The Continuing Voyages of Spirit

Nuka Hiva to San Diego

2011-10-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The day started out sunny and warm, with a strong breeze from the east, which generated a beam swell that rattled the ship occasionally. Today is a traditional Rijstaffell lunch in the Pinnacle Dining Room for those of us in Suites. Today is also the “Walk for the Cure”, a 5KM walk to raise money for breast cancer research.

Monday, October 24, 2011

The strong breeze from the SE persists, with mostly sunny skies as we re-cross the equator headed north to San Diego. We are in the “doldrums”, but the wind and waves would say otherwise. Today is the “Mariner Society” luncheon and the next to last formal night. Passengers are apparently getting tired of formal nights since many people do not come to the dining rooms and there were lots of shorts at the show. Shorts are discouraged by the dress code on board, but ignored by many people.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The ship is in the so-called “doldrums” marked by overcast skies, heavy rain at times and a fresh breeze from the SE at 17-24 knots. By this evening we will be north of the Tropic of Cancer. The weather is still warm and very humid. The skies cleared about 1400 and by 1700 the wind had finally decreased to 10 knots or less. By 2200 we were at 11 degrees North latitude and the seas were nearly calm, just a low swell. We still have some 1500 nautical miles to go before we arrive in San Diego.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The wind and seas increased overnight, with the wind now 25 knots from the east with overcast skies. There were brief periods of rain in the morning. The seas are rough enough that the ship is once again creaking and groaning as we continue to head towards San Diego, just under 1200 nautical miles away at noon. Miriam and I had dinner at the Pinnacle this evening before the farewell variety show, followed by the “Black & White Ball” with the ship’s officers. The ball started at 10:30 PM and we finally got back to the cabin about 1:00 AM.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

At noon today we are still 750 nautical miles from San Diego, with the wind from the NE at 21 knots. The skies are partly cloudy with the sun peeking through. The air temperature has cooled considerably, now only 72 degrees, but with the wind feels even cooler. The cruise is winding down, with repeats on the evening entertainment and the dinner menus are starting to look the same. Berries have disappeared from the breakfast fruit selections, but there is still lettuce.

Friday, October 28, 2011

The seas calmed down overnight, with winds of less than 10 knots. The temperature in the morning was only 64 degrees, but should climb during the day. Today is packing day, and also time to review the charges, which came in as expected. There is a repeat performer this evening and we need to have our bags in the hallway before we retire for the evening. In the morning when we arrive are the US Customs and Immigration formalities before we disembark. We have been told that we should be off the ship about 10 AM.

New news, this evening we had an impromptu didgeridoo demonstration in our cabin by Sean Patrick Ryan, one of the Koomurri Musicians that performed between Tahiti and Nuka Hiva. It was a real experience!

October 29, 2011

We disembarked about 11:00 and took a taxi to the Hyatt Regency hotel. After sighseeing, including a tour of the USS Midway (an aircraft carrier museum on the waterfront) we met our friends from the transatlantic cruise several years ago at the "C Level" restaurant on Harbor Island. They are all leaving in the morning on the Zaandam for a 25 day cruise to Sydney and then another 14 days to New Zealand.

Papeete to Nuka Hiva

2011-10-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Some of the local fruits we sampled on Nuka Hiva

The "Survivor Nuka-Hiva" Beach

It is about 780 nautical miles from Papeete to Nuka Hiva, or somewhat further than Seattle to Ketchikan. About halfway to Nuka Hiva we passed by several atolls in the Tuomotos, including Takaroa atoll which has the remains of an old square rigger, “City of Roxbury” on the beach.

The weather finally turned to rain as we approached Taiohae Bay on the south side of Nuka Hiva. The bay is semi-circular and somewhat protected, except when the swells were from the southeast. There were a number of sailboats anchored in a very open roadstead and they were all rolling heavily as we were taking the tender ashore. We had booked a scenic driving tour to the Taipivai valley which was part of Herman Melvilles novels, including a look down onto the beach where “Survivor Nuka Hiva” was filmed. There is no trace of the filming left, CBS completely cleaned up the area. After driving through a coconut plantation we stopped for local fruit snacks and a chance to buy local handicrafts before returning to the ship in drenching rain. The rain pretty much eliminated any of the scenic vistas we had hoped to see.

The Marquesan's do a lot of stone carving

The local cathedral with the orginal 1800 entrance preserved

This is the last stop before San Diego. San Diego is 2837 nautical miles away and we have already travelled 6693 nautical miles for an estimated total cruise distance of 9530 nautical miles.

Moorea to Papeete

2011-10-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

We actually arrived in Papeete by 2000 and we were able to leave the ship as soon as dinner was over. The bars and clubs close to the ship were packed, but we found a table and shared some Tahitian beer with some of our cruising mates. We got back to the ship by 0030 in order to get some sleep before the 4X4 tours the next morning.

The tour was called “off the beaten track – a 4WD safari” and we headed to the Papenoo river and valley outside of Papeete where we saw waterfalls, lots of scenery and had a chance to swim in the Papenoo River before returning to the ship at 1245. The traffic, dust and smoke were all intense, with 160,000 inhabitants on the island of Tahiti and 80,000 in Papeete alone. That left us some time to walk through the central market before we had to be back on board at 1430. The ship departed at 1500 and is headed to Nuka Hive, some 768 nautical miles to the northeast, for our last port of call before returning to San Diego.

Bora Bora to Moorea

2011-10-21T01:26:00.000-07:00

Sting Ray Encounter

Feeding the sting rays

Approaching the anchorage at Moorea

Day 2 of our stay in Bora Bora consisted of shopping in Vaitape and then going to a motu for a beach break in the afternoon. This shore excursion returned to the ship just before departure giving us just time to get cleaned up before we hosted a “sail away” party in our cabin as we headed out of the anchorage to Moorea. Moorea is not far, so the ship only travelled at about 11 knots all night.

The Westerdam entered Opunohu Bay in Moorea shortly after 0600 and the tenders began running to shore before 0700. While we were anchoring we noticed a Nordhavn 55 anchored close by, and it turned out to be “Skie”. We last saw Skie in Sitka during our 2010 voyage north and knew they were somewhere in French Polynesia. We could not contact them directly, but sent a note via one of the tour guides who lives on his boat anchored nearby. In the morning we had another 4X4 Land Rover tour of the island, up steep roads, through pineapple plantations and to incredible viewpoints in the morning. In the afternoon Patrick went on a snorkeling expedition which included feeding manta rays, seeing lemon sharks and lots of fish. The texture of the skin was unbelievably soft, almost silky. The Westerdam raised anchor at 1800 and headed the short 30 nautical mile distance to Papeete, Tahiti, where we expect to dock by 2100.

Pictures when we get a faster connection

Raiatea to Bora Bora

2011-10-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

The Westerdam entered the lagoon at Bora Bora shortly after 0600. The skies cleared somewhat overnight, but the wind was still brisk. The first tenders went ashore by 0700, and Miriam and I went ashore with Craven’s at 0815 for a 4WD offroad tour of Bora Bora. There were 6 people per Land Rover and with the top covers down, we had great views of the local scenery as we climbed up steep dirt tracks to some spectacular views of the peaks on Bora Bora. We also stopped at an artist’s house where hand painted Pareau’s were made and then a black pearl farm. In the afternoon we went back into town and made reservations to eat dinner at Bloody Mary’s, a seafood restaurant about 10 KM from the ship.

There almost no pleasure craft in the lagoon. One exception is a Nordhavn 76 “Legend of Capricorn” from Brisbane, Australia. We were surprised at the number of resorts that were closed, some due to typhoon damage and some to the downturn in tourist business due to the economy. We have come to the conclusion that this is not the time of year for cruisers, if the winds and seas of the last week are any indication.

Dinner at “Bloody Mary’s” was great, with fresh caught seafood. Miriam had white albacore and Patrick had wahoo for entrees, while both of us had two versions of tuna, “big eye” sashimi and albacore kabobs. We finally got back to the ship shortly before 10 PM, with NO lines for the tenders. The tenders will run all night for the really hard core party people.

Spectacular Peaks on Bora Bora

Our 4WD transportation

The lagoon at Bora Bora

Rarotonga to Raiatea

2011-10-18T01:26:00.000-07:00

October 14, 2011

After the aborted attempt to stop at Rarotonga we headed NE to Raiatea in brisk winds and seas to 15 feet almost on the beam. Since we left early, the captain has kept the ship at only 13 knots, so there is quite a bit of roll motion even with the stabilizers. It is very windy on deck, with the apparent wind as high as 50 knots. The occasional larger seas cause the entire ship to shudder.

October 15, 2011

The seas remain the same as yesterday as we cruise at 13 knots towards Raiatea. The winds remain brisk, gusting to 35 knots true wind speed. The Westerdam, at 950 feet long, is still being moved around the ocean like a small boat. When we happened to talk to the captain at noontime, he indicated the seas were seastate 6-7, or significant wave heights to more than 20 feet. The wind across the decks is so high that most of the deck chairs on the aft pool have been lashed down to keep them from blowing away and the sliding cover over the amidships pool has been kept closed. There are salt deposits everywhere, including our furniture on the verandah, which is 8 decks above the water.

October 16, 2011

As the sun rose through the clouds we approached Raiatea from the east side and entered the reef near the town of Utorua, at the north end of the island. The brisk wind has continued but we made it through the entrance and docked at the town, where dancers greeted us. Our tour was in motorized pirogues which each held about 35 passengers. The destination of Faaroa River, the largest in Polynesia, was about 7 miles to windward, but inside the lagoon in the open boats. We immediately regretted taking the bow seats as we were completely drenched in just a few minutes. The crew finally passed out raincoats, but it was too late, we were all soaked, as well as our backpacks.

We finally arrived at the river, which was calm, and motored up perhaps one mile in the sun, looking at plants and a few birds. After a short visit we headed to Moto Inru for a beach break. The water was warmer than the air, but with the wind, we still were a little cold and welcomed the ride with the wind behind us back to the ship. After changing into dry clothes we headed back into town. Most stores were closed since it was Sunday, but a few shops were open. We walked as far as the local marina before getting souvenirs and a cold beverage at the local bar. By 3 PM the skies were totally cloudy and the wind had picked back up to 25 knots.

We left at 6 PM and headed northwest between Raiatea and Taha’a towards our destination of Bora Bora, just 47 nautical miles away where we will spend 2 days. The wind is expected to continue, so it will be interesting to see how rough the water is in the lagoon at Bora Bora.

Our Canoe trip to the Faaroa River

Moving up the river

Entering the reef at Raiatea

Tabuaeran to Rarotonga – Part 2

2011-10-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

Rarotonga from 1/2 mile offshore

October 12, 2011

We repeated October 12 as we passed back across the Date Line and are now only three hours behind Seattle, the same as Hawaii. This is another day at sea, marked by partly cloudy skies and an increasing breeze. There have been occasional rain squalls, but most miss the ship. We spent the day exercising, reading or sitting poolside under the tropical sun.

October 13, 2011

The last day at sea before Rarotonga brought more wind and increasing seas, with more of the rain squalls. At noon we were still some 330 nautical miles from Rarotonga and 1200 nautical miles from Tabuaeran. The ship is cruising at a little over 17 knots, well below the usual 21 knot cruise speed for this type of ship, and we suspect it is just fast enough to always arrive in the early morning at our destination after leaving the previous destination in early evening. The captain indicated during his noon position update that the windy conditions were expected to continue, but did not say there was a high probability of cancellation. In fact, he emphasized that there was NO tropical depression in the area.

October 14, 2011

The wind and seas continued throughout the night, with the apparent wind at 55 knots when we woke up. We suspected, and it was confirmed later by the captain, that the seas were too rough to permit using the tenders to get ashore and so the stop was cancelled. We have now travelled to 21 degrees south latitude, after starting at 48 degrees north latitude. We did cruise along the lee side of the island just outside the reef for several hours at slow speed for photos before heading back northeast towards Raiatea. Holland America has refunded the port taxes and the shore excursion cost and offered a glass of sparkling wine with dessert at dinner. However, Rarotonga was one of the primary reasons for us choosing this cruise and to travel 5300 nautical miles and do only a drive-by and get a glass of inexpensive wine is really disappointing. I suspect the cost to Holland America is substantial when a stop is missed, but this is now the second weather related port cancellation, and we are not finished, since there is only one port at which we dock for the remainder of the cruise.

Lahaina to the Equator

2011-10-12T01:23:00.000-07:00

Children Posing for pictures

Schoolgirls on the main road

Climbing for coconuts

We have limited bandwidth on board, so only a couple of pictures until we arrive in Rarotonga.

Friday, October 7, 2011

The remainder of the day in Lahaina was pleasant. We stopped for lunch at the Lahaina Yacht Club on Front Street and watched the boat traffic and surfers from the lanai. After more shopping we finally headed back to the ship about 1500. The ship began departure preparations about 1630 and by 1700 we were underway south past Lanai as the sun set. The evening entertainment was a repeat from the very first night, so we skipped that and had a leisurely dinner instead.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Overnight the wind and seas picked up a little with an 8-10 foot beam swell which rocked the ship all night. Morning rain squalls were gradually replaced by partly sunny skies, but the brisk wind made being on deck unpleasant at first. The wind and swells gradually decreased and we spent the afternoon relaxing in or around the pools under mostly sunny skies before getting ready for formal night number three. We joined Bill & Ruth Craven in the Pinnacle Grill for a special dinner finished off with Chocolate Volcano Cake.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Overnight we crossed the International Date Line (due to Kiribati wanting the who nation on the same day, even though we are not actually that close to the official date line) and lost Sunday entirely. We woke up to rain showers and 79 degrees, with visibility of less than one mile. The swells continue, now with a sizeable wind chop on top. We seem to be picking up the edges of the tropical storms headed for Mexico as we head south towards the equator. Our next stop, Tabuaeran (Fanning Island), part of the Northern Line Islands and the nation of Kiribati is tomorrow. We will be able to go ashore only if weather permits.

Tabuaeran is an atoll with a diameter of about 7 miles at the widest point and has about 2000 residents. There is no electricity or running water and no cars, but a few trucks. Most families live in a “Fale”, a house consisting of a single room with dirt floors covered with gravel. There are separate cooking and dining rooms to keep pests at bay. Lifestyle is described as shared, and ancestor worship is still practiced. The name “Tabuaeran” itself is taken from a Polynesian phrase that means hallowed footprint, probably from the shape of the atoll from the air. It is a low lying arid atoll and just barely above sea level, so is very vulnerable to the effects of global warming. The atoll has no native population, all the current residents moved here following its rediscovery by Captain Fanning in 1798.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

As the sun rose over the SE horizon we could see Tabuaeran (Fanning Island) in the distance. There was both a swell and wind chop, but the captain used the ship as a windbreak and created a lee as we stood offshore, no anchor. Miriam and I were on the first tender ashore and the passengers were all greeted by islanders singing songs, selling curios and posing for pictures (for a fee). We walked south from the landing and saw people processing seaweed, gathering coconuts, and lots of kids, including many in school. There were also lots of dogs and pigs and relatively lush vegetation. After several hours sightseeing we went back to the ship for restrooms (there are no facilities on the island) and then returned for more pictures and some swimming on the site of the former Norwegian Cruise Line beach, now fallen into disrepair. After a long day in the sun we finally left Tabuaeran at 1700, bound for Rarotonga. Tomorrow we cross the equator and will have the appropriate ceremonies to appease King Neptune and initiate some “polliwogs” on the crew that have not yet crossed the equator on a ship and received their “shellback” certificates.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Another day at sea marked by crossing the equator at 0602 in the morning. At 1000 we celebrated the crossing with the fun King Neptune ceremony around the aft pool. No passengers are allowed to participate, only watch, and the pool is then closed for cleaning out the debris from coating the polliwogs with everything from colored egg whites, syrup to dry cereal. We had rain squalls late in the afternoon and the skies turned mostly cloudy. At noon we had some 1100 nautical miles to go in order to reach the next stop, Rarotonga.

Honolulu to Lahaina

2011-10-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

The dinner cruises depart Aloha Tower

The famous King Kamehameha Statue

Iolani Palace, now a museum

Approaching the Arizona Memorial

The aft gun turret base, still smelling of oil seeping

Inside the memorial

Hawaii state capitol building

Queen Iolani statue

Departing Honolulu for Hilo

Daimond head in the background

Fireboats greeting us in Hilo

Mauna Kea from the harbor on a clear day in Hilo

After docking late at Honolulu Harbor we waited for the crowds to thin out and headed into town, looking for the post office and internet access. We found the post office just four blocks from the ship in a building across from Iolani Palace and mailed a package back to Bellevue. Walking a few more blocks brought us to the Aloha Tower which has really changed since Jetfoil Days in the 1970’s, with lots of pricey shops and a few places to eat. One of the coffee shops offered internet access when purchasing coffee, so we spent some time paying bills and updating the blog. We shared a taxi into Waikiki with Craven’s and ended up at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for lunch and Mai Tai’s. Dinner on the ship was nearly empty, with many guests sampling the BBQ on the Lido deck. We decided to pass on that.

The next morning we departed on our shore excursion to the Arizona Memorial, which included stops at Punchbowl National Cemetery, downtown, and then to Pearl Harbor. The tour of the Arizona Memorial was sobering as we reflected on the lives lost and that my Dad had survived the sinking of the battleship California on that “Day of Infamy” in 1941, nearly 70 years ago. All the accounts we had read about that day fell into place seeing the actual sites. Most of the people were respectful at the memorial. There were several Pearl Harbor Survivors signing autographs, but we did not get a chance to talk to them with the timing of the shore excursion. The new museums and film presentations were well worth the visit, but we wished we had even more time to look at them in detail. The drive back to the ship was long due to traffic jams, but included at detour though Chinatown.

The Westerdam departed Honolulu at 1700 and we headed for Hilo under sunny skies. Our entertainment this evening was a ventriloquist who had appeared on the David Letterman show and he was pretty good. The seas and wind increased overnight as we approached the Big Island of Hawaii, but the skies were clear as we headed into Hilo Harbor, docking before 0800. We were surprised to see the “Zaandam” tied up, but found that rough seas off Lahaina had forced a detour to Hilo. We are hopeful the seas will subside for our planned visit tomorrow. The top of Mauna Kea was visible until about noon, and then the skies clouded over and rain showers arrived. Taking a taxi into town, a distance of about three miles, we walked around the old town that survived the Tsunami of 1946 and went to the museum, which had been a bank before the tsunami. We watched the video presentation in the old bank vault and then headed back to the ship for lunch. The rain showers discouraged us from further forays into town.

On Friday morning we were able to get ashore quickly and are sitting in a Starbucks sipping iced coffee while we update the blog. This evening when the ship departs Lahaina we head south for French Polynesia.

At Sea between San Diego and Honolulu

2011-10-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Seas remained calm, with 10 knot winds and a low northwest swell, overcast skies. This weather pattern is expected to persist for another 24 hours and then get warmer and sunny for the last two days of the four day crossing to Honolulu. We are getting into a shipboard routine, which includes a workout and hydrotherapy session before breakfast, some seminar attendances (like a cooking demo), lunch, another workout session and then getting ready for dinner and evening entertainment. Not much stress in this routine.

By day three the skies have cleared, the wind is gentle and the sun bathers have come out of hiding, nearly every outside deck chair is taken. This evening we went with Bill & Ruth Craven to “La Cirque”, the recreation of the famous New York restaurant by the same name. The Pinnacle Grill is transformed with new decorations, dishes and uniforms to appear the same as the namesake restaurant. The menu items are supposed to be the same as the original, but in our opinion, fell a little short. Still, it was a good experience and meal, which included lobster salad, a deconstructed Caesar salad, butternut squash soup, chateaubriand and chocolate soufflé or crème brulee for dessert, along with wine pairings for each course.

Our last day at sea started out with rain squalls and mostly cloudy skies. They finally passed by and we had a sunny afternoon walking the promenade deck.

This morning we approached Honolulu and passed by Diamond Head. We will stay overnight in Honolulu and plan on visiting the Arizona Memorial tomorrow.

Passing Diamond Head

Dinner at "La Cirque"

Gathering on the verandah for evening cocktails

Looking for the "green flash" - too many clouds

San Diego Interlude

2011-10-04T15:55:00.001-07:00

The mission at the Presidio, San Diego

The first formal night was fun. We started with appetizers and wine in Bill & Ruth Craven’s cabin and then headed for the show. There were many people in attendance that ignored the “formal” night dress code, with everything from jeans to t-shirts and shorts. The show was entitled “Stars of Stage & Screen” and was a high energy dance and vocal production by the Westerdam singers and dancers. After the show we went to the Vista dining room for dinner and then the Ocean Bar for an Irish Coffee. By now the seas and wind had moderated so it was a peaceful night.

In the morning, our last sea day before San Diego, the weather started out sunny but then we ran into dense fog. We listened to the fog horn until early evening when visibility improved to 3-5 miles as the ship headed down the Santa Barbara Channel past the Channel Islands. The marine layer producing the poor visibility persisted overnight, but lifted as we docked at the “B” Street Pier in downtown San Diego. We were joined by the Statendam and the Sapphire Princess.

Miriam and I left the ship about 0900 to meet our friends, Mary, Kyle and Kathleen for a tour and lunch in La Jolla. After stopping at the Presidio and the Mount Soledad war memorial we headed into La Jolla. The fog still was present in La Jolla, so we did not get the views we expected, but we had a great lunch at “Georges” in La Jolla Cove. The sun finally broke through as we headed back to the ship, where we re-boarded a little after 1500, so we could attend the mandatory lifeboat drill at 1615. The Westerdam left at 1650 under sunny skies and headed west towards Hawaii.

At Sea Southbound from Columbia River

2011-10-04T15:54:00.001-07:00

The weather did not cooperate so the Astoria stop was cancelled and we are now spending 3 days at sea rather than the 2 days originally planned. As the day progressed, the seas did continue to build in height, but also were longer, so the ride remained about the same. Miriam and I went to lunch in the Vista dining room at the stern and the waves looked incredibly large. We then spent some more time in the exercise room and hydrotherapy suites before dinner. There were many empty tables at dinner, so service was very quick. The Captain had ordered champagne for everyone as partial payback for having to cancel the Astoria, Oregon stop. We headed to the show, which was a less than funny comedian and suspecting that might be the case we sat in the back and finally left early. We were not the only ones that did so, including people sitting down in front.

The wind continued to abate overnight, and the swells moved around to the beam, so we had a gentle rolling motion when morning arrived.

Tonight is the first formal night so we will have to get dressed up for the first time this cruise.

Tahiti Cruise Day 2-3

2011-09-26T13:53:00.001-07:00

The weather was rainy, but not cold as we disembarked in Vancouver with Bill & Ruth Craven. We grabbed a taxi and headed to Yaletown to check out “Cento Notti”, or 100 Days in Italian. We had tried this restaurant last year when it was called 100 Days, which meant that it would close and be re-invented every 100 days. This is the third re-incarnation and has been redecorated in Italian Bistro style. After checking it out we headed to a Starbucks for coffee and walked around part of Yaletown until 1100 when brunch started at “Cento Notti”. The fare was pretty standard, except for a lobster and crab eggs benedict, where the crab and lobster were made into a cake and substituted for the English muffin.

After brunch we shopped for a dress shirt for Bill Craven and then back to the ship where we departed at 1700 in rain. We were awakened at 0100 as we turned the corner at Swiftsure Bank and headed south. The winds and seas continued to increase overnight and when Miriam and I went to the observation deck at 0700 the seas were 20 feet and the winds were gusting to 67 knots. After breakfast and a workout the seas continued to build and at 1000 the captain cancelled the Astoria stop due to near hurricane force winds. The ship slowed to 9 knots as we headed into building seas and the entire ship was creaking and flexing. We went back to the 10^th level observation deck and enjoyed the ride. The winds are predicted to exceed 75 knots later today but subside around midnight. All the outside decks were closed, as well as the main pools.

Our first and hopefully last major storm at sea!

Tahiti Cruise Day 1

2011-09-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

We had ordered a Shuttle Express town car to take us to Pier 91 and the cruise ship terminal. What actually arrived was a stretch limo, which was just a little over the top. We certainly arrived in style, and in just a few minutes were through security and on-board the ship. Our cabin was ready for us when we boarded before noon, and our luggage arrived within one hour. After exploring the ship we had the mandatory lifeboat drill (life jackets are no longer required and roll call was not done) and departed from Pier 91 at 1545, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule under warm but overcast skies. We waved to our friends on “G” dock at Elliott Bay Marina as we headed up Puget Sound for the short 166 nautical mile voyage to Vancouver. We did not realize until we boarded that there were nearly 1900 passengers going for a one day “booze” cruise to Vancouver, and only about 200 passengers staying on for the full 35 days. We apparently will pick up some more passengers in Vancouver, and the rest in San Diego.

The party was on in full force even before the lifeboat drill, and the pools and hot tubs were jammed with bodies enjoying the short cruise.

Bill and Ruth Craven joined us for appetizers and drinks before dinner and we then went to the Vista Dining Room for an 8 PM seating. Following dinner, Bill was presented with a birthday cake to celebrate his birthday on departure day and we then went to the late show titled “Rockin’ Road”, which was a variety show of oldies but goldies of rock and roll. By the time the show ended, we were departing the pilot station at Port Angeles and heading for Victoria to pick up the Canadian pilot for the short trip to Vancouver.

We are not quite clear how a ship can take so long to go from Seattle to Vancouver, and apparently neither did the crew, since we arrived at the cruise terminal in Vancouver nearly 2 hours ahead of schedule. The weather was no longer sunny and warm, more like a typical fall day, rain and 50 degrees.

Cruise to Tahiti and the Marquesas

2011-09-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

With our trip to SE Alaska now complete and Spirit in the yard for maintenance and upgrades, we are getting ready to explore some potential future destinations for Spirit.

We depart Seattle on the MS Westerdam, a Holland America ship for a 35 day cruise. Our itinerary takes us to Vancouver, BC, Astoria, San Diego, several locations in the Hawaiian Islands, Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, several locations in French Polynesia and the on to Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas before returning to San Diego. We are fortunate that our son, Cameron, will be staying in our house and taking care of it while we are gone.

This cruise will be a real change from our SE Alaska cruise, someone else is navigating, cooking, cleaning and all the other tasks that filled our days this past summer. We can just concentrate on exploring the destinations and seeing if they are places we might like to go back to in either our own boat, or by chartering. We will also have several stretches with 4-5 days at sea, so we can experience open Pacific Ocean waters, in comfort!

2011 Alaska Voyage Ends

2011-08-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

August 2, 2011

After an uneventful transit of Yuculta Rapids we decided to avoid the crowds in Prideaux Haven and instead headed for Gorge Harbor on Cortes Island. The anchorage near the marina was very crowded so we found a relatively empty space near the east end of the harbor and enjoyed the sun.

August 3, 2011

We had a relaxed departure from the anchorage about 0800 under sunny skies and headed for Nanaimo Harbor, taking a route down the west side of Texada Island. Military Area "WG" was active, so we stayed close to the Vancouver Island shore as we passed Balleanas Islands. By 1720 we were docked at Nanaimo where we shared a potluck meal with the Nowie's on their Selene 58 "Rhapsody".

August 4, 2011

Slack water at Dodd Narrows was predicted for 0815, so we were underway at 0700 to make sure we were there on time. Passing through Dodd Narrows and heading down Trincomali Channel we heard to Victoria Coast Guard radio asking anyone near if they could assist a 37 foot pleasure trawler that had broken down. We could see the boat and ended up towing them about 4 miles to a safer anchorage where they hoped someone could either tow them to Vancouver or fix their transmission. The tow went well, except the trawler's tender engine scraped and dented a section of our teak caprail. The people on board, while otherwise nice enough, did not offer to pay for the repair at the time, with obviously more pressing problems on board. We will contact them later and see if they might consider helping with the cost.

The towing exercise took about two hours to complete, but even so, we docked in Ganges Marina by 1320 under sunny skies. We visited with Miriam's cousin Dean Sevold and had a dinner in town with him before returning to the boat to continue visiting.

August 5-7, 2011

Spirit departed Ganges at 0930 for the short run to Roche Harbor for the Roche Harbor Yacht Club "Colors" cruise. We were able to clear US Customs by phone with our Nexus passes and were tied up at the main guest dock by 1215 to begin the festivities with our fellow club members. The weather continued sunny and warm and we decided to stay one extra day along with many of our friends from the club and continue visiting.

August 8, 2011

We reluctantly got underway for Anacortes at 0950. The skies remained sunny in Roche Harbor but the clouds were hanging over Anacortes. However by the time we arrived the skies had cleared and at 1330 Spirit was back in the slip at Anacortes Marina, after 104 days of cruising.

Spirit travelled 2920 nautical miles this trip, We ran the main engine 412 hours and consumed a total of 2565 gallons of diesel fuel for the heater, the generator and the main engine.

We will compute some of the other statistics later, but the fishing, crabbing and prawning this season was excellent. We did discover some improvements we need to make before our trip next season.

The cruising is not quite finished this year, stay tuned for more.

Southbound from Port McNeill

2011-08-02T08:51:00.001-07:00

July 29, 2011

After docking at the Port McNeill Fuel Dock Marina Patrick hunted for spare parts (none found) and Miriam did the final shopping for provisions before Spirit heads back into the USA on August 5, 2011. That evening we had dinner with Ray and Sue Biggs at the “Sportsman Steakhouse” in Port McNeill after appetizers on “Seventh Wave”.

July 30, 2011

This morning we said goodbye to Ray and Sue Biggs onboard ”Seventh Wave” and headed out from Port McNeill in heavy rain and occasional fog, never having more than 2 miles of visibility, and most of the time just one mile.

The rain and fog meant the seas were calm, but the promised push from the flood tide never really materialized. We passed Alert Bay and headed east into Johnstone Strait, where we had to dodge a few gillnetters before turning into Port Harvey, our destination for the evening. We arrived about 1335 and docked in heavy rain. Port Harvey was full for the evening, so we were glad we had made a reservation, since they had to turn one boat away.

We had dinner in their pub style restaurant (they have added a few items to the menu, such as steak and fries and the food was good) and reconnected with several other boats we had met over the past two weeks. We highly recommend stopping here!

July 31, 2011

The rain had stopped overnight and in the morning we had complimentary Starbucks coffee on the barge, and purchased some freshly baked turnovers and sausage rolls for breakfast. The tides are large this time of month, so we left at 0835 to minimize the effects of the currents in Johnstone Strait and in Cordero Channel as we headed to Cordero Lodge for the evening. We arrived at 1400 after dealing with 3 knot adverse currents and 6 knot favorable currents at various places along the way. The skies continued to clear and we docked under partly sunny skies.

There were rumors that Cordero Lodge would be closed this season, but it is open for both moorage and meals. We are looking forward to Beef Rouladen for dinner.

The rouladen was good as expected and we had a great evening with the three other vessels at Cordero Lodge.

August 1, 2011

The sunny skies persisted and we left Cordero Lodge at 1000 to arrive at Dent Rapids at slack water, which occurred at 1200. Dent Island Lodge is only about one mile from the rapids, so by 1215 we were docked. By evening, the docks were completely full. We had made reservations at the Rapids Grill, which is a covered, but open air pavilion alongside little Dent Rapids that we had first experienced last year. Rather than the traditional 5 course meal in the main dining room, the Rapids Grill offers a tapas style menu (small plates) cooked in front of 12 guests that sit at a high counter in very comfortable high chairs. There are also a couple of tables for overflow, but a maximum of 20 people. This evening there were 16 people.

Our menu included chilled gazpacho soup, grilled avocado with Dungeness crab, BC spot prawns sautéed in gin, butter and garlic, a duck confit risotto, grilled tenderloin and a dessert of chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries.

We have now travelled 638 nautical miles since leaving Ketchikan on July 12. We have about 200 nautical miles to go before we return to Anacortes.

August 2, 2011

We leave at noon to hit the low slack tide in Gillard Passage and Yuculta Rapids. We will stop someplace in Desolation Sound before heading to Ganges on Saltspring Island to visit Miriam’s cousin Dean Sevold. We will not have internet until we get to Ganges, but hopefully we will have phone service most of the time.

We expect to re-enter the US on Friday, August 5.

More Broughton Archipelago Photos

2011-07-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Dinner in Sutherland Bay

On the flybridge of Seventh Wave

Linda Collier's Paella

The Raft Up!

All 13 people fit on the flybridge of Seventh Wave

Eagles nest in Acteon Sound

Allyson reading a Cajun fairy tale after the Cajun Dinner

Jennis Bay Marina

The Roche Harbor Yacht Club member (less Patrick)

at Jennis Bay

The Jennis Bay staff as the blessing on the food is asked.

The view entering Turnbull Covre

Turnbull Cove

Shawl Bay Marina

The shelter where pancakes are served in the morning.

Departing Shawl Bay under sunny skies

Broughton Archipelago Interlude

2011-07-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

On the Move Cruise North

July 23, 2011

We departed Port McNeill and headed for the Broughton’s, destination unknown.

After several hours regretting our choice of directions around Malcom Island, we motored up Fife Sound and ended up in Shawl Bay, a delightful destination. We were sandwiched in at the dock, but met several other boats we had seen in previous years. After appetizers on the dock, we returned to the boat for a baked chicken dinner.

July 24, 2011

Shawl Bay serves pancakes on the dock every morning and under overcast but dry skies we enjoyed both the pancakes and the camaraderie on the dock. After breakfast we cast off the lines at 1030 and by 1250 we were anchored in Turnbull Cove under now sunny skies. The cove is very quiet and none of the 7 boats made any noise. Patrick put out the prawn pots, but only got about one dozen before taking the pots in for the evening.

July 25, 2011

We departed Turnbull Cove at 0930 and headed for Drury Inlet and Jennis Bay, hoping for dock space for the Cajun Feed the next night. We could see Sea Jay on AIS and found out Jim Matheson had managed to finagle reservations for both of us. We had timed our arrival at Stuart Narrows for slack water and after idling around outside of Jennis Bay waiting for dock space to open up finally rafted alongside Sea Jay under sunny skies.

The prawn pots were placed and then we participated in potluck appetizers on the dock followed by singing with Allyson Major Allo, who runs Jennis Bay but is leaving the end of the week for a new life in Wyoming.

July 26, 2011

We had moderate success with the prawn pots and awaited the arrival of four more Roche Harbor Yacht Club vessels, “Crescendo”, “Seventh Wave”, “Reflections” and “Mirage”. We decided we could be the “On The Move Cruise North” similar to the informal club cruise taking place this next week in the San Juan Islands.

Tuesday was “Cajun Night”, with gumbo, dirty rice, and dessert supplied by Jennis Bay and all the side dishes supplied by the visiting vessels. This is a popular event and there were seven boats anchored in the bay as well as the double and triple rafted boats at the dock. The evening concluded with movies on “Reflections”, watching an episode of “Pillars of the Earth”.

An evening check of the prawn pots added several dozen more to the larder. Patrick also placed two crab pots out in the evening.

July 27, 2011

The morning check of the pots brought more prawns and 8 nice Dungeness crabs, which were shared with Mathesons. We decided to stay in Drury Inlet and the whole RHYC flotilla headed to Sutherland Bay where all 6 boats rafted together with stern ties to shore. Crab and prawn pots were placed and an evening check of the prawn pots yielded 3 dozen more nice spot prawns.

Dinner was potluck in the sun on the flybridge of “Seventh Wave”, Ray and Sue Biggs. Linda Collier on “Reflections” produced a delicious paella which we all shared. Popcorn and another episode of “Pillars of the Earth” rounded out the evening.

July 28, 2011

The rain returned overnight, but it is calm. The prawn pots continued to produce small quantities, with another three dozen today. With the rain continuing and slack water at Stuart Narrows very early in the morning we all decided to go to Claydon Bay, outside the narrows before moving to our respective destinations. By 1830 we were again anchored, rafted together and stern tied to trees on the shore. The bay was full of commercial crab pots, but our pots came up empty. Dinner was spaghetti, salad and freshly baked garlic bread on “Mirage”. Stewarts and Driscolls cooked the meal and the brad was baked on “Reflections. We watched episode five of “Pillars of the Earth” on “Sea Jay”, with “Spirit” supplying the popcorn.

July 29, 2011

The sun returned this morning as we said our goodbyes and left the other RHYC vessels to head back to Port McNeill for supplies before heading south. By 1300 we were tied to the dock, having now travelled 550 nautical miles since leaving Ketchikan.

More pictures when we have a faster internet connection.

Ocean Falls to Shawl Bay

2011-07-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

July 20, 2011

The rain continued overnight with winds to 34 knots as we stayed safely at the dock in Ocean Falls. The rain was heavy and we now know why the local residents call themselves the “Rain People”. We checked the prawn and crab pots before the wind really increased, and had moderate luck in the prawn pots. It was movie night on Sea Jay, but I doubt any of us can even remember the title.

July 21, 2011

The rain decreased overnight and the wind also subsided, so Patrick pulled the prawn pots, which had nearly 4 dozen nice prawns. We decided to head out, with Duncanby Landing in Rivers Inlet as our goal. The weather cooperated, and by 1715, after going down Fisher Channel into Fitzhugh Sound and then across Rivers Inlet to Duncanby Landing, we were tied to the dock and ready for someone else to cook dinner. We joined Jim and Cheryl for a good dinner at the resort.

July 22, 2011

This morning Patrick got up to hear the 4:00 AM weather broadcast and it looked favorable, so at 0600 we departed and headed out Rivers Inlet and past Cape Caution in 3-5 foot swells with no wind. The wave direction gradually moved to our starboard quarter as we headed past Egg Island and then to Pine Island, where the waves were directly astern. The skies were clearing and the temperature was increasing so we could finally put on shorts. By 1435 we were docked in Port McNeill, having travelled 429 nautical miles since Ketchikan. We celebrated Cheryl’s birthday with a dinner at a local restaurant and then cake and ice cream on board Spirit. Miriam baked the cake underway and the wave action did not seem to affect it at all.

July 23, 2011

Under overcast, but dry skies we departed Port McNeill at 1035, taking a scenic tour of part of the Broughton Archipelago. With no destination in mind, we ended up in Shawl Bay, where we docked at 1515 under mostly sunny skies. There is an evening potluck social on the dock, with appetizers and your own beverages. Another RHYC vessel, “Gold Duster” was there also. Shawl Bay has internet, but no phone service and the internet has limited bandwidth, so no pictures. July 14, 2011

Jim and Cheryl Celebrate Cheryl's Birthday!

Random Pictures enroute Ocean Falls

2011-07-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

The rain returned with a vengeance today in Ocean Falls, so we had time to download some pictures as we wait for better weather before moving on.

The mermaid greeting visiting boaters at Ocean Falls

Sea Jay passing Boat Bluff lighthouse, Sarah Passage

Sea Jay in the fog at Khutze Inlet

The waterfall in Khutze Inlet

Butedale, Princess Royal Channel continues to deteriorate

A good haul of crabs in Khutze Inlet

Appetizers of crab and prawns in Khutze Inlet

Nordic 42 "Noeta"in front of Verney Falls, Lowe Inlet

Patrickchecking out the falls for salmon, none found

Our route from Shearwater to Ocean Falls via Gunboat Passage

Prince Rupert to Ocean Falls

2011-07-19T13:47:00.001-07:00

July 14, 2011

As predicted, the rain settled in as we waited for Matheson’s to arrive. We moved from our original slip to make room for all the boats predicted to arrive, and by 4PM when Jim and Cheryl arrived, the place was full. We had made dinner reservations for the Cow Bay Café and were joined by Jim and Christie Caldwell from “Noeta”, the Nordic Tug 42 that rafted to us in Meyers Chuck. A good time was had by all!

July 15, 2011

The rain continued overnight, heavy at times, along with fog, but we left Prince Rupert at 0838 and had an uneventful (boring) trip down Grenville Channel to Nettle Basin in Lowe Inlet, arriving at 1630. We anchored in the outflow from the falls and set one prawn trap. We had hoped the Coho salmon were in, but we were a week or two early, so no luck fishing. By 8PM there were three more boats in the basin.

A check of the prawn pot yielded just 40 prawns.

July 16, 2011

The rain stopped overnight and after checking the prawn pot (only 30 more) we pulled the anchor shortly before 9 AM and headed for Khutze Inlet, on Princess Royal Channel. The weather continued to improve and we were able to finally put on shorts and short sleeved shirts. By 4PM we were anchored in front of the falls in Khutze Inlet and shortly thereafter the crab pots were in the water. We really enjoyed the sunny weather.

July 17, 2011

The sunny weather did not last, with heavy rain waking us up during the night and fog in the morning. However, the crab pots were full, giving us our limit with enough left over for Jim and Cheryl. We gathered for a breakfast of Biscuits and Gravy on Spirit and spent the rest of the day at anchor, going for a trip up the Khutze River later in the afternoon at high tide. We were only able to get about ½ mile up before we ran out of water for the tender.

Dinner was crab cocktails, fresh prawns and burgers with potato salad on Spirit followed by a movie “It’s Complicated”.

July 18, 2011

The fog had returned to Khutze Inlet, but initially not heavy. Our goal was to arrive at Shearwater, a run of over 70 miles, so we left shortly before 8AM and ran into dense fog in Princess Royal Channel. We navigated by radar and hugged the Princess Royal Island shore for about 2 hours when the fog cleared and we had a sunny day as we headed down Finlayson Channel, out into Milbanke Sound and back into Seaforth Channel to Shearwater where anchored shortly before 5 PM.

Dinner was pizza at Shearwater. We have now travelled 276 nautical miles since leaving Ketchikan, for a total of 2377 nautical miles so far this trip.

July 19, 2011

The sunny skies have disappeared and we are back to rain and fog as we pulled the anchor and headed into Gunboat Passage and north into Cousins Inlet where the abandoned town of Ocean Falls is slowly deteriorating in the shadow of the dam holding back Link Lake. The mill closed in 1980, but the power plant is still operational and there is a hatchery below the dam and powerhouse. The docks are fairly new, there is power and internet, just no cell phone service. There is a small community called Martin River about 1 mile away, which sometimes has a store that is open. The post office at Ocean Falls is also still open.

We hope to catch more crab, prawns and perhaps fish for the next several days here, since the weather is predicted to stay cloudy and rainy.

Dixon Entrance Southbound

2011-07-13T23:06:00.001-07:00

Our route from Foggy Bay to Prince Rupert, who was he anyway??

The Cow Bay Cafe

Fkying Kiwi Savignon Blanc

The entrance into Foggy Bay

Our last view of Ketchikan and the cruise ships

Leaving Ketchikan for the last time in 2011, under sunny skies, we headed for the fuel dock and added 300 gallons of fuel. We don't really need it, but want the extra margin in case we decide to do some additional cruising in British Columbia. After fueling, we headed down Revillagigedo Channel into Foggy Bay. We were the only boat there and after anchoring we sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed the unusually warm weather.

Monitoring the Central Dixon Entrance buoy on our satellite weather system, we knew we might have a somewhat rough crossing the next morning, so we got up at 0345 and began the preparations for leaving. The 0400 weather report sounded acceptable, seas to 5 feet, so we left at 0412 under clear skies. There were dozens of gill netters along the coast as we headed across Dixon Entrance, but most were north of us by the time we arrived at Cape Fox. The wind increased to 25 knots from the southeast, not the forecasted direction, the visibility decreased to 1 mile, and the seas became lumpy and confused with a 4 foot wind chop from one direction (SE) and a 6 foot swell from another (SW).

After three hours, we were finally in the lee of Dundas Island, and the swell abated, as well as the wind, now only 15 knots, with visibility now increased to 5 miles. We dodged sport fishing boats, and the gill netters as we entered Venn Passage for the final run into Prince Rupert. We were fortunate to have a slip at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club, but it was on the outside of the breakwater and the motions were pretty violent at times from all the traffic in the harbor..

After clearing Canadian Customs, we resupplied at the local Safeway and then had a great dinner at the Cow Bay Café, trying both the halibut and the rack of lamb, along with some "Flying Kiwi" sauvignon blanc from New Zealand. One of our cruise ship friends/chefs living in Texas goes by the name "The Flying Kiwi", so it was fun to try the wine. The weather was predicted to deteriorate, and it did, with light rain and fog by the time we were finished with dinner.

We are waiting for Matheson's to cross Dixon Entrance, hopefully in the AM.

Farewell to Alaska 2011

2011-07-12T08:33:00.001-07:00

July 11, 2011

Today was another unusual sunny and warm day in Ketchikan as we prepare to leave Alaska for British Columbia, completing our time in SE Alaska in 2011. We did not go downtown, leaving that area to the passengers from the four cruise ships that were here today. We have been in SE Alaska for nearly two months and have explored new harbors, fished new places and visited familiar spots. The weather has fluctuated from sunny to torrential rain, but unlike 2010, no high winds. Also unlike 2010 we have become somewhat more expert in catching fish, crabs and prawns, so much so that we shipped most of the catch back from Sitka.

We reconnected with Matheson's on Sea Jay this evening as they completed their circuit of the Behm Canal. The prawns they caught were huge!! After Matheson's were settled in their slip we gathered on Spirit for a spot prawn feed, moving on to Annabelles's in Ketchikan for a final dinner before heading towards Dixon Entrance in the morning.

We will make the 86 mile trip in two days, stopping at Foggy Bay (in the USA) tomorrow before heading out across the open water of Dixon Entrance early on Wednesday morning. The weather report is favorable and with luck we should be in Prince Rupert by 1:00 PM local time as we lose one hour crossing back into Canada and Pacific Daylight Time.

Our path south is subject to change and weather, but we should be across Cape Caution within one week and then have further updates to our adventures. The area of the North BC coast is nearly devoid of cell phone coverage until we get to Shearwater.

Wrangell to Ketchikan Southbound

2011-07-10T22:55:00.001-07:00

We thought a little map would add some context to the trip

Sunset in Bar Harbo, Kdetchikan

Eagle in Wrangell Heritage Harbor

Yard Art in Meyers Chuck

Logging competition in Wrangell on July 4

July 2, 2011

After getting up early to go to the post office, in the rain, Patrick arrived to find that it would not be open until Tuesday, July 5, even though the posted hours were 10:00 AM to 12:00 on Saturday. A USPS employee was there but declined to look for our mail. Later that day Patrick helped Brad Downey, the owner of "Moonstar", a Selene 62 that had been towed in the day before with an electronic engine control failure. Everyone thought the problem had been found, a bad electrical connection, so Moonstar got underway, but the controls failed again while just outside the harbor. Several of us got into our tenders and helped Moonstar into the dock at Heritage Harbor. Troubleshooting continued and everyone finally decided the control computer had a fault that could not be fixed in Wrangell.

Matheson's and Gill's went to the Stikine Inn for an excellent dinner, with servings large enough for several meals. We would hate to meet the cow the prime rib was cut from, it was probably related to a mammoth!

July 3, 2011

The rain continued all day as we visited on the docks with the other vessels gathering for the July 4^th celebrations. Patrick helped Brad Downey on Moonstar install the backup throttle from Cummins on his engine. Brad is going to install a manual transmission control on Tuesday so they can continue cruising.

Matheson's and Gill's shared prawn appetizers on Spirit that evening, followed by a halibut dinner and movies. We have several more movies to add to the "do not watch a second time" list.
July 4, 2011

We missed the parade due to a late brunch on Spirit; it was raining pretty hard, but we called a taxi and went into town for the logging competition which included log rolling in Zimovia Strait. The town had all kinds of booths and street games for kids and adults, as well as a beer garden at the Elks Club. After appetizers with Matheson's and Downey's on Moonstar, we went back to the Stikine Inn that evening for a late dinner and watched the fireworks from the terrace of the inn. We missed the live band and street dance, voting for dinner inside instead. The fireworks display was pretty good and they were launching them from only about 200 yards away.

July 5, 2011

Patrick was at the post office when they opened, but only two of the three packages were there. The final package was due in by 3:00 PM that afternoon. The first package contained a new Mastervolt battery isolator, which we were able to install by noon. The last package, a new autopilot hydraulic pump, arrived as promised, and by 5:30 PM it was installed and checked out.
Matheson's left to begin a visit to the Behm Canal, we will meet them in Ketchikan in about one week.

Dinner was leftovers from the Stikine Inn dinner the night before.

July 6, 2011

We offered to escort Moonstar as far as the entrance to Wrangell Narrows, which meant that we wanted to leave Wrangell between 12:30 and 1:00 PM so that we would arrive at the south entrance about 2 hours before high slack water, the best time. As soon as we got underway we checked out the operation of the new autopilot pump and then followed Moonstar 20 nautical miles to the south entrance to Wrangell Narrows, where we turned off and headed for St. Johns Harbor on Zarembo Island. There were heavy rain squalls as we approached and we could see seven boats already in the harbor, some still racing to find a place to anchor, so we did a 180 degree turn and headed for Roosevelt Harbor on the east side of Zarembo Island, on Stikine Strait. We were the only boat for a while, enjoying the milky green calm water. Later that evening, a sailboat and two gill netters came in, the sailboat anchored and the two gill netters tied to the small public dock.

We also received a phone call from Brad Downey on Moonstar that the technician in Petersburg DID find a broken and corroded ground wire on the controls which was repaired and which fixed the whole problem. A valuable lesson to keep looking and also the problem with high tech meters that indicate good circuits when, in fact, there is a bad connection, due to the low loading the meters place on the circuit!

Overnight we were awakened by the now familiar sound of torrential rain pounding down, but no wind.

July 7, 2011

By the time we got up, the fishing boats were already gone and presumably setting their nets somewhere. At 0800 we pulled the anchor and headed south in Stikine Strait, turning east into Chicagof Pass and then south into Zimovia Strait. After an uneventful transit of Zimovia Strait, which has some interesting twists and turns, we crossed Ernest Sound, down Seward Passage and anchored in Santa Anna Inlet at 1203. After settling in at anchor we launched the tender and set two prawn pots at the entrance to the inlet where we had done well almost two months ago. By 1430 there were three boats anchored in the inlet, which can hold many more.

By 2000 (8 PM) the prawn pots yielded 5 dozen nice spot prawns, which we cooked and cooled as we fixed some of our Coho salmon for dinner, with the last of our fresh asparagus.

July 8, 2011

We awakened to partly sunny skies and a check of the prawn pots showed 8 dozen more nice prawns. We put the tender back on deck and headed for Meyers Chuck at 1020. There was almost no wind as we headed down Ernest Sound and turned the corner south into Clarence Strait and then a quick left turn into Meyers Chuck, where we were lucky to get the last space at the dock. A few hours later, we had a Nordic Tug 42 "Noeta", Jim and Christie Caldwell rafted alongside. By early evening there were boats rafted all over, as well as 4 at anchor.

We ordered sticky buns from Cassie, the postmistress and purchased a beautiful redwood bowl from the small arts and crafts gallery. Dinner was a Dungeness crab and pasta dish as we try and eat up the largess from Alaska before entering British Columbia.

July 9, 2011

Cassie delivered the sticky buns, still warm, at 0700, and by 0810, boats were departing Meyers Chuck, so we followed suit and headed south in Clarence Strait for Tongass Narrows and Ketchikan. As we were entering Tongass Narrows we passed Jim and Jenna Rard on Ruby Slippers, a Jeanneau 49 which they have taken to New Zealand and Australia and return. Jim is leaded a flotilla of 9 Jeanneau's to Alaska this year and they were just leaving Ketchikan with Sitka as their eventual destination.

We were assigned a slip in Bar Harbor and were docked by 1230, in time for salmon sandwiches. We found out the weather was so bad on July 4 that the fireworks were delayed until this evening, so we are looking forward to seeing another display. The display started at 11 PM and lasted for 20 minutes. We had a clear view from the bow of Spirit, although the fireworks were about 2 miles away.

July 10, 2011

We awoke to partly sunny skies. We have some shopping/reprovisioning and maintenance to perform before we head south across Dixon Entrance and back into British Columbia. It is nice to finally be able to put the raingear away. This is the first day in six weeks that we have been able to wear t-shirts and shorts.

Patrick changed the oil on the main engine (7 gallons) and repaired the downrigger mount on the tender while Miriam went shopping in Ketchikan. We managed to get dinner reservations at the Bar Harbor Restaurant, where we enjoyed seared scallops, rack of lamb and prime rib, followed by crème brulee and coffee. We now have enough leftovers to last for at least three days!

At 10 PM, we are still in short sleeved shirts enjoying the sunset over Tongass Narrows.

Fire works over Wrangell

Fishing Time Pictures 1

2011-07-02T01:07:00.001-07:00

Mount Edgecumbe on a rare clear day

Our anchorage in Kalinin Bay

A pod of orca interrupted our fishing

But the orca are spectacular!

Retrieving the crab pots in Saook Bay

Eagles feeding on the beach in Ell Cove

One of the purse seiners joining us in Ell Cove

Another Purse Seiner pulling a load of salmon aboard

Appetizers in Spirit in Warm Springs Bay

The rafting purse seiners in Warm Springs Bay

Don't Drink the Water!

But it is OK to go for a dip!

The hike to the hot pools at Warm Springs Bay is primitive!

Posing for a picture at Baranof Lake after dipping into the hot springs

Baranof Lake could be in the Cascade Wilderness

The fleet gathered in Warm Springs Bay

on Baranof Island

Fishing

2011-07-01T22:21:00.001-07:00

June 21, 2011

We left Sitka at 0930 and decided to go up the outside of Kruzof Island, so we headed directly out Sitka Sound and joined the many charter boats fishing about 3 miles west of Cape Edgecumbe. By 3 PM we had lost 4 Coho salmon, but kept 3 other Coho along with one sea bass. We knew we had quite a distance to go to meet Matheson's at Kalinin Bay, some 25 nautical miles from Cape Edgecumbe, so reluctantly headed north up the outside of Kruzof Island, noting where all the charter boats were fishing as we went. By 1800 we were rafted to Sea Jay in Kalinin Bay in a now familiar downpour.

Total distance travelled today was 49.3 nautical miles.

June 22, 2011

Today we decided to fish and then return to Sitka to leave our fish with Big Blue Seafoods for shipment home later in the summer, avoiding problems with conflicting rules on fish packaging and transport in Canada. We departed Kalinin Bay at 0630 and headed down the outside of Kruzof Island to catch the slack tide at Cape Edgecumbe and try to repeat our previous day's performance. We stopped in the "shark hole" shortly after departing Kalinin Bay and landed a 15 pound King Salmon. As we retraced our path down the outside, in a moderate southwest swell, we stopped and trolled at several places where the charter boats were congregated, but did not have any luck until we arrived at the pack off of Cape Edgecumbe. We almost immediately had bites and landed 4 more Coho salmon, averaging 5-7 pounds. We stopped fishing and cleaned our catch before heading back into Sitka for a "touch and go" to drop off the catch from the last two days at Big Blue. By 1555 we were underway once again, leaving Sitka for the last time this season, and by 1900 were once again rafted in Kalinin Bay.

We covered 72 nautical miles today.

June 23, 2011

We were underway by 0700 for more fishing and Sea Jay departed for Rodman Bay and other destinations along the east coast of Baranof Island. We will catch up with them in a few days. Fishing was not as good, and we caught only 2 Coho before anchoring in Kalinin Bay at 0945. The wind came up in the afternoon and we decided to cancel the afternoon fishing from the tender after nosing out into the entrance and finding 3 foot swells and 2 foot wind chop, too much for a 12 foot inflatable.

Miriam baked a cake and we invited Jackie and Layne Asplund on "Lady J" and Pat and Norm Wade on "Another Dance" over for dessert. Until late that evening, we were the only three boats in the bay. About 8 PM, there was a broadcast from the USCG about a tsunami warning for SE Alaska, due to arrive about 2245 in the evening. We all made preparations for getting out of very shallow Kalinin Bay into deep water before arrival time, but by 9 PM the warning was cancelled and we all relaxed and had more dessert.

This was one of the shortest distances travelled, only 8.1 nautical miles.

June 24, 2011

Another early departure to fish, pulling the anchor at 0650, and we departed Kalinin Bay for the last time this season. The weather was still windy and the swells were now 5-6 feet in the "shark hole" which made for a very uncomfortable ride at trolling speeds, especially on the turns where we were broadside and rolling. Even with the less than perfect weather we landed 2 more Coho salmon and then headed to Kakul Narrows to try for halibut. The swells and wind prevented us from holding position, so we quit and explored Schulze Cove in Fish Bay while waiting for slack water at Sergius Narrows. While waiting, we cleaned our fish. After an uneventful transit of Sergius Narrows, we headed east in Peril Strait, poking the bow of Spirit into Rodman Bay to see if Sea Jay was there. They were not there, so we continued on to Saook Bay, which we did not like earlier in the year, but with the wind now from the south, it was still as a pond. We anchored in 100 feet of water at the head of the bay and put out our crab pots near the line of commercial pots. By 9 PM we had 3 crabs in the pots and were fleeing from the no-see-ums which were thick in the windless evening. Dinner was seafood chowder, using up some of the rockfish and salmon we had caught, as well as some prawns.

Spirit travelled 51.6 nautical miles today, including fishing.

June 25, 2011

Saook Bay was still a millpond in the morning when we checked the crab pots and kept the six largest crabs (our limit). We pulled the anchor at 0800 and continued down Peril Strait turning south in Chatham Strait, still looking for Sea Jay. We spotted their AIS signal at a distance of 10 miles, anchored in Ell Cove. The purse seiners were gathering in the same area for a 0500 opening the next morning, so we rafted next to Sea Jay in Ell Cove while Jim and Cheryl were out fishing in their tender. We put out prawn pots in the hope we would find some prawns.

Later in the day, Asplund's in Lady J arrived and we had a three boat raft up. After having some of Patrick's hot crab and artichoke dip, a check of the prawn pots showed a small yield of three dozen nice spot prawns. Dinner was fresh sea bass, rice and salad on Sea Jay, followed by some more of Miriam's chocolate cake.

Even later in the day, more purse seiners arrived in Ell Cove, getting some rest before the 0500 start of the 15 hour fishery. This tiny cove now has seven boats anchored, but the wind is so calm we are all sitting motionless as the sun sets. We do not even have a lot of bugs this evening.

Our distance travelled for the day was relatively short; we only covered 28.7 nautical miles, for a grand total of 1763 nautical miles.

June 26, 2011

The purse seine fishery started at 0500, and the seiners anchored in Ell Cove began leaving at 0230 in order to get into position for the start. Patrick headed out in the tender at 0330 to pull the pots in case they were in the area where nets would be set. There were only 18 prawns.

We broke up the raft at 0825 under partly sunny skies and headed for Warm Springs Bay and the small community of Baranof. We managed to find a spot at the dock and by 1000 were tied up. Later Sea Jay rafted to us as the docks began to fill with the purse seiners coming in from the short fishery. By late afternoon the seiners were rafted four deep at the dock.

We fished for halibut in the evening, but no luck.

June 27, 2011

Today was a fishing day, from Lady J's 17 foot Arima tender. Before fishing we hiked up to Baranof Lake and Patrick took a brief soak in the upper hot springs. Fishing was spotty, with Matheson's getting 2 halibut from their tender and the three of us on Lady J's tender getting 1 halibut, three quillbacks, 2 sea bass and 1 pacific cod.

The evening on the dock was pretty noisy with all the seiners partying. We gathered on Spirit with Matheson's and Asplund's for appetizers of Dungeness crab and spot prawns and then each of us had dinner on our own vessels.

June 28, 2011

Spirit and Sea Jay got underway at 0915, in the rain. Our destination was Patterson Bay where we anchored at 1515, after setting our prawn pots. We had a repeat of autopilot failures today, blowing fuses several times. We suspect the electric pump on the hydraulic steering is failing.

Several hours later, the wind picked up and our anchor was not holding, so we reset it in a different location. We also set wind speed and depth alarms in addition to anchor alarms to alert us if the weather conditions continued to deteriorate. An evening check of the prawn pots gave us 7 dozen nice sized spot prawns. The alarms never went off, except that the cliffs were steep enough that the GPS could not always see the satellites for a position fix, which set off another alarm.

June 29, 2011

The weather overnight stayed reasonable, and a morning check of the prawn pots produced almost 9 dozen prawns. We pulled the anchor at 0950 in light winds but heavy rain and headed for Red Bluff Bay where we anchored at 1335, making sure we had a good set on the anchor. We set the prawn pots, and an evening check produced a few, but Sea Jay's pots had a lot. We gathered on Sea Jay for prawn appetizers, which turned into dinner.

June 30, 2011

We pulled the anchor at 0730 and stopped to pull our prawn pots on the way out of Red Bluff Bay. There was not a huge amount, but 3 dozen nice prawns. We headed out across Chatham Strait, with Petersburg as our destination, a distance of about 70 nautical miles. The wind had been blowing for some time in Chatham, and the seas were on the beam, running 5-6 feet, with winds of 20 knots. It was not a pleasant crossing for about 1 hour until we got into the lee of Kuiu Island. The seas built once again as we continued up Frederick Sound past the entrance to Keku Strait and then became flat as we headed by Portage Bay and on into Petersburg. By 1645 we were docked in heavy rain.

We headed (almost waded) up into town and met Miriam's friend, Marge Oines at the only Mexican restaurant in town for burritos. After a pretty bland meal which needed lots of salsa and hot sauce we returned to the boat and visited with Marge.

We have now covered 1922 nautical miles as we head for Wrangell to pick up mail and spare parts to repair both the autopilot and battery charging system on Spirit.

The rain continued overnight, heavy at times.

July 1, 2011

The rain continues and is predicted to last into next week. After a walk up into town for last minute supplies we left Petersburg at noon for the run down Wrangell Narrows and east in Sumner Strait to Wrangell. The wind was predicted to be 25 knots, but we saw gusts to 32 knots as we headed south from Petersburg. Exiting Wrangell Narrows we now had 25 knots of wind on the bow and an ebb tide as we travelled the last 20 miles into Wrangell.

The windshield wipers are getting a workout!

The wind and current continued to oppose us as we headed into Heritage Harbor where we discovered three more Selene's, Peregrine, Raindancer and Sojourn. The harbor was calm and docking was easy with lots of people on the dock to get our lines and help us in. There is also another Selene in Reliance Harbor, one mile north named Moonstar.

After a mini-homecoming on the dock, we had spot prawn fettuccini and asparagus for dinner as we watched the fishing boats return and the rain squalls pass by us.

Later in the evening we were joined by the crew of "Misha", who know John Duvall, our guest last year from Ketchikan to Anacortes. We spent several hours and several bottles of wine exchanging information on the best places to stop and fish between Wrangell and Sitka.

Our log now shows 1961 nautical miles.

Sitka Interlude

2011-06-21T07:48:00.001-07:00

June 16, 2011

After arriving in Sitka, we spent two days re-provisioning and cleaning and then went to Kalinin Bay on Kruzof Island to check out the fishing. Miriam and I took Spirit out into the ocean outside of Salisbury Sound and managed to catch one King salmon and 5 Coho salmon before entering Kalinin Bay and rafting to Sea Jay.

June 17, 2011

Today was a fishing day, in the morning from Sea Jay's tender and in the afternoon from Spirit. We landed one King and four Coho salmon before returning and celebrating Jim Matheson's birthday.

June 18, 2011

Today was also a fishing day, spending the morning on Spirit looking for salmon, but only finding one Coho. A pod of Orca went through the fishing fleet and after that incident, the fish disappeared. We returned to Sitka in the afternoon and had a dinner at the Channel Club with.

June 19, 2011

Miriam and I spent Father's Day deep cleaning Spirit and getting off the fish scales and other debris from fishing. Ron and Bonnie Zuckerman from the Selene 48 "Z-Worthy" joined us for a BBQ dinner in the evening.

June 20, 2011

We tried fishing in the morning, but the wind came up and the seas were too rough to go fishing in the tenders. In the evening we attended a "Winemaker's Dinner" at the Westmark Hotel, to introduce the new chef at the hotel and also Rodney Strong Wines. The winemaker, Rick Sayre gave a very interesting talk about the wines and the food as the evening progressed.

At 12 PM this evening, near the longest day of the year, the sky is still light to the west!

June 21, 2011

Today we leave Sitka, perhaps for the last time this season and head back to Kalinin Bay where we will fish for one or two days before heading north around Chicagof Island and then down to Wrangell via Petersburg. We will only have intermittent cell phone service and no internet until we get to Petersburg.

We have now travelled over 1550 nautical miles.

Around Baranof Island Pictures

2011-06-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

How to ruin your whole day

Island in Cameron Pass, west coast Baranof

Rock formations in Biorka Sound

Entrance to Dorothy Narrows

Another view of the grounded fishing boat.

Entering the North Pacific via Cameron Pass

The rock formations here are devoid of vegetation due to storms

Windswept tree in Still Harbor

Still Harbor in the evening

The sun setting in Still Harbor

Aptly named Sea Lion Rocks, west coast Baranof Island

Wooden Island, south tip of Baranof Island, Cape Ommaney

Small King salmon, east coast Baranof Island

Spirit anchored in Patterson Inlet, Baranof Island

Another stunning vista in Patterson Inlet

Waterfall in Warm Springs Bay, low tide

Failed B&B, snow loads in the winter

The small halibut from Saook Bay

Around Baranof Island in Five Days

2011-06-14T16:19:00.001-07:00

June 10, 2011

Under partly sunny skies we cast off the mooring lines at 0810 AM and headed out the north breakwater entrance to exit Sitka via the Western Channel. As we headed out into Sitka Sound, the northwest swell increased to 3-4 feet, but with no wind, it was just a smooth up and down ride across Biorka Sound and into Hot Springs Bay. We decided, even though the swell was no problem, to take the scenic inside route south as far as possible. The first challenge was Dorothy Narrows, where the water depth was only 4 feet below the keel. We transited at dead slow speed with Miriam on the bow looking for rocks.

Safely exiting Dorothy Narrows we headed down Windy Passage and then through First and Second Narrows. Second Narrows was tricky due to lots of rocks, but plenty deep. A fishing boat was not so lucky, being hard aground, high and dry just outside Second Narrows. This was as far as we could go on the inside route, so we headed down Middle Channel and Cameron Pass to the open ocean. We stayed about 2 miles offshore and headed for North Cape. The NW swell was on our stern quarter, so the stabilizers worked hard all day.

From North Cape to Cape Ommaney you are really on your own, so we decided to find an anchorage for the evening. We chose Still Harbor on the south side of Whale Bay and after picking our way into the entrance anchored at 1330 PM in 25 feet of water at the head of the bay. There were numerous sea otters and seals in the outer bay. The cruising guides were correct in that there are uncharted rocks in the anchorage, but they are visible at mid-tide.

The inner basin of Still Harbor is essentially landlocked and we had a quiet evening watching the sunset, which implied we would have good weather in the morning. The only wild life we saw were some black tailed deer.

Today's run was just 42 nautical miles, of which 20 were in the North Pacific and the rest in the protected inner passages.

June 11, 2011

The night was peaceful, although you could hear the surf pounding on the rocks at the harbor entrance. Even a three foot swell makes a racket. Today is predicted to be the longest day of the circumnavigation, so we departed shortly after 0600 under partly cloudy skies and winds, with the same swell pattern as the day before. Two hours later we diverted from our offshore course and explored an unnamed cove that the Douglass cruising guide called "Reanne's Relief" and "White Cliff Cove". The cove is protected by an entrance island with two entrances, both deep. Inside the cove was exactly as described and looked like a great place to return to. It was perfectly protected and calm, with good depths for anchoring.

We continued down the coastline, past Sea Lion Rocks and at 1030 rounded Cape Ommaney, the southernmost tip of Baranof Island. Turning north nearly 180 degrees, we started up Chatham Strait, passing by Port Alexander, which appeared full of fishing boats.

A few miles ahead, we could see an AIS target, a fellow Selene owner on "Z-Worthy", Ron and Bonnie Zuckerman. They were fishing for king salmon at Point Armstrong and having good luck, so we stopped and joined them. As luck would have it, it was raining, but the cockpit remained dry while fishing. The new downrigger installation worked great. Within 20 minutes we had landed a nice bright king salmon, our limit for the day. Zuckerman's landedtwo nice kings, one of which turned out to be a white king salmon, due to feeding on anchovies rather than shrimp and krill.

We were both headed to Patterson Bay on Baranof Island, where "Maximo", owned by Kim and Steve Oberto, also members of Roche Harbor Yacht Club, was already anchored. This bay reminds us of Norwegian fjords, with steep cliffs and snowfields. After anchoring both Selenes in a little cove at the head of the bay where we were held in position by the current flowing out of the river at the head of the inlet, the prawn pots went down, and by later that evening we had a nice haul of spot prawns. The evening was spent chatting as we all gathered on Maximo for raspberry sorbet and drinks while swapping stories about fishing, crabbing and prawning locations.

June 12, 2011

We were rudely awakened by a navigation alarm which we thought was the anchor alarm, but turned out to be a GPS "loss of fix", caused, we suspect by our proximity to the high sheer cliffs. Pulling the prawn pots (in light rain at times) resulted in another nice haul and after processing them we reluctantly pulled the anchor and headed towards our next destination, Warm Springs Bay. As we continued up Chatham Strait, the weather continues to improve and we can see blue sky ahead.

About 18 miles south of our destination we passed by Red Bluff Bay, which refers to the curious, out of context red stone which is in stark contrast to the uniformly gray, black and white stone which the rest of the landscape consists of.

The scale of Chatham Strait is immense. While Baranof Island is approximately 90 nautical miles long, Chatham Strait stretches even further, about 120 nautical miles from the southern entrance to the junction with Icy Strait and the Lynn Canal. Chatham Strait averages more than six miles in width. This body of water is far larger than Puget Sound from Port Townsend to Olympia, but is just a fraction of the coastline of SE Alaska.

We entered Warm Springs Bay and put the anchor down in the south cove. This cove has a hard rocky bottom and we were not satisfied with the way the anchor set, so we moved to the public dock. After launching the tender, Patrick went halibut fishing, but only landed one Pacific Cod, and lost lots of bait. We grilled some of the king salmon for dinner and it was delicious.

June 13, 2011

The current can run very strong along the dock at Warm Springs Bay except at low slack water, due to the volume of water coming over the waterfall. We got up early and left in the rain at 0645 in ideal slack tide conditions, stopping to fish for halibut on the way to our next destination. No luck, except to feed the fish our herring. The halibut are smart enough to avoid the hooks while getting the herring, even though we had tied the herring to the hook. We will just keep trying.

We decided to investigate Saook Bay and possibly anchor there for the evening. The bay was deep except for a 100+ foot deep area right at the head of the bay next to a steep shelf and shallows leading into the river delta. We anchored anyway and threw the halibut jig over and instantly had a small halibut on the line, about 30 inches overall. We will get a few good meals from it. However, the wind came up fairly strong from the north and we felt uncomfortable with the lee shore, being so shallow, so we pulled the anchor and headed further up Peril Strait to Deep Bay, which is well protected and has Dungeness crab.

Arriving in Deep Bay at 1640 we anchored and put out two crab pots before filleting the halibut from Saook Bay. A check of the pots at dark showed only lots of females and small Tanner crabs, so we moved the pots to a new location.

June 14, 2011

Although it rained overnight, there was almost no wind, so it was a quiet night. Checking the crab pots, we found 4 legal and nice Dungeness crab, which were quickly cooked before we pulled the anchor at 0918 for the transit through Sergius Narrows. The rain continued off and on, mostly on, the rest of the way to Sitka where we docked at 1325 PM, completing our 246 nautical mile circumnavigation and rejoining Sea Jay.

Sitka Interlude

2011-06-09T19:48:00.001-07:00

We have spent the last six days relaxing and completing maintenance on Spirit after the first 1200 miles. It was time for an oil change on the generator, cleaning of the watermaker prefilters, cleaning the fresh water system filters, cleaning sea strainers, fueling the tender, general cleaning and just playing tourist in Sitka. The weather the past six days has alternated from rain to sun, wind to calm. On Monday, when we had tentatively planned to leave, it was really windy and raining, with seas to 8 feet at a 6 second period at the weather buoy off Cape Edgecumbe, which makes them very steep and nasty, so we decided to just stay put. We later heard from a Nordhavn 50 that they were unable to get into the entrance of Kalinin Bay, where we had planned to go to, due to the seas at the bay entrance, so our decision to stay in Sitka was wise.

On Saturday when we arrived we went to the Channel Club in Sitka for a arrival celebration dinner, and last night was an evening with Mathesons and their guests for the past three days, the Lambertsons, at Ludvig's Bistro, reputed to be one of the best places to eat in town.

Ludvig's has space for just 20 people and the only reservation we could get for six people was at 8:45 PM. However, they called about 8 PM and we actually got in about 8:20 PM for a very well cooked and served meal. Our menu choices included oysters on the half shell, white king salmon, filet mignon, seafood paella and capped with either a vanilla bean crème brulee or a chocolate torte for dessert.

Tomorrow, Friday, June 10, is our 39^th wedding anniversary. The weather forecast for the next 5 days is favorable, so we will celebrate it while heading out of Sitka, southbound, on a 5 day circumnavigation of Baranof Island. We will be in the open water of the North Pacific for about 50 miles until we turn the corner at Cape Ommaney at the southernmost tip of Baranof Island and head back up Chatham Strait. We will not have internet or cell phone until we return to Sitka on June 14, in the afternoon. Our stops along the way will all be new destinations for us.

This trip will be about 225 nautical miles, or about 45 nautical miles per day.

More Photos between Swanson Harbor and Sitka

2011-06-05T10:04:00.001-07:00

Sea Jay in front of Kasnyku Falls, this gives a good idea of the size of the falls
Eagle feeding on the beach

Another whale tail in Icy Strait

Some of the mountains in Glacier Bay from Swanson Harbor

Camping on the dock in Swanson Harbor

Strolling down the main street in Tenakee Springs

The public restroom at the end of the pier, complete with old magazines

A troller fishing in the unusually calm waters of Chatham Strait near Ell Cove

Tenakee Springs to Sitka

2011-06-04T23:03:00.001-07:00

The bath house at Tenakee Springs

The general store and main intersection

Kasnyku Falls, Baranof Island

Entering Takatz Bay

On our cocktail cruise with one of the many waterfalls in the background

Spirit and Sea Jay rafted in Takatz Bay

Another Takatz Bay Vista

May 31, 2011

The skies remained clear overnight and the wind died down to calm as we prepared to depart Tenakee Springs. We walked up into the center of town, expecting the store to be open at 1000 AM, but no luck, it would not open until 1215 PM and we had a long way to travel so we tallied the status of our fresh food (and wine) and decided to leave for Takatz Bay, a run of 50 nautical miles. The weather was sunny and almost no wind the entire way. We saw a few humpback whales, mostly in the distance, but lots of porpoise following the boat. There was very little marine traffic, just two tugs, the occasional cruise ship and a few commercial fishing boats.

Along the way we stopped at Kasnyku Falls for a photo opportunity and then a few more miles into Takatz Bay where we rafted alongside Sea Jay. Takatz Bay is one of the most scenic bays we have ever anchored in, with waterfalls, glacially green water, snowfields and it is nearly totally protected from winds. The water temperature was a cool 40 degrees due to the glacial water coming in from the falls. After settling in we took a "cocktail" cruise with Mathesons on their shore boat, taking photos, eating crab cocktails and stopping briefly at the salmon hatchery in the outer bay. As we were heading back, a small cruise ship "Safari Explorer" also anchored in the outer bay, out of sight and sound from our anchorage.

Dinner was a marinated and smoked flank steak, and then we watched the Clint Eastwood movie "Gran Torino", which was surprisingly good. We retired for the night, serenaded by the sounds of all the waterfalls.

We have now covered 1120 nautical miles.

June 1, 2011
The day started out sunny, with light winds, so we decided to stay another day and go fishing for salmon in the afternoon. The crab pots were totally non-productive, with a haul of 5 giant starfish, so we moved the location of the pots to try and improve the luck. In the afternoon Jim and Patrick went fishing and were modestly successful, with one sea bass and two small but legal Chinook salmon. The sea bass and one of the salmon became dinner, smoked on Jim's Traeger smoker/grill.

June 2, 2011

The morning started sunny as we checked the crab pots and once again found nothing in them. We pulled anchors at 0855 and headed back up Chatham Strait with a stop for more photos at Kasnyku Falls. We entered Peril Strait at 1200 and by 1405 were anchored separately in Appleton Cove watching a brown bear on the beach just a few hundred feet away. Later in the day the wind came up to more than 22 knots, and we were concerned about the lack of swinging room between Spirit and a reef, so about 100 moved the anchorage into the lee of Anderson Island, in the middle of the cove.

Today's run was 38 nautical miles for a total of 1158 so far this trip.

The crab pots we had set earlier yielded 2 large Dungeness crab, with a lot of females that were returned to the sea. The rest of the evening was quiet, with only Spirit and Sea Jay occupying Appleton Cove.
June 3, 2011

The wind decreased overnight, but the clouds had returned, with only occasional glimpses of the sun. We checked the crab pots and found two large Dungeness crab. Although the limit is three per day per person, we do not have the room in either our stomachs or freezer for that much crab, especially since these are so large with such firm meat. The brown bear we had seen the evening before had returned to the beach for more foraging, but our new anchor site was too far away for photos.

We pulled the anchor at 0955 and continued up Peril Strait towards our destination for the day, Baby Bear Cove. There was a solitary humpback whale in Deadman's Reach, but too far away for photos.

Baby Bear Cove has a tricky entrance, but we have navigated this entrance before, and by 1245 we were anchored right at the head of the inlet, with Sea Jay anchored ¼ mile further out. The head of the inlet is very calm, but there were several crab pots in the prime spot for safe anchorage so after watching Spirit swinging in the wind, we decided we needed to move to have adequate clearance between the beach and the crab pot floats. We ended up rafting alongside Sea Jay where we got our own pots ready, and then placed them on the other side of Peril Strait in Deep Bay, where we have anchored before. We checked the pots in the evening before a dinner of crab and salmon chowder with fresh sourdough bread. We each found one more large crab. Since we had an early departure, we brought the pots back to Baby Bear Cove and placed them among some other pots in the cove.

Today's run was a short 22 nautical miles, bringing the total to 1180 nautical miles.
June 4, 2011
Miriam and I set the alarm for 0500 so we could pull the crab pots and still get underway at 0630 for slack water at Sergius Narrows at 0717. Sergius Narrows is about 6 miles from the anchorage and it is best to run it near slack water. When we woke, the rain had returned and the crab pots were empty except for starfish and immature Tanner crab. We timed it well, except that the Alaska ferry Taku was also aiming for slack water. We beat the Taku through Sergius Narrows by about 15 minutes. We headed through Kakul Narrows, across Salisbury Sound, where we got a taste of the ocean swells, and then down Neva and Olga Straits into Sitka Harbor where we docked at 1015 in the morning. By the time we were docked the rain had mostly disappeared and there were glimpses of sun, but not enough to see Mount Edgecumbe.

The days run was 30 nautical miles for a total of 1210 nautical miles.

After collecting mail and parts from the post office, we had dinner with Matheson's at the Channel Club in Sitka and called it an early night.

We will spend the next few days in Sitka catching up on maintenance.

Juneau to Sitka Part 1

2011-05-30T22:37:00.001-07:00

May 25, 2011

Today we played tourist and took the rental car with Jim & Cheryl to see the sights of Juneau. The weather promised to be sunny and warm. We started with the enormous Fred Meyer, which is reputed to be ¼ mile long, and seems like it when you are inside. From there we drove to the Shrine to Saint Theresa, which is located some 15 miles north of Juneau on the coast looking up the Lynn Canal towards Skagway, with views to the mountains of Glacier Bay off to the west.

After stopping at Costco and Home Depot, we made a visit to the Alaska Brewing Company and sampled beers like the Smoked Porter before finally returning to downtown. In town we walked around in the sunshine and had lunch at the Red Dog Saloon, a totally tourist experience with mediocre food, shopped for new cookbooks at the bookstores, and finally back to the boat for a rest before a pot luck dinner on Sea Jay. The sunset this evening was great, with tomorrow promising to have even better weather before rain returns on Saturday.

May 26, 2011

Departed the Intermediate Vessel Float and headed for Swanson Harbor via Stephens Passage, Lynn Canal and the intersection of Icy Strait, Lynn Canal and Chatham Strait. We have stayed in Swanson Harbor before and used the public floats, which were empty when we and Sea Jay arrived early in the afternoon. We soon had the crab pots set, hoping for a big haul. Later in the afternoon a bald eagle flew to the dock and watched us for about 30 minutes, we think looking for a handout. Finally, with a lot of screeching when two more flew overhead, the eagle took off and we were able to get a picture. By evening, both public floats were nearly full with Juneau residents coming to celebrate Memorial Day. Several of the boats set up tents on shore and there were several beach fires. An evening check of the crab pots brought no luck, so we moved them to a different location in the bay.

May 27, 2011

This was a lazy morning, with a breakfast brunch of biscuits and gravy, then a fishing expedition looking for the elusive halibut. Jim Matheson and Patrick took off in the tender for a spot about 8 miles from Swanson Harbor, but we had only artificial lures and were having a hard time staying on top of the pinnacle in Icy Strait where the locals claim halibut are abundant. Making a side trip to Hoonah for herring we encountered porpoise, humpback whales and sea lions. Hoonah has improved their fuel dock, just not quite open yet, and has a new transient float, but the main harbor looks the same as four years ago.

Returning to the fishing location, we found that another boat had anchored over the pinnacle. We just drifted and Jim caught a pacific cod, which we released.

A check of the crab pots showed we had managed to attract 2 legal crabs and a bunch of smaller crabs in the new location. After a long day we grilled chicken on the BBQ for dinner.

May 28, 2011

This was another lazy morning, with clouds, light rain, and cold temperatures. The crab pots had six nice Dungeness crab, our daily limit for two people, so we processed them and turned some into crab cakes for dinner. The wind came up and Icy Strait looked too rough to fish from with the tender, so this was a day to relax and read. An evening check of the crab pots brought one crab which we gave away to the boat across the dock, which had come up empty in their pots.

May 29, 2011

Although it did not rain overnight, the skies were still overcast, with cool temperatures. The yield from the crab pots was very poor, only one additional crab. Patrick and Jim went in search of fish again, but still no luck. There were a number of boats fishing, but no one was having luck. The late arrival of warm weather has apparently delayed the arrival of halibut into the interior SE Alaska waters. We were treated to a smoked and BBQ'd leg of lamb cooked by Jim for dinner.

May 30, 2011

We were awakened by boats departing early to get back to Juneau. The skies were clear and it promised to be a warm day, for SE Alaska. Departing Swanson Harbor at 0830 we saw numerous humpback whales, but none close enough for photos as we headed south into Chatham Strait. The winds were from the north and with our boat speed, the apparent wind was near zero and we were able to don short sleeves for the first time in weeks. We arrived in Tenakee Springs at 1245 in the afternoon, and after shutting down the boat, Jim and Patrick headed up the inlet to look for a place to set the prawn pots. Neither the weather nor the currents cooperated, so they returned with the pots, only to find out that they could have set them a shorter distance and in shallower water. Next time we will know better.

Crabbing in Tenakee Inlet, normally good, is reported to be sparse, and no one knows why. After a potluck stir fry dinner to reduce the amount of leftovers both we and Matheson's are accumulating, we watched a DVD on Antartica travels and called it a night.

The plan is to depart tomorrow for Takatz Bay for a 1 day stop, and then work our way to Sitka via Peril Strait, planning to arrive on June 4. There will be no phone or internet until then, although we have internet, but no phone in Tenakee Springs.

We have now travelled 1070 nautical miles since departing Anacortes.

Whales in Stephens Passage

2011-05-24T13:01:00.002-07:00

Patrick & Miriam in front of Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

Pictures from Petersburg to Juneau Part 3

2011-05-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

Lonely looking kayakers in Endicott Arm

Dawes Glacier from 1/2 mile away

Typical Waterfalls

Pictures from Petersburg to Juneau Part 2

2011-05-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

The mother bear is totally ignoring us!

Pictures From Petersburg to Juneau Part 1

2011-05-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Five Finger Islands Lighthouse, Stephens Passage

Porpoise escorting us up Stephens Passage

Brown Bear on the beach, Tracy Arm Cove

A mother and four yearlings

The group finally gets curious

Wrangell to Juneau via Tracy and Endicott Arm

2011-05-24T12:14:00.001-07:00

Dawes Glacier, Endicott Arm

Waterfall near Fors Terror, Endicott Arm

May 21, 2011

This is the long day we knew was coming, getting to Tracy Arm Cove via Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage. We left Petersburg at 0820 and were swept out Wrangell Narrows into Frederick Sound by the ebb tide, which helped all the way to Cape Fanshawe. At Cape Fanshawe we saw what looked like a dead baby humpback whale that was being eaten by several giant sea lions.

Rounding the cape, we headed past Five Finger Islands lighthouse and were greeted by a number of Dall Porpoise, which stayed with us for nearly 5 miles of our journey up Stephens Passage and into Holkam Bay, the entrance to Tracy and Endicott Arms. As we continued up Stephens Passage we began to see pouts from Humpback whales, but the closest we got to them was about 1 mile.

Sea Jay was already anchored in Tracy Arm Cove and the weather was calm, so at 1655 we rafted alongside and headed out to the nearest iceberg for some ice for "glacial" martinis. There were four brown (grizzly) bears on the beach, and we were able to approach within 100 feet from the water before they seemed to care about us. It appeared that there was a mother and three yearlings. Only the yearlings cared about our approach, the mother simply ignored us. It would probably have been different if we were on land. Our two vessels were the only ones in the cove.

Dinner was simply prawns and appetizers to go with the glacially cooled drinks.

May 22, 2011

The days just keep getting longer, and by 0330 it was light enough to wake us up, along with heavy rain. Even with the rain, we decided to go up Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier and so we left at little after 0800 for the 68 mile round trip to the glacier face. The ebb tide was running full force as we crossed the bar and we had a few minutes of excitement in the standing waves set up by the current flowing out of Tracy Arm into Stephens Passage. The rain became light and then stopped when we were about six miles from the glacier face. The ice was manageable until we were within ½ mile of the glacier face, so we stopped there and got our pictures while watching a small berg calve. The glacier has receded so much that our charts showed us 3 miles inland. On the way back we stopped outside of Fords Terror for photos alongside a waterfall and then headed back to Tracy Arm Cove, arriving at 1754. Once again we were the only two boats in the cove.

Dinner this evening was smoked pork tenderloin (done by Jim), salad, baked potatoes, fresh baked cornbread and caramelized onions. The weather continued to improve and we were treated to a nice sunset, but no more brown bears on the beach.

Our log now stands at 939 nautical miles.

May 23, 2011

The rain returned overnight, heavy at times, but no wind. We departed Tracy Arm Cove at 0745, bound for Juneau, a distance of 42 nautical miles. Just as we were leaving the cove we spotted a brown bear on the point; it looked like the mother bear we had photographed two nights before in the rain. The seas were flat, no wind, but occasional light fog. As we crossed the bar at Tracy Arm, we saw the Holland America ship "Zuiderdam" approaching. This was the same ship we had been on while transiting the Panama Canal a few years ago. Both we and Sea Jay managed to get across the bar well before the Zuiderdam approached.

About 20 miles up Stephens Passage, just around Taku Harbor we saw numerous humpback whales spouting and feeding. They were all too far away for good photos. We continued on and headed up Gastineau Channel into Juneau Harbor followed by two cruise ships that joined two others already there, for a total of four. The downtown area was crowded!

We had arranged a car rental through "Rent a Wreck", and they picked us up at the dock to get the car and sign the paperwork. We did a quick tour of Costco, the Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay before returning to the downtown area and having dinner at the Twisted Fish Restaurant.

Tomorrow is a lazy tourist day in Juneau for both of us while Jim and Cheryl Matheson fly to Skagway and ride the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, a tour we have already done.

Spirit has now travelled 982 nautical miles since leaving Anacortes, and we are almost as far north as we will go this trip, at 58 degrees, 17.665 seconds North Latitude.

Ketchikan Photos

2011-05-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

Longhouse at Totem Bight

A Halibut Totem at Totem Bight

Skunk Cabbage at Lunch Falls

Lunch Falls at Settler's Cove, Ketchikan

Saxman Village Totems and Longhouse

Ketchikan to Petersburg (rain, rain and more rain)

2011-05-20T23:52:00.001-07:00

Bounty from the sea, capturing a brass relic from the bottom at low tide in Meyers Chuck

Waterfront property for sale in Meyers Chuck

The new air freight terminal

When the tide goes out!

The skunk cabbage could be the SE Alaska state flower they are so lush

The spider's web in Meyers Chuck

The Dall Porpoise under Spirit's bow

May 16, 2011

Monday morning the good weather had departed, and the rain was falling, heavy most of the time. We had arranged to share a car rental with Jim and Cheryl so we could not only see both ends of the road, but also the scenic spots too far to go on foot. Our first stop was Totem Bight, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. When we were last here the totems looked in need of repair, and now a major reconstruction and preservation project is underway, with many of the totems roped off from the public for restoration. The long house is still open and available to tour, but there were three sets of cruise ship passengers on tour while we were there.

From Totem Bight we continued north along the road to the end, which is Settler's Cove Park. The main attraction is Lunch Falls, which were running hard from all the rain. From Lunch Falls we retraced our path into the city center and stopped for halibut and chips at one of the dockside restaurants. We actually ate the meal at "Stan's Place", which had a liquor store and lounge, but the restaurant delivers food there all the time and it was a cool atmosphere.

After lunch we walked along Creek Street in a deluge, stopping to pick up a few souvenirs, and then drove to the other end of the road, which ends at George Inlet Cannery, closed to the public, but part of the cruise ship "experience". We stopped briefly at Saxman Village, another collection of totems and a longhouse, but by then it was closing up since the cruise ships were departing.

We headed to Safeway for fresh produce and when we returned to Spirit found that "Wild Blue", Pat and Alex Benson, had arrived and were tied up across the dock from us. We had met them last year in the Broughtons on the way north and again at the Selene Rendezvous. "Wild Blue" cruised the west coast of Vancouver Island last season. They joined us for dinner along with Mathesons and Hambletons at the Cape Fox Lodge. We had a great dinner with a crab and brie appetizer served with sliced Granny Smith apples, good steaks and great halibut.

May 17, 2011

The rain continued all night and we departed City Floats at 0900 in heavy rain. The first stop was Anderes Oil for fuel, and we took on 580 gallons which filled us completely. Fuel was actually slightly cheaper than in Anacortes. By 0945 we were done fueling and headed north up Tongass Narrows and into Clarence Strait to Meyers Chuck, one of our favorite stopovers. Sea Jay cruised slightly faster and reached the public float about 30 minutes before us. We docked in heavy rain and wind. Today's run was just a little over 35 nautical miles. About one hour later, we rafted a 48 foot sailboat "Sapphire" alongside Spirit since the docks were full and the bay in Meyers Chuck had gotten a little windy and rolly. We ordered fresh cinnamon rolls from the postmistress for the morning, but found out the gallery was still not open for the season.

We still had some fresh crab, so dinner was crab mac & cheese, followed by an evening watching "Over Alaska", since none of our satellite TV systems are working in the heavy rain and this far north.

May 18, 2011

The rain stopped briefly this morning, and at 0630 there was a knock on the hull. Our cinnamon rolls had arrived, still warm from the oven. It had been light, or nearly so, for three hours anyway. The tides are extreme this week, and at 0801 it was a minus 3.9 feet, preceded by a plus 17.8 foot the evening before for a total range greater than 21 feet. The rain held off while we took a brief walking tour of Meyers Chuck, which convinced us that skunk cabbage grows very well in this climate. The different shades of green were amazing. We watched several of the residents scoop treasures from the sea floor on the minus tide, including what looked like an old brass binnacle cover. The rain returned as we left at 0940 for the 22 mile run to Santa Anna Inlet in flat seas. Along the way we had several Dall Porpoise playing chicken with the bow of Spirit, crossing back and forth and swimming just ahead of the bow wave.

We rafted next to Sea Jay at the head of the inlet in light rain, but the skies appear to be clearing. After ensuring the two vessels were secure, and that we had properly accounted for a 20 foot tidal variation, both Mathesons and Gills put out two prawn pots, the first since entering Alaska.

When we checked the pots about 8 PM, there were only a few prawns, so we moved them into deeper water, about 350-400 feet and hoped for the best. After a potluck dinner on board Sea Jay we watched a very forgettable movie "Inception".

May 19, 2011

Checking the prawn pots this sunny morning brought some surprises. Not only did we have plenty of large prawns, but one of Patrick's pots had an octopus, which had eaten about 6 prawns, looking at the empty shells in the pot. The octopus was perhaps 2 feet across when stretched out.

We cleaned the shrimp and put the octopus is a covered pot with a weight on the lid to keep him from escaping and left Santa Anna Inlet at 0910 bound for Wrangell via Zimovia Straits. There were more Dall Porpoises playing around the bow. We arrived at Heritage Basin in Wrangell at 1345 under overcast skies, but relatively warm and no rain. Heritage Basin is about ½ mile from town, so we went via the Matheson's tender to register at the port office and look for a few miscellaneous items and then returned to the boats to prepare for Patrick's 64^th birthday dinner, which included a rib roast that we had dry rubbed with spices and then mesquite smoked on Matheson's Traeger BBQ. We also had baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad and a chocolate cake with ice cream that Miriam baked underway. Our appetizer this evening was the octopus, which we simmered Spanish paella style in a sauce of rice, tomatoes, onions, garlic, white wine and smoked paprika. It was actually pretty good, but cleaning an octopus was more work than we expected.

May 20, 2011

We awoke to sunny skies in Wrangell and did boat maintenance until 1130 AM, when it was time to depart for Petersburg via Wrangell Narrows. Conventional wisdom dictates entering either end of the narrows 2 hours before high slack tide, since the current flows into both ends and meets near the middle of the 21 mile passage. That technique allows a slow vessel to take advantage of a following current the entire way through the narrows. That is what we did, except for waiting about 30 minutes to allow the Alaska Ferry Matanuska to transit the narrowest portion before we entered. We did not see another vessel until we were nearly through the narrows.

At 1645 Spirit docked next to Sea Jay in Petersburg under mostly sunny and warm skies. The fishing fleet is mostly in, so the docks were fairly crowded for this early in the season. After a quick walk around town we enjoyed dinner at the Beachcomber Inn, where we tried the smoked black cod, the seafood chowder, and a drink call an "Uff Da", which is sort of like a vodka martini with a cinnamon gummy bear garnish instead of olives. To keep up a rain theme, a brief but intensive rain shower greeted us as we finished dinner. We returned to Spirit and reviewed the charts to get ready for a long day tomorrow.

Since leaving Ketchikan we have logged an additional 133 nautical miles for a total of 799 miles since leaving Anacortes.

On May 21, we intend to go directly to Tracy Arm Cove for the night, spend the next day going up either Tracy or Endicott Arm, depending on ice conditions, remaining a second night at Tracy Arm Cove, and then on to Juneau. We will be out of email and cell phone contact most of the time until Juneau.

Lowe Inlet to Foggy Bay and Ketchikan

2011-05-15T21:52:00.003-07:00

A peaceful evening in Foggy Bay

Raindancer and Sea Jay in Foggy Bay

A view of Bottleneck Inlet Entrance in the rain

May 13, 2011

Underway in rain seems to be the norm these days, and today was no exception. We left Lowe Inlet at 0750 in rain and 44 degree temperatures as we headed north up the remainder of Grenville Channel. As the morning progressed, we monitored the weather broadcasts and made the decision to cross directly to Foggy Bay (in the USA), bypassing Prince Rupert. That turned out to be a good decision. We called US Customs when we got cell phone coverage and got permission to anchor in Foggy Bay prior to clearing in Ketchikan the next day. The crossing was uneventful, only 10-15 knot winds and a low 3 foot swell. Although we had one brief rain squall, the day was generally sunny, and as we approached Foggy Bay we picked up a whiff of the hickory smoke from Jim Matheson's Traeger BBQ. Sea Jay cruises faster than we do, so they arrived earlier and had dinner ready when both we and Raindancer anchored at 1845 local time, under sunny skies. There was one other boat in the bay, but lots of room.

Dinner on Sea Jay included not only the smoked chicken breasts, but also crab cocktails and fresh spot prawns that Jim had caught that morning in Lowe Inlet. Cheryl had also made a superb potato salad.

This was the longest day underway we have done, 103 nautical miles, and 630 nautical miles from Anacortes.

May 14, 2011

The next morning, May 14, we left early at 0714 for the 36 nautical mile run from Foggy Bay to Ketchikan. The wind had started to build from the North, and the combination of wind and tide abeam of Mary Island covered the boat in spray and salt. However, that soon calmed down as we continued up the channel and entered Tongass Narrows and approached Ketchikan. We decided to delay fueling until we depart Ketchikan and found a slip at City Floats, which are located between two of the cruise ship piers, right in the center of town. The good news was finding a slip. The bad news was the slip was exposed to the wind and chop coming from the north down Tongass Narrows. However, Spirit is pretty heavy and the motion was acceptable. We docked at 1145 showing 666 nautical miles on the log.

Patrick got one of the folding bikes out and rode several miles to the Napa parts store that was holding a replacement sea water washdown pump for us, ours failed in Lowe Inlet. The sun was out, the temperature climbed into the 60's and within two hours, the pump was replaced.

We met Matheson's at Annabelle's for dinner, which was excellent, then stopped at the Sourdough Bar for a nightcap before walking the two blocks back to the boat.

May 15, 2011

Sunday was a maintenance day as we woke up to two cruise ships and brilliant sunshine. We changed the main engine oil and load tested each battery in the house bank to ensure that we had solved the house battery problem. All batteries tested "good", but we found one additional loose connection that may have contributed to the erratic house battery performance.

The weather continued clear, warm and windy all day and we took a walk around downtown and played tourist for several hours before having some of our many leftovers for dinner.

Bottleneck Inlet to Khutze and Lowe Inlet

2011-05-15T21:52:00.001-07:00

Waterfall Point, Finlayson Channel

Rainbow in Khutze Inlet

It is still Winter here

Orca swimming alongside Spirit

Another view of Waterfall Point

5/11/2011

If the sun was shining this morning we had arranged for Sea Jay to take photos of Spirit at Waterfall Popint on Sarah Island. The weather cooperated briefly and we go the photos. We continued up Finlayson to Heikish Narrows, where we had to slow down and let three orcas go on by, one passing less than 5 feet off the side. We entered Princess Royal Channel and headed for Khutze Inlet, where we were surprised to hear "Raindancer" calling us on the VHF. They had seen us on the AIS and were also anchored at the head of the inlet. We proceeded in and got anchored at 1215 and then set a crab pot. After only 4 hours we had seven legal and large Dungeness crabs to process. About one hour later, another vessel "Seawolf" arrived without a depthsounder. We got in the tenders and scouted out a safe place to anchor due to the steep shelf and shallow water of the Khutze River delta. The safe place was right on top of our crab pot, so we pulled it to find three more crabs.

Dinner was a pork tenderloin, au gratin potatoes and green salad on board Spirit, shared with Mike and Kathy from Raindancer and Jim and Cheryl from Sea Jay.

Today's run brought our log to 471 nautical miles.

5/12/2011

The next morning there were six more crabs that we kept. After pulling the pot, we started to raise the anchor and the chain jumped off the windlass wheel and ran out the entire 400 feet of chain and was then stopped by the nylon snubber line at the end. However, the line was so long the chain was under water and heavy, so heavy three men could not lift it up to put back on the windlass. Some creative engineering with hooks, knots and the windlass allowed us to finally retrieve the chain, and then shorten the snubber line to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.

By 1045 we were underway for Lowe Inlet.

We passed by Butedale, which looks even worse than last year, with more areas of collapse. Butedale falls were running very strong. The weather varied from sunny to rain, but we had timed our departure to take advantage of the currents in both Princess Royal Channel and Grenville Channel. We ran into one rain squall in Grenville Channel that was so heavy and dark we turned on our running lights. However, by 1730 we were anchored in Nettle Basin in Lowe Inlet in front of Verney Falls, which were sending foam and current halfway across Nettle Basin.

We joined for a dinner of crab fettuccini on Raindancer and then spent a quiet night at anchor.

Shearwater to Bottleneck Inlet

2011-05-15T21:51:00.001-07:00

We awoke this morning to wind and rain, with wind gusts to 30 knots, and wondered whether we were going to be able to leave the dock. However, the weather forecast predicted the winds would calm to 10 knots or so by noon, so about 1017 we and Sea Jay departed Shearwater, with a planned destination of Bottleneck Inlet. We both headed up Seaforth Channel in increasing seas but decreasing wind and by the time we got to Ivory Island Light we decided to go out in Milbanke Sound and directly up Finlayson Channel to our destination. We were shadowed by the Canadian Coast Guard vessel "Bartlett". The seas in Milbanke Sound were not too bad, running 5-8 feet on the port bow and then changing to beam as we rounded Ivory Island. The visibility had dropped to less than one mile, and we lost visual contact with Sea Jay and Bartlett as we headed across Milbanke Sound. We are the slow boat!

However, soon we were in protected waters with the seas on our stern. The seas continued to subside as we headed up Finlayson Channel. We were greeted by several Dall Porpoise and then later some whales as we headed North. The rain continued to increase as we entered Bottleneck Inlet at 1530, and by 1545 we were rafted alongside Sea Jay in a rainy but beautiful inlet with a stunning view to the still snow covered hills on Sarah Island. Although the rain was heavy, the wind was calm. The temperature continues to remind us of February, never getting above 50 degrees.

Dinner this evening was a potluck salad and pizza dinner with Jim and Cheryl (leftover from Shearwater) while we watched several episodes of season three of the "Big Bang Theory".

Today's run was 46 nautical miles, for a total of 440 nautical miles since leaving Anacortes.

North to Prince Rupert

2011-05-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

No posts for the next 3-4 days as we head into Northern BC

Fury Cove to Shearwater via Namu

2011-05-09T14:29:00.001-07:00

Spirit in Namu Harbor
Huddled around the fire pit before dinner

We understand this ship is a real bargain!

The buildings look good until you get close
The further building is inaccessible due to a rotting boardwalk

The managers house with a pool table

May 8, 2011

After a peaceful night at anchor rafted next to Sea Jay, Miriam and I got up and began Mother's Day with breakfast and then launched the tender and took a photo tour of Fury Cove in the sunshine. During the very early morning hours most of the boats anchored overnight had departed, leaving only the two of us and two other boats also rafted together.

After photos and re-stowing the tender, we have figured out that we have one or more failed house batteries that will have to be addressed when we get to either Shearwater or Ketchikan. However, with the generator, we can minimize the impact for a while.

Departing Fury Cove shortly after 1100, we motored out into Fitzhugh Sound and headed for Namu. Sea Jay followed us about one hour later. Namu is an abandoned cannery town, slowly fading back into ruins like Butedale, but they still have overnight moorage and a tour of the ruins. There is still a lot that is left, including the abandoned store, the pool table in the manager's house and lots of buildings slowly crumbling under the weight of winter snows and no maintenance. It will not be long before stops will be impossible due to the deterioration.

The caretakers, Pete and Teresa are really nice, and are working hard to keep enough going to attract visiting boats for a day or two. They built a fire in the shelter on the dock where we had dinner and drinks as the sun set. Even with the fire it was cold, winter is still here. There was one other sailboat from Sweden tied up to the dock.

Morning brought a departure for Shearwater where we hope to find an electrician to look at the battery situation.

The log now reads 368 nautical miles.

May 9, 2011

We said our goodbye's to the staff at Namu and headed for Shearwater, a run of only 26 nautical miles. Arriving shortly before noon we found the dock in sad shape, no power, no water and broken beams due to a 110 mph hurricane that devastated Shearwater in March. The entire guest dock broke free!

It is definitely early in the season. While waiting for a mechanic to arrive to check the battery bank we discovered loose and corroded terminals on the house batteries. The mechanic confirmed that was likely the problem, so two hours with emery cloth, contact cleaner and wrenches tightening all connections (all of them were loose to some degree!) has solved the immediate problem. The rain is falling again, but we are having fun and relieved we do not have a serious house battery bank issue!

A valuable lesson in the importance of keeping all bolted connections tight!

The log now reads 394 nautical miles.

Port McNeill to Fury Cove

2011-05-09T14:21:00.001-07:00

Or, what were you doing on opening day of yachting season?? Spirit and Sea Jay rafted in Fury Cove
Interesting beach scenery

Driftwood at Fury Cove

A sunny afternoon, the sunset later was just OK

After a night of waking up at intervals (0130, 0400, 0700) to check the weather reports for Queen Charlotte Sound, and the buoy reports for "West Sea Otter" buoy, Jim Matheson and I initially decided to wait a day to cross Cape Caution. However, by 0800, the buoy reports were favorable and the weather reports indicated a brief window of opportunity to cross, so at 1030 we departed, with an intention of stopping at Bull Harbor and crossing on Sunday, Mother's Day. The weather started out cloudy, then partly cloudy, and finally clear and sunny as we approached Pine Island.

Jim took the lead, and when he got to Pine Island, the seas and wind were acceptable, so we decided to make the crossing on Saturday, continuing on to Fury Cove. Jim is somewhat faster, so he arrived before the wind picked up between Egg Island and Cape Calvert. There was a westerly swell of 5-8 feet, but long period, so no real problem. Even though the wind was above twenty knots for us, we also had no real problem, just a little spray across the bow. We saw our first large whale just off Pine Island, but only a glimpse.

The course we needed to keep put the swell nearly on the beam, but the stabilizers kept the motions acceptable, and we only needed to dodge the occasional log. That collision avoidance became more of a problem as the wind picked up.

Jim and Cheryl Matheson's boat is much faster, so when we reached Cape Calvert, we called on the radio and asked where they were. They had decided to stop in Fury Cove, which was a new location for us. Jim met us outside in his tender and guided us in where we rafted alongside of "Sea Jay". We were securely tied alongside Sea Jay at 1830, underway for just 8 hours. There were two other vessels already anchored in an absolutely beautiful sheltered bay with a view out across a spit covered in white sand looking out to Fitzhugh Sound. Later three more vessels that had been following us also entered and anchored.

It was now time for cocktails and appetizers on Spirit and then a delicious dinner of smoked ling cod on Sea Jay as we watched the sun set with a brilliant pink and clear sky. The cove is absolutely calm and quiet as we finally call it a night and get ready for a day of exploration tomorrow.

The log now stands at 342 nautical miles, for a day's run of 68 nautical miles

Dent Island to Port McNeill

2011-05-06T21:15:00.001-07:00

Orca's near Green Point Rapids

The pod appeared to have at least 7 members

Putting on a show for us

Departing the scene

May 6, 2011

High slack water at Dent Rapids was predicted to be at 0649, an early wakeup. We had made arrangements the previous evening for a Continental breakfast at 0600. When we arrived at the dining room, the table was set, fruit smoothies in place, and fruit, cereal, juices and rolls set out, along with coffee, so we could sit right down. After eating more than we usually do in the morning, Pascal the cook came out and boxed up the bakery items, since they were just for us.

The rain had continued all night and leaving in the rain seems to be the rule this trip. Dent Rapids was indeed calm as we headed up Cordero Channel. Just prior to Green Point Rapids we encountered a pod of Orca, who put on a show for us as we drifted by. We continued up Cordero Channel and then turned up Wellbore Channel through Whirlpool Rapids, past Forward Harbor and finally into Johnstone Strait. The leftover bakery items provided a mid-morning snack underway.

Johnstone was initially calm, but the wind continued to build from the Southeast as we headed for Port McNeill. We were boosted by the current most of the way, only encountering adverse currents the last few miles past Alert Bay and into Port McNeill, where we docked at 1530.

Jim & Cheryl Matheson on "Sea Jay" were already there and helped with lines. The wind and rain continued and the temperature was only in the 40's. It felt more like February than May. We joined a whole group of boats waiting for favorable weather to continue north.

The weather report offers some hope we can cross Queen Charlotte Sound and Cape Caution by Monday, before the next front approaches from the Gulf of Alaska.

We now have 274 nautical miles on the log.

Dent Island - Chapter Two

2011-05-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Dinner at Dent Island Lodge
The eagle getting his appetizer on the fly!

After getting Spirit squared away, phone calls made for spare parts, filling the water tanks, washing off the salt, Miriam and Patrick headed to dinner at the Dent Island Lodge. Justin, the general manager had caught spot prawns and also had some fish scraps for the resident bald eagle. Patrick was fortunate enough to catch a photo of the eagle approaching the food before dinner.

Dinner was great, as usual. The appetizers included oysters on the half shell, teriyaki salmon skewers, grilled spot prawns, hummus, cherry tomatoes skewered with mozarella cheese, etc. We enjoyed those with perfectly made martinis as we chatted with the five other guests at the lodge bar.

The first course for the dinner were perfectly seared scallops served on canadian bacon and arugula with a fresh salsa. The main course was either a stuffed pork tenderloin or a cajun halibut, both served with unique salads and vegetables from the local area. We had one of each and shared (sort of). The servings were ample and will make up lunch tomorrow.

Dessert and coffee consisted of a Bailey's creme brulee or a chocolate volcanoe cake or cheesecake. We tried the first two and they were both delicious, and harmful to the waistline.

The chef this year is "Pascal", who was the sous chef the last part of last year. We are looking forward to stopping on our return to sample the Rapids Grill, which will be doing a Tapas style menu.

Nanaimo to Desolation Sound and Dent Island

2011-05-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

Waterfall in Teakerne Arm, Desolation Sound

Our anchor "rabbit" in Prideaux Haven

Another beautiful evening in Prideaux Haven, Desolation Sound

May 3, 2011

The wind decreased overnight and we left Nanaimo's Cameron Island Marina at 0645 under partly cloudy skies. The weather buoy in Georgia Straits was favorable, only 10 knot winds and 2 foot seas. Three other vessels heading north beat us out, Ursa Major, Facing West and Island Spirit. Matheson's on Sea Jay left later.

The military exercise area "WG" or Whiskey Golf was closed, so we could cut across the area rather than go around. As we headed north, we changed our minds about staying a day in Pender Harbor and instead headed past Ballenas Island and west of Lasqueti and Texada Islands. We had forgotten that the winds are always brisk off of Qualicum Beach and today was no exception, briefly building to 18 knots with seas to 3 feet. However, we were through it in one hour and the seas returned to 1 foot and winds of 10 knots. Passing the north end of Texada Island, we headed back to the mainland shore, passing the town of Lund, up Thulin Passage and into Desolation Sound. We decided to return to our favorite anchorage in Prideaux Haven, where we were the only vessel anchored. By 1630 the anchor was set, just under 10 hours from Nanaimo.

Later that evening, which was a sunny reprise of last year's trip north, several other vessels came in and anchored in Melanie Cove, about ½ mile away.

After the Selene Rendezvous and the long day, we were ready to just spend a few days unwinding at anchor, so no gourmet dinner.

Since leaving Anacortes we have logged 160 nautical miles, 77 of those yesterday.

May 4, 2011 – Prideaux Haven

The winds remained calm overnight and we awoke to partly sunny skies and a very calm anchorage. The day was spent checking various boat systems, including a blown fuse on one of the battery chargers. All systems now seem to be operating normally. Light rain began in the evening.

May 5, 2011 – Dent Island

We pulled the anchor out of the mud of Prideaux Haven and departed at 0705 in light rain, but no wind. After a detour to see the waterfall in Teakerne Arm, we slowly worked our way up Lewis and Calm Channels to Yuculta Rapids. We were a little early, but went through anyway to avoid a large tug and barge approaching Gillard Passage from the other direction, who we could see on AIS. The maximum current we encountered was a little over 4 knots.

We docked at Dent Island Resort at 1200, and found out we were the first visiting boat of the season, although they have had a number of fly-in guests. There are 5 of those guests here tonight. We will depart at morning high slack tide (0700) and hope to make Port McNeill in one long day, but may stop at Port Harvey depending on the weather.

The log now shows 195 nautical miles since we departed Anacortes.

Roche Harbor to Nanaimo

2011-05-02T21:50:00.001-07:00

After a leisurely breakfast at the Lime Kiln Grill with Jim & Cheryl Matheson, we headed out in moderate rain for Nanaimo about 0900. We called Canadian Customs and got a clearance number over the phone, but about 30 minutes later a large black inflatable with blue flashing lights pulled up alongside and asked about clearances, since we sailed right by Bedwell Harbor, the natural point for most people to clear. We explained that we had a number posted in the window and were clearing in Nanaimo, which seemed to satisfy them.

Rather than wait for slack water at Dodd Narrows, we headed out Active Pass at slack water, and by 1600 were at the Nanaimo customs dock after a smooth crossing up Georgia Straits. We were formally cleared by 1615 and headed a few hundred yards to Cameron Island docks where we tied up just before Jim and Cheryl Matheson arrived. We did our shopping for fresh produce which we could not bring across the border and then had a great time at the Dinghy Dock Pub for dinner.

Weather permitting, we will head for Desolation Sound in the morning.

2011 Selene Rendezvous

2011-05-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

Some of the 31 Selene's at Roche Harbor

The 2011 Selene Owner’s Rendezvous is over

2011-05-01T11:24:00.001-07:00

It is a sunny but cool Sunday morning in Roche Harbor and most of the 31 Selene's attending this year's gathering have left, either starting their trip north to Alaska, or returning to their home ports. We intended to leave this morning also, but several events transpired to delay our departure by one day, including a newly discovered main engine coolant leak. Three boats have headed north already and we expect to see them along the way.

The three day program this year included a number of seminars including one by Cummins Northwest on preparing for long distance cruising, including emergency repairs and spare parts. Very timely, since that is how we discovered the coolant leak.

Except for that leak, Spirit is ready to go! We have tested all the systems, including launching the tender.

We expect to go to either Ganges or Nanaimo tomorrow.

3 Days to our 2011 Departure

2011-04-24T20:07:00.001-07:00

It is early on Sunday morning, April 24, 2011 and we are getting ready to attend Easter Sunday services, one of the last events we will attend in Bellevue before heading back to Anacortes on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon we will celebrate Easter with Patrick's Mom, sisters Julie and Rosemary (husband Jim), brother Michael and son Sean and his wife Margaret.

Spirit is nearly ready to depart. The fuel tanks have been filled (and a hole created in our bank accounts with diesel fuel now at $4.19 per gallon). We only need to put our clothes and last minute perishables on board and we are ready to cast off the lines and head for our first destination, the Northwest Selene Owner's Rendezvous at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. That first short leg is only about 28 nautical miles.

The Selene owners gather each year at the end of April before many head out for a summer season of cruising. We get to see what others have done to improve their vessels, exchange cruising tips, attend seminars, take lessons and socialize, as well as browsing the displays that a number of equipment and service suppliers set up at the event. This year we arrive on Wednesday and the Selene fleet departs on Sunday, May 1, 2011.

We will be joined on the trip to Roche Harbor by Joyce and Tom Hawkins, who keep their Catalina 42 sailing vessel "Liberty" moored at Roche Harbor during the winter. We hope to spend several days cruising with them after the rendezvous as we make our way north through the Canadian Gulf Islands.

55 Days to Departure for the 2011 Adventure

2011-03-03T23:10:00.001-08:00

Since Spirit arrived back in Anacortes after the sojourn in Lake Union, planning for the 2011 trip to SE Alaska has been intense. We spent time at the Seattle Boat Show looking for additional safety equipment to better prepare for offshore cruising and additional equipment for fishing while cruising.

In February we took Spirit back to Seattle's Bell Harbor Marina for the Roche Harbor Yacht Club event over the Valentine's Day weekend. We took 2 days to go south; spending an evening at the Everett Marina moored next to the Matheson's (fellow RHYC members) on their 65' Pacific Mariner "Sea Jay". The trip down was uneventful under clear, but cold skies. The weather continued to cooperate the next morning as we made our way down to Bell Harbor where we joined a total of 8 more RHYC boats.

We had a great potluck dinner on Sea Jay, but the next morning the weather deteriorated, with high winds and waves coming in the marina entrance. We doubled up the lines after the potluck breakfast on Spirit. We had 20 people on-board for that event. Dinner that evening was at Anthony's Bell Street Diner. Sunday morning was the main event, brunch at the Space Needle Restaurant, with 76 attendees. The service, views and food were all great, since the weather had cleared.

Since the event ended in early afternoon, we decided to stay one more night and return on Monday in a single leg back to Anacortes. The weather report was deteriorating, with gale force winds predicted, but not till noon, so we had hopes of beating the wind.

No such luck! By the time we entered the Swinomish Slough the winds were in excess of 35 knots and the waves washing over the entrance breakwater made for an interesting few moments until we were inside the channel proper. We were glad we had not gone out the west side, since Smith Island was reporting sustained winds of 38 knots, with higher gusts and seas to 8 feet.

As we headed out the north end of the Slough, the wind increased to a steady 35 knots, but now the gusts were in excess of 45 knots from the SE. Visibility was poor going down the channel to Anacortes Marina due to spray over the bow and we were worried about getting into the marina entrance which requires tight turns even in calm water. However, lots of throttle and thrusters worked, but once inside we needed reverse thrust to keep the boat speed down due to the wind pushing us.

The tricky part turned out to be the turn into our slip, when the wind gusted to 45 knots on our stern, but once again, the thrusters were able to allow us to stay in control and we actually docked without any particular problem except keeping more reverse thrust than usual to stop us in the wind.

The cold weather has persisted, and except for having the diver change zincs, we have not done much work on Spirit except to keep Spirit winterized so the outside water lines do not freeze.

Except for provisions, we are ready to depart. We now plan on attending the annual Selene Rendezvous the end of April at Roche Harbor and departing directly from there on May 1^st.

Spirit is back in Anacortes

2010-12-19T21:29:00.001-08:00

After nearly two months in Lake Union, Spirit is now safely moored at her home port, Anacortes Marina.

We are now on the 4^th ECM for the Cummins main engine, and hope the problems with the ECM, wiring harnesses and other engine controls have been put to rest. Most of the other warranty work was accomplished, as well as most of the planned upgrades to make both fishing and cruising more enjoyable. We are ready to head back to SE Alaska in April or May, 2011.

The trip back from Selene Yacht Service was interesting due to the high winds, floating debris in the water, and an errant log boom in the Swinomish Channel. John and Kay Scott accompanied us as we tried to make a silent departure in the dark from the dock in Lake Union. The rain and gusty wind arrived just as we cast off the lines, a foretaste of winds to come. We were almost successful in the quiet departure, but needed a little bit of bow thruster to safely depart. We hoped all the nearby live-aboard residents were already awake when we nudged Spirit away from the slip and headed for the locks. We even beat out most of the rowing shells that practice in the lake and canal every morning, but there were already a few out between the Fremont and Ballard bridges, with their red and white strobe lights showing their position. Our intention was to get to the locks well before 0800 so that we would not get trapped in the 0800-0900 dead time.

It was a good plan, arriving at 0730, but we did not count on having the small locks closed for maintenance, so we tied up in the waiting area and then were told over the PA system that we would lock though the large locks at 0830 or later. However, in just a few minutes the lock attendants changed their minds and flooded the large locks and let us in, the only boat. The locking thru maneuver was uneventful; the engine ran fine, our first real test of the latest ECM.

All the rain we had the last few days had created a lot of overflow runoff in the locks, and the current as we exited was turbulent, but in just a few minutes we passed under the railroad bridge and out into Puget Sound. It was now daylight and we were greeted by a solid wall of whitecaps as far as we could see. However, the wind was behind us, so the seas and wind actually helped push us speedily north. The winds continued to increase, until we had gusts of 40 knots off Edmonds, and the stabilizers were working hard in the quartering seas. About 1000 we enjoyed a delicious breakfast dish of corned beef, eggs, potatoes and cheese prepared by Kay Scott as we relaxed with our cups of coffee. It was very nice being warm, dry and stable given the wind, rain and seas.

Spirit was virtually the only small boat in sight as we continued past Everett, Langley, the west side of Camano Island and started to head into Skagit Bay. We the saw our friends, Jim and Cheryl Matheson coming south in SEA JAY, their 65 foot Pacific Mariner. Jim warned us about the debris in Skagit Bay from the river floodwaters, so it was time for a close lookout. Sure enough, there was a lot of debris in the brown floodwater runoff from the Skagit River. As we made the turn into the Swinomish Channel, we were blocked by a tug trying to regain control of a log boom that had broken loose. After negotiating on the VHF radio, we managed to squeeze by in the narrow channel. The Selene 58 "Rhapsody", headed the other direction, was not so lucky and had to wait some time to get by the log boom. After passing the tug, the debris lessened, the current pushed us swiftly north up the Swinomish Slough, and we then dodged numerous crab pots in the channel as we headed for Anacortes Marina where we docked just after 1500.

We averaged 8.6 knots as we headed north, and all systems operated well. We now have 4554 nautical miles on the log since May 1, and a total of 820.1 hours on the main engine since new, with total miles now over 6000 nautical miles since delivery in July 2009.

The Downside of Electronic Engine Controls

2010-10-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

Failed Main Engine wiring harness SIM module connector

Last week we decided to go to Victoria, BC for a few days since the Fall weather has been so nice. Joe and Sarah Dreussi were going to go with us and had placed Gracie, their black lab, into doggie playschool for a few days. We had most of the lines off, the shore power disconnected and went to start the engine.

NOTHING!

No lights, no displays on the Smartcraft gauges – NOTHING.

Patrick checked all the fuses and breakers, everything looked normal, so we called Cummins Northwest and they suggested we contact North Harbor Diesel who sent down a technician the next morning. In the process of checking connectors he detected an electrical burning smell and pulled a connector off the SIM module, which promptly burst into open flame when the watertight seal was broken and oxygen reached the overheated and shorted connector.

At that point Patrick rapidly pulled the fuses rather than have the technician cut the wire and the flame could be put out. In the process of removing the main harness, a leaking coolant level sensor was discovered. Apparently the slow leak, under pressure when the engine was operating, forced conductive coolant up the inside of the wiring harness, through watertight connectors and eventually reached a connector which shorted, overheated and failed. Many of the connectors on this harness were wet with coolant. There were no indications of leaks on the outside of the harness!

A new harness was ordered, as well as a new coolant sensor, new SIM module and the ECM, which showed corrosion on some of the connector pins was sent to Cummins Northwest for checkout.

In the process of reinstalling the new harness we also discovered that 24VDC power may be present at the engine even with the engine battery switches off, if the Blue Seas ACR's (automatic charging relays) are in the "AUTO" position and the battery chargers are on, or in the "ON" position at any time. Apparently the battery safety switch (to remove power from the engine room in the event of fire) is only between the batteries in the engine room, so the ACR's provide an alternate path between the house and thruster battery banks and the engine starter, which actually makes sense from an ability to cross connect the battery banks to start the engine in the event of an engine starting battery problem. This fact also implies that the "echo charge" connection from the chargers to the engine starting batteries is redundant when the ACR's are in the "Auto" position. Just another addition to the manuals!

The ECM uninterruptible power from the engine battery has a similar issue. The only way to remove power is to go into the engine room and open the battery box and pull a fuse. We have asked Cummins for permission to install an emergency shutdown switch outside the engine room for use in the event of a fire.

Today, Wednesday, October 20 we hope to have a test run and then take Spirit to Seattle in the morning. We expect Spirit to be in the yard for approximately one month.

Decompression and Reflections

2010-09-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

The past four months have been filled with so many memories of people we have met, places we have seen and activities we have done that sorting out what we would do again and what was most memorable will take some time. To help us on that mental journey, we have decided to use one of the web publishing services to turn our blog into a book, amplified with more text and photos than we included on the blog itself. The book development process should help us clarify our thoughts.

However, one fact is certain. We want to go north again next year to explore new places and spend more time in our favorite places.

We realized that we need to make some changes to Spirit to make fishing, crabbing and prawning easier. Among these changes is the addition of a trolling valve to the main engine transmission to permit slowing the idle speed of Spirit down to below 2 knots, the addition of line pullers for prawn and crab pots, the addition of downrigger mounts on Spirit, and the addition of a cleaning table on the swim step. We also need a longer telephoto lens for the camera to get better wildlife shots. We are going to add additional bug screens to the flybridge enclosure to make it more useable. Often the temperature was too warm without the panels open, but then the bugs were too voracious. We are also going to add a much longer and stronger stern tie line. We need at least 600 feet. We also need a longer floating tow line for the tender, for those rare times that we choose to tow.

We also need a more robust communications suite due to the scarcity of internet connections. We are looking at options including both SSB and satellite phones.

We do not need to provision the boat as extensively with food, but more extensively with spare parts. We are really going to beef up our "damage control" spares after reading about the sinking of a Selene 47 in July near Ketchikan following a grounding/anchoring incident. We already had soft plugs for through hulls and covers for the engine room air intakes, but will add a real "fothering" blanket with lines and are considering a portable dewatering pump since the bilge pumps could be out of the water if the boat has any significant heel angle. We are also going to beef up our "ditching" bag contents.

The current border crossing policies of both Canada and the US make provisioning the boat more difficult in knowing what meats, vegetables, dairy and fruits will be accepted by either country. The real impact is the cost and quality of the items purchased at remote locations in Canada. Alcohol quantities are well known, the main impacts are cost and selection. The British Columbia liquor taxes make the cost 2-3 times Washington State, which are high themselves. We were told by US Customs and Border Protection that they would begin enforcing collection of Washington State excise taxes on alcohol in excess of the duty free limit for those vessels that they physically inspect.

Some facts:

Total distance travelled since May 1, 2010 – 4288 nautical miles, including the Roche Harbor Yacht Club cruise to Port Townsend on Labor Day weekend. Total miles since delivery – 5700.

Total fuel consumed, all sources (main engine, generator, heating system) – 3070 gallons

Main engine hours – 543 – two oil changes

Generator hours – 359 – three oil changes

Kabola Heater Hours – system on for more than 100 days

Average speed over ground – 7.8 knots

Maximum Wind Speed encountered – 52.7 knots in Peril Strait

Minimum water depth under keel – 2.3 feet in El Capitan Passage

Number of nights at anchor – 60, there would have been more except for the throttle issue.

We have unloaded the summer equipment into a storage locker at the marina. This includes the crab and shrimp pots, the stern line reel, fishing equipment, extra ice chests, kayaks and other miscellaneous equipment. We did not realize just how much "stuff" we had, and the volume of stuff, even if the weight is not that much.

We have settled into Anacortes Marina life, lazy mornings, maintenance and cleaning (there is always something that needs doing), visiting with friends, sampling the variety of "happy hour" choices in Anacortes and moving excess clothing and food back to our home in Bellevue.

Visiting with our friends in Anacortes has been bittersweet, as many leave for warmer climates during the winter and they are gradually winterizing their boats and departing. Some boats, like our previous sailboat "Spirit", now named "Dilligaf", have headed out Juan de Fuca straits and turned left, planning on being gone to the South Pacific and further for 3-10 years. They are loosely following "Panta Rhei" and "Ponderosa", who left a few days before them. We saw all three boats several times while in SE Alaska. Dilligaf plans on wintering in Mexico and then heading for the Marquesas next April. They are really living the dream!

We plan on bringing "Spirit" south to Lake Union for warranty work and upgrades the second week of October and spending most of our time in Bellevue, except for shorter trips when the weather permits, until next spring.

The cruise ends, but the story is not over!

2010-09-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

September 1, 2010

The marina was still when we awoke and prepared to get underway for the final day of the 2010 Spirit Voyage. The heavy rain from the night before had stopped and the skies were clearing as we disconnected shore power and untied the lines for the final push to Anacortes shortly before 7 AM. The weather report from Environment Canada was favorable, the gale warnings were lifted and the Halibut Bank Buoy (about 12 miles north of our projected course) showed 10 knot winds and 2 foot seas.

We should have known better. Conditions in the Straits of Georgia can be wildly different just a few miles apart.

As we headed out of English Bay past Spanish Bank, the wind continued to increase, and the seas followed. We noticed that there was a small sailboat hard aground on Spanish Bank as we passed. The skies were clear, but instead of 10 knot winds, we were soon in 27 knot winds and seas big enough that we could hardly see where we were going due to the spray. We tried altering course to the South, but the roll motion in the quartering seas was scary, even with stabilizers. The best course we could make would take us to somewhere between Gabriola and Porlier Passes in the Gulf Islands, where we hoped for a lee from the brisk westerly winds. We did not pick up the lee shore until about 4 miles from Gabriola Pass, but were then able to head south to Porlier Pass, which we hit just at slack water. Once inside, we had calm seas and light winds as we headed south through the Gulf Islands, down Trincomali Channel and finally passing Bedwell Harbor.

We had intended to clear customs at Anacortes, and we had plenty of time, so we just headed across the international boundary, lowering the Canadian Flag for the first time since the 4^th of August as we crossed the boundary about 1325 in the afternoon. The weather continued clear and calm as we headed past Stuart Island, down San Juan Channel, through Harney Channel, across Blakely Sound, through Thatcher Pass, across Rosario Strait, up Guemes Channel and into Cap Sante Marina to clear US Customs.

We arrived at Cap Sante Marina at 1710, during dinner hour, but by 1830 we had not only finished the formalities, but were back in our slip at Anacortes Marina, where we were greeted by Suzanne and Gary Patton (37 Nordic Tug "General"). After a quick rinse to remove some of the salt, we spent time reconnecting on our mutual adventures in the Broughton's this year before calling it a night.

Our guest for the past month, John Duvall, reluctantly packed his bags and headed back to his boat "Sabbatical" to get ready to re-enter the working world in the morning.

We are preparing for the diesel mechanic to look at the throttle problem in the morning.

After 124 days, we have 4,228 miles on the log. There are lots more statistics, observations and pictures about our cruise, but that is why the 2010 Spirit Voyage is not yet over!

Stay Tuned In!

Desolation Sound to Vancouver

2010-08-31T09:48:00.001-07:00

Moon near Dent Island
View down Pryce Channel

Moonrise in Prideaux Haven

Canadian Goose Begging for Food in Squirrel Cove

August 24, 2010

Leaving Dent Island Lodge behind, we entered Yuculta Rapids at slack water and proceeded down Calm Passage. Although we still had worries about the throttle, there was so much boat traffic going the same direction that we felt comfortable. The weather was sunny and the winds calm so we decided to cruise up Deer Passage, across Pryce Channel and down Waddington Channel so we could investigate Walsh Cove Marine Park. Walsh Cove looked good, but was already full of stern tied boats. The water temperatures were in the low 70's as we headed down the channel. We continued on to Prideaux Haven and found a place to anchor and stern tie. By this time it was just plain hot, so the kayaks went over the side for a paddle around in the 70 degree water. There were lots of people swimming and jumping off the rocks in Prideaux Haven, Melanie Cove and Laura Cove. We invited the Usher's on "Friendship II", whom we had met at Dent Island, over for a BBQ in the sun. We ate out on the boat deck and had a great time as the sun set. We had a selection of burgers, hot dogs, polish sausages and steak, along with homemade potato salad.

August 25, 2010

Waking up to another sunny day, we decided to just stay where we were and explore the area in detail from kayaks and the tender. We treated the anchorage to the aroma of a marinated pork loin and potatoes au gratin, along with a huge green salad as we tried to use what fresh vegetables we had left before they spoiled.

August 26, 2010

We reluctantly hoisted the anchor and headed just a few miles to Squirrel Cove for the evening. We had not been in Squirrel Cove for at least 10 years, and two boats ago. Luckily we found a place to anchor right in front of the reversing rapids to the lagoon and had a ringside seat as we watched tenders and kayaks attempt to enter the lagoon. The breeze started to pick up, and the temperature cooled down as we converted some of the pork loin into a spicy Szechuan stir fry over rice. As night fell, the rain started, just as we were stowing the tender on deck in preparation for the trip to Pender Harbor in the morning. The rain continued most of the night, at times extremely hard.

August 27, 2010

Since the trip to Pender Harbor was expected to take 7 hours, we hoisted the anchor at 0800. There was a large quilt wrapped around the anchor chain, all covered with mud, and the smell was atrocious. Since we did not have a fishing license for quilts, we returned it to the deep. At least we did not snag any logging cables! The rain had stopped, and the weather just got better as we headed south. We were part of a parade of boats all headed the same direction, although there were a few boats still headed north. When we arrived at Pender Harbor, Garden Bay was pretty full, so we went to our back-up plan and anchored in Gerrans Bay at 1415, a fast run. It was time for a pub lunch, so the tender was launched and we headed for the Garden Bay Pub for halibut and chips and some Kusshi oysters on the half shell. We then toured some of the other parts of the bay in the tender, including Gunboat Bay, which has a narrow rock filled entrance with high currents. The bay looks good, but no large boats due to the narrow and shallow entrance.

August 28, 2010

After unsuccessfully trying to get dock space in Howe Sound at either Gibsons or Bowen Island, and being unsure of the space on a summer weekend in either Smuggler Cove or Plumper Cove we decided to just stay anchored in Gerrans Bay and enjoy another day in the sun, along with more tours of the entire harbor. Dinner was grilled New York steak, getting down to the bottom of the freezer stock from our initial provisioning four months ago. The wind came up in the evening and the temperatures cooled a little, but we were treated to a gorgeous starry night.

August 29, 2010

The anchor was raised at 0730 for the 50 mile run to Quayside Marina in False Creek, Vancouver. For most of the trip we had mild winds and calm seas, until we got to the entrance to Howe Sound. The ebb tide and opposing wind made for choppy seas until we turned the corner and transited Shoal Passage to look at Gibsons and Plumper Cove Marine Park. We are glad we did not head for Plumper Cove. It is crowded and surrounded by private homes and buoys. Most of the boats there were in the 20-30 foot size, and the dock and buoy spacing seemed sized for them.

We continued up around Bowen Island and then headed for False Creek. Snug Harbor on Bowen Island looks like a place to stop in the future, but with advance reservations. Since it was a Sunday afternoon, there was a lot of traffic entering False Creek, everything from kayaks to powerless sailboats and dinner cruise ships. We finally docked at Quayside Marina behind the 151 foot Northern Marine megayacht "After Eight".

Today was John Duvall's birthday so we headed into the Yaletown area of Vancouver at the head of the dock looking for a place to celebrate his special day? There were lots of places to choose from in this former warehouse, now trendy upscale area, but a place called "100 Days" caught our eye, and we headed in. The menu was in chalk on the wall (also printed), and after being seated in an area with open French windows onto the street, found out they had only been open 2 days and would close in 100 days and renovate again. Our waiter was from the Gold Coast outside of Brisbane and told us the story of how they had created the restaurant in only 5 days. The place stilled smelled of fresh paint. However, the food and service were great, and the staff brought us a special dessert platter for John's birthday that had tiramisu, a halved Okanogan Peach broiled into a cobbler with topping, Boston cream pie éclairs, and three kinds of panna cotta, mandarin orange, pineapple and chocolate/hazelnut. Some of the entrees included crab and lobster Mac & Cheese (Miriam's choice), Spaghetti Bolognaise (John) and Angus steak (Patrick).

After dinner, a walk along the new waterfront esplanade brought us to False Creek Yacht Club where we stopped for a glass of wine before heading back to the boat.

August 30, 2010

Today we went to Granville Island on the water taxi and looked for some inside passage planning charts for John Duvall. Alas, this late in the season none were available. We shopped in the public market for some cheese and cold cuts for appetizers later in the evening with Mike and Susie Miner on the Selene 50 "Seeker". Miriam and Patrick also explored the "Urban Fare" supermarket one block from the boat. It has a fantastic selection of food at reasonable prices.

We have crossed paths with the Miner's several times, most recently in Sullivan Bay. After appetizers we all went up to the "100 Days" restaurant for dinner and let the chef pick a tasting menu to share, which turned out to be more than we could all eat.

Light rain started shortly after we returned to the boat, and just got heavier overnight

August 31, 2010

The rain was very heavy when we woke up, along with gale warnings in the Strait of Georgia. At 0900 the Halibut Bank buoy was reporting sustained winds of 24 knots with gust to 30 and 5 foot seas which were building over the previous hour. With the intermittent throttle problem still not resolved we are staying one more day in False Creek to let the winds and seas subside. We will then go direct to Anacortes, a distance of about 72 nautical miles.

We now have 4142 nautical miles on the log after 123 days on this adventure.

Port Harvey, Cordero Lodge and Dent Island Lodge

2010-08-24T09:18:00.001-07:00

The view down Cordero Channel
Heron Fishing at Dent Island

August 20, 2010

Our route from Sullivan Bay took us back down past Echo Bay, Cramer Passage, Retreat Passage, Spring Passage and into Knight Inlet. Along the way we saw porpoises, bears on shore and more sunny skies. As we approached the turn into Lagoon Cove, we decided to keep going since the radio traffic indicated Lagoon Cove would be very crowded. We continued down Chatham Passage into Havannah Channel and decided to see what the new marina at Port Harvey was like. As we approached the inlet the main engine throttle problem we had experienced just one week earlier resurfaced and we ended up idling the final two miles into Port Harvey. The owners were really trying to be helpful and offered any assistance to help solve our issue. There were only two other guest boats in the marina which could hold 10 or more.

We decided to try their small restaurant at Port Harvey and had good fish and chips for dinner, as well as good conversation with the owners and other guests in the restaurant. There is a small store, but with a good selection of items.

August 21, 2010

Light rain greeted us as we departed Port Harvey, certainly a repeat stop on future trips. There were several Orca whales in Johnstone Strait as we left, but too far away for photos. Since we were uncertain of the throttle performance, we met up with Ron & Bonnie Zuckerman on "Z-Worthy", another Selene, just outside of Port Neville, and they graciously shadowed us into Cordero Lodge in case we had throttle problems while transiting Whirlpool and Green Point Rapids. We arrived at Cordero Lodge in early afternoon just before the rain began in earnest. We had a German dinner (we had beef rouladen) at Cordero Lodge with Zuckerman's as we rehashed the day.

August 22, 2010

Zuckerman's departed early in the morning for Campbell River and we followed shortly after to transit Dent Rapids to Dent Island Lodge at low slack water. There was a long line of boats waiting for slack water, but the transit was uneventful and we were docked at Dent Island by 0930 in the morning. The sun began to peek out from the clouds as we went up to the lodge for coffee and pastries. The sun continued to shine as we relaxed in the hot tub and decided what to order for dinner. We are definitely in the "pampered" stage of our cruise, with only 6 more nights planned at anchor, the rest tied to a dock.

Dinner was good, as usual, with appetizers which included oysters prepared several ways, salads, rack of lamb as well as surf & turf, and cheesecake and key lime pie for dessert. The staff does a great job, as they should, for the price Dent Island charges.

August 23, 2010

We spent the day at Dent Island on the phone with ZF and Cummins Northwest, as well as several Canadian firms trying to resolve the throttle issue. No one was able to help in any kind of reasonable time frame. We were quoted waits of two weeks or more due to staff vacations and backlogs of work. Our plan remains the same, depart at low slack water to transit Gillard Passage and Yuculta Rapids so that if the problem occurs we will be going with the current.

With the throttle problem at least defined we went to the new Tapas bar at Dent Island for our evening meal. It is hard to adequately describe the variety of tastes we were exposed to over the course of the evening. John, the executive chef goes all out in preparing a culinary journey to enjoy. We started out with a spot prawn civiche along with a pico de gallo and tri-color corn chips just to whet our appetites. This was followed by an oyster dish broiled on the half shell with parmesan and other things, a Caesar salad with grilled eggplant and lemons and spot prawns, wings and ribs with several different sauces, half a Dungeness crab to crack with two sauces, grilled lamb chops and sausages with pesto, butternut squash ravioli with beef tenderloin and dessert of grilled pineapple, pound cake and chocolate sauce, followed by coffee. We were even treated to opera singing by Kathryn Humphries (http://www.kathrynhumphriesmusic.blogspot.com/) , who also sang last night. This all took place in a new pavilion alongside little Dent Rapids called "The Rapids Grill", which provided an incredible backdrop to the evening, both in sound and scenery. We went back to the boat and continued our conversation with Felix and Rita Brenninkmeijer on the Nordhavn 62 "Feria". They live in Duesseldorf, Germany and have crossed the Atlantic several times on several different sailboats and are now cruising the west coast on their Nordhavn.

August 24, 2010

We depart this morning at 11 AM and will be out of internet range for several days as we explore Desolation Sound.

We have now logged 3,994 miles on the log as our trip winds to a conclusion in a little over one week.

Laura Bay and Greenway Sound

2010-08-18T20:29:00.001-07:00

River Otters at Laura Bay Cove
Stern Tied in Laura Bay Cove for the first time this season

Incredible scenery

Hike to Broughton Lake

Broughton Lake

Dinner at Greenway Sound

Remains of a boat high up in the hills, are we on Mount Ararat?

An example of our prawn catch

We arrived in Laura Bay on Broughton Island after a calm wind and flat sea passage from Kwatsi Bay and found we needed to stern tie for the first time this trip. We joined 8 other boats in a peaceful setting. The prawn pots were set in the outer bay in 300 feet of water among a dozen other pots. The silver salmon were jumping in the cove where the schools of pacific whiteside porpoise had herded them. The BC fisheries people estimate that over 5000 pacific whiteside porpoise have invaded the Broughtons. A number of small boats were fishing in among the silvers, but we only saw one salmon caught.

The prawn pots yielded a few dozen spot prawns and coon stripe shrimp; soon we hope to have enough for more than an appetizer.

August 17, 2010

The weather has cooled down from yesterday, with low overcast and fog. The wind is still light and retrieving the prawn pots was easier than the evening check we did last night when the wind was blowing the tender all over the bay. The prawns are still elusive, but we added several dozen more to our stores. We now have enough for generous shrimp louie's for all three of us.

We pulled the anchor about 1015 and headed for Greenway Sound Marina, towing the tender. The weather remained overcast and calm as we pulled into the dock just as another Selene, "Raindancer" was preparing to leave. We last saw "Raindancer" in Port McNeill three months ago. The skies began to clear and we had a sunny afternoon as we gave Spirit a much needed washdown. During the afternoon two more Selenes arrived, "Koinonia" and "Ulla Dulla" as well as "Gold Duster", a member of RHYC. The docks were still sparsely populated, and that seems to be the story among all the marinas in the Broughtons this year.

The prawn pots were reset and we headed up to the restaurant for an excellent steak & prawn dinner. Our waiter was Greggor, who knows our niece Sidney and is also attending the UW.

August 18, 2010

We woke to overcast skies and pulled our pots. This time there were 40 prawns. After much discussion we decided to stay one more day at Greenway Sound and so we reset the pots in a new location, hoping for better luck. After having Greenway Sound Pizza for lunch, Patrick & John hiked up to Broughton Lake and then checked the prawn pots. We collected 70 large spot prawns, which went into the freezer since our stock in the refrigerator was up to about 150. The prawns were not as large as Gary & Suzanne Patton found earlier in the Broughton's, but they were still good sized. Later in the day Ron & Bonny Zuckerman arrived in their Selene 48 "Z-Worthy". We had hoped to meet up with them in Alaska, but our paths never really crossed.

We cooked a roast beef for dinner, along with shrimp and avocado cocktails as the skies finally cleared for dinner in the sun.

We plan on going to Sullivan Bay tomorrow, but who knows where we will end up.

Kwatsi Bay

2010-08-16T09:58:00.001-07:00

Kwatsi Bay is deserving of the name "Glory Be"

Directions to the marina - it is the only structure in the bay.
The scenery at rustic Kwatsi Bay Marina

We departed Pierre's shortly after 10 AM, bound for Kwatsi Bay. We could see "Sea Jay"( Jim and Cheryl Matheson) on AIS anchored in Laura Bay, just 4 miles away, so we headed that way. By the time we arrived, they were underway so we stopped and chatted in mid-channel for a few minutes. We may see them later in the week.

Heading slowly up Tribune Channel we discovered the macerator pump had failed again. Fortunately we had a spare and were able to replace it underway. The failure was the same as before (failed duckbill valves) probably caused by an incorrect installation of the discharge hose reducer at the factory (it was only 14 inches from the pump, not the 60 inches the manufacturer recommended). We had brought back a longer section of hose in July but had not installed it when we replaced the duckbill valves on the existing pump. This time we installed the longer hose. In the process we also discovered a poorly crimped electrical connection which we also fixed. We are hoping this finally fixes the problem since we have no spare duckbill valves.

With the underway repair complete we finally arrived at Kwatsi Bay Marina at 1315 to a warm greeting by Anca. Kwatsi Bay reminded us of Misty Fiords in Alaska with the cliffs and high hills. We set the prawn pots and cooked up the crab for happy hour on the dock (there were 6 boats present) and also met Max. We converted more of the crab into crab "mac & cheese) with bow tie pasta, 4 kinds of cheese, diced green chilies, green onions and a topping of panko and sliced tomatoes. It was great. After dinner we checked the prawn pots, where we found a couple of dozen spot prawns. We moved the pots to a new location hoping for better luck in the morning.

August 16, 2010

Another sunny morning, but the prawn pots were empty. The new location was not good. We are heading for Laura Bay and will be out of e-mail contact for a few days.

Pierre’s and Pig Roasts

2010-08-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

Pierre unveils the pig, soon to be eaten by all

Patrick & John in Pirate Garb (sort of)

Friday morning, the 13^th, we departed Port McNeill in dense fog, which had been dissipating but then settled back to only about 100 yards visibility as we cleared the Port McNeill breakwater. When we got to Donegal Head on Malcom Island, the fog began to lift, just as we passed "Steel Tiger", owned by Harry and Teri Johnson, also members of Roche Harbor Yacht Club going the other direction. We motored up Arrow and Cramer Passages to Pierre's at Echo Bay for a two day stay and the Saturday Pig Roast. While in Arrow Passage the throttle control on the ZF Electronic Engine Control stopped working, but after contacting Selene Yacht Service (we were still in cell phone range at the time) reset the power switch and operation returned to normal. We discovered no error codes so it must have been just a gremlin!

The weather continued to improve and we docked in clear warm skies. Other boats continued to arrive and the place was soon full, including another Selene, "Three Wishes". We set the shrimp and crab pots and gathered for the potluck happy hour on the barge, which is a section of the old Lake Washington Bridge. Among the vessels present was "Rendezvous", Peter and Linda Jung, also members of Roche Harbor Yacht Club.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

On Saturday we awakened to clear skies and no fog. We checked the pots, with just a few prawns and no crab. We reset the crab pots in Shoal Harbor in new locations and by evening we had four legal crabs, soon to be converted into crab cakes. We enjoyed breakfast on the flybridge in the sunshine and warm temperatures, where we spent most of the day. Several of the boats had good luck fishing, with a 47 pound halibut and a 38 pound ling cod brought into the cleaning tables. Our crab and prawns looked puny compared to their catches.

The pig roast had a pirate theme, so many of us were in some sort of pirate costumes and everyone was asked to use "pirate speak" at the dinner. The potluck was good, lots of food, and the roast pork was great. The weather continued fair, clear and warm into the evening, not cooling down until well after sunset.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The skies are still clear, the seas calm, and the sun is warming up the boat quickly. The crab pots yielded 4 more crabs, so we are going to have to come up with some new ways to use crab in dishes.

Today we head for Kwatsi Bay, which is a new location for us.

Prince Rupert to Port McNeill

2010-08-11T22:16:00.001-07:00

Waiting for dinner to jump into his mouth

The number of fish waiting to jump the falls was stunning

Success!

Patrick's Coho Salmon

Ever hopeful the salmon will fall in his reach

Almost making it over the jump in the falls

Double Trouble on both sides of the falls

Success!

Carrying away the spoils!

8/6/2010

We were underway in heavy rain at 0755, but the seas were calm. There were fog patches before we arrived at the head of Grenville Channel, with the weather clearing as we passed Lawyer and Client Islands. The weather report for Hecate Strait was still for windy conditions and rough seas, so we elected to head down Grenville Channel, arriving at Nettle Basin in Lowe Inlet shortly before 4PM. We managed to pick up three Coho salmon, each about 6 pounds, as the rain continued. The Coho were trying to jump Verney Falls and there were two black bears feeding on the unlucky salmon at the base of the falls.

8/7/2010

Once again, we were underway at 0800 in light rain, but clearing. We cruised past Hartley Bay, up Verney Channel and down Ursula Channel to Bishop Bay Hot Springs for a quick soak. After the refreshing soak we continued down Princess Royal Channel past Butedale and arrived in Khutze Inlet where we anchored behind Green Spit rather than go another 5 miles to the head of the inlet. We set the crab pots at the head of the inlet after launching the tender.

8/8/2010

After retrieving the crab pots (6 nice legal crabs) we raised the anchor at 1000 and continued down Princess Royal Channel, down Sarah Passage, then Klemtu Passage to view the longhouse at Klemtu, through Jackson Narrows and finally anchored in Rescue Bay at 1630. Some of the crabs were converted into Patrick's crabcakes for dinner.

8/9/2010

Patrick made a crab and basil omelet for breakfast before we departed Rescue Bay with the intention of staying in Shearwater. Our route took us down Mathieson Channel, past several humpback whales, through Percival Narrows and then Reid Passage. The docks at Shearwater were full, so we anchored and went in for pizza for lunch. The pizza was not memorable. The weather report was deteriorating and we wanted to get across Queen Charlotte Sound as soon as possible, so we continued on to Codville Lagoon where set the prawn pots after arriving and anchoring at 7PM.

8/10/2010

After pulling the prawn pots (only 80 prawns), we headed out of Codville Lagoon. We listened to the weather report which predicted gale force winds in Queen Charlotte Sound on Thursday and Friday, so we made it a long day, heading all the way to Blunden Harbor. Humpback whales were active in Fitzhugh Sound, with several leaping clear of the water, but too far away for photos. The swells off Cape Caution were running up to 6 feet on the beam, giving the stabilizers a real workout. The fog and rain set in about Egg Island and fog plagued us the rest of the way. We finally anchored in Blunden Harbor at 7:15 PM in brisk northwest winds. By that time we elected to just have dinner and retire for the evening.

8/11/2010

The weather continued foggy, about 1 mile visibility as we headed across Queen Charlotte Straits to Port Mcneill to re-provision, a trip of slightly over three hours in a moderate beam sea. The fog began to lift as we arrived at the marina, where we joined two other Selene's as well as the Westbay Sonship 58 "Seventh Wave", owned by Ray and Sue Biggs from our yacht club. We joined Ray and Sue for cocktails as the weather continued to clear and the wind continued to increase from the west. The skies have cleared and we hope the wind subsides.

We now show 3746 nautical miles on the log since May 1.

Dixon Entrance

2010-08-04T18:08:00.001-07:00

August 4, 2010

Yesterday we motored to Foggy Bay in glorious sunshine and flat seas. We anchored with several other vessels and watched the sun set while enjoying 75 degree weather. The next morning we headed out early into dense fog and swells that still had not dissipated at Foggy Bay as well as lots of gill netters between Foggy Bay and Cape Fox. The fog just got thicker and the swells higher as we headed out across Dixon Entrance, but little to no wind. As we got into the lee of Dundas Island the swells disappeared completely and we began to see a few targets on the radar and AIS.

Heading down Chatham Sound we decided to use Venn Passage, and as we entered Venn Passage, the fog burned off ahead of us (still foggy behind) and we entered Prince Rupert Harbor in sunny, clear skies.

We cleared Canada Customs and tied up at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club where we will spend the next two days before continuing south. Looking west, the fog is still thick over Chatham Sound, but it is warm and sunny at the dock. We re-provisioned the boat with the items we could not bring across the border.

No pictures in the fog!

We now have 3397 nautical miles on the log.

The Behm Canal

2010-07-31T23:56:00.001-07:00

Our Behm Canal Route

An evening in Punchbowl Cove

New Eddystone Rock

Sean & Margaret Kayaking in Punchbowl Cove

Margot and Margaret enjoying the placid waters

The steep sides of Rudyerd Bay

This really looks like Norway

The back side of Punchbowl Cove

A brief glimpse into Walker Cove

Sean relaxing with a book in the sunshine

Cracking Crab
and working for dinner

Our evening dinner on the flybridge
Sean & Margaret made spring rolls

Celebrating Margaret's Birthday early!

July 25, 2010

We left City Floats in Ketchikan at 1020 and headed down Tongass Narrows under sunny skies into Revillagigedo Channel and the entrance to the Behm Canal, the passage of water that stretches some 130 miles around Revillagigedo Island. Right at the entrance to the Behm Canal a large group of purse seiners was fishing, so we got some good photos. Three years ago when we went through the Behm Canal it was foggy and raining, giving the name "Misty Fiords National Monument" true meaning. Today, however, we had clear skies and were able to get good photos of New Eddystone Rock, which is an ancient volcanic plug jutting up in the middle of the channel just outside Rudyerd Bay and Punchbowl Cove. When we arrived in Punchbowl Cove, it was deserted and the USFS buoy was vacant, so we tied up to it rather than anchor, although we have anchored here in the past. Both cartography systems (C-Map and Navionics) have the buoy in a significantly different location than the GPS indicated. The black cliffs of Punchbowl Cove are as spectacular as those in Princess Louisa Inlet. During the rest of the day we watched float planes landing further out in the bay with loads of sightseers from the cruise ships. The shrimp pots and crab pots were set and the kayaks were launched for paddles around Punchbowl Cove. The sunny weather allowed us to have dinner of crab cakes and flank steak with garlic roasted potatoes out on the aft boat deck when the tenders and kayaks were launched and out of the way.

July 26, 2010

Waking up to more sunshine and mild temperatures, we checked the crab pots and found 2 legal crabs, but no shrimp in the shrimp pots, just these curious creatures that look like a cross between a crab and a prawn, we called them "crimps" but later found they were "pinchbugs" or galatheid crabs. We decided to spend another day in Punchbowl Cove in the sunshine. All day long we watched one float plane after another land and spend 10 minutes taking photos before heading back to Ketchikan. Dinner was an extensive taco bar on the flybridge as we watched the sun set over the steep cliffs.

July 27, 2010

We headed out at 0930 after making a crab omelet and went further up Rudyerd Bay to look at the sheer cliffs and the "Rookery" before heading back out into the Behm Canal. We could have been in one of the Norwegian Fjords, the scenery is so similar. The weather continued to be sunny and warm as we set the shrimp pots in Saks Cove before anchoring in Fitzgibbon Cove several miles further up the canal. Fitzgibbon Cove turned out to have quite a bit of wind channeling in, but the bottom was mud and held well. At this end of the Behm Canal, the topography is far less spectacular than in Rudyerd Bay, the heart of "Misty Fiords". However, the water color is a strange green from all the glacial runoff into the canal. Even with the wind the temperature remained in the 70's until after 8PM. Margaret and Sean prepared chicken enchiladas with green sauce for dinner.

July 28, 2010

Waking up to another sunny morning we continued our journey around the Behm Canal. First we pulled the crab pots which contained 4 more legal crabs, and then went back to Saks Cove to retrieve the shrimp pots. There were just a few shrimp and a lot of "pinchbugs", but enough for part of our dinner. After Saks Cove we passed through Behm Narrows and motored past Bell Island Hot Springs, which has deteriorated even further in the three years since our last visit. Just a short distance away was Yes Bay, our destination for the evening. We anchored in the innermost cove and set the crab and shrimp pots in the next cove out. It was another warm and sunny day, so the kayaks and tender got a workout before a dinner prepared by everyone. Margot made appetizers, Patrick cooked crab cakes and Sean and Margaret made spring rolls with the shrimp and crab. We ate dinner out on the "sun deck" and then celebrated Margaret's August 9 birthday early with a surprise birthday cake baked by Miriam. We were also going to have a crab risotto, but decided we were too full of crab cakes and spring rolls.

July 29, 2010

For the first time in several days there were clouds in the sky when we got up. After a hearty breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy we pulled the anchor and headed for the crab and shrimp pots. The crab pots were empty, but we got a nice haul of coon striped shrimp before we headed for Naha Bay. We tried to tie up at the small public float, but we were really too big and there was a lot of current coming out of Roosevelt Lagoon, so we headed back out to Helm Bay on the Cleveland Peninsula, skirting the restricted area in the middle of the channel. We pulled into the public float area behind Fors Island and although there was empty space, the other occupants (apparently a commercial salmon fishing guide operation) quickly moved their small boats to fill the space and then called us on the radio with a story that the dock was high and dry at low tide, even though they had a Bayliner 38 and another large fishing boat tied up to the same dock. They also sent one of the small boats over to the USFS buoy to prevent us from considering that option(note: the buoy is in front of the USFS cabin, and when you have a cabin reservation you also have the buoy reserved, so we thought they were just protecting their rights). We decided we would not have wanted to tie up with such a negative reception (the first we had seen in SE Alaska). We continued to the head of Helm Bay and anchored in 90 feet of water in the middle of a field of crab pots. By now, the skies had finally clouded over and the wind had picked up, but it was still pleasantly warm.

Sean and Patrick cooked the crab and basil risotto that had been deferred from the night before and we relaxed watching a movie and looking for wildlife on the beach.

July 30, 2010

The skies are clearer than last night as we pull the anchor at 0815 enroute to Meyers Chuck. We passed the now empty dock behind Fors Island but did not go in to see how deep the water actually was, although the dock does look very close to shore near low tide. The dock at Meyers Chuck was full when we arrived so we anchored in the harbor, but no sooner had we launched the tender and gone ashore when a boat left, opening up a gap long enough for us. We pulled the anchor and tied up astern of a 42 foot Nordic Tug and across the dock from another one, both travelling together. After visiting the gallery and purchasing some handmade wood bowls we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sun.

July 31, 2010

Another sunny morning as we departed at 0715 for Ketchikan, docking at City Floats in a brisk breeze shortly before noon. There were no cruise ships in today and most shops were closed as well as restaurants. Sean, Margaret and Margot depart tomorrow and John Duvall arrives to join us on the trip south. We went out for dinner at Annabelle's, one of the only places in town that was open. Although the weather is sunny, wind and seas too rough to cross Dixon Entrance are predicted for the next several days, so we plan on going to Foggy Bay and waiting for a favorable window.

We are now finishing up Day 92 of our trip and show 3240 nautical miles on the ship's log.

Ketchikan Interlude

2010-07-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

July 23, 2010

We are really glad we headed to Ketchikan early. Several of the cruise ships cancelled their stops in Ketchikan due to the high winds in the channel. However, by early afternoon, the front passed by and the skies cleared as we headed to the Ketchikan Yacht Club for their Friday evening BBQ. We really lucked out, as they had a fish fry of halibut and salmon prepared numerous ways along with salads and dessert. It was fun renewing connections from our last BBQ night three years ago. The Roche Harbor Yacht Club burgee we had left three years ago is still awaiting processing for display on the wall of the clubhouse, along with perhaps 40 other burgees. They will join about 140 burgees already on display.

July 24, 2010

This morning Ben and Connie departed and shortly after noon Sean, Margaret and Margot arrived via water taxi from the airport. We re-provisioned the boat at Safeway, discovering that no eggs were available since the barge was late, and the vegetables were scarce as well. While Patrick and Sean were at the store, a 42 foot Tollycraft made a disastrous attempt at docking. Spirit narrowly escaped being hit, but the 80 foot Alaskan ahead of us was not so lucky, sustaining several thousand dollars in damage to the hull. We had hoped to go to the Ketchikan Coffee Company for live jazz, but there was no music on Saturday night and so we decided that homemade pizza was a good option for dinner.

July 25, 2010

It looks like we will have a favorable weather window for the next few days as we head for the Behm Canal and Meyers Chuck and then return to Ketchikan. We will have no internet or phone service for several days.

Craig to Ketchikan

2010-07-23T12:36:00.001-07:00

Fog Formations in Clarence Strait

Patrick At El Capitan Cave

Some of the 370 steps to cave entrance

The entrance

Lots of tubes and branches, don't get lost!

Some of the flowstone formations

This formation is called "drool"

Ben and one of the USFS Guides in the "Pool Room"

July 20, 2010

The weather continues fair and warm, for SE Alaska as we depart Craig and head back up towards El Capitan Passage. We have made reservations for a tour of El Capitan Caves for tomorrow morning, so we are just looking for an anchorage close by. Along the way we see numerous shrimp pots set, so we finally settle on Devilfish Bay as our destination since there is reputed to be a good prawn location close by. Along the way we sighted numerous humpback whales feeding. The entrance to Devilfish Bay has a large rock right in the middle, but we found the water to be over 20 feet deep on the south side between the rock and shore, with a width of about 100 feet. The bay is fairly long, and the wind funnels through a cut at the end, so we were not impressed with the location, although the anchor set well. We launched the tender and ran back out the entrance to set the pot, and then back to set both crab pots. There were several sea otters present, so the crabbing may be poor.

As the sun set, the wind abated and we had a peaceful night at anchor after a grilled salmon dinner.

July 21, 2010

Today is going to be a long day, so we were up pulling the crab pots at 0600 (only a flounder in one pot) and underway shortly thereafter, towing the tender out to the shrimp pot location. We did have a few dozen spot prawns in the pot, but a lot of effort for a small haul. We anchored across El Capitan Passage from the USFS float, which is falling apart and limited to boats of less than 25 feet. Ben and Patrick went ashore for a 0900 tour of the caves. There were only 4 people on the tour, and two USFS guides. Hard hats and flashlights are provided, and we suited up for the 370 step climb to the cave entrance. The tour is fascinating and the guides were really knowledgeable about both the cave and the surrounding flora and fauna. When we exited the caves, which are at a constant 40 degrees, it was raining. The tour takes a little over 2 hours, so by 1130 we were back on board Spirit with the anchor hoisted for the trip back through Dry Pass and the rest of El Capitan Passage. The second time through was much faster and by 1200 we were back in Shakan Strait. The rain abated, the wind was relatively calm, but we encountered patchy fog as we rounded Point Baker at the northwest tip of Prince of Wales Island. We continued to spot humpback whales and finally sighted some orcas in Sumner Strait. We were making good time, so we continued down Clarence Strait and into Coffman Cove. There was plenty of space on the public float, which has been rebuilt since our copy of the cruising guides was published. The float now goes out into the channel much further, so anchoring off the public float is not an option.

July 22, 2010

The weather report calls for deteriorating conditions and winds increasing to 30 knots in Clarence Strait, so we leave at 0700, determined to go straight through to Ketchikan, rather than overnight in Meyers Chuck. We stopped at Meyers Chuck for 1 hour so Ben and Connie could visit the gallery, and we stopped again near Ship Island and fished for a while, no luck, although the charter boats were doing well on pink and chum salmon. The charter boats were sharing the area with several humpback whales. The wind continued to hold off until we docked at City Floats in Ketchikan at 1600. The weather report has gone from small craft advisories to gale warnings, and the rain began, so we were glad to find a spot where we will not be kicked out by a fishing boats also running for cover from the gale.

The log now stands at 2867.5 nautical miles on day 83.

We all went uptown to a Chinese restaurant on Creek Street, which turned out to have pretty good food. The rain increased, along with the wind.

July 23, 2010

We woke up to a windy, rainy and bouncy morning, even sheltered behind the cruise ship "Norwegian Pearl". We are really glad we pushed on to Ketchikan, since Clarence Strait is likely miserable, and moorage is really scarce as everyone runs for cover. We would likely still be stuck in Meyers Chuck until tomorrow. The purse seiners continue to stream in looking for moorage. One of them reports that the wind is now blowing 40 knots out in Tongass Narrows when they came in. The reports from Dixon Entrance have seas at 10 feet and 30 knot winds. The rain is heavy enough we have to dog the wheelhouse doors to keep the water out. Patrick also doubled up the mooring lines since we are being blown off the dock with the winds right on the beam.

Ben and Connie headed up to sightsee and geocache, while Patrick and Miriam start getting the boat ready for Sean, Margaret and Margot's arrival in the morning.

Petersburg to Craig

2010-07-19T22:23:00.001-07:00

Ben & Connie Dancing Under the Stars in Sarkar Cove

Miriam and Patrick dancing under the stars

Spirit at Port Protection, State float

Patrick Kayaking at Port Protection

The main store and float at Port Protection

More Kayaking Photos

Fuel dock at Peterburg that Wilmer Oines Used to Run

Black bear in El Capitan Passage

Enjoying the sun at Port Protection

Ben & Connie

Our Grilled Salmon Dinner
on the sun deck.

Part of El Capitan Passage does not look like 70 feet wide, but it is!!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The voyage continues to the west coast of Prince of Wales Island and the town of Craig.

We decided to ride the morning flood tide through Wrangell Narrows so we would have plenty of options for a port or anchorage this evening. There was more traffic in the narrows than we have ever seen, but we hit the slack water at mid-point perfectly and proceeded in calm weather west in Sumner Strait, now riding the ebb tide out, which increased our speed by nearly 2 knots. We pulled into Port Protection and found space at the State Float. After a trip to the small store, and negotiating a price for a 5 pound Coho salmon for dinner, we set the crab pots and then went kayaking around the bay in the sunshine.

Dinner was grilled Coho Salmon, served on the sundeck, now that the kayaks and the tender were launched, as we watched the sun set over Summer Strait.

We checked the crab pots, but no joy. We think there are too many otters, hence the name Sea Otter Sound just a few miles south.

The next morning, Sunday, July 18, 2010, we had a lazy morning, paddled around the bay, stowed the water toys and left about 1100 to ensure we enter El Capitan Passage shortly after low slack. The channel is scary, only 70 feet wide and dredged to 7-8 feet at zero tide in the shallowest places, but at least we can see all the obstructions. We slowed down to 5 knots, called on the VHF to warn oncoming traffic and headed into the passage.

The trip turned out to be spectacular, and keeping in mid-channel was not difficult, since there was little wind, minimal current and sunny skies. Ben and Connie spent most of the passage on the bow seat in the sunshine drinking in the scenery, which included one black bear on shore. After several hours we were out in the deeper sections of El Capitan Passage, where we checked out Devilfish Bay before heading to Sarkar Cove for the evening. The tender was launched as soon as we arrived, and serious explorations took place before a twilight dinner of grilled burgers (we can't be gourmet all the time!!) while we watched the sun set in the northwest. Before dinner, we motored to the head of the cove in the tender and part way up the creek watching the eagles feed as dusk approached. After dinner, dancing commenced on the aft deck, but we discovered that none of us was particularly good so we adjourned to watch several more episodes of "The Big Bang Theory".

Monday, July 19, 2010

After a peaceful night at anchor, we made a frittata for breakfast and then we headed the rest of the way down El Capitan Passage, wound our way through the Harmony Islands, and eventually docked at North Harbor in Craig under mostly sunny skies and pleasant temperatures. Along the way we were able to see numerous humpback whales and dozens of sea otters. The transient dock is fine, but we are the only Selene. The rest of the cruisers are all Krogens, ranging in size from a 58 footer to several 39 footers. Patrick walked up to the medical center and had some stiches removed and discovered a painting done by J. Craig Thorpe decorating the clinic office. We have known Craig for many years, and we now attend the same church in Bellevue.

Dinner this evening is at "Ruth Ann's" in Craig. They were out of oysters and spinach salad, but we made out OK. Back to the boat for after dinner drinks.

We are now at 2684 nautical miles on day 80 of our cruise.

Humpbacks and Bergs

2010-07-15T22:17:00.001-07:00

The last three days were spent retracing our path from Petersburg to Endicott Arm via Frederick Sound, Stephens Passage and Tracy Arm Cove. As we rounded Cape Fanshaw we could see dozens of spouts and splashes from humpback whales feeding and playing from Storm Islands all the way to Windham Bay. We had never seen so many humpbacks in one place, and from the radio chatter, they were also on the Admiralty Island side putting on a show for yachts and cruise ships alike. At least one came totally out of the water and more surfaced and sounded close to the boat. We finally just put the engine in idle and enjoyed the show. Along the way we snacked on Miriam's freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Arriving at the Tracy Arm Bar well past slack water we bucked an ebb current of more than 4 knots for a few minutes and then anchored with six other boats in the cove. By dark, there were 13 boats as they returned from their trips up Tracy Arm in the clouds and rain. It seemed to be a magical time as the clouds lowered and the rain reduced visibility in the cove as the light gradually faded. We sat in our warm cabin and toasted Connie's Birthday with Margaritas before sitting down to a birthday dinner of prime rib roast, salad, scalloped potatoes and birthday cake baked on board by Miriam. Connie picked the movie for the evening, "It's Complicated", and we actually all stayed awake to the end.

The wind and rain increased overnight and the wind was gusting to 25 knots as we pulled the anchor for an early start up Endicott Arm for the third time. Visibility was very poor, the rain was heavy and we seriously considered staying at anchor for the day, but we detected a slight improvement and headed out anyway. The Tracy Arm Bar buoys were only occasionally visible since they were mostly underwater from the current. Fortunately, both the range marks and the electronics allowed us to shoot the channel carried out by a 5 knot ebb current. We briefly panicked as a barnacle encrusted ancient buoy surfaced in mid-channel directly ahead of us. We think it had been held down by bergs in a previous season and finally broke loose.

The visibility improved as we headed down Endicott Arm, and the ice concentrations were remarkably clear, allowing us to motor at near full speed to within 1 mile of the face before we had to slow down and pick our way for the last portion. Two other boats were there, and we launched the tender to get even closer and take more photos. There was a large section of the Dawes Glacier that calved and sent rollers down the arm while Ben and Connie were out in the tender. There were frequent smaller calvings taking place so the water was constantly rolling. After enjoying the scenery and collecting more glacial ice for future libations, we headed back to Tracy Arm Cove for the evening and relaxed from the long day. Connie has now photographed every blue berg between Dawes Glacier and Tracy Arm Cove. We were surrounded at anchor by small floating bergs that had found their way into the cove, little knowing that they were going to end up in our drinks! One of the bergs decided we were worth hanging out with and stayed right alongside for hours. No gourmet meals after this long cruising day, but leftovers converted into stroganoff.

The evening turned glassy calm and after watching a movie, we retired, only to be awakened at 0430 by a horrible crunching scraping noise outside. We instantly knew that the berg had decided to snuggle up alongside and parts of the berg could be seen underneath Spirit. We tried just fending off, that did not work. We then just raised the anchor and headed back down Stephens Passage to Petersburg. The porpoise and humpback whales were out in force and we stopped for nearly 2 hours just drifting with the engine turned off and watching the whales. At times we could see them pass under Spirit and then surface alongside, breathing in and out with whooshes and just ambling along. The humpbacks finally departed to the north and we continued our trip into Petersburg, arriving at 1530. We looked at the hull as far as we could see and the berg appeared to have not even scratched any bottom paint, just created noise.

The log now stands at 2556 nautical miles on day 76 of our voyage.