After an extremely rough night at the dock in Prince Rupert, we took off at 5 A.M. to catch the tide and favorable winds to start the trip down Grenville Channel. The fishing fleet just happened to come in our last night on the dock and the waves seemed to never stop. At one point, we even jumped out of bed because we thought one of the large seiners was going to ram us! The boat rocked so hard, we were afraid it would break our dock lines! We got underway and the trip around the Lawyer Islands (we don’t want to know how they got that name!), was pretty calm. On our way north when we went around these islands, it was rough and we had to take an alternate route to try to get to Prince Rupert. My prayers were answered. We went to Lowe Inlet to try to get as far down Grenville Channel as possible, even though we told ourselves we would not stop there again after spending our last two stays there losing a whole night’s sleep on anchor watch. The third time must have been the charm because we got a good spot and the night was uneventful. We were again up early to catch the favorable tide and seas to finish Grenville Channel and head to our next stop at Khutze Inlet. The wind started to pick up as we rounded Hartley Bay and headed to McKay Reach. Wright Sound and Whale Channel can get choppy as the water swells in from Hecate Strait. We got around the point and into Fraser Reach, passing an 80 foot yacht. We commented on the boat and headed south. About an hour later, we heard that boat radio a distress signal to the coast guard that they were having engine trouble and were dead in the water in McKay Reach! They commented that it might be a fuel problem as both engines quit running. We talked about going back to help, but heard several other boats offer to help on the radio. Since we are only 37 feet, we would have had a hard time helping an 80 foot yacht, plus we were at least an hour away, so we were glad that there were others closer. Boaters will usually try to help each other, because you never know when it will be your turn to need help. That area is near where the Canadian ferry ran aground and sank a few years ago. Rumor has it that the helmsman and a crew mate were in the pilot house and failed to notice that the trees on the island were getting awfully close! There are several stories as to why they did not notice, but we will leave it to the story tellers! The Indians at Hartley Bay were the only people that heard the mayday that early in the morning and headed out with all their skiffs to try to help. All the people on board were saved except for two people that were never found when the ferry sank. We plan to stop in Hartley Bay on our next trip north.
A TYPICAL DAY ON THE WATER IN NORTHERN BCWe continued south to Khutze Inlet. We have always been lucky and managed to get the best spot behind the spit near the entrance and we did this time too. We promised ourselves that we would take the 5 mile trip to the end of Khutze Inlet to see if it is as nice as they say. When we are just passing through, we are reluctant to motor the additional 10 miles (5 miles in – 5 miles out) just to see what’s at the head. For now, we will trust the glowing reports in the cruising guide and save that for when we don’t get the spot behind the spit. There ended up being 4 other boats anchored around us by the end of the day and it was pretty bouncy. The wind was blowing which can make a pretty good chop in this anchorage. Up early again, we headed out of Khutze and were dismayed to see there was a pretty good south wind and lots of waves when we got into the channel. UGH! Being anxious to get out of the area, we toughed it out and found that it got better the further we went (yeah!). We stayed in Tolmie Channel toward Klemtu to get out of some of the chop. We have decided that the Canadian and Alaskan currents and tides that are listed in their tables are no where close to the actual tides and currents. No matter how we tried to plan our trip to catch favorable currents, we ended up fighting them most of the time. On our way into Lowe Inlet, we had 4 knots of current against us and the tables said we should still have them in our favor. When you go only 7-1/2 knots, 4 knots against you does not leave much headway. This was the case for most of our trip down to Oliver Inlet. We stayed there instead of Rescue Bay as it was closer to Seaforth Channel. It can get a little rough in Seaforth and we planned to get up early and hoped to have favorable wind and waves to get to Shearwater. We were smart and called a day ahead to get a spot n the dock as they were turning boats away shortly after we docked. We got the laundry done and some much need provisions for our next trek south around Cape Caution and on to Port McNeill in the next few days.
We plan to be in Port McNeill by August 4th as Ron’s cousin, Bob and his wife Karen, will join us on the 5th to head toward Nanaimo. They are predicting favorable winds through Sunday, so we will join the herd of boats heading south tomorrow.
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