Ocean Falls to Prince Rupert

Today we arrived at Prince Rupert, the next to last stop on Bill Craven’s voyage 60 years ago.  What took the SS Prince Rupert 2 ½ days has taken us two weeks, with many more stops and a much slower speed.

Since leaving Ocean Falls, once a thriving town and now deserted ruins, we transited Gunboat Passage to Shearwater, verifying that our stabilizers now work.  The number of vessels at Shearwater planning to stay the next night at Bottleneck Inlet sounded like too large a crowd, so we took a more scenic route through Reid Passage, Percival Narrows, up Mathieson Channel to Jackson Narrows, crossed over Finlayson Channel to Klemtu Passage and photographed the longhouse at Klemtu and then headed up Tolmie Passage to Princess Royal Channel where we turned in at Khutze Inlet.  We anchored at the head of the inlet in front of the falls, now mostly silent because the snow reached all the way to the water, the most snow we have ever seen.  The weather cooperated all day, with lots of sun.  Spirit was one of three vessels, accompanied by “Serena” and “Miller Time II”

Two crab pots were set and all three crews spent Mother’s Day evening on “Miller Time II”, a 68 foot Ocean Alexander Trawler from Edmondton, Alberta which we were moored close to in Shearwater.  The next morning our two crab pots were loaded with 26 legal crabs.  We kept our limit of 10 and returned the rest.  Departing Khutze Inlet at 0830 in sunny weather, we passed by another deserted cannery, Butedale, which has deteriorated even further just in the past year.

Proceeding up to the end of Princess Royal Channel we crossed Wright Sound and began the long trek up Grenville Channel. Bill and Miriam baked fresh French bread for dinner. The tide was ebbing against us so we hugged the eastern shoreline and avoided most of the current. Arriving at Lowe Inlet at 1545 we headed into Nettle Basin where there was a black bear feeding on the beach a few hundred yards from Verney Falls. The anchor was set in front of the falls at 1600. Although the sun was shining, the wind was cool, nonetheless Bill Craven and I cleaned our share of the crab (Miriam had cleaned her share earlier in the day) while enjoying the sun in the cockpit. The black bear came back to the beach as we finished a delicious dinner of fresh Dungeness crab, freshly baked French bread and salad. By nightfall there were four vessels in Nettle Basin.

Black Bear in Lowe Inlet

Bill Craven at Ocean Falls

The next morning we continued the trek up Grenville Channel, one of the least interesting sections of the entire trip.  Exiting Grenville Channel and crossing the section of Chatham Sound prior to entering Prince Rupert we encountered 20 knot winds and six foot seas with very short period due to the outflow from the Skeena River against the wind.  We coated Spirit with salt spray before entering Prince Rupert Harbor and docking in brisk westerly winds at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club at 1615.

SS Prince Rupert at Prince Rupert 1952

After the rough water, we sprayed Spirit down to get rid of some of the salt and then joined McCaffrey’s at the Breakers Pub for dinner.  The weather forecast is for 30 knot winds and two meter seas in Dixon Entrance in the morning so we have decided to remain in Prince Rupert and play tourist for another day.  Bill has already taken a short walking tour to remember what it was like 60 years ago, but more is planned in the morning.

Spirit has now logged 698 miles since leaving Anacortes, with only 83 miles left to go before we arrive in Ketchikan.