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Travel Adventures - Cruiser's blog on an adventure trip to Alaska

Follow the adventure of Shirley and Grahame aboard the yacht
TANGLEBERRY on a three month expedition trip along the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Alaska.

Page 1 - The Boat and the Crew
Page 2   Provisioning for the boat
Week 1    Week 2    Week 3   Week 4   Week 6  
Week 7    Week 8     Week 9  Week 10   HOME AT LAST

Week 9 August 11 to August 17
August 11 Monday  Heavy Rain  
Destination: Lawson Harbour, Lewis Island
We've now spent 4 nights at Prince Rupert but the weather forecast is for more gale force winds for the next 3 days.  G made an executive decision.  We are to brave the 10 mile stretch to Lawson Harbour at Lewis Island and wait for favorable winds along Grenville Channel.  We wll position ourselves to crawl down the coast at every window of opportunity.  We had two hours of rain leaving Prince Rupert Harbour and anchored at Lawson Harbour for the night.  Our friends on Skylark II decided to stay at Prince Rupert for the next 2 nights.

Visibility was very poor, we stayed out at the cockpit most of the time.

August 12 - Tuesday   Cloudy and Foggy  Destination - Lowe Inlet

The day is foggy and cloudy but the wind is light.  The journey south along Grenville Channel was smooth and we were rewarded with a beautiful clear day once we arrived at Lowe Inlet.  The water is very deep, so G went on the dinghy and tied our stern to a tree for added security.  We had a very quiet night, absolutely still and calm, even as the wind is howling out at Hecate Strait. 


August 13  Wednesday  Heavy rain  Destination: Hartley Bay
We had a calm night with heavy rains that started at 3 am and continued on all morning.  Humidity inside the boat is 92%, everything felt damp.  We indulged ourselves with a lazy morning and a banana pancake breakfast.  By midday, the rain slowed down and we headed to Hartley Bay.  On arrival, we found out that there is a celebration event at the Longhouse.  4 canoes had arrived at Hartley Bay, 3 of them were young men who paddled all the way from New Aiyansh, and 1 of the canoes had RCMP escorts.  In addition, the Coast Guard patrol vessel accompanied the youngsters in their journey.  They stopped for the night for the celebration event and left the next morning, to continue their paddling to Kitimat.


photo above shows canoes used for travelling from New Aiyansh-Hartley Bay-Kitimat and back.


photo above shows the First Nations youngsters ready to go on their canoe trip.

August 14 Thursday  HOT HOT HOT SUNNY SUNNY
Destination: Khutze Inlet
Finally, we had a clear blue sky and a  hot hot day. We continued our trip south and made a stop at Khutze Inlet, a most beautiful anchorage which we also visited on our way north.


August 15 Friday Warm foggy day
Destination: Klemtu
Beautiful sunny day.  Khutze Inlet was clear and calm, but Graham Reach was blanketed with fog.  As we travelled south along Graham Reach, we went in and out of fog banks.  Water was very flat and glassy calm.  With the wind behind us, the sun felt warm.  It was a good feeling.  Along the way, we stopped by Butedale, where we found two of fellow cruising boats tied to the dock.  (Irish Dreamer, a Unison 45 pilothouse sailboat, and Determination, a Morgan 41 sailboat.)  Photo below is Butedale in its deteriorating condition.  Butedale was once a busy cannery, but due to overfishing, several canneries along the BC Coast closed operations, and Butedale became a ghost town.



Irish Dreamer and Determination tied to Butedale's dock.

August 16  Saturday   Hot and SUNNY 
Travelled from Klemtu to Oliver Cove
Beautiful day.  We had breakfast at Klemtu's cafeteria.  We sat at the long table, and found out later that this table is reserved for the (Klemtu is a First Nations village) town's elders and no one under the age of 60 is allowed to sit there or talk. 


Francis Robinson, a town elder was most gracious in giving us a private tour of their new Longhouse which was completed in May of 2002.

According to Francis Robinson, the head at the top of this totem pole is the watchman, his hands embracing two heads, the left symbolizing the xaixai's tribe ( a tribe from the Mainland east) and the right symbolizing the Kitasoo tribe.  As a member of the Kitasoo tribe, he welcomed us our visit to the longhouse.


The 4 totem poles inside the Longhouse took 3 carvers 13 months to complete (one of the carver is the famous Trevor Hunt from Campbell River).  The building is capable of holding 800 guests.  On completion in May 2002, the town had 3-day celebration with visitors from all the major tribes in BC.  In August 2002, a spirit bear (Kermodei) swum across the bay to visit the longhouse.

A pod of whales also came and performed in front of the community.

Mr. Robinson also told us about the salmon hatchery program they have going.  In September of every year, the whole bay will be carpeted with salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

The hatchery personnel will count and monitor the returning salmon, and when they attain the magic number, they will open the fishing season.




This is the view across the Longhouse. 

I could not resist hugging the ancient tree situated beside the salmon hatchery building.

Page 1 - The Boat and the Crew
Page 2   Provisioning for the boat
Week 1    Week 2    Week 3   Week 4   Week 6  
Week 7    Week 8     Week 9  Week 10   HOME AT LAST

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