Gathering at Prince Rupert




Grenville Channel

 

Got d’ Fever and Uno departed Hartley Bay for Prince Rupert, a day’s journey up the long, straight passage of Grenville Channel.  Conditions in the Channel were calm and the ride uneventful; the biggest challenge was trying to stay awake, similar to driving a car down an endless highway in eastern Washington.  

Seaplane in Grenville Channel

The scenery was interrupted from time to time by a passing tug or other commercial ship and by seaplanes and helicopters flying overhead.  After a few hours we came upon the Aegean with friend Bryann and son Nick who had left Hartley Bay earlier in the morning.  

Aegean, Grenville Channel

I grabbed the camera and snapped some pictures of their classic sailboat as we motored by.  They, too, were headed for Prince Rupert, a major stop for boats heading to Alaska.  As we exited Grenville Channel the seas began to pick up, especially in open Chatham Sound lying west of Prince Rupert.  

Cargo Terminal, Prince Rupert

We had 4ft choppy swell abeam but managed the seas smartly and brought our vessels into Prince Rupert Harbour, passing the impressive cargo ship terminal.  

Coming in to Prince Rupert

When we arrived at the Rowing & Yacht Club Marina, Alex and Pat on their Selene called Wild Blue came out to help us with our lines.  We had seen their vessel earlier at Shearwater and when traveling along Finlayson Channel a few days ago.  

Prince Rupert

They were happy to see us and asked where we had spent the night during the hurricane wind warning for April 27-28^th; we told them Butedale.  We learned that there were 85 mile an hour winds outside the channels in Hecate Strait that night, and 104 mile an hour winds in Prince Rupert where metal plates on the docks lifted up and went sailing like saucers.  

At Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club

After tying up at the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club Marina, we noticed that a group of three boats seen traveling together had also arrived, and we were happy to see our friend on Aegean come into the harbour later that evening.  Prince Rupert is a major stop for boaters heading to Alaska and it was nice to see that everyone had arrived safely.  Boaters have a special comradery and tend to help one another as needed or simply as courtesy. 

Missing Metal Plates on Marina Docks

The forecast for the next several days looks good for the leg to Ketchikan which no doubt will start an exodus out of Prince Rupert.

Hartley Bay Native Village

Fraser Reach

 

We departed Butedale on April 28^th at 11am after a rather sleepless night.  There was a Hurricane Force Wind Warning in effect outside the channels, 50-65 knots overnight, diminishing to 20-30 knots.  We were thankful to be tied-up at a secure float.  Although we were in the “Inside Passage,” some strong gusts did come up at 4am and we awoke to check the lines – all was well and the storm had passed by morning.  We continued up Fraser Reach and then headed west through McKay Reach. 

Fraser Reach

The glacier carved mountains and untold number of waterfalls along Fraser Reach are fabulous even on a cloudy day.  The camera couldn’t keep up or capture the grandeur. 

Fraser Reach

The seas that day were reasonable with 1-2 foot chop; the exception was at the meeting point of McKay Reach and Wright Sound. 

Fraser Reach

Fraser Reach

We had 4-5 foot swells or chop but after a short crossing, we turned north into calmer seas up Douglas Channel and arrived at the Native Village of Hartley Bay.  Hartley Bay surely is the nicest Native village we have ever seen, the homes seem to be well kept and the public buildings are very nice, including a beautiful school. 

Got d' Fever and Uno at Hartley Bay

The community is connected by a system of boardwalks over marsh land.  Boardwalks are also stubbed out for building lots available for new homes; we saw several homes being built as we walked the village. 

Church at Hartley Bay

Since there are no roads, transportation is by foot, carts, or ATV’s; we did see one “Smart Car” in the village, which is small enough to travel on the boardwalks.  For supplies, residents travel 80 miles by ferry to Prince Rupert for groceries since the village is without a grocery store or shopping of any kind; ugh, I wouldn’t do well here without shopping!  

Community Boardwalks, Hartley Bay

We arrived at Hartley Bay at 2:45pm and a young resident helped us with our lines, a very nice gesture; he had just caught some crab and asked if either of us were interested in having two large size crab.  Uno with her Korean background loves seafood of every sort and was more than happy to accept them and make crab soup.  Some fishermen from Prince George at the docks were also interested in our arrival and chatted with us for the longest time, giving us all sorts of tips on how to fish for Halibut; they were quite the characters.  They noticed that we were given some nice crab to prepare and showed us how to quickly dispatch and clean a crab. 

Local Fishermen, Hartley Bay

They demonstrated the process with one crab and Phil repeated the process with the other crab, perfectly executed. 

Phil Cutting & Cleaning the Crab

Later that evening Bryann and his son Nick, whom we had met several days earlier while at Shearwater, arrived in Hartley Bay aboard their sailboat Aegean; they were cold and tired having sailed for 12 hours from Klemtu to Hartley Bay at 6 knots, arriving near 8pm. 

Bryann's Arrival on Aegean

We invited them over for some hot tea and stew; our heaters were running and they began to thaw out.  They seemed to enjoy the opportunity to relax.  Bryann had a number of interesting stories to tell so there was plenty of time to make some peanut butter cookies.  Nick was really appreciative; he said they hadn’t had the pleasure of homemade cookies in quite a while.  Of course that pulled at me heartstrings so I packaged up some cookies for their next day’s sail.  It certainly had been a fun day for us, filled with adventure and lots of fun people.

Expect the Unexpected



Waterfall, Finlayson Channel

We awoke to another cloudy, rainy day and after a hot cup of coffee and some muffins, departed Bottleneck Inlet to continue north along Finlayson Channel then through Hiekish Narrows and into Graham Reach.  It seems the summer weather of a week ago has left us, at least temporarily; nevertheless, the channels and passage ways have been a delight – Mother Nature is still beautiful even when she’s not revealing her finest attire.  We have witnessed granite cliffs, domed mountains, and beautiful waterfalls; watched eagles sore, dolphins at play, and Orca transiting the waterways.  We have passed tugs with barges, tour boats heading north for the season, and pleasure boats making their way to Southeast Alaska and beyond.  

Historic Butedale, a Scenic Location at Graham Reach/Fraser Reach

Got d’ Fever and Uno spent the day traversing the calm, placid waterways and arrived at historic Butedale at the intersection of Graham Reach and Fraser Reach.  Butedale, a once famous fish packing camp and cannery of the early 1900’s, has deteriorated over the years; historic buildings are collapsing and the docks and wharfs are in disrepair but that should not stop boaters from visiting this fascinating place. 

Ruins at Butedale

Boaters may have read in guidebooks that this location is closed for business, but the young caretaker, Cory Lindsay, is more than happy to receive guests and help boaters with their lines.  Like others, we assumed Butedale was closed but had planned to motor by for a gander at this historic location, when we saw Cory standing on the dock anticipating our arrival we came in and tied-up.  Cory and his dog Buddy have lived alone at Butedale for four years and appreciate having guests. 

Warehouse Ruins at Butedale

Living off the grid, Cory uses running water from the natural streams brought down by a flume and uses a generator for electricity; food supplies are delivered by boat every two to three weeks.  Visitors are welcome to walk around the ruins at their own risk and tie-up at the dock; although the dock has missing planks and very few cleats for tying-off, it still seems to be sturdy. 

Pulley System

Since the stairs and ramps to the dock have also collapsed, Cory transports guests from the dock to shore, and back again with a pulley system attached to a skiff - pull the line one way or the other, and you across over the water to the other side.  The good news is that this property was purchased by a private party in 2013 and Cory tells us that the owner has some big plans, including installing substantial docks and refurbishing some of the old buildings.  We were told that demolition on the buildings that are not being restored will take place this summer and that new construction will begin the following summer.  We hope it all comes to pass and that the word spreads to “save and restore Butedale” back to its glory days.  You couldn’t ask for a better location, surrounded by mountains with a gorgeous waterfall and strategically located for boaters heading north and south along this major water route.  We decided to stay the night and were more than happy to pay the suggested donation fee.  

Friends Phil, Cory, and Uno

We had arrived at Butedale around noon and our friends Phil and Uno invited us over to their boat for an afternoon meal; Cory joined in as well, bringing a video he created using historic photos of Butedale.  Cory also shared his excellent photography of the area, again in video format with accompanying music, expertly done.  We so much appreciated the delicious dinner and conversation with Phil and Uno, our first real opportunity to get better acquainted.  Phil has a military background and flew helicopters in various capacities.  Oh great, Leonard meets another pilot.  Phil and his wife enjoy new adventures and have lived various walks of life, including owning a guest lodge, and at one time, a laboratory in the Aleutian Islands for testing water and other scientific research.  As we have said many times, you meet so many interesting people when you are out boating.

The Back Door

We spent two nights at Shearwater and had the pleasure of meeting some other boaters who had come in for the weekend. We met Bryann on his sailboat who is a conductor by profession for the historic Steam Train out of Skagway on which we have ridden.  Bryann lives in Port Townsend, Washington during the winters, and in Juneau, Alaska during the summers; he is making his way back to Juneau on his sailboat, Aegean.  We also met Phil and Uno from Anchorage, Alaska who just purchased their boat in Tacoma, Washington and are bringing their new boat, Uno, to Whittier in Prince William Sound.  They have owned small runabout type boats in the past but this is their first experience with a larger boat traveling through new territory.  

Dryad Lighthouse, Campbell Island

We headed out the next morning and Uno wanted to follow us as a buddy boat.  Got d’ Fever and Uno left Shearwater at 10:30am, passing the cute Dryad Lighthouse on the northeast end of Campbell Island.  We had several northbound channels from which to choose while heading west toward Milbank Sound.  

Dolphins, Seaforth Channel

As we neared Milbank Sound, ocean swells were reaching into Seaforth Channel so we decided to make our north turn up the narrow channel of Perrin Anchorage, a passage way that becomes Reid Passage.  Although careful negotiation around some rocks and shoals was required, the passage was protected from the ocean swell.  Sometimes the back door is better than the front door!  At the north end of Reid Passage we needed to cross another exposed area before going through Perceval Narrows into the next protected passage of Mathieson Channel.  We were mindful of our friends who were following us in a smaller boat and kept them apprised of what was ahead.  It can take a day or two for the ocean swell to lie down after a storm, so there was some lingering swell in this exposed area.  To get across to the Mathieson Channel, we had to head south into 5-6 foot steep swells in order to make a sharp turn back northwest over the same swells and through the cut known as Percevel Narrows, bringing us into calm waters once again.  The best technique is to start the turn at the top of a swell so you end up in a trough during the turn; we advised our friends that they would need to be well south of the rocks before making the turn back north, northwest to enter the narrows.  Sorry, no pictures since we were busy negotiating the swells, navigating for the entrance, and communicating with our friends.  Everything went well with calm, smooth sailing for the rest of the day.  It was our first time to be a lead boat for someone else, which is valuable experience.  We have considered the possibility of providing this service for groups headed to British Columbia and/or Southeast Alaska.  There are several businesses who organize group excursions for boaters and offer paid positions for lead boats.  

Looking out from Bottleneck Anchorage

But I digress; we still had a few more passages and channels to traverse before reaching our anchorage for the night.  From Mathieson Channel, we turned west again through the very narrow passage of Jackson Pass.  The passage is so narrow that boaters must announce over the radio that they are entering Jackson Pass when westbound; charted rocks and shoals are an added challenge but going very slow makes the passage quite doable.  Jackson Pass leads into Finlayson Channel where we headed north once again until reaching our anchorage at 5pm in Bottleneck Inlet. 

Uno anchored at Bottleneck Inlet

Our new friends Phil and Uno very much appreciated our help through the day’s journey and we equally enjoyed their company.

Rounding Cape Caution

 



Sunrise, Blunden Harbour

Positioning ourselves at Blunden Harbour provided the opportunity to use a two-day weather window to round Cape Caution and tuck into the “Inside Passage” protected from storm tracks.  It was Friday and winds of 40-50 knots were forecasted to arrive on Sunday for the area we would be transiting.  We decided to motor for 12 hours to Shearwater/Bella Bella, located off Lama Passage well into the protected zone, rather than stopping and anchoring in Fitz Hugh Sound – this plan would provide an extra cushion in case the weather arrived sooner than predicted.  

Tug, Western Titan in Richards Channel

We departed at 6am in the morning greeted by a beautiful sunrise and relatively calm seas.  As we exited Blunden Harbour, we saw a tug & barge also heading north on a similar track through Richards Channel between the Islets, we made room for each other and communicated each other’s intentions over the radio for safe passage.  The tug, Western Titan, became our serendipitous buddy boat to Cape Caution; the tug eventually passed us doing 9 knots as we approached Fitz High Sound to head up the “Inside Passage.”  Western Titan out of Seattle is with the Western Towboat Co. whose sister tug, Ocean Ranger, was the tug we rode on going to Juneau in 1999.  We had purchased the ride at a benefit auction and enjoyed seeing Skagway on that particular trip.  

Our Buddy Tug Barge with cars, trucks, boats, and tour buses stacked on top; Cape Caution

Ok, back to the present, we headed out into some gentle ocean swell that increased near the Cape from 6 to 7 foot swells, nicely spaced at 11-13 seconds apart, gently lifting us up and setting us back down with little to no roll.  

Ocean Swell hitting the Islets

We reached Clark Point on Calvert Island at the entrance to Fitz Hugh Sound around 11:30am; seas were calm with light chop.  We had lunch along the way and enjoyed the scenery in Fitz Hugh Sound with lingering clouds; it would be another four hours before reaching Lama Passage.  

Are We There Yet?

Java had the “are we there yet look” in her face.  At around 4:30pm we entered Lama Passage formed by the three islands of Hunter, Denny, and Campbell. 


Lama Passage

After another two hours of motoring, we arrived in Shearwater near Bella Bella; Shearwater is like an oasis for boaters, offering fuel, groceries, and a pub with good food plus a nice laundry and gift shop.  An attractive hotel is on the property and a well-stocked marine supply store, helicopters fly in and out on a regular basis delivering people or picking up supplies.  The nearby Native village of Bella Bella is within an easy dinghy ride or can be accessed via water taxi and has a new grocery store.  

Shearwater

Shearwater played an interesting role in WWII; you can read more in our 2011 blog to Southeast Alaska described in the post date of May28th at www.LLCruise.blogspot.com.  

New Mural at Shearwater

We were curious to see if the forecasted winds of 40-50 knots would materialize as predicted, we checked the weather that following morning and sure enough, a strong storm warning was predicted for the entrance to Fitz High Sound for late Saturday afternoon with the higher 40-50 knot winds arriving overnight along the stretch around Cape Caution.  

Resident Eagle at Shearwater

No worries, the passages and inlets of the “Inside Passage” are surprisingly unaffected by the storms at sea.

Across the Strait’s

Johnston Strait

We left our anchorage in Forward Harbour at 8:30am on April 22^nd and made our way to Sunderland Channel and out to Johnston Strait.
 

Johnston Strait

Winds in Johnston Strait varied from10-25 knots with sea chop of 1-5 feet, manageable conditions for Got d’ Fever.
 

Java at Play

Java kept us entertained by dropping her toy bone down the steps and watching her "masters" play fetch.  The seas subsided later that afternoon as forecasted; and after 6 ½ hours of motoring, we arrived in Port McNeill at North Island Marina.  The following morning we picked up supplies, topped off with fuel, and filled the water tank before heading across Queen Charlotte Strait, passing the attractive Graeme Point Lighthouse.
 

Graeme Point Lighthouse

We had patches of sun with rain showers and 2-4 foot ocean swells abeam at 4-6 second intervals.  We changed our course slightly to dampen the rocking motion and to avoid two Orca Whales who accompanied us for a short distance before disappearing in the deep.
 

Orca Whale, Queen Charlotte Strait

Another “three-hour tour” and we were across Queen Charlotte Strait making the most of a weather window with favorable sea conditions.  Conditions were fairly consistent across the Strait and improved when we neared Blunden Harbour, protected by mainland B.C. from northwest winds.  We arrived around 2pm in this well protected bay and set the anchor.
 

Blunden Harbour (midden beach on left)

Blunden Harbour consists of an inner bay and outer bay – a midden beach is located on the north side of the inner bay, and in the outer bay a Native cemetery with burial boxes is located on Byrnes Island.
 

Blunden Harbour

These sacred areas belong to the Nakwoktak Tribe.  Boaters often anchor in Blunden Harbour to wait out weather before rounding Cape Caution, aptly named for its exposure to the Pacific Ocean.

Round & Round We Go

We departed Blind Channel Resort at 8:30am on an overcast day after resetting the lines due to a strong current that would have swept us sideways into the neighboring dock/finger pier.  We took the mid-bow and stern lines across our finger pier, looped them around the dock rails and back to cleats on the boat.  This setup kept the boat as close to our dock as possible and enabled us to simply release the lines while already aboard the boat.  A quick release of the lines and a quick backing maneuver put us safely out of our slip.  The next challenge was transiting Greene Point Rapids through Cordero Channel.  We motored up Mayne Channel and took a peek at the Rapids which were running at 6 knots due to spring tides; we could see through the binoculars that the current was moving swiftly with upwellings at various spots.  We decided it might be best to go back out Mayne Channel to Johnston Strait and continue northwest via that route instead.  As we got closer to Johnston Strait, we encountered 4-5 foot chop with white caps, conditions surely would get worse from here.  Bucking winds and chop over the long stretch up Johnston Strait would not be fun.  We turned around again and headed back up Mayne Channel passing by Blind Channel Resort once again.  They probably assumed the conditions were bad or we were completely lost!  

Greene Point Rapids

We decided to hangout just east of the Rapids waiting for the current to slack off a bit.  The water was flat calm outside the Rapids so it can be tempting to go through without assessing the situation.  The current was now at 5 knots and we made the decision to enter the narrow channel of Cordero and head through the Rapids with the strategy of angling across the dog-leg, giving better visibility for traffic and avoiding the worst areas of upwellings.  The Rapids are fairly short and our strategy worked well, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it would be.  

Chancellor Channel

After passing through Greene Point Rapids, we entered Chancellor Channel at the “screaming” speed of 11 knots.  As time went on the winds kicked up varying between 10 and 20 knots but with only a 2 foot chop.  We headed up Wellbore Channel, arriving at the next set of rapids at 11:46am, perfectly timed at slack water making the passage through Whirlpool Rapids a non-event.  

Forward Harbour Anchorage

By noon we had arrived at our anchorage in Forward Harbour just off Wellbore Channel.  There were three other boats who had also taken shelter here for the night.  We set the hook, turned on the “anchor-watch alarm” and made lunch - time for some hot cocoa!

The E-Ticket Ride




Timing is always of importance when making a decision to depart Campbell River, the winds are a factor in Johnston Strait and one must calculate the time of arrival and passage through Seymour Narrows, which can run anywhere from 16 knots on the flood and 14 knots on an ebb, depending on the tide levels.  We calculated that there would be a 4 to 4 ½ knot current through the Narrows at 12:40pm, Got d' Fever would be traveling on an ebb (with the current) at about 8 knots making our “speed over ground” about 12 knots.  

Whirlpools in Seymour Narrows

Once through the Narrows and further north in Johnston Strait, we would be going against the current and faced with predicted winds of 15-20 knots in the Strait.  We made the decision to depart Campbell River and reached Seymour Narrows about ¾ to ½ hour before slack water; we wouldn’t recommend going through any earlier than that!  

Tug & Barge Heading Towards Us, Seymour Narrows

As it was, we were faced with significant whirlpools and upwelling’s.  To make things worse there was a significant number of logs and debris to be avoided plus two barges that we had to contend with – one barge going in our direction and the other barge coming from the opposite direction.  After a harrowing E-Ticket Ride, we made it through the Narrows unscathed and found the seas to be calm on the other side.  As we progressed further north the winds picked up to 12 knots and then dropped off again.  

Chatham Point

We rounded Chatham Point into Johnston Strait bucking against the current as expected, reducing our speed which varied from 7 to 5 knots.  The winds averaged only 4 knots, nothing significant as was forecasted earlier.  The sky was clear and the sun glistened off the snow peaked mountains affording some beautiful scenery to behold.  

Mayne Channel

We turned up Mayne Passage, protected from late afternoon winds, and arrived at Blind Channel Resort at 3:35pm.  It felt downright hot when we arrived, we opened the windows and put up the screens to keep out the bugs, summer seems to be upon us.



Johnston Strait



Got d' Fever at Blind Channel Resort