Wrangell is a small working town that contains mostly fishing related business’s. It does have a single cruise ship dock that looks like smaller size cruise ships visit. You can only access Wrangell by sea or air.
Berg Bay To Wrangell
Up eastern passage around back side of Wrangell (saw airport) then arrived. Short cruise I only 42 miles or so. We went to the reliance float when we did not get radio contact but then were sent to heritage harbor (1 mile south of town) where the floats have electric.
Wrangell Heritage HarborWrangell Heritage Harbor
We had an easy tie up and shortly after in comes Grand QTR with Claudette and Bob! We were all happy to see each other. We all walked to town from marina and looked at a few shops.
Wrangell Down Town with terra, Patty, Bob and Claudette
We then split as they went back to boats and we went north of town past the cruise ship dock to the Petroglyph historical park. Along the way we saw this neat very intricate crab sculpture, on top of a large crab trap, in some ones front yard.
Neat Crab Sculpture
Saw some petroglyphs on the beach rocks. They don’t know who made them, lots of theories. Most of the glyph’s we found where down to the right of the steps going down to the beach a little below the tide line. They can be a bit hard to find and had to ask where to look when we got there.
PetroGlyph Park EntrancePetroGlyph Park Glyph
Back to town and boat for planned 5:30 cocktail hour and apps on our boat with Bob and Claudette. We planned to stay two nights and they one. Alex and I made crab cakes YUM!
We spent second day at Wrangell trying to fix thumping dryer. Took the thing out changed front rollers but thump still there. Must be back bearing. This description sounds easy but not much fun removing dryer from small cubby hole and workin on it is small hall way. 10 hour day of no progress. We decided to use until it dies and alex will fix suspect bearing or we will get a new dryer. Hope it lasts the summer.
June 8th Cruise up Clarence Strait to Meyer’s Chuck.
Meyer’s chuck has good AT&T cell phone service.
Kasaan To Myers chuck
There is no good chart for Myer’s Chuck so I included our track below. As the guide books state you just come in the bay sticking to the middle of the green and red markers at the entrance. You then turn south around the red marker and head over to the public dock at the south end. Has plenty of depth the whole way but this is a small harbour.
Myers Chuck Track
Had thought about staying two nights at Kassan to join a community fun run and maybe walk the logging roads but we decided to move on to Meyer’s Chuck
Cruise up Clarence strait. Saw a couple whales who disappeared quickly. Clear cut for about ½ way along the cruise on east side of the passage. Arrived at Meyer’s chuck and there was dock space, alex did a great job. Harmony Bay was there already. There is a nominal charge of 22 cents/foot for docking.
Myer’s Chuck Dock
We walked to two tiny short trails along the shore. Allowed dog swimming, checked out the gallery (alex bought a knit beanie hat), looked at the gallery operators beautiful home (used to be the school house and they bought it and renovated it…they live and have home in Mill Valley).
Myer’s Chuck To Right Of Dock, Trail To Local Art Gallery ShopGallery Keepers HouseGallery Art Shop, Cinnamin Bun Lady’s Phone Number On Wall Left Of Door
You can walk a little further down the trail past the Art Shop but it ends quickly.
End Of Trail To Right Past Shop
We then took the short hike down the trail to the left of the dock past the small portable log mill.
Trail To Left Of DockSign On Trail To Left Of DockEnd Of Trail Trail To Left Of Dock
Had cocktails on the boat with Barbara and Robert then dinner was leftover fish in sandwich form for alex and black bean soup for the two of us. DIARRHEA DOG…too much junk being eaten …hoping one bout is all! Leisurely morning the next day. Had fresh baked cinnamon rolls delivered by Cassie in her dinghy in baskets at 7 am. Order the day before!
Myers Chuck Cinnamin Bun Delivery 7 Am
June 9th – 10th Meyer’s Chuck to Berg Bay (Eastern Passage around Wrangell island)
Meyer’s Chuck to Berg Bay
Berg Bay has no cell phone service.
Later start around 10 am. First part of cruise finishing up Clarence strait (north end to round the curve eastward) was bit bumpy. Then eastward in Earnest Passage. Passed deer island (has some good anchorages on southwest side). Had a pod of Dal’s porpoise (AKA false killer whales) bow surf for an hour or so (and they dabbled in the wake too) so that was fun. Saw a whale breach far off in the distance…can’t wait to see these guys closer. Passed Anan Creek where the big bear watch is from July 5th through Aug 25th which must be when salmon are running. Turned up Blake Channel and arrived at Berg Bay around 4:30pm.
Dals Porpoises Off Bow
We went up all the way to head of the bay and anchored almost directly west of the USFS float in front of the cabin. When we checked in dinghy had deep water all around us so felt good with our short 120′ short scope in 50′ or so of depth. All the steep shore side you can see at waters edge dropped off steeply and the only shallow spots found where near the float or at the couple spots where there small spots with shallow slopes going in to the waters edge.
Berg Bay Anchor Track
Berg bay is only 15 -20 miles from Wrangell but very remote feeling and beautiful. There is a forest service cabin, a hike and beautiful setting with high mountains with green without trees on steep areas. Supposedly we might see mountain goats up the hillsides.
Berg Bay EntranceWater Dog At Beg Bay, USFS Float and A-Frame Cabin to The RightPhoto From Water Dog at Anchor, A-Frame Cabin in Trees Far Left, float To Right
Of course me worried about bears but still have not seen any. Lots of mosquito’s so if we hike we shall need bug spray and will use dogs bear bells and make noise! Need to be careful. Dogs make risk of attacks higher if they piss a bear off. Alex deployed two crab and one shrimp trap. Big catch on crab!
Holly At Berg Bay Water Fall
Berg Bay was beautiful. We rarely saw the mountain cause of rain and clouds. Alex deployed two crab and one shrimp trap. This resulted in 19 crab (?) and no shrimp. He got soaked as rained the entire time. We checked out the cabin and the boardwalk trail but did not walk due to rain and mosquitos.
Patty Admiring Good Crabbing Berg Bay
Would revisit in better weather. The last two outs involved dumping dogs on the forest service cabin float which was cleaner.
Kasaan turned out to be a very cool stop with a nice free public dock and where you can get a tour of the Long House etc which is supported by the Organized Village Of Kasaan. Make sure to visit the gift shop and the totem Trail Cafe down the board walk to the left, when you walk up the public dock, to help support the local economy. Once you get at the end of board walk just keep walking a bit longer down path to get to the tribal building with cafe. URL below with phone numbers etc to call for guided tour. Patty and I got a great private tour from Michael Chilton that was well worth the cost.
Shorter cruise maybe 30 miles. Up Tongas Narrows into Clarence strait then shortly thereafter left/westward turn into Kassan Bay. We ended up on the outside of dock but would recommend pulling in to the inside of the dock since a nasty chop seems to build up at the end of each day from the NW.
Water Dog At Kasaan Public DockKasaan Boardwalk To Left Of Public Dock
Kassan village had a cannery and some boom and bust periods with population of 500 with cannery and down to 4 in 1970’s when no one there. This is new kassan, old kassan is across bay and even local native guide not sure where it was or if anything left. In mid 1900’s old chief moved village and long house to new area. It subsequently went into disrepair but about 2 years ago the local tribe and governements restored it using as much of old timbers as possible. The totem pole out front and within the long houses are over 200 years old ie not replicas still in good shape from 1700’s amazing.
Michael Our Guide In front Of Long HouseTotem To Right In Long HouseTotem To Left In Long HouseOur Guide Michael Speaking In Long House
There were also several other old poles as we walked the mile or so through the woods to the long house.
Orca Totem
There is a small café, carving shed and tiny gift shop. There is another “tour” you can take via van to “Stormys” compound: a family compound with gardens etc. On dock we met Eric and commercial fisherman who is also an apprentice carver (we later found out he is sun of a master carver who I think is stormy). We ran into Nordic Tug Harmony Bay with Robert and Barbara again so said hello. Our guide was a young Tlingit native Michael. He was very artsy, musicial and spiritual. Did a good job on the tour. Explained along with some of Eric’s chat how there are 3 entities working the town and its hard to get them to work together: the tribe, the corporation of kassan and the organized city of Kassan. Apparently it was hard to get private land owner to allow them to reconstruct the long house on their site.
June 4rd Dixon Crossing Prince Rupert to Ketchikan 86 nm
Prince Rupert To Ketchikan Alsaska
I got up early around 4:45am or so. Alex followed. We disconnected electric, walked dogs, returned gate cards and shoved off at 5:45 am. Negotiated Venn Passage without difficulty, high tide going out and then a great ride to Ketchikan. Slight south wind, with tide current so over 9 knots most the way. Dixon entrance very mild, hit a squall which made water glass before it ran into us (going west to east). Pulled in to Ketcikan.
June 4,5,6th
Ketchikan 3 nights!
Planned to stay two but decided to stay three nights. We
have been pushing it a bit and time to try to enjoy more.
BC LightHouse North East Corner Dundas IslandWater Dog Bow at Ketchikan Bar Harbour South Marina
Ketchikan has 5 harbors, some open moorage which is first come first serve and then they use “hot docking” meaning put you in vacant slip (usually a fisherman’s) and it the fisherman returns you have to move. We decided to do Bar Harbor. Ended up on Bar harbor south, float 9 (has electric) and slip 34 which was a stern in starboard tie and had a nice view northward up the channel so we really liked this spot (ie could request again).
Settled in about 4pm or so. Walked almost to main town (tourist area) to dispensary to get insomnia treatments. Took the “high” road on the way back as walking up water street had a lot of traffic. Basically a board walk road through mixed neighborhoods then found stairway down down down to another street that ended up dumping us out at the marina. So nice long walk and had picked up supplies.
Downtown Ketchikan North Of Marina“High Road” Above Water FrontStairs Along “High Road”
Our first day was cloudy with some rain. Learning to always have rain coats. Left mid-morning and headed north and then up Carlanna Lake road. Walked up through neighborhoods then onto trail along lake.
Carlanna Lake Trail Head HikeCarlanna Lake Trail Hike
It then continued on up through the forest and we saw a few small waterfalls and some nice old growth cedar.
Carlanna Lake Old Growth Tree
Very pretty. We did not go the entire 2.5 miles up to the end of the trail. Dogs got to swim in lake so it was FUN!!!!
Dog Swim Carlanna Lake Dam
After exited lake we stayed up high in the neighborhood; took Fairview south til it connected with Jackson then down down down and the stairs from Jackson Ave dumped out right across from marina entrance NICE!.
Road bus to the park district with totem historic museum and park along Ketchikan creek. We worked our way back walking on park trails, married man’s trail, along/through Creek street (old red light district) then ended up at Thomas Basin (another harbor we could stay at would be more noisy as is right down town and much of day view would be cruise ships).
Patty At Top Of Married Man’s Trail Ketchikan Down Town Tourist Cruise Ship Shopping Area
Walked through town and quickly went through some shops. We had met a local woman at the bus stop who was in the lumberjack show (she throws the double headed ax). She had mentioned Annabelles as a bar and place locals eat and that it was connected to the Gilmore hotel (est 1869 or something like that). So we went there to check it out. Had cocktails (had to use the its five o’clock somewhere mantra) and a chowder sampler (which was YUM). Very friendly and talkative bartender Rick: he lives here year round (many don’t).
June 6th, last day in Ketchikan
Although the local we met mentioned considering Saxman village as a good place to see totem poles it seemed to be more touristy and for the cruise boats so decided to try Totem Bight State Park. Took the bus which allowed the DOGS! (the local had said well behaved dogs allowed on busses). Did the park and heard some of the stories of the totems from a cruise group guide.
Totem Bight State Park Totem #3Totem Bight State Park Long House
Then walked a mile or so south on tongass highway for maybe ½ mile the turned down Sunset drive and found Refuge Cove Recreation area: trail on the shore with beach access. Dogs got to swim and play. Not a sand beach: looked like broken up shale.
Refuge Cove Recreation Area
Got back 1pm or so after catching southbound silver line bus at Ward Cove. Filled boat with water, organized some things and installed Alaskan charts in Furano’s. Restful day and evening at home. Moving on tomorrow.
On our last night at twilight we got a neat rainbow in the gloom for a growing away present!
June 1st: ButeDale to Klewnuggit Inlet Provincial Marine Park 57 nm
June 2nd Klewnuggit to Prince Rupert 48 nm
Route ButeDale, Klewnuggit to Prince Rupert
Left dock around 7:45 am. Goal is to get ½ way up Grenville Channel (aka the ditch). Arrived around 2:45pm at Klewnuggit East Inlet anchorage.
Nice easy cruise up Grenville channel. Had to go through Wright sound which can be bad due to 9 bodies of water meeting at that point but twas easy. Did not see any big boats or even little boats until we got to Klewnuggit.
Went down around down to the end of the bay and back up the East Channel, narrow at entrance but plenty deep. Ended up anchoring in 60′ in the middle of the inlet since another boat was up at the head already. Nice mud/sand bottom with good holding.
KlewNuggit East Inlet AnchorageKlewnuggit Esat Inlet Sign at Entrance
Went up the inlet and snaked into east inlet anchorage. Beautiful. Alex put out crab traps (caught 2 but threw them back).
Alex Crabbing
We chilled and took a dinghy ride. No bear sightings but me worried about bears. Tough on dogs going to shore: barnacles if tide down at all. Woke up 5:15am. Strait to work no coffee. Retrieved crab traps, took dogs in, hoisted dinghy and anchor up and underway but 6:45am. Then coffee while cruising. Against tide a bit although should have been with north current relate to ebb from evening point. Saw a swimming dear weird. Nice cruisie with mild fog at one point, no sun. Apparently prince Rupert also is known as rainy Rupert.
June 2nd: Prince Rupert.
Stayed at Cow Bay Marina in Prince Rupert but be aware of the major currents that go straight through the marina. Had a pretty tough fight with the flood current of 2 knots when docking. I take a little float outside the marina to see how I am moving in current and make a plan how I will keep boat bow or stern pointing up current so I never get sideways to current. Got stuck sideways to metal outflow pipe down stream from dock when we first got the Nordic Tug many years ago, hopefully never again.
Prince Rupert Cow Bay Marina
Had a very nice stay in Prince Ruper with nice paths through town and hiking around the golf course with dog’s off leash when no golf players present.
Prince Ruppert is the last/first stop with customs when leaving/entering canadian waters. When entering from Alaska you get a slip at marina or pull up to customs dock where you call customs on the dedicated phones provided at the top of the docks.
We took a walk around town. The All trails map showed some trails in between streets and we ended up finding Hay’s Creek Trail which went along the creek for a mile or so.
Hay’s Creek Trail Start
Hay’s Creek Trail
Creek looked dirty so no dog swim. No Salmon. It ended up in a neighborhood and we kept going until we had to cut over on 4th street.
We ended up coming out at the local path start at the right corner of the Rona hardware store.
Local Path Start To right Of Rona HW Store
Walked by the Safeway and BC museum then down to waterfront park and back to the boat at Cow Bay Marina behind Atlin Terminal.
Prince Rupert Atlin Terminal
Raining hard now…rainy Rupert. Snuggled up with heat and dehumidifier on.
The next day we took a walk up through trail that goes up through town starting at the Sunken Gardens then up and around the golf course.
Left Shearwater maybe 9am… likely 9:30. Had a nice
cruised. Weather was so good we decided to take outside route which saves 12
miles (over an hour for us dogs). It was
a great wonderful day. We saw all things from a distance; whales, dal
porpoises, otters, eagles etc….Arrived and anchored. Anchoring became stressful
today. We moved 3 times but got “held” aka good holding on third attempt. It
just seemed to finally “catch” (See tomorrow AM log jam). Walked around the bay
and back. Baraka Bashad’s peops Rita and Vaughn came over for communal dinner…
a feast it was: good food and good new friends. I do like the people and we
will reach out again.
Klemtu Long House
Water Dog at Klemtu
So I need to do better about anchoring notes. Klemtu. SMALL! Cannot do proper scope ratio thing as 62 feet deep but only 200 feet wide. Not much wind or current so we were not worried enough to put on anchor watch. We were not assertive enough to get tour of the long house in Klemtu. All I had to do was try the vhf radio channel but it was after 4pm when we got there so I hesitated and did not do.
Klemtu Still Active Plant
On bringing up the anchor ended up with a large log on it so had to throw a line around one end of log, drop anchor down again from under neath and drop log off. In general if you can get the object up that is stuck on your anchor you can throw a line around it and drop your anchor to unfoul it. Was impressed our windlass brought the log up no problem.
Log On Anchor At Klemtu
May 31st Butedale
Arrive earliish as we left 7:45 AM. We had a log “jam” or delay due to hoisting a 10 foot long 2 foot diameter branching tree when anchor reached surface. Thought, executed plan and resolved (using anchor bridle)…but likely added 15 minutes to the day. Saw some nice waterfalls on the way to Butedale.
Water Fall Klemtu To Butedale
Anyhow I’d say we got here around 1pm at the latest. Docking was ok as usual. Wind, current boats to hit some fun! Had to do port tie. Alex did amazing per usual. All good. Other boat friends ran aground wedging boat between two rocks. We thought this boat had a keel but twas very small keel so Alex and Christof (the wharfinger) pulled them off with caretakers dingy. FYI Christof’s wife is Cameo, dog Shibu inu didn’t remember name. Butedale has put in a new dock and ramp so a good place to dock up for a day or two.
Butedale New Ramp and Dock
Beautiful waterfall next to dock but not visible while on dock. Walked the long abandoned cannery grounds. The place is a work in progress and Christof is working hard with his large back hoe and dozer to clean up the place. All has been torn down except one large (impressive) building and two small cabins. They are “renovating” property and it has been bulldozed to burry debris. Lots of seeps that look like they have oil or gas contamination. Lots of metal out of ground.
ButeDale View Up Dock
Butedale Cannery Building
Butedale Old Picture-1
Butedale Old Picture-2
The wood beams used in the cannery are pretty amazing huge 50′ long monsters!
Cannery Interior
Took a walk down and around cannery then up back to old water driven generator plant but cannot walk to see waterfall but can go to the old mill house. As Kathy Smith had mentioned as soon as get away from the dock swarmed by flies and mosquitoes.
As we walked through all the old equipment was thinking it would be nice to know what all the some what strange looking pieces where used for, was hard to tell.
Shed Outside Cannery
Old Cannery Equipment
Cannery Storage Bins?
Two Cabins Top Of Hill
Old Water Driven Generation Plant
Also rained afternoon and evening. Rita and Vaughn had us over for dinner (turkey burgers) and we chatted a bit. Then they came over for a bit to look at weather Alex can down load to see what day may be good for their Haida Gwaii crossing. Looks like Tuesday will be best day for us and them to do our respective crossings (us to Ketchikan or Foggy bay and them to Haida Gwaii).
May 27th and 28th Pruth Bay and Shear Water May 29th
Pruth Bay is a dont miss stop with nicely maintained hiking trails with board walks to seven beautiful white sand beaches, dog heaven!
Track Fury Cove To Pruth Bay Then Town Of Shearwater
Left port around 11:30 am. Hoisted anchor and set course north up Queen Charlotte Strait. Light wind on our stern and some current, clear skies, lovely cruise. Left turn into strait that ends at Pruth Bay and the Hakai institute.
Pruth Bay Hakai Institute Dock
Hakai Institute Info
Hakai Institute Main Building
Beautiful resort with ½ a dozen cabins and main house/kitchen with well kept grounds. Now a research facility. They share there wifi and allow dinghy dock use. Nice. As usual we anchored far away, bit crowded nearer in, from the docks so long dinghy ride.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Brought dogs in and took hike to west and north beach. Wonder sand beaches, clear water, many islets and lots of drift wood. Walked both beaches and it was so beautiful. Dogs had a blast. Back to boat and had burger and cabbage for dinner.
Hakai Trail Map
The West Beach trail starting behind the main building takes you to the central beach. Once at west Beach take a right to go to North Beach and a left to go to 2dn through 7th beaches, see map above.
Start Of West Beach Trail
West Beach Trail
Nicely Done Outhouse West Beach Trail
Walked both West and North beaches and it was so beautiful. Dogs had a blast. Back to boat and had burger and cabbage for dinner. Very unique topography here.
North Beach Trail
North Beach Trail
Holly And Terra Trail To North Beach
North Beach
North Beach
We were thinking of going to Shearwater May 28th but decided we liked it so much and there was another hike that we decided to stay. Took dogs in for morning “out”, had breakfast at boat and then around 12 or so headed back to shore. Did the south beach hike which goes along 2nd to 7th beaches. Cool hike and dogs of course got to swim and romp and eat dead things. The trail heads in to and out of each beach are marked with jug’s in the trees and most have a tsunami warning sign, help full is finding the trails from beach. The trails get a bit rougher as you make yoyr way out to 7th beach at the end. We did find a trail heading out from 7th beach but was too steep for Terra so we turned around.
Trail To 2nd Beach
2nd Beach
Beach Trail Head
7th Beach
Trail Off End Of 7th Beach, Getting Steep!
We found some wolf tracks on one of the beaches and a whale carcass. Picture below large paw print on left is Wolf we believe, to the right is Hollie’s “small” foot print a 60 pound lab.
Wolf Paw Print?
Lots of eagles about as well with juveniles and adults. Got back around 3:30. Tried to call mom with wi fi calling but not good reception. Called on Sat phone and had a quick hello goodbye and love you call as the delay makes it hard to talk. Tomorrow to Shearwater apparently the best place to stop before prince Rupert to supply up and stay at a marina. Will do laundry if we get plugged in (which is the plan)
May 29th Shearwater, Shearwater Marina amongst
new bella and old bella bella (now a coast guard station).
Passing Bella Bella On Way To ShearWater
ShearWater Sign
Water Dog At ShearWater Marina Docks
Not impressed sorry. Great Marine store. Great Grocery Store, Super nice restaurant with out side seating and nice grassy area. Need to get more trustworthy of dog owners to not ruin grass but maybe they know. They should have a welcoming green dog area. We paid for two nights but decided one was enough. We had an enjoyable stay and when we decided go from 2 to one nights they were kind enough to refund the 2nd day no questions asked. Thank you.
We did find a nice short hike on the Spirit Trail through the woods right above town which we took with Rita on Baraka Bashad and Darlene on the Krogen Mona Kai.
May 26th-27th Port Hardy to Fury Cove on Penrose Island
Trip Distance 53 nm
Port Hardy To Fury Cove
Predictwind had 5-10 knt SE winds predicted which is almost perfect for crossing Cape Caution but the West Sea Otter Bouy was reporting 5.5′ at 7 seconds.
Left at 7am. First couple hours a bit bumpy but sun shining, 4-5 foot swells (Short periods made them bumpy) and averaged 8.5 knots at our good RPM for fuel. Nice easy crossing. No WHALES bummer… Baraka Bashad (sailboat with Vaughn and Rita), Grand QTR and Mana Kai all had the same destination and they left earlier than us from their port (Blunden harbor) and they were already anchored when we got there. We were invited to happy hour on Grand QTR at five thirty. About 2 hours later Baraka Bashad showed up. SInce this was a good weather day there was a large crowd of boats shown below with Water Dog (red boat in front) going around Cape Caution.
Cape Caution Crowd On AIS
After we anchored I filled up a paddle board and did a
quick paddle while Alex chilled and had a beer. Then we deployed dinghy and
took dogs to shore where they swam and had fun. Did not anchor dinghy and tide
took it out 10 yards from shore and Alex had to go get it so he went swimming ?
Holly Inspecting Fury Cove BoatsNice Dog Beach Fury Cove
We attended the 5:30 happy hour on Grand QTR and then
back to boat. Left over Avgo Lemino soup for dinner and to bed around 9:30PM
I’d guess.
In addition to having lost local channels on DTV we lost
a good number of other channels due to location. Alex starting to worry our
smaller dish won’t work that well even when we switch spots …we shall see.
When talking to the gang about places to visit Ocean Falls is a must. August 1st
ie BC day they have a big BBQ and invite boaters. Also check out Codville cover
(Walk to a lake).
Not sure where we will go tomorrow: 500 miles to Juneau
where we pick up friends around June 24th or so…4 weeks …so 20 stops
ish?
Decided to move the short 24 nm from Port McNeil to shorten our passage around Cape Caution to Fury Cove anchorage. Cape Caution has a nasty reputation so we are making sure we respect it.
Saturday AM: woke up and looked at weather. I had called Port Hardy moorage options the night before with a maybe answer. So called again and harbor authority said should be plenty of room just find a spot and quarterdeck inn and marina said they had room. So we left Port McNeill around 11am. Had a nice sunny and only mildly choppy cruise to Port Hardy, got there around 2 or so. Fisherman’s wharf had no room so we went into spot at Quarterdeck Marina.
QuarterDeck Marina Port Hardy
Walked into town to see the sights (not many) and then had dinner on the boat and to bed. Weather looks good for crossing open water in Queen Charlotte strait tomorrow. At the main town area there was a wood sculpture of a carrot and the story is the BC government promised potential settlers /people a good highway if they moved to this most northern town on Vancouver Island…the highway being the carrot. The town is pretty small though…in summer population probably increases as big hunting and fishing area. Also of course logging is important.
Down Town Port HardyTerra, Patty and Holly At Port Hardy ParkPort Hardy Carrot
The Port Hardy public dock outside the inner harbor looks like a good spot in settled weather but did not get any details on staying there. The inside side might not be bad.
Public Dock At Outer Harbor
Ran into an older couple walking their dog: they lived
here in summer and in AZ USA in winter.
Port Macniel is our planned jumping off point for the possibly tough passage around Cape Caution that you want to do carefull planning for with wind and currents. Currents coming out on ebb from the sounds on the east side hit the NW prevailing winds coming in from the Pacific causing very confused steep seas when conditions are not good. We will use Predictwind for good wind window, the Canadian marine forecast and the data from the bouy out in Queen Charlotte sound which reports wind and wave:
Packed the truck up and got out of house by 0730 in the morning for the drive to La-Conner WA. Stopped in Williams for fuel and stopped at the infamous “Granzella’s” Vince had raved about as good food stop. Continued north and ended up stopping in Wilsonville, OR in between Portland and Seattle. Stayed at La Quinta (no pet fee). Last couple hours of drive truck was giving us a warning about cleaning exhaust DPF error code. It cleaned with high speed driving in 10 minutes but then came back. Driving at lower gear cleared it and error code did not come back
The next day we checked in to the Heron Inn and Day Spa in La-Conner for two days while we worked on the boat before the splash on Thursday May 9th.
Water Dog At La-Conner Maritime ServicesTouching Up Micron-66 Bottom Paint
May 8th-9th La-Conner Maritime Boat Yard
Usually do this work myself but this year since we where not located near the boat I had La-Conner Marine replace seals on the TRAC stabilizers and thruster, replace raw water pumps on 20KW and 8 KW genny’s as well as clean raw water systems on both engines and genny’s. Ended up also replacing the (12)6V house battery’s since they old ones did not load test well. Water Dog splashed on Thursday the 9th so Patty and I painted parts of the hull with Micron-66 and got the boat ready to go. I also replaced the sight tubes on the main diesel tanks and replaced balls the flush and duck bill valves on both heads.
May 10th-13 th La Conner Marina Guest Dock
Did sea trial to check out work done by yard and had some oil on stabilizer fins so had Justin the mechanic come check them out and oil was just residual so all OK. Woke up and had left over scones for breakfast from the famous Scone Lady in La-Conner, great scones dont miss them.
La-Conner Scone Lady
May 14th, Cap Sante Marina Anacortes, WA
when we arrived we loaded on 1300Plus gallons of diesel at $2.64/gallon and then we secured a slip at Cap Sante Martina. Found a great source for John Deere parts and a valuable resource in Wayne Gregg at Gregg’s diessel. Family run business and will be ordering parts etc from them for now on.
Decided to hike up Cap Sante, which is right next to marina, with dogs while warm and sunny! Staying tonight at marina. Had a nice dinner at Anthony’s and left the next morning to go Poets Cove for customs to enter Canada.
May 16th, Cap Sante to Poet’s cove to Ganges Marina (Patty Reporting)
Left Cap Sante fairly early around 9am. Fought tide a bit with Alex complaining. Over cast but not too bad. Forecast says big winds and rain in evening. Easy uneventful cruise to Poet’s cove customs’ dock: EMPTY! Alex called with all our info ready and they had it saved and just gave him a number…easy peasy. Dogs had an out on dock and then since only 12 or so we decided to go on to Ganges.
Turn Point Light House North End Stuart Island
Got to Ganges around 2:30pm. Tried to get municipal wharf but occupied so went to Ganges Marina. Big wide dock (splinter prone) and we backed down inside the dock/breakwater. Walked to Leaf Compassion, Mout’s park and then took dogs back to boat. Went and did vege shopping at Thrifty foods but of course Alex got cookies and ice cream. Had Fish tacos for dinner on boat and to bed by 9am for 6am wake up. Need to shove off by 6:30 or so to make slack at Dodd narrows.
Patty and Terra Ganges Marina
May 17th Ganges Marina to Comox harbor. (Patty Reporting)
Left 7:09 am. Alex worried as at first against current
and we might miss narrows passing. After
an hour or so we picked up speed to 9 knots (at 1900 RPM) and caught up a bid.
Got to Dodd Narrows perfectly timed for slack and got through no problem. Still
only 11 am at Nanaimo so decided to move on to Comox ..another 4 hours or so.
After Nanaimo more open water in Strait of Georgia and with down sound wind
bumpy ride, not too bad but Holly dog worried with bouncing. Stabilizers do not
help with going into waves. ETA Comox
harbor 3:30pm, dockmaster said plenty of room to slide in there guest dock.
Dodd Narrows Entrance from South Slack Tide
May 18-20th Comox to Campbell River (Patty Reporting)
Water Dog at Comox Harbour Guest Dock Comox Harbour Water Dog At Guest Dock
We had a walk in the morning. Went to park and green belt along creek and then circled through neighborhoods.
Comox Marina ParkComox Mack Laing Park EntranceMack Laing Park MapMack Laing Park CreekTerra and Holly Mack Laing Park
Found park with tennis courts and bummed some tennis balls from two nice guys to use with chuck it. They informed us Vancouver island total population is 850K…fun fact. Stopped at food truck at the nice waterfront park by marina and had some lunch: me halibut and chips and alex pan fried oyster po boy: GOOD.
May 18-20th Comox To Campbell River
Shoved off around 2pm. Currents in discovery passage (by Campbell river) are strong and pointless for an 8knot boat to fight 6 knot current. So we cruised extra slow and arrived near opening of south end of discovery passage just before slack. Fought some current but not bad. Pulled in to slip at Coast Marina at 6:30pm or so. Dinner was tortilla soup and then to bed. Next day stopped at hardware stores to get needed stuff for sat phone install. We did a quick tour of the farmer’s market and had a snack (Schwarma) and then went for the hike.
Campbell River Farmers Market Band
Sunday was Victoria day. I rinsed boat, alex worked on Sat phone install. Some parts needed so plan was to get Derrick (super nice marina owner) to give us a ride to Elk Falls park and we would walk back with a Nice hike along Campbell river: dogs swam. Long walk though…per my phone 9.6miles! Picked up stuff at Canadian tire (hardware store) and Walmart, got a Starbucks cold coffee and back to boat. Had left over soup for dinner and chilled.
Decided to stay one more night to get last bit of Sat
phone install. That took much of the
day. We did get to walk out to the spit where Campbell River spills into
discovery passage, had an early dinner and early to bed. We need to catch slack
tide at Seymour narrows (a must to avoid rapids/currents) so we will have to
leave dock at 6am tomorrow to get there at 7am. After Campbell river stop new
territory…so far stops have been revisits. Up the discovery passage to Port
Hardy and onward.
Comments for us to remember. This place is nice but can be very wavy and its pricey compared to fisherman ‘s wharf (by a lot) or discovery harbor(about 30% less I’d guess)
May 21st and 22nd Campbell River to Blind Channel Resort
Left dock around 6am. Got to Seymour narrows with good timing ie at 7ish at slack and cruised through narrows no problem.
Seymour Narrows Entrance
Now in Johnstone strait. Smooth sailing but wind was 10-20 knots. Despite wind not bad ride at all but we could see smaller boats bouncing about in wind waves (which were steeper due to wind against tide). Once turned into Mayne passage to get to blind channel calms sees. Arrived at Blind Channel resort around 10am.
Blind Channel Resort
Chilled, worked on misc boat things, took a walk to 900 year old cedar and had dinner at the Cedar post Inn (Good!).
Blind Channel Trail Giant Cedar
A couple on a 42 foot Krogen Mana Kai was berthed nearby. They too are going to Alaska. Had a boat built 6 years ago and brought/sent it up here. Planned to take back to Long Beach but love it so much they been keeping boat at Van Isle Marina in Sydney. They are more experienced so had some tips on good places to visit. We may run into them again…we shall see!
May 23rd Blind Channel to Port McNeill (Patty Reporting)
we where told that Port McNeill Harbour was a much better place to provision and hang out at verses Port Hardy and this turned out to e true. Very nice grocery store and shops only a few hundred yards form marina verses long hike at Port Hardy. Left dock around 6am to get tide and reach Wellborne channel narrows. Forecast for Johnstone strait said ok til 12pm then 25-30 knot winds. On ebb tide (against NW wind) could be bumpy. So we tentatively planned to go to Port Harvey Marina Resort (closed but allowed to tie up to docks) or if really bad Port Neville public dock. Green rapids was near slack so no problem, cruised up chancellor (need to confirm name) channel to turn up Wellborne passage. Got to Whirlpool rapids near slack and only a few large but mellow whirlpools. On to Sunderland channel and out to Johnstone strait. The strait was mildly bumpy at first and got better and better. By passed Port Neville public dock, by passed Port Harvey inlet and northward up the strait. Got calmer and calmer with less wind and sun came out for last part of cruise. NICE! Got to Port McNeill around 2pm, secured dockage. They wanted to put us on a west side of a side tie and Alex had me ask for slip which they did give us. Alex knew smart move as the wind kicked up to 20-40 knotts in evening and it would have slammed us up against docks!
Port McNeill Harbour
Port McNeill Harbour
Port McNeill
We had a short walk about town and then hung out in the boat. Lost local channels. Paid for two nights as not a good weather window until Sunday. also went over to see the worlds largest burl, indeed was big!
