The group left Ketchikan this morning around 7am and headed north in Tongass Narrows, avoiding tugs and barges, float planes, fishing boats, and a couple of cruise ships. We opted to pass Meyers Chuck, as cute and as charming as it is, due to limited dock space and our 7 on-the-larger-side boats, but at least one boat poked in to take a look and plans to visit on their way … Read more
We left Foggy Bay this morning for a smooth cruise into Ketchikan. Brian from Evenstar/Fleming took these gorgeous drone shots as people were getting ready to head on to Ketchikan this morning: Seas were calm, the weather was sunny, and a few whales were here and there, settling into their Alaska routine. Ketchikan is quite a shock when we’ve spent over two weeks in mostly wilderness anchorages with very few … Read more
We were up early this morning to navigate Venn Passage, possibly attempt a Dixon Entrance crossing, and make our way to Foggy Bay, Alaska. The weather was a little iffy. While conditions were good, we had one forecast for five foot swells on our beam at some point, so we made a multi-prong contingency plan. We would travel the first four hours or so out through Venn Passage, across to … Read more
Today we made our way from Lowe Inlet up the remainder of Grenville Channel to Prince Rupert, our last stop in BC before we attempt to cross Dixon Entrance into Alaska. It was smooth sailing, and a couple of boats had a guest raven aboard for part of the journey. We arrived at Prince Rupert and tied up at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club. The crew at PRRYC … Read more
We were up early and reluctantly left Khutze Inlet. It’s one of our favorite stops on the Inside Passage – stunning beauty, abundant wildlife, vast dinghy exploration opportunities, (and somewhat tricky anchoring). It was a long run up to Lowe Inlet – the site of a salmon cannery operation from 1890 to the 1930s. Lowe features a cool waterfall fed from Lowe Lake, (which we have previously tried to hike … Read more
We departed Pruth Bay early to press north to Shearwater. Conditions looked good for a smooth transit. (No sun, but we can’t be too picky.) Coming out of Pruth Bay, Dog Star got some favorable sailing conditions and took advantage of them. Shearwater/Bella Bella is really the only good provisioning stop along the middle of the north coast. Things like produce are often scarce there, so it’s a bit of … Read more
This morning we cruised across Queen Charlotte to Blunden Harbour, one of our favorite staging points for rounding Cape Caution. The weather looked decent, but winds were forecast to build as the day progressed, so we got an early start. Overnighting in Boughey Bay had given us a nice route out to Queen Charlotte without having to revisit the peril of Johnstone Strait again. We were about half an hour … Read more
Today was the day to make miles down Johnstone Strait while things were good. Johnstone can be a serious menace, and we had favorable current from 6AM until noon. We figured if we popped out right at 6, we could ride the current all the way down to our turnoff from Johnstone. As a bonus, winds were predicted to be mellow (unusual for this stretch). It all turned out to … Read more