Prince Rupert to Ocean Falls

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.