Back in Canada!

Location:          Prince Rupert
                        Fairview Marina, B.C.
Date:                Thursday, July 12,2007
Last Post (LP):  July 7, 2007
Time:                2200
Location:           N 54 14 74 W 130 20 86
Dist. Since LP:   268.51 nm
Total Distance:  1,163.01 nm
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At 0745 Sunday morning we left Red Bluff Bay at slack tide and cruised 108.3 nautical miles to Craig, Alaska. The seas were calm in Frederick Sound and the sun came out and nourished our souls. Our spirits soared. We navigated our way past Cape Decision and across the waterway beween Warren Island and Kosciusko Island. We could now now feel the ocean swell from the south. The excitement on board rose with each whale sighting. We navigated the BurntSand into Sea Otter Sound and through the maze of little islets and islands hugging the coastline of Prince of Wales Island. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the chatter on the VHF confirmed the delight of the mariners in the area in this change of weather. We saw some sea otters floating in the sunshine. They are the most endearing creatures. It is always so delightful to encounter them floating on the sea.

As we approached the chain of little islands outside of Craig we saw many pods of humpback whales and orcas. What a gift it is to experience these amazing creatures in the wild! At 1915 that evening we tied up to the dock in the south harbour of Craig on Bucarelli Bay. Our last rip to Craig we stayed in the north harbour on Klawock Inlet. The weather began to turn and the winds came up. We added two more lines to hold the boat fast to the dock. Then the rains came in a fury. We decided to stay two nights, hoping the weather would settle down. The talk on the docks and in town was weather,weather,weather... and what the various fishermen had reported. Across the dock from us was the Lady Laura and her skipper, David, had a fleet of king crab fish boats in the Aleutians. He lives mainly in Seattle now but keeps his boat in Craig for the summer months.

Tuesday morning we left Craig at 0555 at the beginning of the flood in order to make optimum tide for passing through Tlevak Narrows to Cordova Bay. We had four feet under the BurntSand when we left the dock. It was overcast and foggy but the winds were light. The weather had definitely calmed down. We were originally planning to anchor in Seth Cove but decided to push on to Nichols Bay on Prince of Wales Island 2.5 miles west of Point Chacon because the weather was still good. At 1430 we anchored in Nichols Bay after our second attempt to achieve good holding. It was a pretty bay and we could hear the roaring of various waterfalls crashing into the bay. We were surprised to find a small fishing barge nestled in the corner of our anchorage. It wasn't mentionned in our guide book so it must be fairly new. As we approached Point Chacon we passed eight trollers slowly plying the waters so it must be good fishing in this area.aJim was sorely tempted to go fishing but it had been a long day. We left Nichols Bay the next morning at o740 and headed on to Dixon Entrance. We had to use our sat phone to check out of the U.S. and left a message with Customs in Ketchikan. We didn't have to do this on our last trip. 

We left the rain and fog of Alaska behind us as we navigated our way to Prince Rupert and beautiful sunshine and hot weather. Welcome back to Canada! We called into Canadian Customs with our CanPass and received our clearance number. At 1520 we docked in the Fairview Marina with all the fish boats. We were the only yacht in the harbour. The fishermen were very friendly and welcoming, just like the last time we stayed here. Jim treated us to a delicious meal at he Cow Bay Cafe and we had a beautiful view from the deck. Tomorrow we move to the Prince Rupert Yacht Club closer to town. We plan to buy fuel on the way at the Esso fuel dock. We will need almost 6000 litres to fill all four tanks as we wanted to use up all our old fuel before we bought new fuel. The prices in Canada were better than in Alaska.