small store, and a curio shop. Some very nice home in the community around.
09:45 Fished for a while around the south tip of Pender. Not a nibble, but on the radio we heard conversation about limits being caught somewhere out of Roche Harbor. Sounded like they're having a derby over there.
10:30 Across Boundry Pass and back in the U.S. of A. Fished again for a while around Flattop Island without success. Guess the fish must be out in Juan de Fuca.
12:00 Made a swing through Deer Harbor to look at their facilities. Lots of empty slips in the Deer Harbor Marina. They've also built a new OCYC marina since we were last there. Most of the permanently moored boats seem to be in it.
13:30 Friday Harbor. Stopped at the customs dock, called and then walked up to the office to check in (Entry No.144078-D). Talked to the Port people about monthly moorage. Fees not quite as bad as I'd expected, $3.84 per foot plus tax. That works out to about $230 for us. For now though, we anchored out, got down the ding, and went to town in it. Friday Harbor is still a very busy place in mid-September. Hundreds of people milling around downtown on this warm late summer afternoon. We walked through town, bought a few groceries, and went back to the boat to watch the fun from there. Tomorrow will be soon enough to move into the dock and go to work.