Travel Adventure to Alaska

Week 1 - (note: For those unfamiliar with the towns and villages on the Inside Passage, simply follow the links as they contain good information that would enrich your understanding).
June 12 - Thursday
A retired couple from our church is also going to Alaska on their Cooper Seabird 37, (also a 37 foot sailboat). Their boat is more of an ocean going sailboat, with heavy displacement and large capacity fuel and water tanks. She carries 80 gal or 320 litres of fuel and can go all the way from Vancouver to Prince Rupert without any need for refuelling. A watermaker is on board, which purifies sea water at the rate of 25 litres per hour.

Our friends left yesterday but agreed to wait for us and meet tomorrow at the John Hendry Marina in Pender Harbour. We slept aboard the boat tonight and plan to start out early tomorrow morning at around 7:00 am.

June 13 - Friday Vancouver to Pender Harbour - 40 miles SUNNY

Here we are-on our way to Pender Harbour. Our friends phoned us worried that we may not leave, since today is Friday, the 13th of July. We've solved this problem by calling today - Day 2.
Beautiful and sunny day. We arrived at Pender Harbour at around 3 pm, met up with our friend, and went to the grocery store to buy flour, so we can bake bread on board.
In honor of Father's Day, we ate at the marina restaurant.
Listened to the weather forecast for tomorrow. Strong winds 20 to 30 knots. Set our destination for Squirrel Cove at Cortes Island, ready to change plans if the wind condition is too strong for us to bear.

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June 14 Saturday Squirrel Cove at Cortes Island (44 miles) SUNNY
We left at around 7 am. Although the weather forecast calls for strong winds there was actually only 10 knots of wind. We decided to push through to Squirrel Cove anchorage and motored all the way. (10 knots of wind can only give us 2 -3 knots speed under sail. 44 miles at 5 miles an hour, we'd still need 8 hours to get to our destination).

The trip was very smooth. The sun is shining, so we had a very pleasant trip. We spotted what looked like a sea monster. As we got closer, we could see that it's a tree stump. There is always lots of debris in the water from logs escaping from log booms. We are very vigilant, always keeping watch. Hitting a log can cause a lot of damage to the boat, and can be very dangerous.

We arrived at around 5 pm and dropped anchor.

June 15 Sunday   Big Bay at Stuart Island (25 miles)   SUNNY
Today is Father's Day. So I made a special breakfast for hubby. Omelette with mushrooms, onions, red pepper and cheese. We talked to our kids on the cell phone for the obligatory Happy Father's Day greetings.
Our destination today is Big Bay at Stuart Island. There is some treacherous rapids to cross before Big Bay. Maximum tide currents is at 8 knots and with our hull speed of 5 knots, crossing at maximum tide would sweep our boat backward to the side. We need to wait for slack tide, which is at 4 pm. It's only 5 hours from Squirrel Cove to Big Bay, and we arrived at 3 pm, waited for slack tide, then crossed the rapids.

Note the bottom part of the map marked by a red square is Squirrel Cove where we start out today. Near the top part of the map marked by another red square is Big Bay at Stuart Island. That little channel between Sonora Island and Stuuart Island is the Yuculta Rapids which we had to cross at slack tide.

The white water caps in the photo on the left shows the tidal current of Yuculta Rapids. Going across the tide will be like swimming across the running water jet. You can go backwards and sideways when the current is too strong.

We made it fine and arrived at Stuart Island Dock around 5:00 pm.   We went up the store to look around. The storekeeper/manager told us that there are 19 residents in the island. Most of the property owners are big businesses. Across from Big Bay is Sonora Lodge which is a high-end fishing lodge with fine dining and spa treatment. The manager at Stuart Island Dock told us that since it is Father's Day today, we might consider going to the restaurant at Sonora Lodge by dinghy. The price per person is $175.00 Oh well.....

Our friend told us he heard a rumour that Sonora Lodge is financed by drug money. Then we talked to a chef working at a nearby lodge on his break, he confirmed that Sonora Lodge is owned by the owners of London Drugs.

June 16, Monday   Destination: Forward Harbour SUNNY
Another beautiful sunny day. We went to Blind Channel Resort to get fuel and water. I bought some frozen pork chops to BBQ.   While we were resting, we chatted with many sailors also on their way to Alaska. There are not many fuel docks, so we tend to congregate on the same places as we head out to Alaska. A beautiful electrician, blond young girl was working on the dock. She is a very efficient worker.

It was great fun and reassuring to be travelling with our friends together. Photo on the left shows their boat ahead of us.

After getting our water and fuel from Blind Channel, we headed to Forward Harbour to anchor for the night. The anchorage is full of boats mostly heading to Alaska. There could easily be 20 boats altogether.

We checked the weather forecast tomorrow, and the forecast is for very strong winds. We thought we may stay one more night if the weather is bad.

June 17, Tuesday   Destination:   Lagoon Cove Marina
RAIN RAIN POURING RAIN THEN SUNNY THEN RAIN AGAIN
We were securely anchored at Forward Harbour this morning knowing that the weather is not good, therefore, we might as well sleep in.
Another boater rowed their dinghy over, knocked on our hull and told us that there was a revised weather forecast, and that the wind died and it is safe to proceed. All the boats had left. We got out of the boat and found that there were only three boats left, ours, our friend's and the guy who told us the news. So, we hurriedly lifted our anchors and proceed to the next destination. Lagoon Cove Marina.

Lagoon Cove Marina must be the friendliest marina we've every been to. Owner Bill Barber personally help tie up every boat.   We arrived at 4:00 pm in the pouring rain and were told that at 5:00 pm there is a daily finger-food potluck with cooked prawns provided by the marina. The marina lay out their prawn traps every day, and they get plenty of prawns such that they're cooking and serving them to the moorage guests. After potluck, Bill Barber entertained us with his bear stories and kept everybody laughing.

Find out more about Lagoon Cove by clicking this link.

June 18, Wednesday Destination: Alert Bay - and Port McNeil SUNNY
This morning, we got up early and had a walk around the marina. Bill Barber was already up greeting and talking to guests. I was fascinated with him. He's in his 70's and full of energy. When I found out that he's compiled a cookbook from boaters with recipes mostly with canned ingredients, I bought a copy and got him to autograph the book for me. In the book, there is a brief history of the marina, how Jean Barber, his wife, made him promise that he will retire if they buy the marina (1992).

When I got back to the boat, we found that the heater in our boat is not working. After some tinkering, we discovered that one of the boat battery is weak. The battery is 6 years old and the warranty on the battery is 5 years. On our next stop, we will have to look for a battery replacement.

We left Lagoon Cove and stopped by Alert Bay on the way. Two years ago, Ophrah Winfrey was a guest in Jim Pattison's megayacht called "Nova Spirit" and she visited Alert Bay. So, I wanted to see for myself why someone like Ophrah Winfrey would come all the way to Alert Bay.   Alert Bay is a most charming and picturesque little village with about 1700 residents, half of them First Nations people, half of them white people. It is full of history, arts and culture. We walked to the museum and spent the afternoon.   (photo on left shows Alert Bay graveyard located on the waterfront with several totem poles)

Back to the boat, we headed to Port McNeil on Vancouver Island (North of Campbell River) population 3,000. Civilization again, with big supermarket and department stores, coffee shops and restaurants. The marina was full when we arrived. There was one moorage slip left, and we let our friend take it. Then, someone told us that we could use the RESERVED space on the outer berth. It is late in the day, and there are no more boats arriving. We took the RESERVED spot.

It's been a week, and we have travelled 216 miles. In previous holidays, it would have taken us three leisurely weeks to cover this distance.   We celebrated our arrival at Port McNeil with a hearty meal at Gus' Pub, located on the waterfront. Good food at unbeatable prices.

Page 1 - The Boat and the Crew
Page 2   Provisioning for the boat
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