We timed leaving Kah Shakes as perfectly as the last time we were here: leaving on a minus tide (-2.2ft). Rather than leaving at 6am, ten minutes after low tide, we waited until about 7am when it was just about zero. Mid channel is fine, and we had no less than 14ft of depth, but it is definitely quite narrow and bordered with rocks. The sky looks a bit stormier … 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
Our plan was to wait until conditions looked nice and calm on Monday to leave Foggy Bay and cross Dixon Entrance into BC. Saturday we saw some 35kt gusts inside Foggy Bay, but the anchorage is well protected and we were completely comfortable. On Sunday, the conditions looked a little choppy but overall fine, and the light station weather reports were reasonable, so we decided to head out a day … Read more
Conditions this morning for Dixon Entrance still looked fantastic, so we were off the docks by 5am. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones. This is what happens when the weather window is as good as it was today (and yesterday): We transited Venn Passage, a twisty but nicely marked channel, calm in the early morning (in theory), but small fishing charter boats zooming past on either side add a … Read more
Up again at 4am (okay 4:30am) to check the 4am forecast and conditions for a Dixon Entrance crossing today. The Dixon Entrance East forecast for today looked about the same as last night: Last night at 7pm Green Island was reporting 5ft moderate, and the wind at Grey Islet was SSE 25kts. We were hopeful that things would mellow overnight. This morning, conditions seemed to have improved, except we were … Read more
We left Kelp Passage near first light for our Dixon Entrance crossing. The weather forecast looked excellent — wind NW 15 diminishing to light early, seas 1 meter. We popped up early to check the 4AM update to be sure nothing had changed for the sinister overnight. It looked even a little better, and a soft fog layer confirmed that the air wasn’t moving much. On big crossings, fog is … Read more
More sun as we left Ketchikan! We stopped at the fuel dock and filled up all of the things — diesel, dinghy gas, and propane — and then continued on our way. The night before we left Ketchikan, we grilled up the last of our king salmon and served it over rice with soy sauce, Japanese seaweed paste, green onions, and a side of sautéed zucchini. Yum! Normally when we … 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