Alaska 2015 Part 3

April 27, 2015

Rain was falling as we cast off the lines just after 0840, following “Seeker” out of Gorge Harbour.  The current was favorable as we headed to Yuculta Rapids, so both boats slowed down.  Even with the slower speed we arrived nearly one hour early for high slack water.  However, since the tides were not extreme today we decided to proceed anyway.  This turned out fine, with the adverse current never more than 3 knots, and then only for a few minutes.  We entered Dent Rapids near slack water and headed up Cordero Channel past Cordero Lodge, which appeared to be open.  Greene Point rapids was ebbing heavily by this time, with peak currents of 4 knots boosting us up Chancellor Channel towards Wellbore Channel and Whirlpool Rapids.  Those rapids were also ebbing, boosting speed briefly to over 12 knots.

Exiting Whirlpool Rapids we made a sharp right turn and entered Forward Harbour.  By this time the wind was picking up, gusting to 25 knots as we set our anchor near “Seeker” in Douglas Bay in 70 feet of water, shortly before 1600.  We covered another 52 nautical miles today, for a total of 214 nautical miles since Anacortes.

Seeker at Anchor, Douglas Bay

Our wind gauge showing the peak gusts

The wind continued to gust for the next several hours, reaching nearly 36 knots, but the anchor was well set.  By 2000 the wind had shifted to the SE and dropped to 5-10 knots.

April 28, 2015

Overnight the wind and rain returned, but not as intense as before, only reaching 25 knots.  Morning arrived with partly clear skies and a gentle breeze as we pulled the anchor at 0850 and followed “Seeker” out of Forward Harbour.  The winds remained light and the seas calm as we entered Johnstone Strait from Sunderland Channel and proceeded west to Port Harvey.  The trip was uneventful, with only one other boat besides “Seeker” even visible.  Seeker continued on to Port McNeill.

We shut off the engine at Port Harvey at 1220, greeting George Cambridge.  There was plenty of dock space since we were the only visiting boat.  We have now covered 241 nautical miles since Anacortes and will spend two days in Port Harvey before heading to Port McNeill on April 30 to await Harry and Teri Johnson on “Steel Tiger”.  They are about two days behind us.

The balance of the day was spent on boat maintenance tasks, cleaning watermaker filters, defrosting the refrigerator, and even catching a few rays of sunshine between cloudy patches.  The crab pot is down and we hope a few hard shell Dungeness crabs decide to stay in the pot (This early in the season many are still soft shell).

Port Harvey all to ourselves

We had dinner with George Cambridge in the evening at his house where he cooked a delicious stroganoff followed by rich frosted brownies.

April 29, 2015

In the morning we had our first two Dungeness crab of the season, both large.  The balance of the day was spent cooking and picking the crab, dodging the intermittent rain showers and preparing chicken enchiladas for dinner.  In the evening the crab pot yielded two more nice crabs, which were cooked and chilled for preparation the next day.

April 30, 2015

Spirit departed Port Harvey at 0730 in light rain and calm winds headed for Port McNeill.  Johnstone Strait was calm most of the way, with more light rain.  We contacted Steel Tiger while cruising west to Port McNeill and coordinated plans for later in the day.  Steel Tiger is about two hours behind us, having anchored in Forward Harbour last evening.

We shut down the engine at 1200, after 33.8 miles.  The rain settled in hard later, but the wind warnings are gone for Cape Caution right now.

We will tentatively depart Port McNeill at 0700 and will be out of cell phone contact for at least two days.