We hiked a good ways up the trail before turning back due to a large blow down on the trail that is hard to over or around.
We also walked "The Loop" at least 3 times before leaving on Wednesday morning.
All in all it was a short but fun trip.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
2019-06-25 Naha Trip
Ryan Doran and I took advantage of the nice weather and made a short overnight trip to the Naha.
We hiked a good ways up the trail before turning back due to a large blow down on the trail that is hard to over or around.
We also walked "The Loop" at least 3 times before leaving on Wednesday morning.
All in all it was a short but fun trip.
We hiked a good ways up the trail before turning back due to a large blow down on the trail that is hard to over or around.
We also walked "The Loop" at least 3 times before leaving on Wednesday morning.
All in all it was a short but fun trip.
2019-06-14 Wrangell maintenance
I had previously scheduled June 17 - 19 at the Wrangell Boat Shop for annual maintenance that needs to be done on the boat. The weather in Clarence Strait was considerably better on the Friday the 14th so I headed up there then, making it to Wrangell in one day.
My haul-out was not scheduled until Monday afternoon so I just cooled my heels waiting in the harbor over the weekend.
On Monday afternoon, right on schedule, they hauled the boat out of the water and into their shed.
They pressure washed the bottom right away in preparation for bottom paint the next day.
Here is the complete list of the work I had them do for me:
Pressure wash the bottom
Repaint the bottom
Replace all external zincs
Replace all internal "pencil" zincs
Replace impellers for main engines
Replace impeller for generator
Replace glow plug and screen on diesel furnace
Replace filter elements in Racor fuel filters
Troubleshoot problem with shower drain
Whenever I have them repaint the bottom I always ask them to remove the props on the bow thruster and clean out that tunnel very thoroughly. It is a very small bow thruster and it needs to be as efficient as possible.
Here at the Wrangell Boat Shop they don't use a sling method to haul the boats. Instead they had a "cradle" that the boat sits in and then it is winched up inside the building.
I stayed on board during this maintenance session. The boat was at a slight downhill angle but it was not prohibitive.
They had me plugged into shore power so the only inconvenience was that I had to use the bathroom in their shop, which believe me, is an experience all its own.
When they started looking at the drain problem they immediately found a filter on the shower drain pump which was totally plugged. That solved the shower drain problem. I still need to get a plumber to fix the control knob which is not mixing hot and cold to make warm.
They launched the boat as scheduled on Wed afternoon and I spent that night over at the transient dock in Heritage Harbor.
On Thursday morning I took off bright and early and made the run down to Ketchikan in one day.
So the annual maintenance chores needed on Faraway have been taken care of for another year.
My haul-out was not scheduled until Monday afternoon so I just cooled my heels waiting in the harbor over the weekend.
On Monday afternoon, right on schedule, they hauled the boat out of the water and into their shed.
They pressure washed the bottom right away in preparation for bottom paint the next day.
Here is the complete list of the work I had them do for me:
Pressure wash the bottom
Repaint the bottom
Replace all external zincs
Replace all internal "pencil" zincs
Replace impellers for main engines
Replace impeller for generator
Replace glow plug and screen on diesel furnace
Replace filter elements in Racor fuel filters
Troubleshoot problem with shower drain
Whenever I have them repaint the bottom I always ask them to remove the props on the bow thruster and clean out that tunnel very thoroughly. It is a very small bow thruster and it needs to be as efficient as possible.
Here at the Wrangell Boat Shop they don't use a sling method to haul the boats. Instead they had a "cradle" that the boat sits in and then it is winched up inside the building.
I stayed on board during this maintenance session. The boat was at a slight downhill angle but it was not prohibitive.
They had me plugged into shore power so the only inconvenience was that I had to use the bathroom in their shop, which believe me, is an experience all its own.
When they started looking at the drain problem they immediately found a filter on the shower drain pump which was totally plugged. That solved the shower drain problem. I still need to get a plumber to fix the control knob which is not mixing hot and cold to make warm.
They launched the boat as scheduled on Wed afternoon and I spent that night over at the transient dock in Heritage Harbor.
On Thursday morning I took off bright and early and made the run down to Ketchikan in one day.
So the annual maintenance chores needed on Faraway have been taken care of for another year.
2019-06-08 Fire Cove
My buddies from my "used to job" asked if I wanted to link up with then at the Fire Cove dock, which is deep inside Neets Bay. I had commitments for Friday evening so I left Saturday morning to meet up with them out there. It was about 4 hour run for me to get there.
The dock at Fire Cove is very small and they had 3 boats there already, so I had to raft onto one of the other boats.
Sorry I did not get any pictures.
They each had a 4 wheeler, and two of them had dogs with them. So it was a lively group at the small dock.
We took the 4 wheelers up the road system a good long ways, perhaps 7 or 8 miles, and then stopped to fish in some of the ponds and streams that we found. Trout fishing was generally good and we kept a nice assortment of cut throats which eventually became appetizers for our dinner that night.
We had a nice gas fired fire place and with comfortable deck chairs enjoyed our appetizers and then later our dinner out on the dock.
I only stayed the one night and so headed back the next morning. It was a long way to go for one over nighter, I admit, but a good time was had by all.
The dock at Fire Cove is very small and they had 3 boats there already, so I had to raft onto one of the other boats.
Sorry I did not get any pictures.
They each had a 4 wheeler, and two of them had dogs with them. So it was a lively group at the small dock.
We took the 4 wheelers up the road system a good long ways, perhaps 7 or 8 miles, and then stopped to fish in some of the ponds and streams that we found. Trout fishing was generally good and we kept a nice assortment of cut throats which eventually became appetizers for our dinner that night.
We had a nice gas fired fire place and with comfortable deck chairs enjoyed our appetizers and then later our dinner out on the dock.
I only stayed the one night and so headed back the next morning. It was a long way to go for one over nighter, I admit, but a good time was had by all.
2019-05-27 Harbor cruise
Former co-worker, now good friend, Kim Whalen had her parents in town so we decided to do a short harbor cruise on Memorial Day.
Things did not start out on a good note when I attempted to back out of the slip with the bow line still tied to the dock. Things got better from there.
We just rode slowly over to the ship yard, and then back through town, eventually going around the back side of Pennock, to get back to the harbor.
Things did not start out on a good note when I attempted to back out of the slip with the bow line still tied to the dock. Things got better from there.
We just rode slowly over to the ship yard, and then back through town, eventually going around the back side of Pennock, to get back to the harbor.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
2019-05-16 Traitors Cove
One of the reasons I brought the boat back up to Alaska was my hope to link up with some of my friends and have some adventures. This was just that sort of trip.
Two of my former co-workers invited me to join up with them on a trip to Traitors Cove and Marguerite Bay. It didn't take long for me to agree to do so.
My two friends each had their own boat so we were a 3 boat armada. Their boats are metal and fast, while mine is fiberglass and slow.
We went to the USFS dock at Marguerite Bay and got settled in. We each slept on our own boats. They each had a dog with them and we had a 4 wheeler to use.
Both my primary camera and my backup camera are having issues so I just pulled up some photos of this area taken on previous trips. I will work on getting at least one of those cameras fixed so that I can include more current photos of future trips.
On Friday morning we baited up 4 crab pots and 9 shrimp pots. We went back through the salt chuck into the back part of the lagoon and set the crab pots there. Then we set 2 strings of shrimp pots in Traitors Cove proper.
We had a skiff placed up on the lake and we brought along a small outboard motor and fuel. The best fishing seems to be down at the other end of the lake where the inlet stream comes in, and you need a boat to get there.
It's about 1.6 miles from the USFS dock to the nearest end of the lake. Having that 4 wheeler helped a lot as that is a long walk.
Fishing was good but not terrific. Mostly there are cut-throat trout in this lake, and we only kept what we intended to cook and eat. But the weather was good and it was fun trout fishing in the lake.
This is a view of Margaret Lake from the nearest end, where there is a bridge over the logging road. The best fishing is at the opposite end, where an inlet stream comes into the lake.
On Saturday morning we took one of the metal jet boats and ran back through the salt chuck and into the lagoon to retrieve the crab pots. For setting only 4 pots we got a respectable haul of keepers, perhaps about 15 or so.
Then we came back out of the lagoon and pulled the 2 strings of shrimp pots, getting a respectable haul here as well.
After a quick lunch we went back up to the lake for some more trout fishing.
In the evenings, when it wasn't raining, we had a propane fired fire pit to sit around and swap stories. There was a young couple there on their own boat and we invited them to our fire. This is one of the best parts of this kind of trip, just sitting around a fire talking.
On Saturday evening the weather was so nice we cooked and ate our dinner out on the dock. The previous 2 nights we had taken our dinner on my boat since I had a little more room and I have a table.
Sunday morning I pulled out about 9 AM headed back to town. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours to make the trip. My buddies have metal jet drive boats and it would take them significantly less time to get back.
I left it to them to put the skiff away, load the 4 wheeler on the boat, and pack and put away all the gear that we had out on the dock.
It was a good trip, just the kind of trip that I missed while I was down south. You could never do a trip like this down there - just too crowded and too many rules.
Finis
--><--
Two of my former co-workers invited me to join up with them on a trip to Traitors Cove and Marguerite Bay. It didn't take long for me to agree to do so.
My two friends each had their own boat so we were a 3 boat armada. Their boats are metal and fast, while mine is fiberglass and slow.
We went to the USFS dock at Marguerite Bay and got settled in. We each slept on our own boats. They each had a dog with them and we had a 4 wheeler to use.
Both my primary camera and my backup camera are having issues so I just pulled up some photos of this area taken on previous trips. I will work on getting at least one of those cameras fixed so that I can include more current photos of future trips.
On Friday morning we baited up 4 crab pots and 9 shrimp pots. We went back through the salt chuck into the back part of the lagoon and set the crab pots there. Then we set 2 strings of shrimp pots in Traitors Cove proper.
We had a skiff placed up on the lake and we brought along a small outboard motor and fuel. The best fishing seems to be down at the other end of the lake where the inlet stream comes in, and you need a boat to get there.
It's about 1.6 miles from the USFS dock to the nearest end of the lake. Having that 4 wheeler helped a lot as that is a long walk.
Fishing was good but not terrific. Mostly there are cut-throat trout in this lake, and we only kept what we intended to cook and eat. But the weather was good and it was fun trout fishing in the lake.
This is a view of Margaret Lake from the nearest end, where there is a bridge over the logging road. The best fishing is at the opposite end, where an inlet stream comes into the lake.
On Saturday morning we took one of the metal jet boats and ran back through the salt chuck and into the lagoon to retrieve the crab pots. For setting only 4 pots we got a respectable haul of keepers, perhaps about 15 or so.
Then we came back out of the lagoon and pulled the 2 strings of shrimp pots, getting a respectable haul here as well.
After a quick lunch we went back up to the lake for some more trout fishing.
In the evenings, when it wasn't raining, we had a propane fired fire pit to sit around and swap stories. There was a young couple there on their own boat and we invited them to our fire. This is one of the best parts of this kind of trip, just sitting around a fire talking.
On Saturday evening the weather was so nice we cooked and ate our dinner out on the dock. The previous 2 nights we had taken our dinner on my boat since I had a little more room and I have a table.
Sunday morning I pulled out about 9 AM headed back to town. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours to make the trip. My buddies have metal jet drive boats and it would take them significantly less time to get back.
I left it to them to put the skiff away, load the 4 wheeler on the boat, and pack and put away all the gear that we had out on the dock.
It was a good trip, just the kind of trip that I missed while I was down south. You could never do a trip like this down there - just too crowded and too many rules.
Finis
--><--
Thursday, April 18, 2019
2019-04-12 Return to Ketchikan
In Alaska vessels are either documented or registered, but not both.
Documenting a vessel is like a title search for a house or piece of property.
Faraway is documented.
It's easy to document a vessel that is purchased new from the vendor, because there are no previous owners.
I had been down in the Gig Harbor area for a number of months before I realized that in WA you have to register your vessel even if it is documented. And so I started down the road to follow the procedures to document Faraway. I figured at worst it would be a few hundred dollars.
It didn't take long before the cold hand of reality slapped me in the face. As part of registering the vessel you must prove that you paid the equivalent of WA sales tax on the value of the vessel. In our case that came out to about $19,500, just for the sales tax portion of the registration. With the other fees added it would have cost us $22,500 to register the vessel in WA.
In addition they charge an annual "excise" tax, which is similar to a property tax, which for us would have been about $1500 per year.
So the decision was made to run Faraway back up to Ketchikan and keep her there.
Next came the decision on timing and crew, interrelated.
We had established that wife Lisa is no longer physically able to handle the bumpers and lines as she has in the past, and so we looked at getting one or more of the grandsons to help out. In the end it was decided that Bryan (age 12) would be the only one to go with me on this trip.
It was also decided that we would try to schedule it as closely to their spring break to minimize missed school days. And so it came down to a departure date of 03-27.
Yikes, that only gave me a few weeks to prepare for such a long journey.
I had scheduled a short mileage day (25 nm) for day 1 just because I didn't really know how long it would take us to actually get underway. First destination was Shilshole Bay Marina.
Day 1, Wednesday 03-27, was just a big disappointment. The weather was terrible and we ended up slogging our way up to the Blake Island area and then turning around and going back into the harbor.
In the morning we pulled out about 9 AM to encounter much better conditions. We made it to Shilshole Bay Marina with no problems. We took on fuel there. (Amazingly, there are no fuel stations within Gig Harbor proper.)
I must apologize here too for the lack of photographs. I will add some as I have them, but both of my cameras were on the fritz, and frankly I was more concerned about getting to our various destinations safely than on whether or not we had photos.
Here's a shot of the boat at the SBM guest float from our southbound trip. I think we tied in the same slip on our north bound journey.
Dinner was Hamburger Helper, and the after dinner movie was "Act of Valor."
We were sacked out by 8:30 PM in calm conditions.
Our destination from SBM was Friday Harbor.
I usually go through Deception Pass to get past Whidbey Island, but that must be done at slack tide and the timing just didn't work for that this time. So I took the outer route, through Admiralty Inlet, which can be rougher but was fine on this passage.
We made it to Friday Harbor about 4 PM with no issues along the way.
Dinner this evening was spaghetti and the after dinner movie was "Olympus Has Fallen."
Here's Karen again at Friday Harbor taken during our south bound run.
Our next objective was to formally check into Canadian waters. I had chosen Sidney BC as our port of entry. It is only about 20 miles from Friday Harbor so we could have easily checked into customs there and continued on further. But I had scheduled it as an overnight since I did not know how long it would take to clear customs, and I wanted to walk to a grocery store that is near the marina. So this was a very short day as far as mileage goes.
We had no issues clearing customs. It was all done by phone and only took about 15 minutes.
We both took advantage of the down time to shower in their facilities and also to do some laundry. Bryan told ne he had brought some clothes that were already dirty, and so we took care of that problem.
Dinner was hamburgers and the movie was "Act of Valor," (yes, again).
Bryan seems to like watching movies more than once.
That's a good thing because our library of movies is not very large.
Our next destination was John Henry Marina in Pender Harbour, which requires a long straight run up the Strait of Georgie. We were fortunate to have great weather conditions for this run because it can be a bad one.
The relatively new auto pilot is working well and I use it well over 90% of the time I am at the helm.
We made it to John Henry's with no issues, and took on fuel and bought a few things at the store. Their café was closed or we would have eaten there. Instead I cooked hot dogs with beans for dinner. The movie was "Castaway."
The next day we had to transit Seymour Narrows. This is one of those spots where you really need to watch the tides and currents. Lives have been lost here. We were fortunate that we were able to pass through about an hour and a half before slack tide. 2 big fishing boats came by and started through and I figure if they could make it so could we. It was a bit of a wild ride though. There were very strong currents which kicked the boat around a bit.
We went through Seymour Narrows and ended up at Blind Channel Resort for the night.
We also got fuel here.
Dinner was informal tonight.
Bryan polished off 3 left over hot dogs and the left over Hamburger Helper.
I had toast and jelly I think., not much of a dinner.
The next day we pulled out about 7:30 AM, destination Port Hardy.
We got a nice boost from the current that pushed us along at about 13 knots, when we normally run between 9 and 10 knots.
We ran all day in calm conditions and arrived at Port Hardy about 4 PM.
We took on fuel and then got tied up at their guest dock.
We had dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Movie tonight was "Pain & Gain."
Port Hardy is our jumping off point for crossing Queen Charlotte Sound, one of the open ocean crossings we have to make. I checked in with "Weather Bob," and he said conditions were good for a crossing.
So we pulled out about 8:45 AM and enjoyed calm conditions all day.
We pulled into Dawson's Landing at about 4 PM.
It was here that Karen and I spent a week waiting for good weather on our southbound trip.
Dinner was chicken and rice and the movie was "Snitch."
The next day we ran in calm conditions to Shearwater Resort.
Got fuel and tied up at their almost empty floats.
We are so early in the season that very few cruising boats were out and about.
We had dinner at their restaurant and enjoyed their fine showers.
We didn't know it at the time but we would end up spending 5 nights here waiting for good travel weather. I had been in touch with "Weather Bob" for advice on when we should leave. The weather was pretty bad with one storm following another.
We had one night in particular that we really got hammered. The wind was driving us into the dock and I doubled up lines and bumpers. It was very noisy and very rocky on board.
So we sat and we sat and we sat until Tuesday morning when we finally pulled out,
I topped off the fuel tank before we left the area as we were not scheduled to get fuel again until we got to Prince Rupert.
We ran to a remote anchorage called Bottleneck Inlet.
I have anchored there several times before and it is a nice place to spend the night.
Bryan had left over Hamburger Helper and I had a cheese sandwich for dinner.
The after dinner movie was "Hitch," which turned out to be a chick flick.
It was a calm but wet night on the anchor, as it rained hard all night long.
We ran about 73 nm to a place called Lowe Inlet.
Once again this is a spot I have anchored in several times before.
There were no other boats around and we got anchored safely for the night.
Dinner was spaghetti and the movie was "Parker."
Fuel was showing about half and Prince Rupert was about 60 nm away, but I still was worried about fuel. There is fuel at Hartley Bay, but I have been treated rudely there in the past and so I don't like to stop there unless I really need the fuel.
We had a calm night on the anchor in Lowe Inlet.
In the morning we pulled the anchor and left at about 8 AM.
I kept a sharp eye on the fuel gauge all day but it all worked out OK in the end, we had plenty.
We ran in calm conditions all day, and then took on 600 liters of fuel in Prince Rupert.
We got a temporary slip in Cow Bay Marina, which is a very nice marina.
It is right next to the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club.
We caught up on texts and e-mails after 2 nights being remote.
We also enjoyed the good showers they have there.
We had dinner at a café just up from the marina.
I spent some quality time with the Garmin chart plotter studying Venn Passage.
Venn Passage is a "short cut" that saves a 12 mile detour around Digby Island.
I wanted to make sure I knew what to expect when we went through there. Depths can go below 10' in places so it is important to stay in the channel.
Friday April 12th we were up early and checked in with "Weather Bob" on conditions in Dixon Entrance. It is an open ocean crossing that must be taken seriously. Bob said good to go, so off we went.
The first 20 miles or so were pretty flat. There was some protection provided by Dundas Island.
The next 25 miles from there to Foggy Bay were a little bouncy, but not dangerous. From Foggy Bay into Ketchikan seas were calm.
We got into Bar Harbor at about 4 PM and got tied up in a temporary slip.
The voyage from Gig Harbor to Ketchikan was complete. It took 17 days, which included 5 nights at Shearwater.
Documenting a vessel is like a title search for a house or piece of property.
Faraway is documented.
It's easy to document a vessel that is purchased new from the vendor, because there are no previous owners.
I had been down in the Gig Harbor area for a number of months before I realized that in WA you have to register your vessel even if it is documented. And so I started down the road to follow the procedures to document Faraway. I figured at worst it would be a few hundred dollars.
It didn't take long before the cold hand of reality slapped me in the face. As part of registering the vessel you must prove that you paid the equivalent of WA sales tax on the value of the vessel. In our case that came out to about $19,500, just for the sales tax portion of the registration. With the other fees added it would have cost us $22,500 to register the vessel in WA.
In addition they charge an annual "excise" tax, which is similar to a property tax, which for us would have been about $1500 per year.
So the decision was made to run Faraway back up to Ketchikan and keep her there.
Next came the decision on timing and crew, interrelated.
We had established that wife Lisa is no longer physically able to handle the bumpers and lines as she has in the past, and so we looked at getting one or more of the grandsons to help out. In the end it was decided that Bryan (age 12) would be the only one to go with me on this trip.
It was also decided that we would try to schedule it as closely to their spring break to minimize missed school days. And so it came down to a departure date of 03-27.
Yikes, that only gave me a few weeks to prepare for such a long journey.
I had scheduled a short mileage day (25 nm) for day 1 just because I didn't really know how long it would take us to actually get underway. First destination was Shilshole Bay Marina.
Day 1, Wednesday 03-27, was just a big disappointment. The weather was terrible and we ended up slogging our way up to the Blake Island area and then turning around and going back into the harbor.
In the morning we pulled out about 9 AM to encounter much better conditions. We made it to Shilshole Bay Marina with no problems. We took on fuel there. (Amazingly, there are no fuel stations within Gig Harbor proper.)
I must apologize here too for the lack of photographs. I will add some as I have them, but both of my cameras were on the fritz, and frankly I was more concerned about getting to our various destinations safely than on whether or not we had photos.
Here's a shot of the boat at the SBM guest float from our southbound trip. I think we tied in the same slip on our north bound journey.
Dinner was Hamburger Helper, and the after dinner movie was "Act of Valor."
We were sacked out by 8:30 PM in calm conditions.
Our destination from SBM was Friday Harbor.
I usually go through Deception Pass to get past Whidbey Island, but that must be done at slack tide and the timing just didn't work for that this time. So I took the outer route, through Admiralty Inlet, which can be rougher but was fine on this passage.
We made it to Friday Harbor about 4 PM with no issues along the way.
Dinner this evening was spaghetti and the after dinner movie was "Olympus Has Fallen."
Here's Karen again at Friday Harbor taken during our south bound run.
Our next objective was to formally check into Canadian waters. I had chosen Sidney BC as our port of entry. It is only about 20 miles from Friday Harbor so we could have easily checked into customs there and continued on further. But I had scheduled it as an overnight since I did not know how long it would take to clear customs, and I wanted to walk to a grocery store that is near the marina. So this was a very short day as far as mileage goes.
We had no issues clearing customs. It was all done by phone and only took about 15 minutes.
We both took advantage of the down time to shower in their facilities and also to do some laundry. Bryan told ne he had brought some clothes that were already dirty, and so we took care of that problem.
Dinner was hamburgers and the movie was "Act of Valor," (yes, again).
Bryan seems to like watching movies more than once.
That's a good thing because our library of movies is not very large.
Our next destination was John Henry Marina in Pender Harbour, which requires a long straight run up the Strait of Georgie. We were fortunate to have great weather conditions for this run because it can be a bad one.
The relatively new auto pilot is working well and I use it well over 90% of the time I am at the helm.
We made it to John Henry's with no issues, and took on fuel and bought a few things at the store. Their café was closed or we would have eaten there. Instead I cooked hot dogs with beans for dinner. The movie was "Castaway."
The next day we had to transit Seymour Narrows. This is one of those spots where you really need to watch the tides and currents. Lives have been lost here. We were fortunate that we were able to pass through about an hour and a half before slack tide. 2 big fishing boats came by and started through and I figure if they could make it so could we. It was a bit of a wild ride though. There were very strong currents which kicked the boat around a bit.
We went through Seymour Narrows and ended up at Blind Channel Resort for the night.
We also got fuel here.
Dinner was informal tonight.
Bryan polished off 3 left over hot dogs and the left over Hamburger Helper.
I had toast and jelly I think., not much of a dinner.
The next day we pulled out about 7:30 AM, destination Port Hardy.
We got a nice boost from the current that pushed us along at about 13 knots, when we normally run between 9 and 10 knots.
We ran all day in calm conditions and arrived at Port Hardy about 4 PM.
We took on fuel and then got tied up at their guest dock.
We had dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Movie tonight was "Pain & Gain."
Port Hardy is our jumping off point for crossing Queen Charlotte Sound, one of the open ocean crossings we have to make. I checked in with "Weather Bob," and he said conditions were good for a crossing.
So we pulled out about 8:45 AM and enjoyed calm conditions all day.
We pulled into Dawson's Landing at about 4 PM.
It was here that Karen and I spent a week waiting for good weather on our southbound trip.
Dinner was chicken and rice and the movie was "Snitch."
The next day we ran in calm conditions to Shearwater Resort.
Got fuel and tied up at their almost empty floats.
We are so early in the season that very few cruising boats were out and about.
We had dinner at their restaurant and enjoyed their fine showers.
We didn't know it at the time but we would end up spending 5 nights here waiting for good travel weather. I had been in touch with "Weather Bob" for advice on when we should leave. The weather was pretty bad with one storm following another.
We had one night in particular that we really got hammered. The wind was driving us into the dock and I doubled up lines and bumpers. It was very noisy and very rocky on board.
So we sat and we sat and we sat until Tuesday morning when we finally pulled out,
I topped off the fuel tank before we left the area as we were not scheduled to get fuel again until we got to Prince Rupert.
We ran to a remote anchorage called Bottleneck Inlet.
I have anchored there several times before and it is a nice place to spend the night.
Bryan had left over Hamburger Helper and I had a cheese sandwich for dinner.
The after dinner movie was "Hitch," which turned out to be a chick flick.
It was a calm but wet night on the anchor, as it rained hard all night long.
We ran about 73 nm to a place called Lowe Inlet.
Once again this is a spot I have anchored in several times before.
There were no other boats around and we got anchored safely for the night.
Dinner was spaghetti and the movie was "Parker."
Fuel was showing about half and Prince Rupert was about 60 nm away, but I still was worried about fuel. There is fuel at Hartley Bay, but I have been treated rudely there in the past and so I don't like to stop there unless I really need the fuel.
We had a calm night on the anchor in Lowe Inlet.
In the morning we pulled the anchor and left at about 8 AM.
I kept a sharp eye on the fuel gauge all day but it all worked out OK in the end, we had plenty.
We ran in calm conditions all day, and then took on 600 liters of fuel in Prince Rupert.
We got a temporary slip in Cow Bay Marina, which is a very nice marina.
It is right next to the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club.
We caught up on texts and e-mails after 2 nights being remote.
We also enjoyed the good showers they have there.
We had dinner at a café just up from the marina.
I spent some quality time with the Garmin chart plotter studying Venn Passage.
Venn Passage is a "short cut" that saves a 12 mile detour around Digby Island.
I wanted to make sure I knew what to expect when we went through there. Depths can go below 10' in places so it is important to stay in the channel.
Friday April 12th we were up early and checked in with "Weather Bob" on conditions in Dixon Entrance. It is an open ocean crossing that must be taken seriously. Bob said good to go, so off we went.
The first 20 miles or so were pretty flat. There was some protection provided by Dundas Island.
The next 25 miles from there to Foggy Bay were a little bouncy, but not dangerous. From Foggy Bay into Ketchikan seas were calm.
We got into Bar Harbor at about 4 PM and got tied up in a temporary slip.
The voyage from Gig Harbor to Ketchikan was complete. It took 17 days, which included 5 nights at Shearwater.
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