We left Codville Lagoon just before 8:00a.m. and arrived at Shearwater around 10:00a.m. We hadn’t been able to get any response from the marina regarding our moorage requests, and calls on 66A went unanswered. We all found space on the dock though, just like a regular first-come-first-served situation, and it all worked out. (We later learned that the radio base station volume had been turned all the way down and … Read more
We finally got the “heavy rain” that the forecast has been promising for the past two days. It all came at once — last night! There was (finally!) a break in the rain in the morning as we pulled our anchor and left the bay, and the sun came blazing through. Our cruise up Fitz Hugh Sound and Fisher Channel was calm and uneventful. We arrived at Codville Lagoon with … Read more
Today was Cape Caution day. We often talk about the “Gates” of the Inside Passage – segments that give boaters pause, and often limit their progress north toward Southeast Alaska. Beginning in Puget Sound, where there is the highest density of boaters, these include Johnstone Strait, the Strait of Georgia, the rapids in BC, Cape Caution, and finally Dixon Entrance. Cape Caution is the first of these gates that is … Read more
We left our anchorage at Mound Island around 7:30a.m. and had a calm, leisurely cruise up to Blunden Harbor. It was quite foggy, but cleared a few miles from Blunden Harbour and turned into a nice day! Today we met up with our third boat, Great Escape (a Maritimo 50, with Bob and Shelly aboard). After we were all settled in, we gathered together for a longer dinghy excursion back … Read more
This was our first visit to Mound Island with a flotilla. Mound Island is a small island in a cluster of islands near the west end of the Broughtons. It was nicely situated for our planned trip across Queen Charlotte Strait in preparation for rounding Cape Caution in a couple days. There is ample dinghy exploring available through the maze of little islands and rocks and small shallow and intertidal … Read more
We have now reached the part of the trip where we want to make time up Johnstone Strait. The current can really slow you down, and depending on the wind conditions it can be downright awful to transit. But when the weather is settled and you run with the current, it’s a nice quick way to make miles. We planned the trip in several chunks, trying to time each segment … Read more
Today’s timing challenge was Seymour Narrows. The currents in Seymour Narrows can run to fifteen knots, so passing through near slack is critical. There also can be considerable traffic – barges with tugs, cruise ships – all timing their arrival at the narrows at about the same time. Seymour Narrows is also our gateway to Johnstone Strait, and those same currents (albeit slower than at the narrows) can have a … Read more
Day 0 – The 2022 Slowboat Flotilla to Alaska is underway. Over the next four weeks our group will make its way up the Inside Passage through coastal British Columbia, through SE Alaska, ending in Juneau. We’ll pass along the east side of Vancouver Island for around 300 miles, round Cape Caution, then proceed up the gorgeous northern coast of BC, crossing Dixon Entrance into Alaska. We will then continue … Read more