Category: Travel 2016

After the repair to the pod drive on True East, we resumed our plan to visit the west coast of Vancouver Island. First, a stop in Victoria where the wooden boat show was setting up. What a great city!

Next, a run out the Straight of San Juan de Fuca 100 miles to Port Renfew and then on to Barkley Sound. With stops in Bamfield, Port Alberni, Ucluelet and the Broken Islands Group we really got a chance to see this area which reminds one of the north side of Lake Huron. Continuing up the coast, we entered Clayoquot Sound. A little further north we visited Sulphur Hot Springs and then started back down with a stop in Torfino for a couple of days.

The return trip down the coast gave us a real surfing adventure with 8′ swells off the open Pacific. Returning down San Juan de Fuca, the swells dropped to about 4′ with a dead calm glassy sea top. Another stop in Victoria gave us a chance to visit friends and return to the museums and shops.

With about ten days left before our departure, we decided to revisit the Marine Parks in the San Juan Islands. These parks provide mooring balls, tender docks, campsites and great hiking trails. It is a shame that there is really nothing similar on the east coast. From Friday Harbor we returned to Sidney and turned over the boat to Philbrooks Boatyard. Drew Irwin and his crew have cared for the boat over the last three seasons and one could not ask for a better operation. After completing a few more tweaks to the boat, they will take the boat to Victoria in November where it will be loaded on a ship for transport to Florida.

It’s been a great three seasons in the Northwest but now it’s time to move on.

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Boy oh Boy, this trip did not turn out as expected. The plan was to come down the mainland of BC, cross Queen Charlotte Sound, cruise the top of Vancouver Island and then explore the west (Pacific) coast of the island.

All went well until we were in the middle of Queen Charlotte Sound (38 miles from Port Hardy) when we encountered a submerged log at 27 knots (32 mph). There was a very loud thump. Dan pulled the throttles back and we could see a 12′ long, 18″ diameter log in our wake.

True East has what are called pod drives whereby the props rotate to do the steering. These units come with two parts, one part above the hull, the other below the hull. The lower unit is designed to break free when it hits something at high speed. Well, it did exactly as designed and we left one of our drives in 300′ of water ten miles off shore. At Sointula, we found a great boatyard with an ancient marine railway and no tool invented in this or the last century. Out Saturday afternoon for an inspection, back in Sunday afternoon….got to love it. Frantic phone calls on Monday to located parts and organize the repairs.

Needless to say, we needed an alternative plan. Our friend Bernd Meier was scheduled to fly into Port Hardy and meet us at Coal Harbour on the west side of Vancouver Island. The new plan was to meet him in Port Hardy and travel down the east coast on one engine while we arranged for the part to be shipped into Philbrooks at Sidney, BC on the south end of the island.

We had a nice ten days cruising around the Broughtons and dropped Bernd off at Cambell River.  This was his original departure point, except he was to get there from Port Alberni on the west coast. From Cambell River, we continued to cruise south awaiting the arrival of the new pod drive. Actually, we got lucky and were able to acquire a slightly used drive from Sabre at a substantial savings.

Three weeks after we encountered the log, we were port side in Sidney where the boat was hauled. We have been drinking Okanagan Valley wines for the last three summers and have thoroughly enjoyed them. So the decision was mad to take a side trip to the source. As the propeller turns……

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The islands formerly known as the Queen Charlotte islands are comprised of the Graham Island to the north and Morsby Island to the south along with many smaller islands. These islands were settled more than 10,000 years ago by the Haida peoples.

European contact was deadly to the Haida from a population of over 10,000 at the time of contact, the population had shrunk to 350 by 1990. Most of the original hundreds of settlements had been abandoned as the people relocated to two settlements.

In 2010 the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act was signed and the islands were renamed. The lower island, about 80 miles long, is now the Gwaii Haanas National Park and has been returned to the Haida peoples.

There is a great museum at Queen Charlotte that also houses the reception/orientation center for the park. Within Gwaii Haanas there are five of the original settlements that now have visitors centers and Haida ‘watchmen’ as protectors of the sites and guides. The experience of visiting these sites and learning the 10,000 year history of these people is very moving. Our friend Mike and Malli Gero did a kayak tour of the park last year after visiting us on the boat.

We had the luxury of ten days to cruise the park and stop for a lengthy visit at each of the sites. Further, our friend Dr. Keith who is a professor of the History of Science had visited the area thirty years earlier and had many friends in common with our guides. As an additional bonus, we met fellow boaters John and Mary Harper while in the park. Mary is a marine biologist and John is a geologist who has mapped the coastline from a helicopter professionally. Their knowledge of the BC coast and its peoples is extraordinary. John’s research into unusual shoreline features has lead to new understanding the Ancient Sea Gardens of the BC natives dating back over 2,000 years. A DVD by the name is available.

While it is a journey to get there and back, it was one of the highlights of our time in the northwest.

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Leaving Sitka, we headed down the west coast of Baranoff Island in the open Pacific waters. With the weather deteriorating we took shelter in Jamboree Cove for a couple of days. Seeing an opening we sprinted the rest of the way down the coast of Baranoff and cut over into Prince of Wales island with a stop at Craig…a run of 160 miles that day. The cruise down El Capitan Pass was beautiful.

The next day we were scheduled to move down to the south end of Prince of Wales and then tackle Dixon Entrance the following day. When we got the Entrance, it was dead calm with a moderate 4-6 swell on our stern, we decided to go for it with another long day. 153 miles to Prince Rupert. It was very tempting to head for Masset instead of going back to the mainland; however, there is huge shallow on the east side of Graham Island on the east side that forces one almost to the mainland before crossing back to Charlotte.

Marcia was crying as we left Alaska for the last time on this adventure. We cleared customs in Prince Rupert, fueled up and provisioned for the couple of weeks we would be away from civilization. Once again we had to wait for a weather window to cross over the Queen Charlotte Islands as they were formally known. After a rough start, we had a smooth crossing of 80 nautical miles to Sandpit.

Our friend Keith Bengtsson was to meet us on arrival and sure enough he flew in that morning and was befriending the local coast guard crew.

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Returning from our excursions to the far north, we are met by friend Carla Penny in Juneau and headed south again for our last visit to our favorite waters.

First stop is Taku Harbor site of Mitchner’s setting for the salmon chapter in Alaska. On to Endicott Arm and it’s fabulous glacier, martini time again. It’s then along the south end of Admiralty Island where we are visited by the humpback whales once again.

After a quick stop at the top of Prince of Wales Island, we head up the east side of Chichagoff with stops at Red Bluff and Baranoff Warm springs. From there it is up Douglas Bay before crossing between the islands to get over to Sitka where we say goodby to Carla.

We are then joined by Dan’s nephew Tony with Julie, Leah and Chad for a short but terrific hot springs adventure. First, up the west coast of Chichagof to White Sulphur Hot Springs where Leah has her first ‘off line’ experience. We then head south down the coast to Goddard Hot Springs. After a nice visit to Sitka, we sadly bid adieu to the Prigmores.

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The run from Ketchikan to Juneau is one of our favorite parts of south east Alaska. Ice capped peaks, icebergs and glaciers, whales, and quiet anchorages. This area has it all.

Marcia’s brother Mike and Cheryl Kisielnicki join us in Ketchikan for the voyage north. Our first stop is Kasaan, a favorite stop last year. With heavy winds and seas, we stayed for two days and got a chance to visit with Skip, check in on the wood carvers and visit the completed Long House.

Next stop was Meyer’s Chuck were we visited with Cassie, missed the cinnamon rolls but got in a nice hike. On to Whale Pass were we anchored up for the night. Next day was up through Rocky Pass where we were greeted by an orca and sea otters. Anchored up at Stedman Cove and awoke in the morning to a minus 4 ft tide and little water under the boat.

On the way to Fredrick Sound we stopped at Kake for fuel and water. Crossing to Eliza Inlet we encountered our first humpback whale before anchoring up for lunch. On to Last Chance Harbor for the night, a very peaceful anchorage. The next day we crossed over to Tracy Arm to visit the glacier face. We were surprised to find major icebergs in the Passage and the 25 miles to the glacier were ice packed. We managed to work our way to within about 6 miles of the face, but were forced to turn back.

We dropped Mike and Cheryl at Juneau and took a couple of days to reprovision and work on the water maker that was acting up. Enjoyed a nice dinner at Salt with Ben and Suzy from m/v Discovery.

Dan’s son Howard Yuan and his son Eric then joined us for three days. First stop was Taku Harbor, featured in James Mitchner’s Alaska. Back down to Tracy Arm the next day but this time we went up the Endicott Arm that was relatively ice free. Another beautiful night in Tracy Arm anchorage before heading back to Juneau to drop off the Yuan family.

During this entire time the forecast was ‘cloudy with rain’, thankfully we only got that about half the time and had some warm sun almost every day.

True East is tied to the dock in Juneau while Dan and Marcia fly off for the next adventure.

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From our start at the US-Canadian border beginning in the San Juan Islands, Washington, it is roughly 800 nautical miles to the Canadian-US boarder just below Ketchikan Alaska. Our typical cruising speed is 8 its and we usually cover about 50 nm per day. This provides us with about a bakers dozen overnight stops along the way, normally a split between anchorages, some sort of floating dock, mooring ball or marina.

After leaving Sidney, the only significant settlements we stopped at were Cambell River and Prince Rupert. The balance of the time we were either at anchor or at a very small outpost like Pierre’s Echo Bay. In most of our anchorages, we were the only boat.

At this time of year, the wildlife is still thin. The salmon have not yet started their runs, the bears are still up in the hills and the whales are just starting to arrive. However, the eagles are plentiful and we did encounter a group of several hundred dolphins and a few whales as we traveled north.

We enjoyed the natural hot springs at Eucott and Bishops Bay and the hiking trails at a number of the Canadian Marine Parks. As we arrived a Ketchikan, the weather has settled in as cloudy, misty, rainy and cold. They do call June up here January!

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