Alaska 2014 - Port McNeill to Pruth Bay

May 24, 2014

0430 arrived all too quickly as we turned on the coffee pot and made preparations to get underway in the dawn twilight.  We were not the first boat to get underway, a 62 foot power catamaran “Wild Wind IV” beat us by about 10 minutes.  We cast off the lines at 0456 in light rain, calm winds and a relatively cool 52 degrees.  By 0500 the tender was in tow astern.  Cutting across Neill Ledge through the 24 foot deep gap we headed past Graeme Point on Malcom Island and into Queen Charlotte Strait, setting a direct course for Pine Island.  The seas are less than 1 foot with the beginnings of a low westerly swell.  It looks like a parade of cruise ships, tugs and pleasure craft all headed out into Queen Charlotte Sound and Pine Island via Gordon Channel.  The cruise ship Zaandam is at the front of the group, but will have to slow and drop off the pilot at Pine Island, where we will turn north past Egg Island and into Fitzhugh Sound.

We changed our minds on the routing when we were alongside the Walker Group and diverted up Bolivar Passage to the north end of Storm Islands to avoid some of the flood current and shave a few miles off the crossing.  The swell increased to a moderate westerly swell as we approached the tip of the Storm Islands and set a direct course for Cape Calvert at the entrance to Fitzhugh Sound.  By 1300 we were out of the swells and into Fitzhugh.

Earlier that morning we had talked to Doug and Karen Dance on the Selene 53 “Peregrine”, who were some 4 miles ahead of us and agreed to meet in Pruth Bay.  We had not anchored there before, so it was to be a new experience.  At 1600 the anchor was set in 55 feet of water.  We had covered 84 nautical miles for a grand total of 382 nautical miles so far.

Pruth Bay has free wifi provided by the Hakai Beach Institute, with the caution not to download large photo files or videos, so we will save most of the pictures for a few days.  No phone service however.

Mosquito Sculpture carved into cedar tree at Hakai Beach Institute

We all headed to shore and took the walk through the Hakai Beach Institute, visiting the mosquito sculpture carved into a large cedar tree and out to West Beach.  West Beach is exposed to the ocean and is a large and scenic sand beach with some interesting rock formations to photograph.

Returning to Spirit, and waiting out a torrential downpour, we decided to have a potluck dinner on Spirit, pulling pizzas from the freezer which were then doctored with additional toppings and supplemented by a big salad with home-made vinaigrette dressing.

May 25, 2014

The wind remained calm all night in the quiet anchorage in Pruth Bay.  The weather is beginning to deteriorate for the next few days, so we are heading to Codville Lagoon Marine Park, just 25 miles away.