Tag Archives | Diesel Duck

The table below shows the end-of-cruise numbers from our log sheets for the twelve cruises through 2022.  Most of the tallies are self explanatory but some comments about the methodology of my logging:

• As a practice, I don’t include the last travel day of our cruise back to our home port in the “@ Dock” numbers for where we spent the night. Consequently the sum of where we spent the nights is generally one less than the length of the trip. The year 2020 is an exception because we did an overnight run without stopping to speed our transit through British Columbia during the Covid lockdowns.
• The engine hours are taken from hour meter at the lower helm and reflect the time from starting the engine in the morning until the it is turned off at the end of day.
• The distance is captured by the Coastal Explorer (CE) navigation app running at the navigation computer at the lower helm which records our position every one-tenth of a mile.
• I started recording our “Time Idling” in 2014 when we started to do more fishing activities that required us to idle while stationary or while trolling.  I did this so that my “average speed” calculations (distance traveled divided by engine hours) weren’t distorted by the time we were fishing or sightseeing (e.g., in Glacier Bay).and not actually trying to go somewhere. It is guestimate and not recorded with any rigor. Time anchoring or docking are not included in idle time.

The map below shows all of the places we have stopped overnight during all our cruises. It is similar in style to our yearly cruise maps except that when the marker for a particular spot is selected, the data for the spot is the total number of times we’ve stayed and in which years.

The table below shows the end-of-cruise numbers from our log sheets for the twelve cruises through 2022.  Most of the tallies are self explanatory but some comments about the methodology of my logging:

• As a practice, I don’t include the last travel day of our cruise back to our home port in the “@ Dock” numbers for where we spent the night. Consequently the sum of where we spent the nights is generally one less than the length of the trip. The year 2020 is an exception because we did an overnight run without stopping to speed our transit through British Columbia during the Covid lockdowns.
• The engine hours are taken from hour meter at the lower helm and reflect the time from starting the engine in the morning until the it is turned off at the end of day.
• The distance is captured by the Coastal Explorer (CE) navigation app running at the navigation computer at the lower helm which records our position every one-tenth of a mile.
• I started recording our “Time Idling” in 2014 when we started to do more fishing activities that required us to idle while stationary or while trolling.  I did this so that my “average speed” calculations (distance traveled divided by engine hours) weren’t distorted by the time we were fishing or sightseeing (e.g., in Glacier Bay).and not actually trying to go somewhere. It is guestimate and not recorded with any rigor. Time anchoring or docking are not included in idle time.

The map below shows all of the places we have stopped overnight during all our cruises. It is similar in style to our yearly cruise maps except that when the marker for a particular spot is selected, the data for the spot is the total number of times we’ve stayed and in which years.

Upon returning to our winter moorage, we are often asked what was the highlight of our cruising season.  I think this year the ability to leisurely cruise the British Columbia coastline stands out.  The previous two years, 2020 and 2021, were races up and down the coast between the BC-WA border and the BC-AK border.  In the Covid years we did those routes in six long days with only four or five anchorages along the route.  This year, it was 12 days/11 stops northbound and 36 days/35 stops southbound. 

Another highlight was the number of new (to us) places we visited. We went to 14 new anchorages, one new mooring buoy (Bailey Bay on Behm Canal) and one new marina (Port Browning on Pender Island).  Many of the new anchorages were on Southeast side of Kuiu Island. Its nice to know that without much effort, we can visit places we haven’t been before.

We are getting totally accustomed to cruising with our ship’s dog, Drake, on board. While he is a good trooper, has never been sea sick (yet) and knows exactly where on the boat to do his “business” (the bow near the windlass where it is easy to clean), it is absolutely clear from his joy when we drop the kayaks to paddle to shore or tie up at a dock, he’d prefer that we never leave the dock. His explanation is that we could then play with him and his ball several times a day. We’ve reached a compromise and now try to spend an extra day at the dock beyond what our shore tasks might require.

The final numbers for the trip are 139 days/138 nights out (88 nights at anchor, 3 nights on mooring buoys, 47 nights at the dock). We were fortunate to have the solitude of being the only boat in the anchorage 41 nights.  We traveled 3584 nautical miles and put on 613.6 engine hours.  Of that, 42.9 hours were idling associated with fishing or sightseeing.  We only had to run our generator for 18 hours.

The map below shows all of our stops this last cruising season. Clicking on one of the “drop pins” will pull up some information about the stop. At the top right of the map is an icon which will open a separate window that may be easier to navigate.

Upon returning to our winter moorage, we are often asked what was the highlight of our cruising season.  I think this year the ability to leisurely cruise the British Columbia coastline stands out.  The previous two years, 2020 and 2021, were races up and down the coast between the BC-WA border and the BC-AK border.  In the Covid years we did those routes in six long days with only four or five anchorages along the route.  This year, it was 12 days/11 stops northbound and 36 days/35 stops southbound. 

Another highlight was the number of new (to us) places we visited. We went to 14 new anchorages, one new mooring buoy (Bailey Bay on Behm Canal) and one new marina (Port Browning on Pender Island).  Many of the new anchorages were on Southeast side of Kuiu Island. Its nice to know that without much effort, we can visit places we haven’t been before.

We are getting totally accustomed to cruising with our ship’s dog, Drake, on board. While he is a good trooper, has never been sea sick (yet) and knows exactly where on the boat to do his “business” (the bow near the windlass where it is easy to clean), it is absolutely clear from his joy when we drop the kayaks to paddle to shore or tie up at a dock, he’d prefer that we never leave the dock. His explanation is that we could then play with him and his ball several times a day. We’ve reached a compromise and now try to spend an extra day at the dock beyond what our shore tasks might require.

The final numbers for the trip are 139 days/138 nights out (88 nights at anchor, 3 nights on mooring buoys, 47 nights at the dock). We were fortunate to have the solitude of being the only boat in the anchorage 41 nights.  We traveled 3584 nautical miles and put on 613.6 engine hours.  Of that, 42.9 hours were idling associated with fishing or sightseeing.  We only had to run our generator for 18 hours.

The map below shows all of our stops this last cruising season. Clicking on one of the “drop pins” will pull up some information about the stop. At the top right of the map is an icon which will open a separate window that may be easier to navigate.

We departed Port McNeill on Monday, 8/29 with blue skies and calm winds. Timing the currents in this run down Johnstone Strait so that they were favorable (or at least not horribly adverse)  pushed us towards mid-day travel rather than our preferred morning hours. 

Our destination for the night was Port Harvey on Cracroft Island. While in Johnstone Strait and approaching the turn-off for Port Harvey, we saw ahead what we first thought was a sea lion cruising by but turned out to be a black bear swimming across Johnstone Strait from Vancouver Island to Cracroft Island. We’ve seen bears swimming across channels in Alaska and BC before but this one was paddling across waters that are frequented by orca (i.e., killer whales).  The orca here are probably focused on the migrating salmon but there could be the odd-ball whale that might want to expand its diet a bit.

The next morning, again because of the current timing, we didn’t leave the anchorage until about 10 AM.  While waiting, we watched some of the migratory fowl paddle by.  While mostly Canadian geese, we did see a lovely pair of Trumpeter swan.  According to Wikipedia, they are the heaviest living native bird in North American.  Seeing them next to a Canadian goose, the size difference is striking (forgot to take a picture).

While we hit Race Passage exactly at slack (or more precisely, “slack-ish”), our timing at Seymour Narrows was early.  Rather that jetting through with 7+ knots of current we killed an hour by checking out Small Inlet in Kanish Bay on Quadra Island.  We still had 5+ knots of current boosting us through Seymour and got twisted and turned by boils and whirlpools that extend for a mile or two downstream of the narrow section.  We joined several other boats in Gowlland Harbor for the night.

The next day we slogged our way south down the Strait of Georgia and anchored in Northwest Harbour about 10 miles north of Nanaimo. It is well protected from the SE winds that were blowing at the time.

An early start got us to Dodd Narrows about a half-hour after slack but fortunately it was the slack before the ebb.  We scooted through in no time and made our way to Montague Harbour on Galliano Island.  The presence of a marina, with restaurant and store serving ice cream, and a BC Provincial park, with a grass field for ball play, made it an attractive destination for all onboard.  We spent three nights here.

Continuing our leisurely cruise style, on Labor Day, 9/5, we traveled 11 miles to Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island.  We’ve often used this anchorage as our jumping off point for a short hop across to US waters, but in all those times we never taken the dinghy over to the public dock in Lyall Harbour and gone to the pub just above the dock.  We enjoyed a delightful lunch on an outside and dog-friendly deck with a view of Plumper Sound.

The next morning we made and even shorter 4-1/2 mile trip to Port Browning Marina on North Pender Island.  Our yacht club designates Port Browning as a satellite outstation and we are able to moor at a reduced rate.  It too has a pub with an outside deck.  It also serves ice cream in its onsite store and has ample fields in which we could engage in ball play with Drake.  Once again, everyone is happy.

In the small world category, while in Port Browning, we met Chris and Sandy who own the classic Diesel Duck Moken which is in Langkawi, Malaysia. On account Covid they have not visited the boat for two years.  They were on the boat when Covid first began an epidemic and spent several months on board before being able to return to their home in Canada on Pender Island.

We finally made the return to the US on 9/8, anchoring briefly in Roche Harbor in order to go to shore, mail an oil sample for analysis taken during the oil change in Port McNeill, get ice cream and play with Drake in the local dog park.  After those “chores”, we continued on to Garrison Bay for two nights.  The English Camp National Historical Park is situated on Garrison Bay and has a dinghy dock giving shore access to several miles of trails. One of the trails goes to the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company which, during the summer months, has a restaurant serving lunch. Not surprisingly, oysters are featured on the menu. Marcia did a excellent job of shucking a half-dozen of the raw oysters we had.

Our penultimate cruising destination was Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Our yacht club leases dock space at the Deer Harbor Marina and we ended up having that space to ourselves for three nights. The rest of the marina, however, was quite busy and we watched boats come and go.  One of the boats that arrived was the “older sister” ship to ours “Kwakatu.”  The folks we met are the second owners who bought it about three years ago.  They live in Minnesota but the boat stays in Sidney, about ten or so miles north of Victoria, BC.

We took the final leg of our summer cruise on Tuesday, 9/13 and crossed, with generally favorable currents, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, plodded down Admiralty Inlet, and found our way into Eagle Harbor.  We were secured to the dock where the boat will spend the winter and the engine off at 1845.

We departed Port McNeill on Monday, 8/29 with blue skies and calm winds. Timing the currents in this run down Johnstone Strait so that they were favorable (or at least not horribly adverse)  pushed us towards mid-day travel rather than our preferred morning hours. 

Our destination for the night was Port Harvey on Cracroft Island. While in Johnstone Strait and approaching the turn-off for Port Harvey, we saw ahead what we first thought was a sea lion cruising by but turned out to be a black bear swimming across Johnstone Strait from Vancouver Island to Cracroft Island. We’ve seen bears swimming across channels in Alaska and BC before but this one was paddling across waters that are frequented by orca (i.e., killer whales).  The orca here are probably focused on the migrating salmon but there could be the odd-ball whale that might want to expand its diet a bit.

The next morning, again because of the current timing, we didn’t leave the anchorage until about 10 AM.  While waiting, we watched some of the migratory fowl paddle by.  While mostly Canadian geese, we did see a lovely pair of Trumpeter swan.  According to Wikipedia, they are the heaviest living native bird in North American.  Seeing them next to a Canadian goose, the size difference is striking (forgot to take a picture).

While we hit Race Passage exactly at slack (or more precisely, “slack-ish”), our timing at Seymour Narrows was early.  Rather that jetting through with 7+ knots of current we killed an hour by checking out Small Inlet in Kanish Bay on Quadra Island.  We still had 5+ knots of current boosting us through Seymour and got twisted and turned by boils and whirlpools that extend for a mile or two downstream of the narrow section.  We joined several other boats in Gowlland Harbor for the night.

The next day we slogged our way south down the Strait of Georgia and anchored in Northwest Harbour about 10 miles north of Nanaimo. It is well protected from the SE winds that were blowing at the time.

An early start got us to Dodd Narrows about a half-hour after slack but fortunately it was the slack before the ebb.  We scooted through in no time and made our way to Montague Harbour on Galliano Island.  The presence of a marina, with restaurant and store serving ice cream, and a BC Provincial park, with a grass field for ball play, made it an attractive destination for all onboard.  We spent three nights here.

Continuing our leisurely cruise style, on Labor Day, 9/5, we traveled 11 miles to Lyall Harbour on Saturna Island.  We’ve often used this anchorage as our jumping off point for a short hop across to US waters, but in all those times we never taken the dinghy over to the public dock in Lyall Harbour and gone to the pub just above the dock.  We enjoyed a delightful lunch on an outside and dog-friendly deck with a view of Plumper Sound.

The next morning we made and even shorter 4-1/2 mile trip to Port Browning Marina on North Pender Island.  Our yacht club designates Port Browning as a satellite outstation and we are able to moor at a reduced rate.  It too has a pub with an outside deck.  It also serves ice cream in its onsite store and has ample fields in which we could engage in ball play with Drake.  Once again, everyone is happy.

In the small world category, while in Port Browning, we met Chris and Sandy who own the classic Diesel Duck Moken which is in Langkawi, Malaysia. On account of Covid they have not visited their boat for two years.  They were on the boat when Covid first became an epidemic and spent several months on board and not able to cruise anywhere before being able to return to their home in Canada on Pender Island.

We finally made the return to the US on 9/8, anchoring briefly in Roche Harbor in order to go to shore, mail an oil sample for analysis taken during the oil change in Port McNeill, get ice cream and play with Drake in the local dog park.  After those “chores”, we continued on to Garrison Bay for two nights.  The English Camp National Historical Park is situated on Garrison Bay and has a dinghy dock giving shore access to several miles of trails. One of the trails goes to the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company which, during the summer months, has a restaurant serving lunch. Not surprisingly, oysters are featured on the menu. Marcia did a excellent job of shucking a half-dozen raw oysters of the dozen oysters we ate.

Our penultimate cruising destination was Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Our yacht club leases dock space at the Deer Harbor Marina and we ended up having that space to ourselves for three nights. The rest of the marina, however, was quite busy and we watched boats come and go.  One of the boats that arrived was the “older sister” ship to ours, “Umiak.”  The owners, Ann & Jim, purchased it from the first owner about three years ago.  They live in Minnesota but the boat stays in Sidney, about ten or so miles north of Victoria, BC.

We took the final leg of our summer cruise on Tuesday, 9/13 and crossed, with generally favorable currents, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, plodded down Admiralty Inlet, and found our way into Eagle Harbor.  We were secured to the dock where the boat will spend the winter with the engine off at 1845.

Our 2022 southbound journey was a return to our pre-Covid cruising practice. We typically like to cross Dixon Entrance into British Columbia the end of July or first part of August. Our experience is that August weather in SE Alaska is a transition to more Fall like conditions with increased wind and rain.  That was certainly the case this year.

We left Ketchikan on Wednesday, August 3.  We stopped at the fuel dock as we left and took on 300 gallons of diesel.  When we compared SEAK fuel prices with those in Puget Sound, we saw it was nearly a dollar a gallon less in Puget Sound so only took on enough for an ample safety margin for the trip home..

The general flow of cruising boats is south and as we headed out, we saw via AIS five other boats positioning to cross Dixon Entrance. It is about 85 miles from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert so most boats like ours split the trip up so that they aren’t arriving in Prince Rupert too late in the day.  Foggy Bay, about 38 miles from Ketchikan, is a popular stop but we prefer an anchorage closer to the border.  We headed to Sitklan Passage Cove which leaves us with only a 39 mile trip the next day to Prince Rupert.

The last two years, when we were doing direct transits through Canada, we’d did a “touch and go” immigration clearance in Prince Rupert and did not stay the night. This year, we made reservations at the Cow Bay Marina for two nights so that we could reprovision in Prince Rupert with “freshies” (Canada prohibits the importation of certain vegetables, fruit and raw meats) for our slower southbound journey.  Additionally Drake could get ample ball play on some of the lush grass in the Prince Rupert parks.

After two nights, we took off from Prince Rupert and headed out to Bell Passage, about 18 miles west so that Marcia could try her hand at catching a Coho salmon.  Alas, after 2 hours she’d only hooked a pink salmon which she released and we moved onto Kelp Passage Cove for the night.The weather forecast was indicating sunny weather in the upcoming days but they would be accompanied by strong northwesterly winds.  While they would have been generally on our stern, which is usually a more comfortable direction, we decided we’d pull a long day before the winds arrived and head to McMicking Inlet on Campania Island.  In 2020, we stopped at McMicking after our 236-mile overnight dash north up the coast and found such rest and relief in the anchorage that we’ve been wanting to go back ever since (first impressions matter).

We spent two nights at McMicking and found it lovely but our activities were restricted by the strong NW winds that arrived as forecasted.  The lovely sand beach at the entrance of the inlet was about 2 miles from our anchorage and we decided that using the dinghy in the choppy conditions that the wind was kicking up in the inlet would not be pleasant so we never got down to them. Perhaps next time.

Our next stop was Chapple Inlet on Princess Royal Island. On the way we trolled along the SE shore of Campania Island and Marcia landed a Coho salmon.  We spent a couple of nights at the head of Chapple Inlet before continuing the southbound journey through Laredo Channel. That night, we anchored off Quigley Creek at the south end of Laredo Inlet.

While we had hoped to spend more time fishing the outer channels, the weather forecast was suggesting we’d have better conditions further south near Bella Bella and Shearwater. The next morning, despite some fog, we made our way through Meyers Passage, across Finlayson Channel to Jackson Passage and anchored in Rescue Bay on Susan Island.

Our change in fishing venue was vindicated when the next day, after exiting through Percival Narrows into Seaforth Channel, Marcia caught a large Coho. The next four nights we anchored in various spots in the Seaforth Channel area while fishing with some success.

As a reward to Drake for putting up with our fishing schedule, we headed over to Ocean Falls for two nights where Drake would have shore access for walks and ball play. He even got to cool off in a small stream on one of our walks.

At this point, we were nearly two weeks out from Prince Rupert and decided to head over to Shearwater Marina and forage for some fresh fruit and produce. While there, we crossed paths with fellow Queen City Yacht Club members Barbara and Tom Wilson (MV Toba). Also spending the night at Shearwater Marina was the seven boat flotilla from NW Explorations (one trip leader boat and six charter boats).

From Shearwater we continued south into Fitz Hugh Sound where we spent six nights. We fished many days in the area and Marcia continued to catch salmon. 

One of our nights at anchor was in Pruth Bay from which, through the courtesy of the Hakai Institute, you can access some lovely beaches on the ocean side of Calvert Island. While returning along the trail from North Beach to West Beach, we had a very close encounter with a wolf. Marcia was in the lead, followed by Drake then Kurt, holding Drake’s leash, in the rear. Marcia heard running ahead of her and looked up to see a wolf running towards her along the trail. She made the decision to start shrieking in her loudest voice to startle the wolf. The wolf gets about 10 feet away from her and darts to Marcia’s right (the wolf’s left) up a shallow drainage. Within five or so seconds of Marcia first hearing the wolf’s foot fall, it was out of sight into the vegetation along the drainage. We made continued (briskly) to West Beach and saw multiple wolf tracks in the sand that had not been there when we traveled it an hour or so earlier.

Since the wolf exhibited no aggression during our brief encounter and made haste to get away from us, we figure it was simply happenstance our paths crossed.  The under growth is quite thick so the trails are the preferred route to travel when trying to get somewhere. The sightlines were blocked by vegetation, the wind was light and we weren’t talking so the wolf may have not known we were on the trail heading toward him until he turned the corner on the trail as it wound its way through the forest.

For our last anchorage before rounding Cape Caution, we used the very popular Fury Cove on Penrose Island. We took Drake to shore for play on the sandy beach on one of the small islands bordering the cove.

While not bad conditions, we did keep our stabilizing “fish” in the water for about six hours from north of Cape Caution until we were well into Queen Charlotte Strait and sheltered from ocean swell. The winds were out of the north and strong enough that when we docked in Port McNeill, we were glad the marina had a spot on which we were blown on to rather than off of.

We are spending three nights in Port McNeill for boat chores (its time to change the engine oil again), relaxation and better weather (strong SE winds are forecasted). We are happy to find out that two new eateries have opened up in town (Lata’s Kitchen and Devil’s Bath Brewing) and are trying both of them while here.

Our 2022 southbound journey was a return to our pre-Covid cruising practice. We typically like to cross Dixon Entrance into British Columbia the end of July or first part of August. Our experience is that August weather in SE Alaska is a transition to more Fall like conditions with increased wind and rain.  That was certainly the case this year.

We left Ketchikan on Wednesday, August 3.  We stopped at the fuel dock as we left and took on 300 gallons of diesel.  When we compared SEAK fuel prices with those in Puget Sound, we saw it was nearly a dollar a gallon less in Puget Sound so only took on enough for an ample safety margin for the trip home..

The general flow of cruising boats is south and as we headed out, we saw via AIS five other boats positioning to cross Dixon Entrance. It is about 85 miles from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert so most boats like ours split the trip up so that they aren’t arriving in Prince Rupert too late in the day.  Foggy Bay, about 38 miles from Ketchikan, is a popular stop but we prefer an anchorage closer to the border.  We headed to Sitklan Passage Cove which leaves us with only a 39 mile trip the next day to Prince Rupert.

The last two years, when we were doing direct transits through Canada, we’d did a “touch and go” immigration clearance in Prince Rupert and did not stay the night. This year, we made reservations at the Cow Bay Marina for two nights so that we could reprovision in Prince Rupert with “freshies” (Canada prohibits the importation of certain vegetables, fruit and raw meats) for our slower southbound journey.  Additionally Drake could get ample ball play on some of the lush grass in the Prince Rupert parks.

After two nights, we took off from Prince Rupert and headed out to Bell Passage, about 18 miles west so that Marcia could try her hand at catching a Coho salmon.  Alas, after 2 hours she’d only hooked a pink salmon which she released and we moved onto Kelp Passage Cove for the night.The weather forecast was indicating sunny weather in the upcoming days but they would be accompanied by strong northwesterly winds.  While they would have been generally on our stern, which is usually a more comfortable direction, we decided we’d pull a long day before the winds arrived and head to McMicking Inlet on Campania Island.  In 2020, we stopped at McMicking after our 236-mile overnight dash north up the coast and found such rest and relief in the anchorage that we’ve been wanting to go back ever since (first impressions matter).

We spent two nights at McMicking and found it lovely but our activities were restricted by the strong NW winds that arrived as forecasted.  The lovely sand beach at the entrance of the inlet was about 2 miles from our anchorage and we decided that using the dinghy in the choppy conditions that the wind was kicking up in the inlet would not be pleasant so we never got down to them. Perhaps next time.

Our next stop was Chapple Inlet on Princess Royal Island. On the way we trolled along the SE shore of Campania Island and Marcia landed a Coho salmon.  We spent a couple of nights at the head of Chapple Inlet before continuing the southbound journey through Laredo Channel. That night, we anchored off Quigley Creek at the south end of Laredo Inlet.

While we had hoped to spend more time fishing the outer channels, the weather forecast was suggesting we’d have better conditions further south near Bella Bella and Shearwater. The next morning, despite some fog, we made our way through Meyers Passage, across Finlayson Channel to Jackson Passage and anchored in Rescue Bay on Susan Island.

Our change in fishing venue was vindicated when the next day, after exiting through Percival Narrows into Seaforth Channel, Marcia caught a large Coho. The next four nights we anchored in various spots in the Seaforth Channel area while fishing with some success.

As a reward to Drake for putting up with our fishing schedule, we headed over to Ocean Falls for two nights where Drake would have shore access for walks and ball play. He even got to cool off in a small stream on one of our walks.

At this point, we were nearly two weeks out from Prince Rupert and decided to head over to Shearwater Marina and forage for some fresh fruit and produce. While there, we crossed paths with fellow Queen City Yacht Club members Barbara and Tom Wilson (MV Toba). Also spending the night at Shearwater Marina was the seven boat flotilla from NW Explorations (one trip leader boat and six charter boats).

From Shearwater we continued south into Fitz Hugh Sound where we spent six nights. We fished many days in the area and Marcia continued to catch salmon. 

One of our nights at anchor was in Pruth Bay from which, through the courtesy of the Hakai Institute, you can access some lovely beaches on the ocean side of Calvert Island. While returning along the trail from North Beach to West Beach, we had a very close encounter with a wolf. Marcia was in the lead, followed by Drake then Kurt, holding Drake’s leash, in the rear. Marcia heard running ahead of her and looked up to see a wolf running towards her along the trail. She made the decision to start shrieking in her loudest voice to startle the wolf. The wolf gets about 10 feet away from her and darts to Marcia’s right (the wolf’s left) up a shallow drainage. Within five or so seconds of Marcia first hearing the wolf’s foot fall, it was out of sight into the vegetation along the drainage. We made continued (briskly) to West Beach and saw multiple wolf tracks in the sand that had not been there when we traveled it an hour or so earlier.

Since the wolf exhibited no aggression during our brief encounter and made haste to get away from us, we figure it was simply happenstance our paths crossed.  The under growth is quite thick so the trails are the preferred route to travel when trying to get somewhere. The sightlines were blocked by vegetation, the wind was light and we weren’t talking so the wolf may have not known we were on the trail heading toward him until he turned the corner on the trail as it wound its way through the forest.

For our last anchorage before rounding Cape Caution, we used the very popular Fury Cove on Penrose Island. We took Drake to shore for play on the sandy beach on one of the small islands bordering the cove.

While not bad conditions, we did keep our stabilizing “fish” in the water for about six hours from north of Cape Caution until we were well into Queen Charlotte Strait and sheltered from ocean swell. The winds were out of the north and strong enough that when we docked in Port McNeill, we were glad the marina had a spot on which we were blown rather than off of.

We are spending three nights in Port McNeill for boat chores (its time to change the engine oil again), relaxation and better weather (strong SE winds are forecasted). We are happy to find out that two new eateries have opened up in town (Lata’s Kitchen and Devil’s Bath Brewing) and are trying both of them while here (postscript: both were good and recommended).

After six nights in Juneau we headed out of Auke Bay on July 12 headed towards Gambier Bay, on Admiralty Island. It turned into a real slog between Douglas and Admiralty Island as we had an adverse current instead of the predicted favorable current.

Once in Gambier Bay, we anchored in the SE arm of Snug Cove which is smaller and less used than the larger area to the west. We ended up spending three nights here while we tried to find a productive prawn area.  After six pots in three locations with mediocre results, we’re scratching Gambier Bay off the list of prime prawning areas..

The weather at this point has become more unsettled with a series of weak fronts separated by only modest sun breaks.  At least the temperatures are moderate and we haven’t had to run the furnace to heat the boat.

Fortunately, one of the sun breaks coincided with a stop at the lovely West Brother Island anchorage.  Drake got to play on the beach there before high tide took it away.

With another soggy front forecasted, we headed to the village of Kake on Kupreanof Island for a couple of nights where we’d have shore access for walks.  While there we reconnected with our yacht club friends, Ann and Craig on Shot-8, whom we had last seen in Sitka about a month earlier.

From Kake we headed to a rendezvous in Security Bay on Kuiu Island with Kathleen and John who cruise on our sistership Laysan.  While we’ve met up with them in Petersburg several times we’ve never anchored out with them. The next morning, we first fished for halibut near them by Kingsmill Point (they were successful, we weren’t) before going our separate ways. They were headed out towards Sitka while we headed back into Fredrick Sound..

With another front coming through, we decided to spend the time in Cannery Cove at Pybus Bay. While very scenic and often with good bear viewing, Cannery Cove is  open to the east and doesn’t offer great protection from weather out of the southeast.  It was a little bouncy and slightly annoying at times.

After two nights in Cannery Cove, we headed out to fish for halibut at a spot than had worked for us last year.  Unfortunately, the spot is not at all protected and the weather hadn’t quieted down enough for us to fish it so we headed over to fish Cleveland Passage just north of Cape Fanshaw which is relatively protected.  Marcia managed to pull in one halibut before we left for our anchorage that night at Read Island Cove in Farragut Bay.

An early start from there saw us through Wrangell Narrows with the morning high slack and we docked in the Reliance Harbor in Wrangell that afternoon. Once again, another front was forecasted for SE Alaska and we decided it’d be more pleasant at the dock than in an anchorage.

After three nights in Wrangell, we headed out with better weather forecast in hand down the East Passage and anchored in Berg Bay.  We had stopped there in May on the northbound part of the trip and enjoyed it because of easy shore access to an area for Drake to play, which he did again on this return visit.

We continued a down East Passage and into Blake Channel and anchored in Fools Inlet. Part of the reason for our taking the route we did was to look for new prawn sites so we dropped prawn pots hoping to stumble on the “motherlode” of prawn sites (spoiler alert, we didn’t find it). Next we went to Santa Anna Inlet for a night and finally to Vixen Harbor. 

We had looked at the write-up for Vixen Harbor every time we had passed it during our travels in Ernest Sound.  The charts suggest is virtually impassible but the guides say it is doable but requires careful navigation.  Recently, I came across the very complete description provided by Kevin Morris of the Slowboat website.  Fortified by his description and overhead drone images, we entered its narrow channel and anchored uneventfully. 

After watching the entrance channel through a tide cycle and taking the kayak through it with a handheld depth sounder, its least depth (zero tide) seems about 8-feet.  A mid-channel route is probably safe but at high tide, favor (ever so slightly) the west side of the channel (starboard side while entering) as it seems to be a bit steeper.  When exiting, we waited for a rising tide and a tide level of about 6-feet before leaving.

From Vixen Harbor we headed down a docile Clarence Strait and, rather than arriving in Ketchikan in the evening, we went to Deep Bay off of Moser Bay.  Friends Brenda & Pete have a cabin here and Brenda came out to our boat in her skiff and we caught up on things going on in our lives.

The next morning, July 30, we headed into Ketchikan arriving shortly after 9 AM.  From here we’ll wait for suitable weather to cross Dixon Entrance and clear into Canada at Prince Rupert. 

After six nights in Juneau we headed out of Auke Bay on July 12 headed towards Gambier Bay, on Admiralty Island. It turned into a real slog between Douglas and Admiralty Island as we had an adverse current instead of the predicted favorable current.

Once in Gambier Bay, we anchored in the SE arm of Snug Cove which is smaller and less used than the larger area to the west. We ended up spending three nights here while we tried to find a productive prawn area.  After six pots in three locations with mediocre results, we’re scratching Gambier Bay off the list of prime prawning areas..

The weather at this point has become more unsettled with a series of weak fronts separated by only modest sun breaks.  At least the temperatures are moderate and we haven’t had to run the furnace to heat the boat.

Fortunately, one of the sun breaks coincided with a stop at the lovely West Brother Island anchorage.  Drake got to play on the beach there before high tide took it away.

With another soggy front forecasted, we headed to the village of Kake on Kupreanof Island for a couple of nights where we’d have shore access for walks.  While there we reconnected with our yacht club friends, Ann and Craig on Shot-8, whom we had last seen in Sitka about a month earlier.

From Kake we headed to a rendezvous in Security Bay on Kuiu Island with Kathleen and John who cruise on our sistership Laysan.  While we’ve met up with them in Petersburg several times we’ve never anchored out with them. The next morning, we first fished for halibut near them by Kingsmill Point (they were successful, we weren’t) before going our separate ways. They were headed out towards Sitka while we headed back into Fredrick Sound..

With another front coming through, we decided to spend the time in Cannery Cove at Pybus Bay. While very scenic and often with good bear viewing, Cannery Cove is  open to the east and doesn’t offer great protection from weather out of the southeast.  It was a little bouncy and slightly annoying at times.

After two nights in Cannery Cove, we headed out to fish for halibut at a spot than had worked for us last year.  Unfortunately, the spot is not at all protected and the weather hadn’t quieted down enough for us to fish it so we headed over to fish Cleveland Passage just north of Cape Fanshaw which is relatively protected.  Marcia managed to pull in one halibut before we left for our anchorage that night at Read Island Cove in Farragut Bay.

An early start from there saw us through Wrangell Narrows with the morning high slack and we docked in the Reliance Harbor in Wrangell that afternoon. Once again, another front was forecasted for SE Alaska and we decided it’d be more pleasant at the dock than in an anchorage.

After three nights in Wrangell, we headed out with better weather forecast in hand down the East Passage and anchored in Berg Bay.  We had stopped there in May on the northbound part of the trip and enjoyed it because of easy shore access to an area for Drake to play, which he did again on this return visit.

We continued a down East Passage and into Blake Channel and anchored in Fools Inlet. Part of the reason for our taking the route we did was to look for new prawn sites so we dropped prawn pots hoping to stumble on the “motherlode” of prawn sites (spoiler alert, we didn’t find it). Next we went to Santa Anna Inlet for a night and finally to Vixen Harbor. 

We had looked at the write-up for Vixen Harbor every time we had passed it during our travels in Ernest Sound.  The charts suggest is virtually impassible but the guides say it is doable but requires careful navigation.  Recently, I came across the very complete description provided by Kevin Morris of the Slowboat website.  Fortified by his description and overhead drone images, we entered its narrow channel and anchored uneventfully. 

After watching the entrance channel through a tide cycle and taking the kayak through it with a handheld depth sounder, its least depth (zero tide) seems about 8-feet.  A mid-channel route is probably safe but at high tide, favor (ever so slightly) the west side of the channel (starboard side while entering) as it seems to be a bit steeper.  When exiting, we waited for a rising tide and a tide level of about 6-feet before leaving.

From Vixen Harbor we headed down a docile Clarence Strait and, rather than arriving in Ketchikan in the evening, we went to Deep Bay off of Moser Bay.  Friends Brenda & Pete have a cabin here and Brenda came out to our boat in her skiff and we caught up on things going on in our lives.

The next morning, July 30, we headed into Ketchikan arriving shortly after 9 AM.  From here we’ll wait for suitable weather to cross Dixon Entrance and clear into Canada at Prince Rupert.