Thorne Bay to Exchange Cove 44 nm

After yesterday’s whale viewings we were hoping for more sightings as we proceeded up Clarence Strait towards Exchange Island. We hugged the shore to see if we could see any bear but we were to draw a blank on wildlife for today. The weather was still overcast as a series of low pressure systems were sweeping by. I did manage to pull down a Pacific GRIB file and if we are lucky a large high pressure system might push the low out and settle over SE Alaska for a while. Fingers crossed.

As we made our way up the strait we could see a large pleasure boat crossing the strait. Given there are not that many anchorages around here it could be possible that they were also heading for Exchange Island. Not that it is a problem, most anchorages are certainly large enough to accommodate quote a few boats but it’s sometimes nice to have an anchorage to yourselves especially having been in town for a few days. We weaved our way through the islands of Kashevarof passage and headed around the north shore of exchange Island and sure enough the large motor boat we had seen earlier was anchored. It turned out to be a charter fishing boat – Persistance or was it Perseverance– www.fishwildalaska.com . We motored past them and dropped the hook in 20ft of water at 4pm.

Ketchiken to Thorne Bay 37 miles

Two days seems to be the limit that we like staying in a town before we get twitchy and want some space. How is this going to work out when we all get home? Don’t think about it now…  we motored up Tongass narrows and about 1 mile from the north entrance a large humpback whale surfaced about 30ft from our port beam on the same course as ourselves. It scared the daylights out of me at first and when it surfaced the second time Katya and I watched in amazement. As it took its next dive it’s large tail? (Fluke?) surfaced before it disappeared. Wow! Our first close encounter with a humpback. No time for the camera unfortunately but at least both Katya and I saw it.

We made our way up Clarence strait in poor visibility, at one point we turned the radar on to see what might be in the rain clouds ahead. As we passed Tolstoi point on our approach to the channel markers of Thorne Bay we saw another whale cruising around presumably feeding on something in the area. Two whales in one day, this looks promising.

The entrance to Thorne bay is narrow and has a spit heading south from the north shore. We had to get pretty close to the north shore of one of the islands but there seemed to be plenty of depth – 70 feet, once through the narrow channel, and we could relax, we could see a number of floating houses tucked into small bays along both shores. A few small aluminium boats were buzzing up and down the channel presumably coming and going to the small village of Thorne. We decided not to take a slip in Thorne, albeit it is supposed to be cheap we dropped the anchor and sat and watched the goings-on in town. At one point a procession of vehicles went through town, including the local ambulance, fire engine and about 5 cars all tooting their horns and sirens. Jude gave a toot on our air horn - A wedding or some other celebration perhaps?            

Prince Rupert to Ketchikan 84 miles

We spent two cold and wet days in PR and were glad to leave once we had a weather window to cross Dixon entrance. We telephoned US border patrol to seek permission to stay at Foggy bay on our way across to Ketchiken. You are supposed to check into customs without dropping anchor but given that Ketchiken is 84 miles away we might not be able to make it that far. We transited Venn Passage, a twisting and turning shoal passage through from Prince Rupert Harbour to Chatham sound and Dixon Entrance. As we exited Venn Passage the winds and seas built and we hoisted the sails. The wind was on our bow again so we headed off as much as we could and sailed in choppy conditions pass Dundas Island into eastern Dixon entrance. We decided that we would skip the stopover in Foggy bay and arrive late in Ketchiken. The viability deteriorated and heavy showers drenched the boat periodically. We say a very large cruise ship on the AIS heading right for us at 20 knots so we tacked to avoid its path. The weather improved and the winds died down as we passed Duke Island to our west. We sailed at around 6 knots towards Ketchiken until the wind died down by Pennock Island at the SE end of Tongass narrows. We called up Ketchiken harbor and assigned us a slip and called US customs to advise of our arrival. They told us that as it was late we were supposed to stay aboard until an officer would sign us in the following morning. We were allocated a slip in the North harbor which is a rather rickety fishing port. All the vessels around us were working boats and getting ready for the forthcoming fishing season.

Ketchiken

The following morning the local chief of Customs and Border patrol came aboard Sarita and checked our passports and boat papers. TC, the Border officer, explained the process to us without being condescending like some CBP officers we have met and drove me down to their office to complete the process. On the journey he very kindly told us all about the town and its heritage. He was a wonderful and very helpful man. Once the formalities were completed he drove me back to the boat! Amazing. Thanks TC.    

  

It rained heavily whilst we were in Ketchiken. Despite this we walked the 2 miles into town to see what it had to offer. Not much is the answer. It seems to exist for the cruise ships that spew out their passengers whereupon the local gannet-like tour representatives feast on the masses. They have a limited amount of time to entice their pray to purchase trips to watch whales, visit Misty Fijord, visit canneries and sell them Chinese made  souvenirs and sell overpriced restaurant food.  Not our favorite place but it serves a purpose. We provisioned in Safeways, bought some spares for an anchor chain modification and prepared to head deeper into Alaska.

Kumealon Inlet to Prince Rupert – 35 miles

We awoke to a foggy morning which meant that we would have our radar on for the passage to Prince Rupert which is the last town in BC before heading across Dixon Entrance and the border to the USA. It is also a chance to re provision with some of the Canadian goodies. The journey was uneventful and after the fog lifted around 11am we made good progress towards PR. Civilization. Huge Chinese bulk carriers filled with coal, grain, containers and fish. We called up the PR yacht club and they assigned a slip near the fuel dock. We went ashore to explore PR and do some provisioning. I looked for a computer to replace our on board PC which broke down in Port McNeill. No joy. We would have to continue to use my laptop to run the radar but left us with no spare. I don’t believe windows PCs are reliably enough to be on boats. You always need a backup or two. Katya and I went to visit the Prince Rupert museum and enjoyed the exhibits there and wondered around town. We all had a nice fish and chips meal at Smiley’s restaurant.

Prince Rupert Yacht club

Bishop Bay to Kumealon Inlet – 66.1 miles

We set off at 7.30am to catch the right tide to take us up as far as we could make, the 44 mile long, relatively narrow, Grenville Channel. The current helped us along  as we passed Gribbell Island (for some reason I like the name Gribbell). This is supposed to be a busy channel but all we saw was a small sail bot heading south and a seaplane which flew low overhead. We pulled into Kumealon Inlet and made our way to the North East side of the inlet and dropped our anchor in 65ft of water. Jude prepared supper and I dropped the line in to try my luck at fishing. Within 3 seconds something struck my line and shot off at a rate of knots. I still had my beer in hand and lifted the tip of the rod up to keep the tension on the line. I shouted to the girls that I think I had something big on the line and they came up to view the action. I was not sure what it could be. I was certainly bigger that the rock sole I have caught before and was faster than the lingcod I have caught. I continued to reel in. the fish fought back stripping line off the reel. What could it be? As I reeled it in I saw a flash of silver – could it be a salmon? Sure enough as I continued to fight it it became clear that it was indeed a salmon and a good sized on at that. I shouted to Jude to get the gaff ready praying that I would not lose it. How could we get it onboard as we had no fishing net. We had to gaff it. The fish eventually tired and after a few swipes Jude expertly gaffed it through the gills and I heaved it on board. As you might expect there was as much surprise as there was jubilation at landing the salmon. We checked the BC fishing book and it was a King salmon, a prized game fish and apparently only 1% of salmon caught are King salmon. What complete luck. We quickly gutted the fish and Jude filleted it and in the freezer it went. (Thanks again to David for fixing the freezer). We now had plenty of food in the freezer to last us weeks.

Who said BC does not have any salmon

Getting ready for the frezer