M/V BurntSand - Northern BC & Alaska 2007!

Pictures added from Prince Rupert to Ketchican!

We are in Alaska!

Location:       Ketchikan, Alaska -- Bar Harbor Marina
Date:             Friday, June 29, 2007
Last Post (LP): JUNE 24, 2007
Time:           1000
Location:      N55 21.11 W131 41.14
Dist. Since LP: 126.6 nm
Total Distance: 610.4 nm

--------------------------------------- 

Monday morning, June 25th we set off in our dinghy back to Freeman Passage and within minutes of putting our lines down Jim caught a twenty pound Chinook. Very exciting! We continued fishing for another couple of hours,caught and released a couple of rock fish and headed back to the BurntSand to fillet our prize. We brought up our anchor at 1440 and headed for Prince Rupert on an inside route that took us through Kitkatla Channel,Gasboat Passage, Ogden Channel, Arthur Passage to Chatham Sound. Breathtaking scenery. Absolutely idyllic. Approaching the delta of the mighty Skeena River our Nobletec Navigation System started to behave crazily....not what you want to see on your screen.  Luckily it was a clear day and we were able navigate around the red buoys hedging the shallow delta of the Skeena River.  We cruised into Prince Rupert and found moorage at the Fairview Marina because the Yacht Club closer to town was full. It was a working marina with fish boats coming and going. We met the brother of the shrimp fisherman Peter. His boat is called the Golden Chalice and he had just spent the last two weeks fishing off Dundas Island with sports fishermen on board.

The next morning we visited an internet cafe and uploaded our pictures. Jim spent the afternoon working on the Nobletec Navigation System with an electronics technician.  It sounded like an in depth tutorial to me as I settled down with an excellent book in the salon. Jim was very pleased and felt he had learned a great deal and of course we hoped our electronic problems were now solved. We spent the next day enjoying the sights of Prince Rupert, shopping for new fishing lures, baked goods and some fresh groceries...we looked like a couple of waifs loaded down with all our bags.  Prince Rupert boasts a fleet of 53 taxis, so we never had to wait for a cab. We shared an excellent dinner at the Cow Bay Cafe and remebered the great time we had their with the "kids" in 2005.

We left the dock at 0730 on Thursday morning and headed out into the dense fog, visibility of 100 metres.  We had just left the busy harbour traffic in the narrow channel behind when our navigating software, Nobletec crashed. We switched to our back up system, Raymarine, and continued on through the fog monitoring our radar very closely. It was very stressful experiencing the crash in the foggy conditions. Jim worked continously trying to solve the problem with our Nobletec and finally got it to work sporadically.  It crashed every hour or so. Very frustrating. We arrived in Ketchikan at 1605 that afternoon. We cleared customs and settled down to an absolutely delicious dinner of BBQ'd ivory salmon on the boat. Jim had a tour of the 76 Nordhavn on the next float and came back salivating badly! The boat is absolutely pristine and has all the newest technology.  Jim had seen the boat in Coal Harbour and so pleased to have the opportunity to see her here. The owners are from Ireland. We made plans to have dinner with them in town the next night. They are coming to our boat for drinks beforehand. Friday morning Jim reinstalled Nobletec and we headed out to enjoy the sights of Ketchikan. The last time we were here it was dense fog and rain. Jim clicked away happily with his camera as we cruised into the harbour.  We didn't know the town was nestled beneath a beautiful mountain capped with gleaming snow fields.

100 Pictures Added from Prince Rupert! Enjoy!

To Get to The Yeates Family Main Page!

Yeates Family Main Page Link

Crab Trap Cove and No Crabs Caught!

Location: Crab Trap Cove off Kitkatla Channel Date: Sunday, June 24, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 22, 2007 Time: 1545 Location: N53 51.14 W130 30.20 Dist. Since LP: 43.3 nm Total Distance: 483.8 nm

---------------------------------------

Friday afternoon at 1340 we raised our anchor and set off in high spirits to continue our adventure north. We cruised out into Surf Inlet, making our way to Laredo Inlet and onto the calm waters of Campania Sound, spilling into Squally Channel and on into Otter Passage, Nepean Sound and finally Principe Channel. This is wilderness cruising at its best. Dall porpoise enchanted us when they came to play in our bow wake. Eagles are always abundant it seems. They continue to amaze us as we watch them soar and glide above the islands. We were heartened to see many shimmering rainbows and the changes in light were magical. We hoped to capture the atmosphere with our digital cameras. We plied our way through ribbons of waterways and encountered virtually no boats until we cruised into our anchorage in the north arm of Patterson Inlet, a three mile long fiord. We shared the anchorage with at Nordic Tug named Sandpiper. We had met the crew of this boat back in Pruth Bay...so many adventures in between! We were finally able to securely set our anchor on the third try...thank goodness! It was 1930 and we were tired and anxious to BBQ Jim's freshly caught spring salmon. We uncorked the wine and celebrated the catch, the day,the whole boating adventure aboard the BurntSand! Saturday morning after a leisurely breakfast, we pulled up the anchor at 1145 and headed back down the three mile fiord to Principe Channel. A colony of seals watched inquisitively as we turned north up the channel, past a smattering of islands and islets and navigated our way into Petrel Channel and though the Petrel Channel Narrows. We headed into Kitkatla Channel and passed the thriving Indian settlement of Kitkatla on a point of land on the north side of Dolphin Island. The sun glistened on the water as we entered the calm waters of our anchorage in Crab Trap Cove at 1635. Inspired by the name, we put our dinghy in the water and immediately headed off to set our two crab traps. The next morning we woke early to clear blue skies and brilliant sunlight. We eagerly set off to check our traps. One was crammed with both Dungeness and rock crabs as well as two rock fish...but alas not the right size to keep! All prisoners were quickly released. The next trap had a huge male Dungeness crab , but he was missing three legs so we freed him as well. Undaunted, we set off to go fishing in Freeman Passage. It leads to Hectare Strait which is on the inside of the Queen Charlotte Islands, forty five nautical miles away. The setting was spectacular...three eagles watched silently in the treetops as we plied our way back and forth in a very small bay off the passage. Otters were spotted swimming across little bays. The depth sounder saw fish but unfortunately we did not! We stowed away our fishing gear and made a dinghy tour of the area. It would be a great place for kayaking, so many little islands and islets to explore. We covered 15 nautical miles until we returned to the BurntSand, our dinghy is definitely getting a wonderful workout on this trip as we have traveled more than 50 nautical miles on it exploring the areas we have been anchored.Unfortunately the wind came up and kayaking no longer seemed as inviting. We lunched out in the cockpit and enjoyed the warm sunshine away from the wind.

In Principe Channel!

Location: Penn Harbour Surf Inlet (Princess Royal Island) Date: Friday, June 22, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 19, 2007 Time: 1730 Location: N52 58.40 W128 57.25 Dist. Since LP: 37.9 nm Total Distance: 440.5 nm --------------------------------------- Tuesday, at 1430 we retrieved our anchor and cruised on through the Meyers Narrows and out into Laredo Sound and then east into Laredo Inlet to our anchorage in Alston Cove. The weather was quite dreary with heavy rains. The anchorage was very snug and the BurntSand was a cozy haven with its heating system keeping us warm and toasty. Thank goodness! We reminisced about sunnier times spent there two years ago. At 1130 Wednesday morning, we left Alston Cove in the rain and headed for Penn Harbour in Surf Inlet. We cruised through Laredo Inlet into Laredo Channel,around Johnstone point and into Surf Inlet. We set anchor and immediately put our dinghy down and set two crab traps. The waterfall at the head of the bay was a torrential froth of foamy water and there was a huge mass of foam bubbling onto the bay. It was high tide and we were able to take our dinghy very close to the falls. The bay boasted many little waterfalls crashing down the rocks into the waters below especially after the rains of the last two days. We are still enjoying many eagle sightings despite the rains. After dinner, a fishing boat named the Marci Lynn came ever so slowly into the bay and fished up and down the bay and after about 15 minutes caught a beautiful 22 pound Chinook salmon. We were most impressed and resolved to fish at high water slack the next night. Later the fish boat came along side and Peter Haughin, his son Chris and crew Lyndsay sold us some huge tiger shrimp and gave us four beautiful steaks of the salmon we watched them catch. We gifted some chocolate and two large bottles of Heineken beer. They also gave us the fish head for our crab traps the next day. Smiles all round!! Today is my Mom's 93rd birthday and we were so pleased we were able to reach her by sat phone to give her our birthday greetings. We miss her! Thursday morning we eagerly checked our traps to find one huge Dungeness crab in one. We reset the other trap with some fish gills. We then set off in our dinghy despite the rain to explore the abandoned dam at the head of the Surf Inlet four to five miles away. It was quite impressive. Apparently it was built for a gold mining operation and the creek used to be a sockeye salmon run (no long we because the didn't build a fish ladder). We toured the various waterfalls on our way and came upon a colony of seals resting on the rocks on the bank of the inlet. We returned to our anchorage after our 15 mile dinghy ride and checked our traps, released a female Dungeness crab and a large male rock crab and took home a good sized male Dungeness. We feasted on crab for lunch. The rain stopped finally and a bit of sun actually poked through the clouds. Later we joined the shrimp boat trolling in the bay. Once again they caught a beautiful salmon and we were skunked for only one hour of fishing time! We invited them over for a drink after dinner and we enjoyed listening to Peter's stories of fishing on the West Coast and about his volunteer passion - coaching a high school girl's basketball team for 9 years and a women's club team in Prince Rupert.Most of the girl's are First Nation. At one point he had four girls who were also on the B.C. All Star Team. He brought along his computer and showed us pictures of fish boats and seascapes and his many basketball teams. It is always fascinating to meet the local people and hear their stories. We finally went to bed at midnight with the shrimp boat rafted to the BurntSand. The next morning at 1000 Jim tried his hand at fishing again in the bay with the ebb tide and caught two beautiful Chinook in less than an hour, 19 and 28 pounds respectively. Fantastic! He was only about 150 meters from the BurntSand so Deb was able to photograph the exciting event! Between cooking our last crab and another gift of shrimp from our fisher friends, cleaning and vacuum sealing the newly caught salmon, it was 1340 before we were able to bring up the anchor and continue our adventure.

Meyers Passage!

Location: Island west of Meyers Narrows Central Coast Date: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 17, 2007 Time: 13:30 Location: N52 38.51 W128 35.16 Dist. Since LP: 56nm Total Distance: 376.7nm --------------------------------------- After two days of "socializing" with our fellow boaters at the dock in Shearwater, we continued our cruise at noon. we chose a scenic route up Lama Passage, through Seaforth Channel and west into the scenic narrow waterway of Reid Passage. Absolutely beautiful! We turned into Mathiesen Channel and navigated carefully through Jackson Narrows with a 7.4 foot tide. We continued in Jackson Passage and across Finlayson Channel and into Klemtu Passage. We docked at Klemtu Village after giving up trying to reach anyone on the VHF. Once on shore, we were lucky to meet Doug Neasloss at the Band Office. I n the summer month she is employed by Klemtu Tourism as an ecotour guide and assistant manager. He leads spirit bear viewing and other ecotours. Only 24 years old, he won the Young Adult Achievement Award in 2006 presented by Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia. Doug gave us an excellent tour of the huge long house that was built in the community in 2000. The longhouse was stylized after an ancient longhouse on the island which has been scientifically dated back to 350 years ago. A picture of this site is hanging in the Band Office.He told us a legend about that long house. The monumental poles and cross poles inside The monumental poles inside were done by the well known Alert Bay artist, Tom Hunt. The poles depict the frog,the eagle,the raven,the two finned whale,the wolf and both the white spirit bear and the black bear...all important clans in this community of 400. Doug is also a budding photographer and we purchased one of his photos of a spirit bear. Doug's enthusiasm and highly motivated nature stood in sharp contrast to most of the other residents we encountered.Hopefully his optimism for his community will be contagious and catch the imagination of the youth in the village. Many of the children showed signs of fetal alcohol syndrome. About a quarter of the homes were in disrepair and a dozen broken down cars were strewn about the area.Everyone however was very friendly and we were glad we persevered and made a stop there. We were heartened to learn that the community had undergone a significant positive change since the long house was built. A spirit bear came and circled the longhouse not long after it was completed and a pod of whales came into the inlet in front of the longhouse and stayed for a few hours. These were important and significant events in this village and helped the people reclaim their culture. Doug has huge respect for the Elders and what they can teach him. We left the dock at Klemtu at 1445 and continued to our anchorage for the night at the head of Alexander inlet. The anchorage was delightful in the dappled rays of the evening sun and desolate in the rain the next morning! Even the lone seal who cavorted around our boat last night was disappeared. We left our anchorage late this morning and having not checked the route carefully enough earlier, we now find ourselves anchored behind an island in Meyers Passage waiting for the tide to rise so we can safely navigate the Narrows ahead.

Pruth Bay to Shearwater!

Location: Shearwater Kliksoatli Harbour Central Coast Date: Sunday, June 17, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 15, 2007 Time: 1400 Location: N52 08.82 W128 05.29 Dist. Since LP: 43.1nm Total Distance: 320.7nm --------------------------------------- Friday afternoon we set off in our dinghy from Pruth Bay and made our way to Donald Island, a local fishing "hotspot" to try our hand at fishing. We navigated the ocean swells into calm waters where Jim proceeded to set up the downriggers and fishing rods for this fishing adventure. This is not a non trivial task! ...or is it the size of our little dinghy that makes it appear more complicated? Sitting at the bow, I found myself wondering how three people are successful in fishing in this very small space together? However history does prove it has been done on many,many similar fishing expeditions. We plied our way back and forth along the side of the island. Then disaster struck!...one of our cannonballs became lodged in some rocks which made for some very tense moments aboard our little dinghy struggling in the ocean swells! Finally we made the decision to cut our losses and the line of our downrigger! I was greatly relieved to leave the cannonball and the close proximity of looming rocks behind! I felt Jim handled the situation very well...things could have very easily taken a very nasty turn. I'm sure it's not the first, nor the last piece of fishing equipment to find its way to the dark bottom of the ocean! We stowed away our fishing gear and switched "gears" to have a more idyllic dinghy adventure on the Pacific Ocean side amid the small western islands and islets opposite the beach we hiked on the day before. The waters were shallow and a lovely cerulean blue. The sun shone down on us and we savoured every moment.If the water had been warm, we would have jumped in for a swim in a heartbeat! These are moments we will always treasure in our memories. Being out in this wilderness and experiencing nature in such a personal,spiritual way is such a gift. The magic of our encounter with a sea lion and the seemingly effortless flying antics of a pair of eagles is food for the soul. Saturday morning we continued our adventure and cruised away from Pruth Bay at 0820 under overcast skies and cruised into Kwakshua Channel and across the Hakai Pass in relatively calm seas. The weather channel had been ominously threatening big gale winds the last couple of days and we were delightd to discover the weatherman was wrong for today at least! We had chosen the scenic route through the islands to Shearwater rather than the direct route through Fitzhugh Sound. We snaked our way through Ward Channel, Nalau Passage, Kildidt Sound and hand steered through the narrow waters of Brydon Channel and zigzagged our way through logs strewn across Spider Anchorage. We slowed right down to navigate the tricky rocky entrance to Spider channel and Deb was the trusty bow "lookout" as Jim manoeuvred the BurntSand around these treacherous rocks. We feel so privileged to be able to experience the beauty of this wild area in our boat. We enjoyed flat waters with a minimal flooding current against us. Sunlight dappled the waters and the scenery was breathtaking. Eagles literally dot the trees hedging these amazing waterways. We left the Spider Channel and cruised on into the Queen's Sound and then into Hunter Channel and finally Lama Passage and into Shearwater to tie up at the dock for a couple of nights. Today is June 16th, our daughter Lisa's 28th birthday and we were so happy to finally connect with her on our satellite phone. The trade off to this amazing boating adventure is the daily connection with the family and friends we leave behind. The satellite phone is our umbilical cord to our life in Vancouver. We are especially relieved to be able to keep in close contact with Jim's Mom in Montreal and my Mom in West Vancouver. Lisa and Rob and Michelle and Alex joined us in Shearwater on our last trip to Alaska and we have such great memories of their time with us and we especially miss them on our stop here this trip. Today is Father's Day and we wish all the fathers following our adventure a Happy Day. To say Jim was thrilled with his gift of Purdy's chocolates from Lisa and Michelle is putting it mildly...Jim is in "heaven" as he announces he's just having "one more". Thank you daughters for your thoughtful gift and sweet words. You'll be happy to know that your Dad is celebrating with a guided fishing experience and hopefully a beautiful freshly caught salmon dinner tonight! I elected to stay aboard the BurntSand. My "chores" are now done and I will relax with a good book!

Whale in our anchorage 10 feet from the BurntSand!

Location: Pruth Bay South Arm Calvert Island South of Hakai Passage Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 12, 2007 Time: 1100 Location: N51 39.26 W128 07.37 Dist. Since LP: 19.9 nm Total Distance: 277.6 nm (corrected!) --------------------------------------- Tuesday night we enjoyed an amazing wine named Jim Jim, an Australian Shiraz - a birthday gift to Jim from Rob and Lisa. It proved an excellent pairing with our dinner of rack of lamb. Thank you again! so appreciated! We wish you could have been with us to share in the delights of this wine. The next morning we awoke to overcast skies and hurray! NO RAIN! After some dinghy maintenance by Jim, aided ny Deb, his favourite "gofer", we set off on a 15 nautical mile dinghy trip to explore the fantastic wilderness of the Penrose Island marine park. We skimmed over flat waters through ribbons of waterways snaking around islets and islands. At times Deb was posted on a vigilant bow watch searching for rocks lurking beneath. High tide enabled us to sneak through shallow channels unnavigable at low tide. It was a totally awesome wilderness experience. During our two hour dinghy excurion we came across one solitary dinghy plying the calm waterways. Wildlife was plentiful: eagles; a blue heron - a solitary sentinel, silent and still on an old log boom; common murres;a flock of red breasted mergansers and most exciting of all an otter swimming across the channel a few feet ahead, it seemed to actually slide up the bank of the channel out of sight. During the adventure Deb tried to capture on camera the breathtaking tranquility of this amazing wilderness reflected in the still mirrors of the flat waters. A very spiritual experience. We came across a raft with signage indicating biotoxin samples - do not disturb. Another indication of the Canadian Fisheries presence in the park. We returned to the BurntSand for a late lunch and hot tea to warm us up and then...the RAINS returned...perfect timing! Thursday morning we spotted an orange clad man working on the beach. We learned he was a biologist contracted by the local native band to test the coliform levels as they wish to resume clamming at this old village site (deep in 3' of clamshells on the beach). He beached his dinghy at low tide to spend a few hours taking samples all along the beach. We were shocked to learn it was coliform levels and not red tide causing a closure of this shellfish fishery. We left the anchorage at 0945 and entered the swell outside to a bank of fog and 200 metres of visibility. An hour later the fog lifted and beautiful blue skies and puffy cumulus clouds welcomed us through the flat waters of Fitzhugh Sound. The sunshine drenched our boat and our spirits soared in anticipation of the hiking experience ahead in Pruth Bay at the tip of Kwakshua Channel. We arrived at Pruth Bay at 1205 and set our anchor in the south arm. After lunch we dinghied over to the fishing lodge stopping on our way to set our crab trap. We hiked over to the beach on the west coast (pacific Coast) along a lovely sun dappled path. We watched a spectacular display of 9 eagles soaring and diving in circles above the beach. Jim had fun with his new camera,taking over a hundred shots in our time there. It was low tide and we beachcombed the length of the beach enjoying the sunshine and the rollers crashing out at sea. The lodge is just being readied for the upcoming fish season. Speaking with one of the guides, we got a few tips on fishing techniques and the best areas to fish. Unfortunately we have no bait which is the preferred choice of our new "mentor". So you already know what excuse #1 will be!! We had the most magical experience aboard the BurntSand after dinner last night. A young humpback whale circled us for over an hour. We were amazed by how close he swam to the shore. The bay we are anchored in is only 40 to 50 feet deep! A couple of times he surfaced about 10 feet from our boat. What a gift! We were thrilled to say the least. Our eyes combed the waters searching for a tell tale clue of where he might surface next. Once again Jim loved playing with his camera to catch the perfect memory of this magical night. The next morning we checked our crab trap only to find one lonely little crab which we freed immediately. We chose a new site closer to our boat and we also changed our bait to a more stinky variety. We will keep our fingers crossed! This afternoon we are going to try our hand at fishing. Its another beautiful day. The sun feels oh! so good.

Fury Cove - A Favourite Anchorage for Us!

Location: Fury Cove Penrose Island Ent. to River's Inlet Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 Last Post (LP): JUNE 11, 2007 Time: 1835 Location: N51 29.28 W127 45.46 Dist. Since LP: 130.6nm Total Distance: 257.7nm ---------------------------------- Calm seas were the order of the day as we cruised away from the Cordero Lodge Monday morning at 0710 and made the passage of Greene Point Rapids at slack tide.The skies were overcast but our spirits remained bright. All systems on the BurntSand were working well, though the new weatherstation by Furuno continued to prove frustrating as Jim familiarized himself with the instruction manual to master its operation. New toys aren't always "fun" at first! Our route took us through the flat waters of Chancellor Channel joining the Johnstone Strait east of Current and Race Passages. The following sea gave an easy cruise up Jonstone Strait into Queen Charlotte Strait and into our anchorage for the night. We arrived in Blunden Harbour at 1610. Its a lovely, well sheltered anchorage and we shared the site with several other boats following their own adventures. We woke to beautiful sunshine the next morning and set off at 0755 towards Cape Caution under clear skies. We soon encountered a 5 foot swell with a 2 foot chop as the skies quicjly began to cloud over. We arrived at Fury Cove at 1315 with plans to explore the area in our dinghy after lunch. Then the RAINS came...intrepid as we are, we opted to stay aboard. Jim busily working away with "boat things" and Deb snuggling down to enjoy a good read! Hopefully tomorrow there will be a break in the weather and we can enjoy exploring the Penrose Island Marine Park.Fury Cove is an absolutely delightful anchorage and from its spit at its western end we can watch the conditions evolve outside its white shell beaches.