Day 12 was an easy cruise from Santa Anna Inlet to Thoms Place on Wrangell Island. Thom’s place is a nice large anchorage on the south end of the island with snow-capped mountain views, historically good crabbing, and some fun tidal channels to explore by dinghy at high tide. The group left Santa Anna later than usual, enjoying the idea of the comparatively short two hour trip. In the morning, … Read more
One consequence of our quick trip from the San Juans to Ketchikan is that we didn’t have as many chores to take care of in Ketchikan as we usually would. Many of the boats don’t need fuel, laundry, or significant provisions. We haven’t been out for weeks—and we’ve been confined aboard—so the boats are still clean and don’t need any washing. And thankfully, nothing has broken. So after just a … Read more
Today was basically chore and explore day in Ketchikan: grocery shopping, laundry for those who needed it, picking up packages at Frontier Shipping, etc. Today was a little less rainy than yesterday, but still gray and moody. A good day to work on any boat projects or just see the town in the rain. (It has rained a LOT so far this trip.) The group met for dinner at Bar … Read more
We left Foggy Bay this morning around 7:00 a.m., headed for Ketchikan. We had some light swell at first, and a little more than light swell later in morning (and some fog) but overall it was a pretty smooth cruise. Arriving in Ketchikan was uneventful compared to past years when it takes all the concentration and focus you have to keep track of the incoming and outgoing boat traffic, float … Read more
Sleeping in this morning was difficult—something about the combination of sunrise around 4:00 a.m., several days of departing at the crack of dawn, and heavy rain pelting the deck had us up long before we should have awoken. Later in the morning, Ralph on Rubicon called on the VHF to let everyone know there was a brown bear on shore. The first brown bear of the trip! We enjoyed watching … Read more
Our last long day! Alaska! Getting out of boat jail! We’ve been lucky with the weather this trip and we hoped it would continue today. Environment Canada called for southeast 25-35 knot winds, which didn’t sound too promising. NOAA said southeast 25 knots, still not great. The screenshot below shows the Windy route planner, which shows the predicted weather along our route as we travel it, and the worst conditions … Read more
We were up before sunrise to get underway for a nearly 90nm day. Today we have few weather concerns (whew, that’s nice for a change!), no hazardous currents, and beautiful scenery. And after today, we’re just one day from Alaska! Today’s cruise is particularly scenic. There’s been surprisingly little traffic of any type since the Gulf Islands. Normally we see cruise ships, ferries (BC and Alaska), tugs and barges, fish … Read more
After a few 5:00 a.m. departures, today’s “about 7:00 a.m.” departure felt luxurious. So luxurious that most of us, apparently now adjusted to early mornings, were underway well before 7. Today is as close to a lay day as we hope to have in Canada, with fewer than 60 nautical miles to travel in mostly calm water without super strong currents. We still had to pay attention, though. Logs were everywhere. … Read more
This morning feels a bit like deja vu. Didn’t we wake up before the sun yesterday to cruise 80-odd miles? Such is life when transiting BC during COVID. If the weather is safe, we go. The trip around Cape Caution is all about the weather. It’s one of only two places we’re exposed to the full effects of the Pacific Ocean, so even on a calm day we feel some … Read more
With Seymour Narrows behind us, the timing of our trip up Johnstone Strait was primarily about maximizing favorable current and miles covered. Thankfully the beginning of the ebb—which runs northwest in Johnstone Strait—was about 5:00 a.m., about the same time it’s light enough to spot logs in the water. Complicating matters was the forecast, which called for winds building to 25-35 knots in the afternoon. Both Environment Canada and the … Read more