SV Yohelah – Pacific Loop

“Have you heard about the local fishing boat that went down in Seymour Narrows last Wednesday at 7 a.m.?” That was the information being passed on by the woman in the boat next to us as she helped us with our lines when we tied to the dock in Campbell River. And it was told again by two locals who came to chat with Rob while he put the boat up. Big news in Campbell River when the locals have trouble with the narrows. The crew came out alive, although the boat was trashed having been on it’s side and filled with seawater. Of course I couldn’t stand it and finally checked the tide tables to find exactly what I’d hoped to – the max current in Seymour Narrows that Wednesday morning was a 13 knott ebb at 8:00 am. We were carefully planning another transit at slack water and knew we’d be fine. But it’s still enough to make you be very careful and appreciate the need to time your travels.

Tim and Cindy made it in on Sunday and took a few days of well deserved rest time. Rest time being, of course, time to work on the boat a bit. Rob & Tim got the new high output alternators installed on the engines, so we both now recharge in much shorter time than before.

Wednesday we headed north through Seymour Narrows in calm waters at slack tide and into Johnstone Straits. The weather was so nice and the current so favorable we pushed on long past our planned stop. On Thursday the wind came up a bit, but was behind us, as was the current again. We stopped in a little island group called Pearce Islands at the bottom of the Broughton Archipeligo and spent Friday enjoying the sun and watching the population of enormous eagles around our anchorage.

Friday night the Canadian weather folks forecast a low pressure system moving ashore, so we zipped over to Port McNeil yesterday morning and are sitting it out today. Tomorrow we’ll head for a little anchorage called God’s Pocket at the mouth of Queen Charlotte Strait to cross Queen Charlotte Sound and head north. This is a crossing we have to have a good weather window to make, and a high pressure system is forecast to build tomorrow, so it’s time to make a run for it.

Today we’re making plans for a big push north while we get a little rest in Port McNeil……

Port McNeil is here

“Don’t cross Queen Charlotte Sound if the height of the waves at Sea Otter Buoy is more than one meter”. That’s the advice given to us by our friends Jim & Barbara who made this trip last year. It’s also the advice in the cruising guide.

We got up at 4:00 am in a little anchorage at the south end of Queen Charlotte Sound to check the latest weather forecast. A high had built in, but a low with gale force winds was pushing through, and it had slowed down. If we didn’t make the crossing that day we could possibly be stuck for days waiting for the low to pass by. The forecast was perfect for the crossing, since the wind would be a light south easterly (behind us) and the gale wasn’t coming through until night time. But the seas at Sea Otter Buoy were already 2+ meters. Rats. What to do?

That was over a week and nearly 300 miles ago. And indeed, we did make the crossing that day in very big seas with no wind. It was quite a ride, but of course we had confidence our little boats would take good care of us. And did a gale blow through? We have no idea because we were tucked in tightly in Fish Egg Inlet and never felt even a breeze.

Today we’re heading for Prince Rupert after waiting out another big blow yesterday. This one, though, we did notice. The inlet we’re in this morning is not nearly as protected as Fish Egg was. But our anchors held tight and we rode it out without too much of a worry.

The last week has been filled with incredibly beautiful passages in deep channels that are long and narrow between high mountains. We’re truly heading up the inside passage now and the scenery is spectacular. But unlike the cruise ships, we get to (have to) make stops along the way, most of which are quite interesting.

We stopped one morning in a First Nations village to take on water and found the folks incredibly charming and helpful. Of course it didn’t hurt to have our Native logo and boat name. That night we were on the dock in a ghost town called Butedale that was literally falling into the sea. Lou the caretaker was a gracious host and we had an impromptu potluck at his house with another sailor headed north. Butedale was formerly a fish packing community housing up to 2,000 people in the summer. Now Lou watches over what’s left to keep vandals out. The power house is a trip – it’s a concrete building built over a downhill stream, sucking water through a turbine. The generators don’t work anymore, so the turbine is still spinning the rotor of the inoperative generator, and is attached to a pulley system that spins an alternator the size of the ones on our boat, which provides power to Lou.

The next afternoon we were at Bishop Bay Hot Springs on the dock alone enjoying the incredible springs and sunshine. About 3:00 we were gloating about how wonderful it was going to be having the whole place to ourselves overnight. Of course, about a half hour later a charter group of 6 power boats comes in. In the end we were sharing the tiny little dock with three power boats and a commercial shrimping boat, and there were four other boats out on anchor. So much for “all to ourselves”. But we still got to go back up to the hot springs after dark with Tim & Cindy, wine and candles. Very cool.

Today we’ll stop in Prince Rupert to do some much needed laundry and get some rest. Then the last big crossing of open water (Dixon Entrance) into Alaska. It’s a 90 mile trip to Ketchikan, and legally we can only stop in Foggy Bay on the way across, so we have two long days to get to customs and check in. We’re still trying to get to Glacier Bay by June 1st, and may just make it afterall.

Life is full of interesting stops on Yohelah…..

Prince Rupert is here

Yippee – we made it to Alaska finally!!! We’re going to slow down a bit and start enjoying ourselves more. We’ve decided to skip northern BC on the way back down and do an offshore passage back to the outside of Vancouver Island. That’ll give us plenty of time to enjoy Alaska. We changed the entry date on the Glacier Bay permit to June 6th, so we’ve got a little more time to get up there. Then we’ll have several weeks to actually see the sights, do some kayaking, and enjoy the anchorages.

We’ve accomplished the first big milestone of the trip – now it’s time to relax and enjoy…..

Alaska has been amazing. The difference between the anchorages here and the stops we made on the way up here is incredible. And seeing all the humpbacks and orcas is just icing on the already delicious cake.

After leaving Ketchikan we transited the Wrangell Narrows up to Petersburg. It was one of the passages I’d been worried about while I was trip planning. We have to share a 22′ deep, 300′ wide channel with the commercial traffic. There are 53 buoys in the 23 mile passage. You begin near the end of the flood tide and ride the current to the middle of the channel, then hope you timed it right and when the current changes to an ebb you ride that back out to the other end. Petersburg was a nice little town at the end with very friendly folks (and no cruise ships) who still earn a living in the commercial fishing trade. We made a quick overnight stop to get water and headed north again in the morning.

The next two stops were beautiful. Portage Bay had miles of beach to walk. Sanborn Canal was a quiet little cove where we hid out from a passing low pressure system. It had a stream at the head that we explored in the dinghy (and rain) for a mile or more hoping to spot some moose or bears – but no luck. The boat that was in there when we arrived was Wandr’n Star – it had been across the harbor in Point Hudson from us all winter long. Gary & Dorothy are also headed to Mexico via Alaska.

“Go slow, don’t hit the big ones, and don’t back up.” That was the advice given to me on the VHF yesterday by the commercial tour boat coming out of Tracy Arm as we were headed in. We had Tim & Cindy and Gary & Dorothy on Yohelah, and everyone but me was on the bow pushing ice bergs (bergy bits) away with pike poles and boat hooks as I drove through them. Exciting? Absolutely! And the reward was good; South Sawyer Glacier was spectacular. We were still a mile away from the base of it when we turned around, but that’s as close as we were willing to push to as the ice kept getting thicker and thicker.

Now we’re on to Juneau in a couple of days (where I’ll send this update from). Then to Glacier Bay on Tuesday for our up close and personal visit with the glaciers. The ice in Glacier Bay shouldn’t be packed in like it is in Tracy Arm, so we can get closer and see the glaciers better. And we’ll get the kayaks out and do some paddling if the weather’s nice.

After that, we just don’t know yet. We want to make it to Sitka. Our friends Steve & Elsie are enroute headed this way and we want to catch up with them at some point. But what we will know is that we’ll be officially headed south!

Today life is an exciting adventure on Yohelah……

Tracy Arm is here