BC Central and North Coasts, Crossing to Alaska

Location:  Ketchikan, Alaska

Approaching the anchorage, Owyacumish Bay / Brim River, Gardner Canal

At the end of the last blog, we were in Pruth Bay.  We stayed there another day and did some more beach walking.

Thursday, July 19, Pruth Bay:  I got up in the middle of the night to have a look at Mars.  They have been talking about it on the morning net and it was a treat to see it amongst the bright night stars.  An ITB (integrated tug barge) pulled into the anchorage early this morning, bringing supplies to the Hakai Institute.  After the morning boater’s net, we went over to visit Roly and Marian on their boat Tropic Isle.  They also participate in the boater’s nets and Roly keeps a web site with pictures of the participating boaters and their boats.  For those of you curious about the boater's nets, there are two that operate in the Pacific Northwest.  The Great Northern Boater's Net, the morning net on frequency 3870 KHz, starts at 7:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).  Darlene (call sign KL0YC) from Dora Bay, Alaska runs the northern portion of the net until 8:00 a.m.  The southern portion of the net starts at 8:00 a.m. and is handled by various net controllers depending on the day of the week.  The northern portion of the net is only on during the summer cruising season but the southern portion runs all year (the web link above goes to an article about the GNBN; Barbara, featured in the article, retired from being the main net controller for the southern portion of the net earlier this year because of health concerns).  In the evening, the West Coast Boater's Net, on frequency 3860 KHz, comes on at 6:00 p.m. PDT.  The evening net takes calls from Northern California to Northern Alaska and runs from late spring to early fall.  All ham radio operators are welcome to participate in the nets.  

Picture of the trails from Pruth Bay to the beaches.  The white X shows our anchoring location.
The red lines show the trails we walked from the Hakai Institute docks to West Beach, North Beach and the South Beaches.

After our visit, we went ashore to catch up on some internet.  A light, misty rain started to fall so we went back to the boat for lunch and chores.  Later in the afternoon the rain stopped and the sky cleared up.  We went ashore and walked the trails to the south beaches.

Dave between two rocks on West Beach

B on the trail between West Beach and the South Beaches

An immature bald eagle in a tree overlooking one of the south beaches.
He flew to this perch as we were walking underneath and wasn't a bit concerned about us being there.

Friday, July 20, Pruth Bay to the McNaughton Group (22 nm, 3.2 hours):  We got underway about 8:30 and headed north towards Hakai Passage and the northern portion of the Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy Area.  We crossed Hakai Passage into Queen Charlotte Sound and the rolling swell of the Pacific.  The book I’ve been reading, Fishing with John, describes the islands and rocks in this area so it was interesting to connect the landmarks and imagine what it was like to fish from a troller here in the 1960s.  We turned east into Cultus Sound (according to one of our guide books “Cultus” means worthless or good for nothing in Chinook jargon) and then turned north into the McNaughton group of islands.  We anchored in a cove called McNaughton NW or “Great Salt Lake Anchorage”.  It was overcast and rainy so we spent the afternoon reading and doing chores and maintenance. 

Sunset at McNaughton NW

Saturday, July 21, McNaughton Group to Wigham Cove via Goose Island (34 nm, 4.9 hours):  Anchor up this morning at 8:30 after listening to the morning net.  We picked up the crab trap, 4 small rock crabs so we didn’t keep any, then moved over to the prawn trap, only a sea cucumber in it.  A couple in a canoe, Eric and Meghan from Kamloops, were paddling by and we talked to them for a while.  They, and their dog Tia, were spending a couple of weeks camping and paddling along the central BC coast. 

Eric, Meghan and their dog Tia, canoeing the central BC coast.

Near the exit from Cultus Sound, we counted ten fishing boats along the shore.  We crossed Queens Sound to the Goose Island Group and anchored in the bay between Goose and Gosling Islands.  As we were eating our lunch, we spotted a sea wolf making its way across the flats between the two islands. 

Sea wolf crossing between Goose and Gosling Islands

According to one of our guide books the sea wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf which has adapted to living on salmon, crustaceans, herring roe and other sea life.  We launched the dinghy and explored the east coast of Gosling Island and did some fishing.  Dave caught a nice ling cod. 

Ling cod in the bottom of the dinghy

Dave filleting his fish.

Goose Island doesn’t have an all-weather anchorage, so we heaved anchor mid-afternoon and headed north/north east.  As we were transiting Raymond Passage, with no warning signs or alarms, we lost all of our electrical power – we had no steering, no navigation system, nothing electrical.  We pulled the throttle to neutral and Dave went down to the engine room.  The inverter/charger was shut-down which meant no engine room lights.  He tried to reset the inverter/charger but nothing happened.  We decided to start the generator and use it to power our electrical systems.  That worked.  We proceeded the remaining 8 nm to Wigham Cove, our anchorage for the night, with both the main engine and the generator running.  Once we got safely anchored up, we shut everything down.  After a quick review of the battery system manuals, we reset the battery monitoring system (BMS) and restarted the batteries.  Success!  All systems came back online.  We were just happy that it happened in a wide open channel with no traffic and not while we were transiting the rapids or a busy seaway.

Sunday, July 22, Wigham Cove to Bottleneck Inlet (39 nm, 5.5 hours):  We got underway this morning at 8:30 and headed west up Seaforth Channel then turned north into Finlayson Channel.  After some more studying, we decided the electrical shutdown yesterday was caused by the BMS triggering a Full High Voltage Cutoff.  When the voltage in the battery bank reaches 29.2 Volts (24V system), the BMS triggers a High Voltage Cutoff (HVC) after 10 seconds and deactivates all charging sources.  If any individual cell in the batteries reaches 3.9 V or the sensors detect excessive heat, the BMS triggers a Full HVC and deactivates both the charge sources and the loads.  Now that we understand what happened, we’ll be able to recover more quickly if/when it happens again. 

Ivory Island Lighthouse, at the junction of Millbanke Sound and Seaforth Channel

We turned into Bottleneck Inlet mid-afternoon, anchored up and settled in.  A few boat chores then we grilled chicken for supper while watching the eagles and kingfishers feeding along the shore.  All went well with the electrical systems today.

Monday, July 23, Bottleneck Inlet to Bishop Bay Hot Springs (53 nm, 7.8 hours):  During the morning net this morning, we mentioned that our destination for the day was Butedale.  Another boater came on and said that Butedale was under construction and closed so we decided to do a long run and go to Bishop Bay Hot Springs instead.  Butedale is an old cannery site that is in a state of decay with a nice waterfall in front of it.  Somebody bought the property a few years ago and is in the process of fixing up the docks and the shore area. Before heaving anchor, I went for a quick paddle around the inlet on my SUP while Dave did some modifications on the battery box cover to make it easier to open quickly.  We timed our departure to catch Hiekish Narrows near slack water and were underway about 9:30.  A few humpback whales were feeding in the channel near Butedale and we could see the excavator working on shore along with some smoke from the burn piles as we passed by.  One of the mooring buoys near Bishop Bay Hot Springs was open so we tied to it and then settled in for happy hour and supper.  We launched the dink and went ashore for an evening soak in the hot tub then finished off the day with a night cap on the stern.

Dave soaking in Bishop Bay Hot Springs

Tuesday, July 24, Bishop Bay Hot Springs to Brim River, Gardner Canal (40 nm, 5.5 hours):

We motored out of Bishop Bay about 8:30, after the morning net, which has been our pattern lately if we don’t have to worry about the timing for the currents at any rapids or narrows.  We headed north up Ursula Channel, west in Verney Passage, south in Alan Reach and then west in Gardner Canal.  We turned into Owyacumish Bay/Brim River and anchored near the waterfall at the head of the bay. 

Looking across the Gardner Canal from the mouth of the Brim River, Seabiscuit at anchor

The Gardner Canal is lined by steep, sheer granite walls, the bowls in the mountains hold remnants of glaciers and the water is a milky blue/green color because of the glacial run off.  Sitting in the boat at the base of the mountains reminded us of being in the Yosemite Valley, looking up at the steep granite walls there.  We spent the afternoon watching a mother merganser and her two chicks fish along the shore, along with the eagles, seagulls and seals.

Wednesday, July 25, Brim River to Europa Hot Springs (11 nm, 1.6 hours):  We launched the kayaks this morning and paddled up the Brim River to the first shallow rapids.  The mother merganser was out with her two chicks and we saw four bald eagles, two mature and two immature.  There is a large sand bar just before the rapids and we saw some bear tracks along the shoreline in the sand.  We didn’t see any salmon, but they must be heading this way since the bears seem to be checking for them.

Bear tracks on a Brim River sand bar

Dave paddling his kayak along the shore, Brim River, Gardner Canal.

We heaved anchor about 10:30 and headed back the way we came towards Europa Hot Springs.  Both mooring buoys were open so we tied to the one closest to the hot springs.  After lunch, we launched the dinghy and went ashore for a soak in the tub.  The horse flies were out and we didn’t stay long before retreating back to the boat.  We waited for the cool evening breeze to come up and for the horse flies to go away, then did a few outside chores and had happy hour and supper on the stern.

The structure at Europa Hot Springs.  Two hot spring pools are on the lower level.  The smaller, outside pool
has a plug that can be used to drain it.  It is then refilled from the larger, inner pool. 
The second level has a bench and a picnic table.

Dave soaking in the small, outer pool at Europa Hot Springs.

Thursday, July 26, Europa Hot Springs to Coghlan Anchorage (51 nm, 6.7 hours):  We got underway this morning about 9:00 and motored to the intersection of Verney Passage, Devastation Channel and Alan Reach to try our luck fishing for halibut.  We fished for about an hour with no luck but we got to watch a few whales in the distance.  We headed north towards Weewanie Hot Springs where we planned to have a soak in the hot tub.  When we got close, we could see a boat unloading/loading a group of campers and a sailboat was on the mooring buoy near the hot springs shelter so we continued on.  We cut southwest through Sue Channel, between Hawkesbury and Maitland Island, and then turned south into Douglas Channel.  We anchored for the night in Coghlan Anchorage, near Hartley Bay.  Bijaboji, the story about Betty Lowman traveling from Anacortes, WA to Ketchikan, AK in her dugout canoe in 1937, describes how she was stranded on a ledge in Douglas Channel after getting caught in a storm.  This book vividly describes the people and settlements that Betty encountered while she worked her way up the coast; it brings to life the old canneries and float homes that are now just dilapidated pilings along the shore lines.

Friday, July 27, Coghlan Anchorage to Lowe Inlet/Verney Falls (20 nm, 2.9 hours):  A short run today so we listened to the net then heaved anchor and got underway at 8:30 to catch the flood tide up Grenville Channel.  As we turned northwest into the channel, we saw three humpack whales feeding and “bubble netting” near the shore.

The wind in Grenville Channel was blowing 25 – 30 knots from the northwest and the water was choppy but once we turned east into Lowe Inlet, the wind and the chop disappeared.  We anchored on the south side of Nettle Basin and settled in for the day.  We did some boat chores and some maintenance and watched several other boats come into the anchorage.

Saturday, July 28, Lowe Inlet/Verney Falls:  We kayaked over to Verney Falls this morning to look for bears.  The pool below the falls is full of salmon jumping and waiting to go upstream to spawn.  We saw a few eagles in the trees above the falls and some seals fishing but no bears.  We paddled around the Nettle Basin, past an old cannery site and along the shoreline.  We saw lots of starfish, small halibut and crabs along the bottom. 

Verney Falls

B kayaking in Nettle Basin

On the way back to the boat, we watched the boat next to us pull their crab trap and get two huge crabs.  They also said that they had a lot of prawns in the trap they had dropped off in the main basin of Lowe Inlet.  We didn’t put out our traps, but we did some fishing off the stern for halibut and salmon; we didn’t catch anything.  We did some afternoon boat chores and some reading.  Doug and Janet from Sea Drifter stopped by for happy hour then we grilled steaks for supper.

Sunday, July 29, Lowe Inlet to Baker Inlet (26 nm, 3.5 hours):  Most of the boats in the anchorage left early this morning to catch the tide going south.  We were headed north so we hung around until 12:45 waiting for the tide to change before we heaved anchor.  I went for a paddle around the basin and we did a few boat chores.  As we exited Lowe Inlet into Grenville Channel, the wind was blowing 20-30 knots and the water was choppy.  The current in Grenville flows in and out from both the north and south ends and it meets near the middle, close to Evening Point; we got swirled around a little as we passed through the area where the currents meet.  We made fairly good time and turned into Watts Narrows close to high slack water.  Watts Narrows is a short, limited visibility passage that connects Baker Inlet to Grenville Channel.  Dave made a “securite” announcement on the VHF radio to inform other boaters we were transiting the narrows and we entered Baker Inlet.  We anchored near the head of the inlet and settled in for the night. 

Approaching the very narrow, almost hidden entrance to Watts Narrows and Baker Inlet.  It is near high tide.

Monday, July 30, Baker Inlet to Prince Rupert (41 nm, 5.3 hours):  Light fog this morning as we left the anchorage at Baker Inlet.  We exited the inlet via Watts Narrows at low tide and turned north in Grenville Channel. 

Exiting Baker Inlet via Watts Narrows at low tide.  The tree you see hanging horizontal in the middle of the photo is the same tree you seeing floating on the surface of the water in the above photo. 

We traveled in the fog most of the way to Prince Rupert.  The fog lifted as we approached the deep water Fairview Container Terminal on the west side of town.

Container ship being offloaded at the Fairview Container Terminal.

We tied up at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club and settled in.

Tuesday, July 31, Prince Rupert:  It was a nice, sunny day and we spent most of it wandering around town doing boat chores, shopping and errands. 

Mariner's Memorial Park, Prince Rupert

Wednesday, Aug. 1, Prince Rupert:  Another day in town doing chores, shopping and errands.

Artist touching up a mural on the side of a machine shop, Prince Rupert.

Thursday, Aug. 2, Prince Rupert to Ketchikan (80 nm, 10 hours):  We left the Prince Rupert Yacht Club at 7:00 this morning for our journey north to Ketchikan, Alaska.  We wound our way through Venn Passage, then turned north towards Dundas Island.  The seas were relatively calm with very little wind.  The fog settled in as we neared Dundas Island but cleared up again after we were north of it in Dixon Entrance.  Dixon Entrance is the entrance to the Pacific Ocean that separates the northern islands of British Columbia and the southern islands of South East Alaska.  Depending on the weather, crossing Dixon Entrance can be a challenge.  As we crossed, the winds remained light and the seas remained calm.  We picked up some of the northwest swell from the Pacific but is was low with a long period and wasn't uncomfortable.  We talked to a few boats on the VHF who were headed from north to south and provided them with information about the sea state and fog we had encountered in Dixon Entrance and south to Prince Rupert.  Since this is a long run, we had initially planned to divide it into two shorter voyages, but, the weather was good and the current was with us so we pushed on into Ketchikan.  As we approached the harbor, we radioed the harbormaster for a slip assignment and called U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to clear in.  We are tied up on the dock with the purse seiners in Thomas Basin, near downtown Ketchikan.

Purse seiners, our neighbors at the Thomas Basin docks.  Most of the slips next to us were empty when we pulled in.
These boats came in late last night after the fishery closed.

First cruise ship of the day pulling into the Ketchikan cruise ship dock.  There were four large cruise ships in town when we arrived and the harbormaster told us they average 3 - 4 cruise ships every day.

We're here in Ketchikan playing tourists and doing boat chores and maintenance for the next few days.  Patti and Al arrive for their summer vacation on Tuesday, August 7th to travel with us north up to Juneau.

Until next time...