Prince Rupert

We had planned to stay 2 days in Prince Rupert, and we’re glad we did. It was nice to see people and all the harbour action after so many days away from other people and boats. Bob rented a car from “Car Go”, an old Impala “beater.”We went to Cowpuccino’s for a great latte and homemade apple/carrot/raisin muffin before heading out to the North Pacific Cannery Museum in Port Edward. It was a short drive, maybe 15-20 minutes, but the Cannery Tour was superb. It was just Bob and I with a guide. This cannery is one of the only remaining North BC canneries that is not in total ruins (or still totally operational). It closed in the early 80’s, and the decision was made to turn it into a museum before too much was destroyed, burned or otherwise destroyed.

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Karen gets some more detail from our guide

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The net loft where the fishermen's nets were repaired

The tour gave us a lot of information about the canning process, before and after. They showed us the PC-incorrect “Iron Chink”, a machine so named because it replaced 30 Chinese fish “butchers” who had to cut the heads and tails off the fish and gut them before the fish moved on to the “slime tables”, where First Nations women washed them off. I can only imagine the smell of these canneries.

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The cannery process is fully laid out in North Pacific Cannery Museum

You get to see the cannery and the different sections, as well as what remains of the housing. It’s clear that the housing was totally segregated – Chinese from First Nations from “Europeans” from the Japanese. Again, hard to fathom today.

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The boardwalk in the “European” housing section of the cannery

The cannery is right on the train tracks, and three big CN trains came by while we were in Port Edward.

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We're right on the tracks

We continued our sight-seeing on the way back to Rupert by detouring to Ridley Island, and driving all the way out to the Grainery and coal plant. You could get very close to the large ships and it was cool to see. We also stopped at Butze Rapids, which weren’t running all that hard at the time. We drove to Seal Cove to see the SeaplaneBase and were rewarded with a seaplane that landed and taxied in. We drove to Rushbrooke Floats, which were dominated by commercial fishing vessels. The street waslined with big Ford 350 trucks and boat trailers, as Rushbrooke has the only boat launch in the area. We felt out of place in our Impala!

We leveraged our “city location” by getting a Starbucks Iced Tea for me and another Slurpee for Bob before heading back to the boat. More laundry, then off to dinner at the Crest Hotel.WE had forgotten that it was Father’s Day, and it was really busy. We had a nice meal though, I had Halibut Cheeks and Bob had an Alberta Sirloin.

We dropped off the car and walked back to the boat. There was a lot going on. We saw the Canadian Coast Guard boat The Arrow Post come by and fuel up, then spend the night at the fuel docks. Also a large cargo ship anchored just off the PRRYC docks in the main channel. Lots to see in this busy port!

Captain Cove to Prince Rupert

We departed Captain Cove at 7:25am, anticipating a 5+ hour trip to Rupert. Coming out the top of Petrel Channel into Ogden Channel, we saw the BC Ferry Northern Expedition heading south, and the Coast Guard Ship Tanu (the one we had seen via AIS earlier this week) heading north. These were the first boats we’d seen in days. Made us feel like we were headed back toward civilization a bit!  We also started to see prawning boats and a few pleasure boats as we headed up Arthur Passage.

The ubiquitous BC Ferry crosses our path

Bob had plotted a course slightly “starboard” of the normal traffic flow, which was fun because it brought us closer to the extremely shallow sand  flats off the Skeena River. We were in deep water, but we could surely see the shallow areas.

We also started seeing a lot of cargo ships. Prince Rupert is a big port, and the train runs from Rupert east all the way to Memphis.  One cargo ship, the Ogna, was anchored in mid channel. The Coast Guard Ship Tanu reversed course to go over and give her a close look before continuing on patrol.

You can see Prince Rupert from a long ways off, especially the Grainery on Ridley Island. It took a long while, especially at reduced speeds of 5 knots, to really get into Prince Rupert proper. Prince Rupert is located on Kaien Island, and has a population of about 20,000, so it’s a real city. Apparently, it’s also the 3^rd deepest natural harbour in the world. Entering from the south, you see big ships being loaded with coal or grain, and then lots and lots of ferries and fishing boats at Fairview. We continued north In the harbour to our destination of Cow Bay.

Loading grain from the Canadian Plains at the Prince Rupert Grainery terminal

Container port at Prince Rupert is hard to miss

We had called Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club in advance, to get a mooring reservation. We were told it was a “waiting list” system, and when we arrived there was room for us, but it was on the outside dock that runs perpendicular to the shore. Prior cruiser stories had prepared us for the fact that this dock was going to be bouncy.

Docking conditions were favorable I guess – the wind was howling toward the dock and the current was running toward the dock, so we nestled in pretty easily. Departing would have been a different story! Dockhands caught our lines and also hauled the garbage off the boat, so I was happy for the assist. We saw a few boats at Prince Rupert that we had seen earlier in the trip.  One good thing about these docks was that unlike the typical bullrails, where tying off is always a challenge, they had “cleats” made of half inch steel rod. Very easy and fast to secure the lines to these. We did have to seriously fender the boat due to all the wake, fetch and swells. If you are prone to seasickness, this dock is not for you. To me, it was like riding a horse…with a bad gait.

Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club. See the little yellow object in the lower right?

PRR&YC always has a smile, visible even at high tide.

We walked to lunch at the Cow Bay Café, which was terrific. I had a slice of brie and sun-dried tomato quiche, and Bob had a good chicken quesadilla. It rained, then the sun came out.  The Café was totally booked for dinner, and then closed for a few days – definitely a good place to check out next time. Cute, small, and good home cooking.

We walked into town and visited the Museum of Northern British Columbia, which was lovely and had lots of First Nations historical pieces as well as displays about Prince Rupert and the history of the port. Bob was more thrilled at finding a 7-11, where he could indulge his need for a Slurpee.

When we got back to the docks, a 65’ Fleming (Dorado) and a 54’ Ocean Alexander (Sunshine) had come in behind us on the outer dock. They were all rocking and rolling, just like us. We had internet access on the docks, and we were happy. Bob was able to post some of the blog and check email, while I downloaded a few more books for the Nook.

On the “T” portion of the dock, the Ocean Light II, a 71’ ketch sailboat that is a crewed charter boat, was preparing to sail the next day. They were onloading and offloading kayaks, and it was fun to watch. They had so many, 2 were stowed on the sail cradles on the two booms! Wild!

Did a couple loads of laundry and had a nice burger for dinner at the Breakers Pub just up at the head of the docks. It was a busy evening in Prince Rupert, we saw lots of vessels coming and going all night. Also lots of eagles in the area. The wake and fetch finally quieted down, and we had a good night’s sleep.

Newcombe Harbour to Captain Cove

Even though Captain Cove was just another 12 miles up Principe/Petrel, we decided to make the move so that tomorrow’s slog to Prince Rupert would be shorter. We have decided that we don’t like long mileage days when we can avoid them, so this repositioning made sense to us. We were also excited because the Nobeltec chart made it look like there might be a channel through the mudflats to a river that we could kayak at high tide.

Another example of the local signage you find in this area

It was an uneventful trip, though again I had to dodge lots of logs and debris while at the helm. We went into the Cove, saw that the river really didn’t exist as per the chart, and so we took the very protected spot behind the islets. It was pretty, and there were eagles around to watch.

Rainy days make you look for pictures in the smallest details. Here the rain brings the surface of the fender and its stainless steel holder come alive.

Wake ripples created on an absolutely calm water surface

Dinner was Thai peanut chicken, jasmine rice and cookies! We are ready for Prince Rupert – and to get our land legs back!

Princess Diana Cove, Patterson Inlet to Newcombe Harbour

Last night we were all alone at anchor again, and we were feeling a bit disconnected from the world. We had seen that the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel “Tanu” had been anchored in Anger Anchorage, not too far north of Patterson Inlet. We were hoping that she would still be there when we went by this morning, but no joy.  We suspect she anchored there to watch the last game of the Stanley Cup, and then motored off into the distance once the Vancouver Canucks lost!

We had a fast trip up to Newcombe, and I was at the helm, enjoying some smoking fast currents and dodging lots and lots of logs and drift in the channel.

Some of the flotsam that drifts by the boat is beautiful

Newcombe is a large anchorage, with some mudflats, but nothing as spectacular as Khutze or Culpepper Lagoon. Again, we weren’t terribly inspired to do much exploring. I had chosen this route to Price Rupert in lieu of Grenville Channel (aka, the “Ditch), thinking it would be prettier or more “extreme”.  Now I wonder if I made the right decision?

These two photos show the dramatic changes in the tides and what lies just beneath the surface

The rocks and the extensive mud flats reveal themselves at low tide

Dinner was more Pizza, with more Comedy Channel laughs and a few episodes of The Good Wife. A pleasant day.

Monckton Inlet to Princess Diana Cove, Patterson Inlet

The weather was somewhat improved, so we took off for our next destination in some wind and clouds. We had a nice ride up to Princess Diana Cove, which wasn’t very far away.  I had wanted to go into Buchan Inlet, but the Douglass book was vague about it and I had found little on the internet about it from other boats. There’s a very narrow section and some tight turns that would be tricky…and we didn’t feel much like being tricky today.

Some local signage, just in case you were wondering what inlet you're entering

Patterson Inlet also has a long and pretty entrance to the North Arm, which is informally called

Princess Diana Cove.  We anchored in 50’ of water again. Saw lots of gulls and some eagles. I would say that it wasn’t particularly inspiring in terms of dinghy exploration or kayaking. Perhaps we are just feeling a bit boat bound today.

We had grilled pork and sweet potatoes for dinner and then got some laughs watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on the Comedy Channel.