As we move north, the scale of everything changes. The mountains rise higher, civilization grows sparser, and bodies of water are bigger. Today’s trip up Fitz Hugh Sound is a prime example–nearly 50nm due north with hardly a building in sight. Imagine running from Seattle to Port Townsend with no structures on shore! Our destination was Ocean Falls, at the head of Cousins Inlet. Ocean Falls is lost in time. … Read more
We left Fury Cove around 10:00 a.m. and headed up Fitz Hugh Sound toward Pruth Bay, and quickly found ourselves in the middle of a pod of orcas just 10 minutes or so after departing. We hung out and watched them for a bit. Kevin went out on the bow of Airship and got some fantastic photos with the Fuji X-T2 100-400mm lens-on-a-monopod setup. We had high hopes that this lens was … Read more
Rounding Cape Caution is often the least comfortable stretch of the entire Inside Passage. Ocean swells roll in, wind chop often builds by the afternoon, and strong currents can cause waves to stack up. And no matter which route you take, the seas are mostly on the beam. We had a nearly perfect weather forecast, and when we woke up all the pertinent weather reporting stations looked great. The crab … Read more
We’re skipping Port McNeill. The weather is awesome—sunny, warm, calm winds—and the boats (and boaters) are all super capable. We’ve got plenty of fuel, water, and supplies to keep going, so instead of diverting to Port McNeill, we headed for Blunden Harbour. Not only is Blunden Harbour an amazing anchorage, but it also makes our trip around Cape Caution way shorter (~50 miles instead of 80 miles). After a lazy … Read more
The Broughtons are a world-class cruising destination. Hundreds of islets and islands, snowcapped mountains, and protected water, combined with a half dozen mom-and-pop marinas, each with their own charms. We’re rushing through, providing flotilla participants a taste so they can choose where to go on the way home. Today’s route took us through the Broughtons. We navigated Chatham Channel near slack current, then headed out Knight Inlet towards Queen Charlotte … Read more
We woke up this morning to reports of blustery winds on Johnstone Strait: 16-18 knots from the northwest, right on the bow. Conditions were borderline for the go-no go decision, so we punted. We’d continue towards Port Harvey as scheduled, but if we didn’t like what we were experiencing, we’d duck out and anchor for the night. Right off the bat, we had lots of current pushing us along. Greene Point Rapids … Read more
We’d planned to be up early to arrive at the rapids (Yuculta, Gillard, and Dent) in time to hit Dent at the morning slack (because Dent is the most hazardous). That would have required us to leave at about 6:30 a.m. But the morning looked windier than the afternoon. And we like to sleep in if we can. It didn’t take long to convince ourselves and our group that the … Read more
Cruising on a boat is fundamentally a big, complex, real-life puzzle. We’re balancing weather challenges, mechanical issues, the need for shoreside supplies, time on shore vs. time at anchor or underway, and so much more. It’s important to keep a flexible schedule (which is more difficult the more boats there are) yet deliver a reasonable level of certainty to flotilla participants. Today’s weather forecast created quite the challenge. The Environment Canada … Read more