The west coast of Moresby Island -- stunning! Part 1.

 

Sunday Inlet: The most spectacular anchorage ever....

We have now completed our trip down the west coast of Moresby Island, and are currently on Moresby's "easy" coast, the east coast (anchored in Anna Inlet).

Our transit through Skidegate East Narrows turned out to be easier and less stressful than expected. Going through the narrows on our dinghy the day before certainly made it easier. Still, we had to pay attention (despite several bear sightings on the channel's shores). 

Essentially, we 

• (i) went on a rising tide, and 
• (ii) waited until the "Skidegate East Narrows" tide level was +3.0 metres  (CCG recommended we use the NOAA "Skidegate East Narrows" station). 

Satellite image of Skidegate East Narrows: Scary!

 

CHS chart for Skidegate East Narrows (shallowest section dries at +0.3m/+1ft)

The East Narrows is VERY well marked, so easy to follow. So well marked, we didn't really need to watch the chartplotter (though we did, focusing on the official CHS vector charts). 

Entering at a +3m (9.8ft) tide level (rising):

• The shallowest depth we saw was 3.5m (11.5 ft).
• The strongest currents (flood, in our direction of travel) were currents of 2-3.5 knots (we had no issues staying in the channel despite these currents).

Actually, it was Skidegate West Narrows that surprised us (we hadn't checked it out on our dinghy). The West narrows has more depth, less current, and is much shorter than East Narrows. Easy-peazy, right? What surprised us was the large amount of kelp we had to travel through.(It also didn't help that we had 15-20 knots of wind against us when we came out to the West narrows.) Nevertheless, we made it through both sets of narrows without incident (well, except the movie we made of our transit was lost due to a defective SD card). 

Video of chartplotter during Skidegate East Narrows transit: YouTube

After the narrows, we headed over to nearby Armentieres Channel to anchor and celebrate. Anchoring was awkward due to a perfectly placed deadhead (waterlogged log, exactly where we wished to drop our anchor) AND the 15-20 knot winds blowing through from Buck Channel. Indeed, after an hour at anchor, we decided to move on. We weighed anchor and headed west out to Dawson Harbour. Winds were gusting 22 knots in Skidegate Channel, making us wonder if we had made a wrong decision. But as moved west, the winds decreased to 12 knots, and in the Dawson Harbour anchorage, there were only light (5 kn) winds. A nice place and a quiet calm eve.

Next day, we headed out for our first foray in the open ocean of Moresby's west coast. At first, though, we had to buck uncomfortable waves to get out of Skidegate and past Chaatl Island. Once out, the winds picked up, as did the seas, and we had a fast downwind sail to the entrance of Engelfield Bay. 

 

                                               Movie clip: sailing towards Engelfield Bay

Seas and wind decreased as we motored up to our anchorage in Security Cove. Security Cove was peaceful. We ended staying there 3 nights because of 1 day with gale warnings on the west coast of Haida Gwaii. No winds were felt in Security Cove. 

Pelagia anchored in Security Cove

While in Security Cove, we were joined by Henry, single-handing his 27-foot sailboat "Kelkara" down the west coasts of both Graham and Moresby Islands. We had met Henry in Prince Rupert, and had been in regular contact via our satellite communication systems (us: Zoleo; Henry: InReach). So we knew he was coming, and invited him for dinner. (Our first, and so far only, dinner guest on Pelagia thus far this summer! Very odd for Pelagia.) 

Pelagia sailing towards Tasu (Henry Lickorish photo)

Kelkara sailing towards Tasu

 

Pelagia and Kelkara (far left) sailing towards Tasu (Moresby I.)

 

After 3 days in Security Cove, both boats headed out to round Denham Shoals. (The shoals are known for turbulent waters, so we stayed 4 miles off of Cape Henry, and had no issues.) Sailing was excellent, all the way to the entrance to Tasu Sound (sailing about 22 nm). (We had been interested in stopping at Kootenay Inlet, but were worried the seas were too big for the tricky, and uncharted, entrance; besides, the sailing was so good we kept going.) The entrance to Tasu was very dramatic; coming from the north, one cannot see the narrow gap between the mountains until one is at the entrance (imagine: large freighters used to enter Tasu for the now-gone mine). Kelkara went to the old Tasu townsite at Hunger Harbour, whereas we went to the better anchorage at Two Mountain Bay. We had a peaceful 2 nights there, allowing us to go kayaking and to be (relatively) close to a bear on the beach in Barrier Bay.

Sailing towards Tasu Narrows: Can't see the entrance

Sailing towards Tasu Narrows: Entrance finally visible

Sailing into Tasu Narrows: such a narrow entrance

Bear on Barrier Bay beach (Tasu Sound)

Kayaking back to Pelagia, anchored in Two Mountain Bay (Tasu)

After 2 nights in Tasu, it was time to head back out again to the open ocean. This time, our goal was the relatively short trip to Sunday Inlet (Kelkara went further, to Barry Inlet). Again, sailing outside was good, but only 6 nm of the total 19 nm. Views of the coast along the way were astounding: such a wild, rugged, mountainous coast! 

Pelagia sailing below Mt. De la Touche (Henry Lickorish photo)

Entering Sunday Inlet (which is in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve) was easy with each minute revealing remarkable views of mountains towering over this beautiful inlet. We've been to many places, but Sunday Inlet easily is the most beautiful place we've been to on Pelagia. 

Entering Sunday Inlet

[Officially, Sunday Inlet is also uncharted. But David had made "satellite charts" of Sunday Inlet, with unofficial soundings from CHS (NONNA10). These made it SO much easier to enter and anchor in Sunday Inlet.]

Current CHS chart for Sunday Inlet: No info

Sunday Inlet: Satellite "chart" with depth soundings (metres)

Sunday Inlet: Satellite "chart" with depth soundings: zoom in on anchorage

Part 2 to come....