Prince Rupert to Shearwater

July 13, 2012

Our departure from Prince Rupert was 0550, timed to maximize the push from the currents in Grenville Channel.  The weather started out sunny, then cloudy at the top of Grenville Channel.  There were a lot of gillnetters to dodge until we passed Client Reef.  There was a gale warning in effect in Hecate Strait, just a few miles to the west, but Grenville Channel only had winds of 10 knots.

Patrick continued his temperature survey of the exhaust system and the temperatures just kept rising, but no more pinholes have developed.

Spirit arrived at Lowe Inlet, Nettle Basin under sunny skies and warm temperatures at 1320.  There were a few salmon jumping but attempts to get them to bite were fruitless.  By evening there were four other vessels anchored in Nettle Basin and although the wind did increase to 15 knots late in the afternoon the gale force winds never materialized.

July 14, 2012

Departing at 0645 under sunny skies and pleasant temperatures we continued down Grenville Channel and then down Princess Royal Channel, Hiekish Narrows and into Finlayson Channel were we encountered the first significant wind, 20-25 knots from the SW and 2 foot chop.  Our destination for the evening was Bottleneck Inlet and as soon as we entered the wind dropped due to the protected entrance.  Spirit anchored in 30 feet of water, joining 3 other vessels already there.

July 15, 2012

The skies were sunny and the winds were calm as we departed Bottleneck Inlet at 0735.  We took the scenic route through Jackson Narrows, Mathieson Channel, Percival Narrows, Reid Passage and Seaforth Channel into Shearwater where we anchored outside the log boom breakwater at 1410.  There were a number of cruising friends already either docked or at anchor so we had drinks on Spirit with Harry and Teri Johnson from “Steel Tiger”, then dinner at the Shearwater Restaurant with Riley’s from “Sea Pal”, Hannum’s from “Northern, Len and Vera from “Chatham II”, Ky and Terry from “Banyan” and Steve and Rolynn Anderson from “Intrepid”.  We finished the evening on our bow seat watching the sun set under clear, warm skies.

July 16, 2012

The weather continued clear and warm so we decided to go fishing off Idol Point.  Leaving at 0720 we had our first Coho salmon on board by 0900 and continued to fish until 1100, keeping one more Coho and releasing 2 small but legal fish and losing another.  The fishing ended when a large pod of Orca’s came through the area.  On the way back we saw this fellow rowing down Seaforth Channel.  We had seen him two days ago in Princess Royal Channel headed towards Butedale.  We returned and anchored off of the breakwater at Shearwater.  After smoking some of the salmon we shared our salmon with Harry & Teri Johnson and with their appetizers and guests on Steel Tiger.

We will head to Codville Lagoon in the morning, then some place closer to Cape Caution on Wednesday, hoping to cross to Port McNeill on Thursday where we once again should have cell phone connectivity.

Orca in Seaforth Channel

Rower in Seaforth Channel