Alaska 2014 - Dent Island to Port McNeill

May 21, 2014

We awakened to light rain as we prepared to go fishing with Herb, our guide for the morning.  After trying several locations, depths and lures, we called it quits about noon, having only hooked up with one juvenile king salmon and two rockfish.  As we returned, the rain increased to heavy showers, and we thought we might have a repeat of our 2007 Dent Island experience with lightning storms striking all around us, but fortunately that did not transpire.

Patrick fishing in Lewis Channel

Incredible scenery with the moon half full over Toba Inlet

Returning to Dent Island Lodge, we took care of maintenance items on both Spirit and the tender before heading to dinner in the lodge.  We were the only guests, and the first dinner guests of the 2014 season, so we had a unique menu from available supplies before the shipment of fresh goods, which included appetizers (goat cheese and caramelized onions on potato pancakes), spot prawn risotto, tenderloin with gnocchi and sautéed mushrooms, and a dessert of éclairs stuffed with ice cream with a blueberry sauce.  Joe, the new executive chef, who had been the sous chef the last three years, did a great job, with perfectly cooked and seasoned food, even though he had not yet gotten the annual shipment of supplies and fresh food from Campbell River.  It is clear that he loves cooking and interacting with the guests to make sure the food experience is great.  We are really looking forward to stopping on our return to see how the “Rapids Grill” experience is, where 12 or more people come, possibly as strangers, but definitely leave as friends.

May 22, 2014

Rain and fog in morning when we got up, we could not see across to Stuart Island.  The fog lifted slightly as we cast off the lines at 1115, just before high slack water.  By 1132 we had cleared Dent Rapids and proceeding down Cordero Channel we entered Green point Rapids at 1308 with no problems.  Proceeding down Chancellor Channel to Wellbore Channel we were flushed though Whirlpool Rapids at 1420 into Sunderland Channel and from there into Johnstone Strait.  The strait was smooth, with little wind until we passed Port Neville, where the wind increased to 20 knots, but from behind us, so the ride continued smooth.

At 1740 we docked at Port Harvey Marine Resort, operated by Gail and George Cambridge.  This is one of our favorite spots to stop, with the warm welcome and the beautiful setting, and the well-stocked store.  This early in the season the “Red Shoe Café” was not yet open, but Gail and George still deliver pizzas to the boat and cinnamon rolls in the morning.  We ordered a large pizza which was delivered right on time at 1900.

We have now covered 265 nautical miles.

May 23, 2014

The fog was thick when we got up to make coffee before our cinnamon rolls arrived, but by 0800 the fog had lifted to provide one mile of visibility.  The cinnamon rolls were huge and still warm from the oven when George brought them to the boat, where we shared coffee before departing at 0845.  We are now charter members of the “Port Harvey Yacht Club”, just an informal group of people who like Port Harvey and the Cambridges.

Our Port Harvey Yacht Club Burgee

Johnstone Strait was mostly calm with light winds, but a few gusts to 20 knots.  We kept Spirit close to the north shore to minimize the effects of the flood tide, which was running at 3 knots in the center of the strait, but only about 1 knot close to the shore.  The main obstacles this morning were the amount of logs and other debris to avoid.

Ahead of us, on AIS we could see another Selene Trawler, “Peregrine”, so we called them and agreed to meet the next day in either Pruth Bay or Green Island Anchorage after crossing Queen Charlotte Sound and then up into Fitzhugh Sound.

Docking at North Island Marina (formerly the Port McNeill Fuel Dock and Marina) at 1340 we headed to the store for last minute perishables since the next store will probably be Ketchikan in about one week.  We needed some spare parts (fuses, wiper blades, another 12 pound downrigger cannonball, etc) and managed to find everything we needed by early afternoon.  We have now covered 298 nautical miles since leaving Anacortes,  

The weather around Cape Caution across Queen Charlotte Sound sounds favorable, so we will depart tomorrow between 0500 and 0530 and will not have cell phone or internet except possibly in two days at Shearwater.  We will be a little short on weather info since the critical buoy at West Sea Otter has been out of service for 9 days, and that is the wave height info that most pleasure craft rely on to make the decision to cross the longest open water crossing of the trip.