Acrux Log
June 14-July 2, 2004
Seattle to Ketchikan; 645 nautical
miles
by Ray R. Collins, master
Previous logbook: Shakedown
Cruise
Monday, June 14. Warm & sunny-cloudy. Seattle to
Port Townsend. Winds variable to 15.
We had a bunch of little chores to do, and by the time we'd fueled
and
watered the boat, gotten the outboard delivered, gone to the West
Marine store to trade in the bad grease gun (no questions asked!)
and
settled the final payment agreement with PMC it was 3 pm. We
motored out of the marina and headed down Puget Sound. By
early
evening we were approaching Port Townsend. We weren't quite
sure
where a good place to anchor was, so we kept a good eye open for
other
anchored boats. Sure enough there were several boats anchored
out
from town, so we anchored near them. The wind was steady at
around 12-15 from the west, so I was a little nervious about the
anchor
dragging but it held fine all night.
Tuesday, June 15. Warm & sunny. Port Townsend to
Friday Harbor. Winds variable to 15.
We sailed right off the hook (anchor). Due to the wind I was
unable to pull the anchor in by hand (which was my habit, though the
anchor and chain weighed well over 100 pounds). But it came in
just fine by running the anchor rode to the winch on the boom and
pulling it up that way.
It was a beautiful sunny day with winds of 12-15 knots of west wind
blowing. We pulled up the sails and, in a series of long tacks
made it as far as Smith Island (about 2/3 of the way to San Juan
Island) before the wind got too faint to give us steerage way.
So
we motored the rest of the way to Friday harbor.
The anchorage area was a little crowded, but we found a spot to
anchor
and by 6 pm we had the anchor down. We launched the dingy and
went ashore for the first time since we'd left Seattle (big
deal?). We rowed over to the end of the dock, tied up the
dingy
to the crosswalk going the the floating breakwater. Then we
walked up to the grocery store where we spend $20 on chicken and a
few
other sundries. We stopped at the harbor master's office for a
few phone calls. Then we went straight back to the boat and
made
a delicious dinner before heading to bed.
Wednesday, June 16. Hot & sunny. Friday Harbor
to
Roche Harbor. Winds variable to 10.
We weren't up very early, but got under way promptly. It was a
short trip around San Juan Island to Roche Harbor. They
allowed
us to tie up to the end of the dock for a few hours for free, and we
went up to the store at the head of the dock to mail some
letters. We also bought $2.50 in ice cream candies and called
Jim
and Sue (friends of my Mom & Dad's). Jim headed over to
the
boat to get us; Sue was out. While we were waiting Katy went
up
to take a shower ($3 for a long one). Jim showed up shortly,
and
we went inside the boat and talked while we waited for Katy to
finish
her shower.
Jim took us out to their house, a very nice log cabin right on the
shore. Heated with only wood and equiped with an incinerator
toilet, it was a very nice place. After having a nice chat
with
both of them, Jim volunteered to give us a tour of the island, and
Sue
volunteered to make us dinner. This sounded great to us, so we
headed out for a great tour of the island. When we got back
Jim
started the barbeque and we talked while he cooked the pork.
We
ate inside, and then Sue took us back to the boat. What great
hospitality!
We motored out into the bay a little ways and anchored for the
night.
Thursday, June 17. Warm & sunny. Roche Harbor to
Old House Bay (on the Strait of Georgia). Winds NW 0-12-0.
I
got up shortly after 0715 and immediately hoisted the anchor.
Although it was completely calm in Roche Harbor there was a good NW
wind blowing out in Spieder Channel. the direction was just
barely useable, and since we needed to make good time we motor
sailed.
It was only an hour's passage to Bedwell Harbor. When we
arrived
we called Poet Cove (the marina) on the radio and they directed us
to
the Customs dock. We tied up, cleaned up ship a bit and then
found we had to call in our information. So I gathered up
driver's licenses, birth certificates and the boat registration and
went up the dock to the Customs phone. It was an easy and
simple
proceedure; answer a few questions about who and what was on board
and
our destination and we were cleared into Canada with report
#20041690293.
From Bedwell Harbor we went up Swanson Channel, Captain Passage, and
Trimcomali (don't ask me to pronounce it!) Channel.
We left Bedwell flying the jib and the mizzen, had to take down the
jib
before we got to Captain Passage (to close into the wind) and the
wind
died away completely abou the time we got to Trimcomali Channel.
In the early afternoon (lunch of peanut butter and jam), after we
lost
the wind, I got out the GPS to see how fast we were going. At
2375 rpm we were doing 9.0 mph. A little later the tide went
against us and we slowed down to 7.5 (which is still 1.5 better than
I
could average last summer).
We went through the narrow Dodd Narrows, down the Northumberland
Channel past the really neat cliffs on Gabriola Island and out into
the
Straight of Georgia.
The rest of the day was spent motoring up the strait. We'd
decided on Lasqueti Island for our destination for the day. We
pulled into Old House Bay around 2000 and dropped anchor in the
narrow
end of the bay. There were some vultures with red heads along
the
edge of the bay and after a scrumptious dinner of stuffed peppers we
put the raft in the water and went to investigate. Turned out
to
be a dead seal. We paddled around a little, made sure there
weren't any rocks within reach of the anchor rode (it was a very
narrow
little bay, so we were anchored rather close to shore). Bed at
dark (2030).
Friday, June 18. Hot & sunny. Old House Bay to
Discovery Channel. Winds WNW 0 to 5.
Up at 0730, we got under way immediately. Breakfast, made
while
under way, was fried potatoes with onions & peppers. It
was a
hot day, motoring several miles off the coast of Vancouver
Island. Late in the afternoon I took a shower on deck with the
Sun Shower. It worked very well hoisted up a stay; the only
difficulty I had was turning the hose on and off with soapy
hands. Late in the afternoon we entered Discovery Channel, and
soon we'd arrived at Seymore Narrows. The tidal current were
against us so we had to wait, but only for a little while. We
waited in an eddy, occasionally using the motor to keep us in the
eddy. While we were waiting 3 cruise ships came through.
Then the fishing boat that was waiting behind us powered up, so we
figued it was ok to go and headed through (we didn't know when slack
tide was; our tide book didn't cover this area--we'd figured we
would
just arrive and wait until it was slack tide...and we really lucked
out
with our timing!) There was still a slight current against us
when we entered the narrows, but it died by the middle and soon we
were
out the other end.
After clearing the narrows we didn't go very much further, stopping
in
a cove a few miles up Discovery Channel. Bean soup for dinner,
cooked in the pressure cooker. Too much water, and cooking for
an
hour is too long. Try enough water to just cover the beans and
not much (1/2 inch?) more, and only cook for 1/2 hour.
Saturday, June 19. Sunny & somewhat
cooler. Discovery Channel to . Winds NW-W 0 to
5.
We spent the entire day going down the channels alongside Vancouver
Island.
I had gotten up fairly early and got under way in the calm peace of
trhe early morning sun. We had breakfast while under way, and
didn't stop until late evening. The entire day was spent
motoring
along the north shore of Vancouver Island.
We anchored for the evening in a bay that was occupied by enormous
rafts and stacks of logs.
Just before bedtime some very large fish (3' long) swam by the
boat. No idea what kind they were; looke a little bit like a
catfish.
Sunday, June 20. Sunny & somewhat cooler.
to
. Winds variable to 15.
After a short motor we arrived in Port Hardy. We called the
harbormaster, who directed us to a slip inside the small
marina.
I was nervious about manouvering in the small slip area, but managed
without bumping anyone with my wide boat.
We spent several hours in Port Hardy; Katy took a shower, Frankie,
Richie and I walked half a mile down to the grocery store and spent
$8
on bread and hot dogs. We also bought charts of the Queen
Charlotte Islands, since we were hoping to sail up through them.
When we were ready to go to the fuel dock there was someone there,
so
we had to wait until they were done. Finally they were
finished
and we motored over and got more fuel.
It was late afternoon when we fianlly left, but only a little ways
to
where we planned to spend the night. We anchored in the midst
of
6 fishing boats, who we suspect were waiting for a fish opening.
After anchoring we launched the dingy and loaded it with dinner
stuff. We went to the very nice beach, gathered up firewood
and
made a nice fire. Unfortunately the rocks were exploding ones,
and after awhile we gave up and moved the fire into an old stump to
get
away from them. This worked very well, and we cooked out hot
dogs, and had a scrumptious dinner of hot dogs, potatoe salad with
marshmellows for desert.
We'd stripped all Richie's clothes off and let him run around
without
anything on. He had a blast playing in the water's edge,
running
and splashing and throwing rocks.
We headed back to the boat when it started to get dark.
Monday, June 21. Cool and foggy-cloudy. Open
Ocean. Winds NW to 15.
We were headed for an overnight passage to the Queen Charlotte
islands,
so we slept in. But we were under way by 10, with Frankie
taking
the first shift. It was foggy for her, but by the time I took
over at 1300 it was starting to lift. Katy took over at 1700,
and
Frankie again at 2100.
Tuesday, June 22. Cool & cloudy to sunny &
warm. Ocean to Queen Charlotte Islands. Winds from 20
to
variable.
I took over at 0100, and the weather had deteriorated somewhat,
blowing
a 15-20 knot headwind. We were pounding pretty good, which
made
everyone seasick. I didn't actually throw up, but everyone
else
did. At 5 am Katy got up to take her shift, but wasn't feeling
good enough so I got a half hour break and then took over
again.
I was getting pretty groggy by 0830, so I got Frankie up. She
managed to steer long enough for me to get a half hour nap before
she
needed me to take over again. By 1100 the wind was way down,
and
the sun was out--and the Queen Charlotte Islands were in sight.
I wanted a good place that was well out of any waves to anchor, so
we
could get a good sleep so I went a little farther than strictly
necessary. The cove we anchored in was very quiet and
peaceful,
so I was successful. After getting the anchor down around 1300
we
took the rest of the day off.
Wednesday, June 23. Warm & sunny. to Hot
Spring Island. Winds variable to 15.
I was up fairly early. It was a gorgeous morning with birds
singing, deer grazing on the beach and sunny blue skies. The
wind
was just right to sail right off the hook, so I pulled up the jib,
pulled in the anchor and headed down the bay. The mainsail
added
a little speed and soon we were out in the sound.
The wind did not continue, but we did get about 10 miles out of it
before it died away. We continued motoring north, right into a
pod of whales! They were feeding on 6" fish who were so
numberous
they nearly made the water white with their frentic jumping.
We
took pictures of the whales feeding (Katy was ecstatic!) as we
motored
slowly foreward (for those of you who are really picky, we didn't
alter
course and let the whales come past us).
We arrived at Hot Springs Island about 1500. We made a slow
pass,
trying to figure out where to anchor--and whether to anchor. I
was uncertain about it because there were a lot of people there (we
counted 15), and we didn't have a cruising permit for this area
(which
I wasn't sure was important, but I didn't want to get in trouble
either!).
We finally found a good place to anchor and I paddled ashore to ask
the
Haida Watchmen if it was ok to visit. I beached the dingy, and
found a hot springs pool made by a rock-walled area. From
there a
neat shell-lined path led to the main hot spring, and the Watchmen
house. They were incredibly nice and said there were just a
few
rules to follow which they would explain when we came back to sign
in.
The wind was picking up a bit from the SW by the time I got back to
the
boat, so we rushed to get ashore before the wind got too
strong.
We signed in, were told to shower before using the pools, not put
our
heads underwater in the pools, stay on the marked trails and where
the
4 pools were. We showered and then checked out the biggest
pool. It turned out to be a little hot (the thermometer said
110° F)
so after a few minutes we voted to try the cliff pool, which we had
walked by but hadn't seen (it was on a fork in the trail we didn't
explore). The cliff pool turned out to be ideal for us, for
not
only was it a bit cooler but we had a good view of the boat.
With
the wind continuing to increase that was critical!
Within an hour we were nicely roasted and the wind was making us
nervous (every few minutes one of us would say "has the boat
shifted?"), so we decided to leave. I headed on down to the
beach
to make sure the raft was ok, Frankie went and fetched our clothes
and
Katy brought Ritchie down. While I was waiting for them I took a
quick
dip in the ocean, just to check it out (of course then I went back
up
and took a dip in the beach hot spring to warm back up again!)
The waves were about 2' and curling onto the beach, so it was
interesting getting the boat launched. We all got wet, nearly
to
the waist. Lucky thing we still had our bathing suits
on!
When we got back to the boat it was even more exciting; the waves
were
making the boat go up and down enough so the first step on the sugar
scoup was popping in and out of the water. I boarded the boat,
taking Ritchie with me. I got the motor started, just in case
the
anchor let go at the last instant (we really shouldn't have stayed
so
long!) and then went back and helped Frankie and Katy onto the boat
before pulling the dingy aboard.
It took all three of us to get the anchor aboard; I pulled it in as
Frankie drove the boat and Katy helped direct Frankie. Once
the
anchor was aboard we went around the end of the island to see if the
other shore was protected, but it wasn't. The next island over
had a nice bay in it so we went over there to check it out, and it
turned out to be perfect. We anchored there, made a quick
dinner
and then really luxurious by watching another movie before bed.
Thursday, June 24. Warm & sunny. Hot Spring
Island
to Skidegate Inlet. Winds variable 0 to 5.
We didn't get up very early, but once up we hurried to get under way
so
we could visit the hot springs again before we left. We
motored
across the channel to Hot Springs Island, and then took the dingy
ashore (hauling the dingy well up the shore, as usual). We had
been told of a trail through the woods, but didn't see it so we
walked
around the west end of the island to the hot springs. After
signing in again (and taking pictures of the deer that was grazing
on
the lawn!) we showered and spent a very relaxing hour at the
pool.
After our swim we hiked back through the woods. Today wasn't
an
adventure getting back to the boat, other than keeping our footing
on
the slippery rocks (the tide was well out by now). It was
around
1300 by the time we finally got under way, and we had a long way to
go
to get to Skidegate Inlet. So we hurried it along a tiny bit,
running the engine at 2450 rpm instead of 2350. There was less
wildlife today; we did see some whales spout in the distance but
nothing very close.
It was late evening when we arrived off Skidegate Inlet. There
is
a HUGE spit that runs north from the south shore of the inlet (10-15
miles!). It was near high tide and we didn't want to spend a
lot
of time going up and around the end of the spit, so I rigged up the
depth finder and we used it to very slowly approach and cross the
spit. The least depth was 2.5 fathoms (15'), so it was a
comefortable crossing. Then we hurried across the bay to a
small
inlet where we anchored for the night.
Friday, June 25. Cool & cloudy. Skidegate Inlet
to
Edith Harbor. Winds SE to 15.
We had ment to get an early start, but we didn't get out of bed very
early, it was time to change the oil, and we needed fuel. Oil
all
changed & logged;
but fuel turned
out to be another problem. We went to where the Coastal Pilot
said there was a fuel station, and sure enough there was--but it
said
CLOSED. We decided to try out Queen Charlotte City to see if
there was fuel there, and when we arrived there was a fuel truck up
on
the warf fueling a fishing boat. I called up to him and asked
if
he could fill us too and he said sure. So we waited until the
fishing boat was done and then tied up to the edge of the
warf. I
climbed the 25' ladder to made sure he could either take a credit
card
of US cash, since we'd never changed any money. He said a
credit
was fine, so we fueled from his truck. Still have problems
with
overflow *sigh*. We were finally under way by 11, headed
across
Dixon Entrance. We weren't very sure we would make it, and so
we
ran the engine pretty fast (2750 rpm) all day. The wind was
from
just the right direction, so we also had the sails up most of the
day.
The water was very shallow well out from the Queen Charlotte
Islands,
so we headed well out from shore, following the buoys that marked
the
channel. It was
called mom
Saturday, June 26. Cool & cloudy, showers. Edith
Harbor to Tamgas Harbor (Alaska). Winds SW to 5.
We didn't go terribly far today; only about 30 miles. The wind
was light and variable most of the day.
Sunday, June 27. Cool & rainy. Tamgas to
Ketchikan. Winds SE to 8.
We didn't get up very early, and were slow at getting started so it
was
noon by the time we hoisted anchor. Frankie pulled it in for
the
first time, using the winch on the main mast.
We arrived in Ketchikan around 3 pm, called the harbormaster who
directed us to a double slip that we could use. He also gave
us
the number to call to reach customs, so Frankie used the cell phone
to
call and the customs offical said she'd be down in 15 minutes.
We
tidied up the boat while we were waiting, and sure enough she showed
up
15 minutes later.
It was a simple process to clear customs, and within 10 minutes we
were
cleared in. We decided to walk downtown to see the Ryndam, but
after the 2 mile walk it was just pulling out. So we decided
to
go out to dinner.
After dinner we walked by the movie theater to see what was
playing. Nothing very interesting so went to a video store and
rented a couple of movies. We watched the movie on the
computer,
and then went to bed.
Monday, June 28. Cool. In Ketchikan.
We spent the day doing laundry and chores. I tried to get onto
the internet, but couldn't make my computer connect to the network
at
the internet cafe, so wasn't able to download my email.
Tuesday, June 29. Cool with showers. In Ketchikan.
Took the day completely off, and spent it reading.
Wednesday, June 30. Cool with occasional showers. In
Ketchikan.
Having been so unproductive on Tuesday, we worked very hard on the
boat
today. Katy watched Richie; Frankie did the dishes (which we'd
procrastinated on doing for far too long) and finished putting away
all
the clothes and other stuff we (still) hadn't put away. I fixed the
lock on the stove so it was level when locked, connected the
inverter
into the 110 volt power bus so our 110 volt outlets work, connected
the
marine radio to the mast head antenna (the antenna came with a coax
cable that was 10 feet short, so it had been left dangling in the
heat--I'd gotten all the parts, but never put it together--I drilled
the holes needed and ran the coax down the edge of the bunk, through
the closet and to the radio), sorted out my tools, fixed (hopefully)
a
leak in the main cabin heater, and sorted through the charts,
storing
the unneeded charts in the aft port outrigger. We also put
away
the diapers, storing some of them below the stove and some of them
in
the forward starboard outrigger.
I'd also dug out the EPIRB (emergency beacon) and did a short test
of
it to verify operation. It worked fine; I put it in the locker
beside the stove with our other emergency gear.
By the end of the day our boat was looking pretty good, so we
celebrated by going out to dinner. We caught the bus into
town,
and after a scrumptious dinner at the Pioneer Cafe we walked back
the 2
miles to the boat. We stopped by the video store and dropped
off
the movie from the night before, and picked up a new movie to
entertain
us for the evening. After the movie we went to bed.
Thursday, July 1. Warmer and partly sunny. In
Ketchikan.
I went up to the harbormaster's office for several hours, and
managed
to connect to the internet. They have a table set outside
their
office, with a phone line connection in the wall. I set up the
computer
to dial AT&T, enter the credit card number and then call my
service
provided. It took a little fiddling around, but I finally got
it
to work. I downloaded/uploaded email, downloaded my scientific
journals so I could read them later. I also uploaded this
logbook
so friends could keep up with our progress.
It was 1 pm by the time I was done. Frankie, Katy and Richie
showed up and Katy offered to buy lunch at the mall so we walked
down
there and hung out for an hour or so eatting lunch, etc.
In the late evening I got the dingy motor out and mounted on the
dingy
so we could take it over to check out the airport. It took
about
half an hour to put-put-put over to the airport. We tied up to
the small dock there and walked up to the terminal. We asked
the
lady at the Alaska Airline about checking in and doing the bags and
stuff, and she said we could go ahead and check in and get a
boarding
pass then, so all Katy would have to do is check her luggage in the
morning. So we did.
On the way back we went straight across the channel and then
down. This let us go by their HUGE dry dock (it had a
full-sized
ferry in it, as well as a couple other boats!) Just off the
dry
dock there was a couple guys fishing. They had a halibut on
the
line, so we stayed around until they landed it.
By the time we got back it was pretty dark (10:30), so we tied up
the
dingy and headed to bed. Or tried--Richie had other
ideas.
It was midnight by the time he finally settled down enough to fall
asleep.
Friday, July 2. Cooler and rainy. In Ketchikan.
Katy's
plane was very early in the morning, and Frankie took her over to
the
airport in the dingy while I stayed on the boat with Richie, who
slept
through it all. When Frankie got back she came back to bed and
we
slept in. Then we were pretty lazy for the rest of the day,
reading and napping and watching a movie all day.
Next logbook: Ketchikan
to
Sitka.
© by Ray R. Collins
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