We left Butedale early this morning — just before 6:30am — to beat the current in Grenville Channel. Grenville Channel floods from both sides, and currents run to several knots. Ideally you ride the flood in, and the ebb out. Theoretically, the current was supposed to turn against us about an hour before we reached Lowe Inlet. Instead, we had over a knot of current with us the entire trip. We’ll … Read more
When we woke up in Bottleneck it was totally calm—glassy, except for rain drops, and not a breath of wind. Just outside, though, it was unexpectedly rough. There wasn’t much wind, but the southerly swell worked its way up Finlayson Channel. We spent a few minutes rolling around as we left, but things quickly settled down and we had an easy run up to Butedale. Butedale is an awesome stop. It’s … Read more
Winter has returned. We’ve been spoiled by warm, sunny weather. Now temps are in the 40s and 50s and the rain has been pouring down. Oh well, it’s part of boating on this coast…but we are all grateful for heating systems and interior helm stations! Today’s route was lots of fun, even with the dreary weather. We headed west out Seaforth Channel, and just as we began feeling the ocean … Read more
Today the forecast was rain, rain, and more rain. The winds were forecast to pick up (to 20-30 knots) by about noon, so we headed out of Ocean Falls and Cousins Inlet a little earlier than we’d planned (8:30 a.m. or so). Boating is not all about humpback whales, fresh crab, and beautiful vistas. Occasionally real life calls…laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on business stuff. Today was that day. We … Read more
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