Excursions | Water Dog Site

Hoonah To Bartlett Cove/Glacier Bay

Hoonah To Bartlet Cove Gllacier Bay Marine Park

Patty was able to secure a permit short notice from Glacier Bay. I got dates mixed up so we ended up having to get ready and move that day. There is a one mile exclusion zone from all shores for boats keeping away from whales so make sure you stay out one nautical mile. The NOAA raster chart has the zone or you can just use your radar to shore at one nm. Made it to Bartlett cove to anchor out with 10-12 other boats directly north east of the dock where the squiggly mark at the end of our track below.

Bartlett Cove Dock At Ranger Station, Anchorage To Right

Had orientation for boaters at 5pm after walking dogs on some trails. Interesting that we had the dog’s with us for orientation but the rule where dog’s can not get off the boat once inside Glacier Bay was NOT brought up. They have a large whale skeleton (had a picture of it about to be hit by cruise ship) and also a “new” long house built by the Tlingits that had to move from glacier bay to Hoonah when glaciers advanced in 1750 or so. Also walked through the Bartlett Glacier Bay National Park Cove Lodge which has lodging, serves food wine/bear and is very nicely done.

We did not plan to go all the way up to the glaciers in Glacier bay. So took a cruise up the bay and checked out Sandy cove on east side of the bay. Passed South Marble Island where many Stellar Sea Lions where hauled out.

Twas pretty but we decided to move on to Shaggy Cove on west side. Saw lots of whales. One lunge feed, lots of feeding but no breaching. Did have an orca pod go right behind us. I just happen to see one turn fast to avoid hitting boat. Was looking forward then looked behind and saw 4-6 crusing northeast in bay. With binocs I saw one breach several times. UGH! Want to see it up close. Oh well.

Glacier Bay Whale Tale, Blow In Back Ground

Also saw many many Sea Otters, they are very plentifull here.

Anchored in Shaggy cove. Beautiful, saw a bear in AM. Had to share cove with a small ranger tug.

Entrance to Geikie Inlet where Shag Cove Is Located

Haines to Hoonah via Coot Cove in Funter Bay

Patty’s Mom has taken a down turn in health so Patty is flying to Florida to see her from Hoonah for a week or so. Alex with stay with dog’s on boat in Hoonah until she gest back.

Left Haines Harbor around 09:00 bound for Coot Cove anchorage as a stop over before heading to Hoonah. We have heard Hoonah has a nice small town fourth of July celebration so we are going to be there for the 4 th. The leg to Funter Bay at 64 nm is a fairly long one …despite trying to catch tides most of the trip we were at best 7 knots. Slight chop from wind going down Lynn Canal. About 6 miles before the entrance to our bay we saw whale boats watching humpbacks so we did too for a bit. No breaching but I think we saw lunge feeding near the steep shore through binoculars and we saw some backs and tails.
Got into anchorage. Glance at but did not use public float. Took dogs a shore (ouch due to barnacles mollusks), dropped crab traps and I made coconut curry crab soup for dinner with black eyed pea cabbage salad. Got to bed early as tired.

July 1^st Coot Cove to Hoonah

Had a easy crossing of icy strait to Hoonah. Arrived mid afternoon with good weather.

We walked around town and saw the carving station and ate at Fisherman’s daughter which has the best food we could find in town. Burgers, halibut and chips etc ……….

The carving shed is nice in that you can go in and talk to the carvers and check out their tools etc.

Then walked out to icy point a cruise ship area with shops in the old cannery(some interesting info at the cannery), restaurant, boat rentals, zip line and outside fireplace for cruise ship people. Dogs swam. The cannery is nicely restored and Icy Point has kept some of the old canning machinery on display in the building with descriptions on how it was used, nice!

Hoonah Waterfront Looking Toward Icy Point, Hoonah Trading Company At Far End

The Hoonah Trading Company has a well stocked grocery and HW store with fishing gear for reasonable prices.

July 2^nd Hoonah

Guys went charter fishing in AM with an old time hoonah local Billy. They caught two halibut right away but were small so threw back (had to stop fishing if kept). Ended up with no catch. Oh well.

Albert With His Halibut, Billy Does not Too Impressed!

Jeanette and I took a walk on a road (old logging road) with dogs up in to forested hills. Was nice but nothing dramatic. We went for dinghy ride to the store and hardware and also planted crab traps.

July 3^rd -11^th
PJS went to FL to visit mom. Alex stayed in Hoonah
Alex and J and Albert did fourth of July in Hoonah and then albert and Jeanette left the 5^th.

The 4 of July celebration was really cool and started with the event announcer getting every body revved up for the parade. following the parade came the 30 yard dash contest for different kids age groups then sack racing. We took a break and missed the egg toss and water balloon tossing contests so all we saw was a aftermath mess of eggs and balloons on street, sorry we missed it.

Announcer For 4th July Event, He was actually very entertaining

Ooops Stumble, Almost Got There, Got A Prize Any Way

Juneau To Haines/Skagway Via St James Bay Anchorage

June 26^th Juneau to St James Bay

Had an easy cruise from Juneau.

Have to go south to get around Douglas Island, then northward to Lynn Canal. Lynn Canal water is green due to all the glacier melt rivers entering. On the cruise we saw Mendenhall, Herbert and Eagle Glacier.

Went on east side of shelter island hoping to see whales but only spouts. Anchored in St James Bay with nice mountain views.

Deer Flies kept us inside as they were bad. We took dogs a shore but no hiking. Did a run around on the dinghy and then had dinner.

No Cell. Guys caught one crab.

Dinner with A View On Fly Bridge, Jeanette And Albert

June 27^th St James Bay to Haines

We have heard Skagway Small Boat Harbor is not the greatest place to stay so we decided to stay in Haines Harbor and take fast ferry to Skagway for a day trip. LONG day..super slow cruise speed. Some wind on and off but nice day with great sunny weather. Got to Haines maybe 7 o’clock but last 45 minutes we were treated to orca pod hanging along coast just out of Haines. Lots of blows and looks but not any acrobatics. Nice finish to the day.

That night Albert bought 5 more crabs from a crabber. We kept them in water for 24 hours but did not realize until too late that the water is very low salinity due to river influx and crabs do not like so 24 hours later they were a bit limp. Went to dinner at Pilot Light restaurant in Haines and it was good.

Took a short walk around town and checked out the old soldiers pavilion and housing left over from 1902 time frame when the white buildings of Fort William H. Seward where built and are a distinctive landmark of Haines. Decommissioned in 1947, the fort was bought by a group of war veterans with hopes of creating an arts and commerce community. The buildings are now privately owned homes, accommodations, restaurants, galleries, and shops.

Fort William H. Seward Building Converted To Carving Shed

June 28^th Haines

We decided to Hike to Mt Riley from harbor by going down FAA Rd and then taking a right on City Water Supply Access road right before the dump, also called Lily Lake Trail. A small distance before Lilly Lake on the access road you will see the small trail access sign for narrow trail up to top of Mt Riley. We then returned via the Battery Point trail back to the marina.

Hike up and back on Battery point loop trail was 13 miles. We did not know it was gonna be that long so did not bring enough water. All dehydrated at end and were tired! Alex sprained ankle so was slow last 1/3 of hike. On road back from battery point found Portage Bay campground with WATER yeah!.

Patty Posing on water front Sculptor At Start Of Hike

*Mount Riley Trail Sign Start on Lilly Lake Access Road*

*Mt Riley Trail* Intersection With Battery Point Trail

June 29^th Haines – Skagway White Pass Railroad

Took fast ferry at 9am to Skagway small boat harbor. Saw a humpback in the bay near Haines. 40 minute cruise to Skagway. Quick walk about town then White Pass Railroad ride.

We had done before but in rain. We had another bright sunny day with few clouds but some haze. Nice trip. Got back 2:45pm or so with plan to catch 4 o’clock ferry. Stopped at brewery for beers then caught ferry home. Went out to eat at Fireweed restaurant back at Haines and it was good.

Petersburg To Juneau Via Duck Point Anchorage

June 15^th to 24th

Juneau turned out to be one of our favorite stops due to the great hiking with in walking distance right above Aurora Harbor on the Perseverance Trail system. It also is a great place to provision with bulk goods/liquor at the COSTCO and Fred Myers. Fred Myers also has frozen herring for bait, 1/3 price of other places, for Halibut fishing in the far right front side of store which you cant find unless you ask.

Also for breakfast/lunch the Sand Piper cafe has excellent food and breakfast all day long.

Decided to leave Petersburg after we got back from glacier tour to knock off some of the 105 miles to Juneau by anchoring over night once we round Cape Fanshaw. Got back just about on the money at 12:30pm from glacier trip in Petersburg. We said our good byes, walked dogs, paid up set sail around 1:30pm. Had a nice cruise across Fredrickson Sound and then Stephen’s passage. These are big bodies of water with the potential to be really nasty but today was smooth as a baby’s butt. One whale and 2 or maybe 3 glacier sightings…more goodness. The whale was just sitting there with one fin stuck in the air.

Got to anchorage around 4pm and anchored directly east of the Duck Point marker in 6 fathoms in nice sand/mud bottom as shown below at the elbow in the track from Water Dog. Was slightly exposed from the SW but we had no problems with waves during the night.

Sat a bit, showered, ate amazing crab fried rice, a bit of tv and to bed. Juneau tomorrow. Palm Beach sans Alex for me the day after and Alex moves into Juneau for a week while I visit mom. Mom stable medically but quality of life is not good. Needs to get better. Love you mom. Terra used the poop deck to urinate 3 times. Holly held out. 1^st time we tried not launching dinghy and they seemed fine. A big key was a good pathway on rubber mats to the front deck so Terra does not slip on way out.

June 16^th Duck Point to Juneau

Nice flat calm morning. Saw two sets of whales breaching a few miles away and some backs nearer. Also had nice pod of dal’s porpoise surf the bow for a bit. Long day though 75 miles. Got here around 2pm seemed later as we had gotten up at 4pm and left at 6am. Got a good spot in Aurora harbor.

Took a nice walk to gold creek park, through town, up to chicken ridge with tiny cool houses and a historical house and the back to boat.

I fly out tomorrow. Alex will stay and work on boat and take care of doggies. ?

June 17-24th

PJS flew to Florida for mom visit. Alex stayed with dogs in Juneau. Hiked a bunch of trails, socialized with neighbor’s Jill and Doug whom are on the dock in a motor sail boat behind us..

Had a dinner with Mana Kai and Grand QTR folks out and in (lasagna on our boat). Last day I think Alex changed every fuel filter possible in engine room, 13 total! Got a lot of filters with two main’s and two Genny’s with dual primary’s and one on engine filter on each and one fuel polishing filter.

Albert and Jeanette started their visit on the 23 rd and visited for 10 days or so.

Albert, Jeanette and Alex Perseverance Trail

There are great hiking trails above the marina if you walk up through the cemetery to Cope Park and take stairs next to the dog park and then through neighborhood to Basin Road.

On the upper portion of Basin Road you will find Perseverence Trail and many other trail heads.

Perseverance Trail is an old mining road so is a nice easy wide graded walk where you see a nice water fall about 1 mile up. Ended up walking up Perseverance Trail to Red Mill Trail to Glory Hole where their are great views. Took the Mount Juneau Hike a few day’s later. Very nice views but the trail is very narrow and footing hidden by plants at the bottom. Would call this a pretty tough hike with 3000 ft elevation so take water, lunch and good hiking shoes!

Glory Hole Trail dead ends at a wooden fenced stop!

Terra and Holly At End Of Glory Hole Trail

The beginning of the trail has a lot of vegetation so it is hard to see where to put your feet, the entire trail is very narrow so watch your footing.

The view from the top of Juneau and surrounding area is spectacular!

*Mount Juneau Trail* View from Top With Cruise ships

Albert and Jeanette *Mount Juneau Trail* Top

At the top some one is the past tried to start putting a cable car up to the point but only left a small building and some cables.

Terra At Old Abandoned Shack Mt Juneau Trail Top

June 25^th-27^th Juneau Mendenhall Glacier Hike

Monday as PJS flies back to Juneau, I arrived late on 10:17 flight. Had a small bit of wait to get ride to marina but accomplished.

Tuesday we stayed to go visit Mendenhall Glacier.

We rented a car (rent a wreck) and drove to do west glacier trail. Long walk with some climbing with final destination the base of glacier via West Glacier Trail. On the map below you take the Cairn Route on the right fork of West Glacier Trail where you see the red dots for the Ice Extent Cairns.

The trail is pretty easy going along the edge of the lake below the glacier until you get to the end where you have to do a little rock scrambling to get over a ridge. Along the way are a dozen or so cairn markers marking the spots where the glacier used to be in years past as it recedes to it’s current position.

Patty, Albert, Jeanette and Holly at Beginning Of West Trail

Rock Scramble, Top of Picture, At Ridge Towards End Of Trail

Once you get near glacier you have have to walk a ways down the left side on muddy unstable paths to get the the edge of the glacier itself.

Terra on Muddy Trail Skirting Edge Left Side Of Glacier

Collected some glacier water for ice. Touched and walked on glacier. Fun time had by all. Long walk though.

Holly, Alex, Patty and Terra Edge Of Glacier

Holly and Albert Albert Waiting For Glacier Edge To Fall On Them

Wrangell to Petersburg

June 13th to 15th

June 13^th 40 nm

Left a bit late to catch ideal tide current but had some current the entire way. Easy passage to Petersburg. No rain but no sun either.

In Petersburg Harbor we ended up in a slip next to the Westerly which was getting ready to go out as a fish tender for the opening of salmon season. Nice guy’s and got some good fishing tips from them.

Walked 6 miles from marina to the sandy beach park on the muskeg boardwalk trails above town. Muskeg seems to be the Alaskan word for swamps. Walked back along sandy beach road and saw nice houses.

We then took a nice walk down south of marina along to Sons Of Norway Hall along shoreline board walk.

Then hooked a left around the back of the hall for a nice walk along a board walk road behind the hall.

Birch Street Board Plank Road Behind Sons Of Norway Building

Grand QTR invited us over for dinner which was pork tenderloin, grilled vegetables and I made grain mix from Trader Joes with peas. Nice dinner and company.

June 14^th

Grand QTR left heading to Juneau as they have company coming. We planned 2-3 nights in Petersburg. 2^nd night Mana Kai with Jeff and Darlene arrived and were on same dock. They invited us for happy hour and we had a nice time. Had a great breakfast at Salty Pantry, we highly recommend a stop there. Got a to go Cuban Sandwich so we did not need any dinner, looked to good to pass up!

The Salty Pantry, Great Breakfast and Lunch

Arranged to take La Conte Glacier boat tour with the same guy Claudette and Bob had gone for the 15^th at 8:30 Am

June 15^th

Glacier tour and Leave toward Juneau Duck Point just behind Cape Fanshaw between Whitney island and the cape.

So far the Glacier 4 hour tour with Alaska Passages Adventures (Captain Scott Harvey) was the highlight. Also for me also Pruth Bay, Klewnuggit, Petersburg…following those top ten Klemtu

Anyhow the cruise to La Conte Glacier in a 28′ aluminum boat with nice man was truly a lifetime experience. Weaving in and out of tiny medium to huge clear, turquoise or deep blue and /or dirty ICE BERGS ?

Would say that with so many berg bits large and small in the water, at least the day we went, I would not advise taking your larger boat up to this glacier.

Jeff, Darlene, Patty and Scott the Guide

Then arrived at the glacier…2 miles wide 200 feet or so high…crammed into a canyon and truly a moving river of ice 30 meters per DAY! Wonderful.

Got to glacier and watched ice swirl under waterfall. Obviously current. Scott explained this is because there is a BIG river with BIG water dumping into the bay under the glacier. We saw small and large calving and small and one HUGE shooter berg come up from the bottom.

He had video of a monster berg coming up which created a 20 foot wave he had to jump with his boat. Very very fun for ALL. We shared the excursion with new friends Darlene and Jeff who are very nice people.

Berg Bay to Wrangell

June 11th To 12th

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kasaan To Meyer’s Chuck Then Berg Bay

June 8^th Cruise up Clarence Strait to Meyer’s Chuck.

Meyer’s chuck has good AT&T cell phone service.

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.

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.

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 Shop

Gallery 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.

We then took the short hike down the trail to the left of the dock past the small portable log mill.

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!

June 9^th – 10th Meyer’s Chuck to Berg Bay (Eastern Passage around Wrangell island)

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 5^th through Aug 25^th which must be when salmon are running. Turned up Blake Channel and arrived at Berg Bay around 4:30pm.

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 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.

Water Dog At Beg Bay, USFS Float and A-Frame Cabin to The Right

Photo 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!

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.

Would revisit in better weather. The last two outs involved dumping dogs on the forest service cabin float which was cleaner.

Ketchikan to Village Of Kasaan

June 7th Ketchikan to Kassan 29 nm

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.

https://kasaan.org/

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.

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 House

Our 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.

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.

Klewnuggit Inlet To Prince Rupert

June 1^st: 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.

Went up the inlet and snaked into east inlet anchorage. Beautiful. Alex put out crab traps (caught 2 but threw them back).

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 2^nd: 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.

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 4^th 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.

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.

Sunken Gardens Entrance
Sunken Gardens

Klemtu To Butedale

May 30^th Klemtu (Patty Reporting)

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.

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.

May 31^st 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.

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.

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!

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).

June 15th to 24th

June 13th to 15th

June 11th To 12th

June 15^th to 24th