Two Mountain Bay (Tasu)

Position: 52.798, -132.007 Anchored Two Mountain Bay (Tasu). An excellent downwind sail today (22 of 32 nm).

3rd night in Security Cove

Staying a 3rd night in Security Cove due to gale warning and large seas on outside. Looking "OK" for tomorrow (Wed). On the plus side, Security Cove is calm and very warm.

Security Cove

Anchored Security Cove ft (West coast Moresby Island). Beautiful, sunny. Was 22°C this afternoon! Great downwind sail for 9nm. Will likely stay 2 nights. Position: 53.055, -132.273

Prince Rupert to Haida Gwaii

Leaving just in time: Cruise ship entering Prince Rupert Hbr

Prince Rupert was a good stop.

We headed through Edye Passage for a night at Welcome Harbour. Very nice spot, but winds picked up in the anchorage so we stayed on the boat. Happily, winds died before dark, for a calm sleep.

Next day started calm without wind, with a forecast for increasing NW winds. We headed down to anchor in the Freeman Passage area (near Absalom Island). We (wrongly) figured that the next day would be good for crossing Hecate Strait.

A gusty evening (but good anchorage). Early the next morning we headed out, raised the double-reefed mainsail, and poked out into Hecate. NW winds, whitecaps and rollers, we aborted and returned to our secure anchor spot. Probably the day before would have been better....

Next day, we tried again. Now calm and perhaps 5-10 kn NW wind. Never enough for a good sail, but an easy calm motor. (Except for 15+ kn SW on the nose when we arrived at Lawn Point (entrance to Skidegate Inlet).) Headed to Sandspit's marina.

After two nights in Sandspit, we moved on to Queen Charlotte (village of). The public docks had space (a surprise) and now seem better managed than in years past.

Queen Charlotte seemed unchanged since 2018. Funky. Opening days of various stores etc usually with many closed, and not as advertised (e.g., the Visitor Info Centre). We did a long walk to the Haida Heritage Centre then through Skidegate itself, then back to QC (19 km).

Major new improvement: Skidegate has brand new, large, excellent CO-OP grocery store. Much much better than the store in QC.

After 3 nights in QC, we headed over  to Skidegate Narrows, anchored, and did a test run through the narrows on our dinghy. A very helpful trip (and beautiful in itself). We returned to Pelagia and headed over to anchor for the night at Christie Bay. A wonderful little anchorage!

Likely will take Pelagia through the Narrows today to the west side of Haida Gwaii. Stay tuned (check our Location Tracker).

[Photos to be added]

Shearwater to Prince Rupert: A very rainy, blustery week... then SUN in Prince Rupert

Cow Bay at low tide: Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club

After Shearwater, we ended up in Rescue Bay... in blowing winds and heavy rain. But the winds dies (not the rain) so it was a quiet night.

Next day through Jackson Narrows and past Klemtu (where we were visited by inquisitive crows as we motored by), up through Meyers Narrows to Quigley Creek cove in Laredo Inlet.  Again, pouring rain (but no wind).

Inquisitive crow visiting us as we passed Klemtu

The next day, a surprise: sunshine as we motored up Laredo Channel. However, the forecast for the next days called for gale force winds. So we hunkered down in the head of Chapple Inlet in a cove protected by an island and a headland. The gales indeed did blow outside, but we barely moved in our snug anchorage. But the outside winds kept us there for 3 days/nights!

After 3 nights, forecast was for 20-30 knot southeasterlies --downwind for us. Although grey, often foggy with poor visibility and yes, pouring rain, we had a great 28.5 nm downwind sail to Monkton Inlet.The next day, we had another great 20+ nm downwind sail to Newcombe Harbour (a lovely place... if there had been sun).

We were getting closer to Prince Rupert. Next day, the rains mostly stopped in the morning (but not until after Michelle had to go out into the rain to raise the anchor) , and we had a calm motor to Kelp Passage anchorage, just 17ish nm from Prince Rupert. All of a sudden, there were many commercial and pleasure boats (we were now back on the main "inside passage" route) and we were also back incell phone coverage. And the rain stayed away.

Raising the anchor in Kelp Passage anchorage

 

We had heard (from "John the Hermit" on Anger Island, who called us on our radio as we passed by) that boat space in Prince Rupert was very limited and pricey. So, assoon as we were in cell range, we called, and received, a reservation at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club (PRRYC), where we stayed last in 2002. PRRYC is more of a marina than a "yacht"club -- most of its boats seem to be commercial fish charter boats -- but it is a nice place and helpful.

We stayed 3 nights in Prince Rupert (tonight is our 3rd night). A relaxing time. And it was sunny every day! We very much like Prince Rupert, and highly recommend it.

Prince Rupert's "Sunken Garden"

Tomorrow we head out to prepare to cross Hecate Strait (in 3-4 days) over to Haida Gwaii. Watching the weather, as always.

REMINDER: Check our "Location Tracker" to see where we are each day.

Where are we? REMINDER: our new location tracker

New this cruising season:

We put our daily (end-of-day) position on to our "location tracker", usually with a comment or two.

Go directly to the location tracker:
https://followingsea.net/track/PELAGIA

Or get to it from our blog (right-hand side):
https://sailing-pelagia.blogspot.com/?m=0


Our blog posts take more work and internet, so are posted LESS frequently than our location tracker (which we can send by our Zoleo satellite device).

Codville Lagoon

Wolf tracks along beach at Sagar Lake

 

After Pruth Bay, we headed to a favourite, Codville Lagoon. Rain also headed our way. LOTS of rain!

But we caught a break in the rain, and even had some sun for the 20 minute walk up to Sagar Lake. As with our last visit in 2018, the bugs were out in force too.But we were prepared with bug repellant.

The beach at Sagar lake is amazing considering it is wilderness (as opposed to a resort on Okanagan lake). Along the beach was a long trail of wolf tracks. In the past, we have gone for a quick swim. But we learned last time one is too "exposed" for the many biting bugs,so we decided to not swim.

We arrived back at the boat just a the rains began (again). And it rained hard for the rest of the day and night.

Next day, we headed out and went to Shearwater, with a stop at Bella Bella.

Shearwater Resort is now owned by the Heiltsuk Nation. It seems to be running as before (except they no longer offer fishing trips). We had an excellent dinner of fish and chips in the Fisherman's Pub.

INFO: The fuel dock at Bella Bella has broken off, so now only space for one boat. Also, their diesel "isn't working". But they were happy to let us fill up with their excellent water,and to leave the boat there while we shopped for provisions in the band store.

It can happen to anyone...

MV Northern Lights (Seattle Yacht Club) on the rocks at Pruth Bay.

The rocks she hit are large and very clearly marked on the chart. 

Rocks are circled in red

 

 

 

 

 

 

A moment's lapse of attention and there goes the day. Fortunately, boat
floated off at high tide, and headed to Shearwater to be hauled out and
damage inspected.

It can happen to anyone. We've hit rocks, but never stayed on them like
this this poor fellow (well, I doubt he is "poor").

Always taught us a lesson though.

Around Cape Caution...

Panoramic of beaches from Hakai's "Lookout Mountain"

 

We've finally made it back to the Central Coast of BC! (The last time was in 2018.)

After Port McNeill, we had a mostly gentle motor up to Miles Inlet, just
South of Cape Caution. We were surprised to see 3 boats (all USA)
already in this small anchorage. We decided to try out the "South" arm
of Miles Inlet -- last Summer David did a depth survey and produced a
satellite chart with depths, which made us more confident (the official
chart is wrong as there is more depth). Only 10 feet at zero tide but it
worked nicely for us, especially given 2 more boats arrived to find the
main anchorage too tight.

The next morning we THOUGHT would be a good time to round Cape Caution,
as the winds and seas were forecast to be minimal. It turned out to be a
very rolly (leftover seas) trip around. Not our worst experience and
never challenging, but also not pleasant. We then headed into Smith
Sound, to try our a new-to-us anchorage: Fly Basin. 

 

Entering Smith Sound after rounding Cape Caution (looks gloomy, but it got better!)

We very much liked Fly Basin; all the more as no other boats came by for the 2 nights we
stayed. An interesting sidetrip was to visit by dinghy the passage
connecting Takush Harbour (the "outside") and the end of Ahclakerho
Channel (the "inside"). This passage dries at low tide but at high tide
a dinghy or kayak can make it through, although much current is present.
We went both at low tide -- we had hope for and saw some interesting
marine life, though it's nothing compared to Burnaby Narrows -- and at
high tide we indeed dinghied through to the "inside".

Entrance to passage from "outside" to "inside": low tide

Entrance to passage from "outside" to "inside": high tide

After 2 days, we motored across Smith Sound and headed up Fitz Hugh
Sound then down Kwakashua Channel to anchor at Pruth Bay. (Normally, we
would stop at Fury Cove, but BC Parks is asking boaters to NOT anchor
there and has formally closed the land area around the anchorage.) At
Pruth, we were shocked to find approximately 30 boats in the area (20 in
the main anchorage). All but 2 (us and another) were from the USA. It
almost felt like Desolation Sound (in terms of number of boats).
(Honestly, it does piss us off when it is hard to find an anchor spot due
to there being SO many boats from the USA!)

Our first afternoon in Pruth, it was beautifully sunny, but we were too
tired to go walking. After quiet night, we did get a nice walk the next
morning to the beach and up to "Lookout Mountain". While the sun was
shining. That was enough for us -- we seem to still fatigue easily. Rain
began around 2 pm. (The Hakai Research Institute still kindly provides
internet access in the anchorage (hence this post), dinghy tie up and
access to the ocean beaches; Thank you Hakai!) 

Wild Hakai

 

Old tired couple on Lookout Mountain (Hakai West Beach behind)

 

The morning had some excitement: a very large (70-80 feet?), expensive Seattle Yacht Club yacht had a lapse of attention and ran up on the rocks. See the next post.

After 2 nights here, we expect we'll head up to Codville Lagoon, close to Bella Bella and Shearwater.