Queen Charlotte City to Gordon Cove

Never could figure out what the author of this sign intended

They say you should never start a blog with the weather. But, since weather plays such an important role in our cruising, let’s start with the weather. The ceiling this morning is only 150ft, but the visibility underneath is good. So unless the ceiling descends into fog, it should not be a factor in our travels.

I got up early, took a shower then walked the docks looking for subjects to photograph. Soon we were casting off and I turned the helm over to Karen to make breakfast.

We led the fleet for a while. It is a long way back out to Sandspit, where we made a right turn and followed the coastline after crossing the bar near the green buoy. It felt like we would never make enough headway to get past Sandspit! It was a lovely and calm day, but there was not much to see in the way of wildlife.  After a long while, we entered Cumshewa Inlet, where we saw a Moresby Explorer dinghy loaded with people (who waved) and then saw their facility in the distance. We kept going til we reached Gordon Cove, where we anchored then dropped the dinghy to go explore with part of the Mother Goose motley crew.

The fleet all lined up

We began our explorations with a walk through the dense forest. There was a great logging road and subsequent trail that made the exploration easy.

"If those guys made it, I guess it's OK"

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The lush forest always fascinates me

I always ponder the idea of how the native people managed to navigate though these forests

Even the pros foul their props

We also explored the area up the inlet under the bridge near Moresby Camp. Jordan was one step ahead of us in his dinghy as we followed in his “footsteps” under the old bridge and back to an old cabin. You never know what you’ll find, and that’s the fun of it all.

Jordan says" Check out the camp past this bridge" 

Home sweet home to someone

"Red sky at night....". Let's hope that old saying is true.

Queen Charlotte City

Sausage, tomato and Asiago cheese omelette with a balsamic drizzle

Today is a lay day in Queen Charlotte City. Well almost. We all have to go to the Gwaii Haanas orientation. Every visitor to the park must do this, get his or her pass and fill out some paperwork.

NW Explorations arranged for a bus to take us to the orientation center 8 kilometers down the road.

Climbing the hill from the docks to get on the bus

Great orientation by the Park Ranger

All assembled at 9:30 in the orientation room and the park ranger went though a 90-minute PowerPoint presentation of what we could expect and what was expected from us. The Ranger, Kae (who grew up here), was great and the presentation very thorough.

The orientation is held at the Kaay Centre in Skidegate. This impressive set of buildings also houses the Haida Gwaii museum and the Parks Canada Headquarters. Well worth the visit, beyond the orientation. In addition to our briefing and passes, each person is given a 100 page bound booklet about everything you want to know about the Gwai Haanas. It covers various historic sites, weather, tides, wildlife and even rats. We were also given many specialized informational brochures about more timely issues such as the preservation of the Abalone, a threatened species in these waters.

Kaay Centre in Skidegate

Lots to see in the museum

After two hours, the bus came to take us back to Queen Charlotte. Alaskan Dream and Dream Catcher asked the bus driver to take us two more kilometers to the actual town of Skidegate so we could look around and do some shopping for native art.

Kathy and Lance from Dream Catcher joined us as we walked the very small village. There is a gift shop, and some artists’ studios to visit. The walk to the very famous Haida artist Ben Davidson is about  one kilometer out of town. His work is impressive and very expensive. For just a picture of one of his famous works, you pay what you would hope you could buy the original carving. To our good fortune, he was in his studio working on a commission and was most gracious to explain his art and craft to us. I’m glad we walked the extra mile.

The native culture remains a source of pride here

You find that native pride in the most unexpected places

We hailed a taxi back to Queen Charlotte to have lunch at Queen B’s.  All enjoyed their lunch and we would recommend it if you find yourself here. They also serve breakfast.

After lunch we did some provisioning, starting with the closest store and working our way out. Our first stop was the convenience store where I paid  $4.79 for a Haagen Dags bar. Next we stopped at the organic and natural foods store ending up at the supermarket about a half mile west on Oceanview Drive.

The best little lure house in the Charlottes, so says the sign

We picked up a few things we were running short of, such as half and half, coffee, oranges and potatoes.

The docks at Queen Charlotte

Working harbor log tug

All business, no frills in the tug command center

Dream Catcher was still anchored out and in need of water, so we invited them to raft to us, so they could fill their tanks before we departed for the Gwaii Haanas tomorrow. Lance took Jordan up on his offer to drive the boat given small confines of the harbor.

Jordan and Lance bring Dream Catcher along side

I (Bob) made a mojito or two on the boat, and then we walked up to Howler's Bistro for dinner, sitting out on the balcony overlooking the harbor. Nachos and wings were our food of choice, along with beer and a piece of caramel chocolate turtle cheesecake.

As we walked back to the boat, we went into the liquor store under the bistro and picked up a 12 pack of Okanagan Springs pale ale. $30! Ouch. But needed!

Queen Charlotte City has good power and good water on the docks and provisioning close by. However, it is first come first served with rafting needed in busy times. The other option is Sandspit. It has a beautiful new  marina, but it is a long walk and ferry ride back across to Queen Charlotte City.

Queen Charlotte is home to working boats, but friendly to us cruisers

Spicer Islands to Queen Charlotte City

Today is the day of the “Big Crossing. For our 75 mile day, we expect the wind to be light and the seas calm. The sunrise on our stern was picture perfect, matching the rest of the perfect conditions. This is one of the two intimidating crossings back and forth to the Haida Gwaii across Hecate Strait, and it looks as if this will be unbelievably good.

Sunrise departure

We were underway by 5:30 am. Karen and I rotated watches, 2 hours on and 2 hours off. It was very calm and we had our eye out for wildlife. Emmelina aboard Deception spotted a humpback and even some Minke whales but from our position we could see neither. 

The weather was so ideal I beckoned other boats in our group to pass me  to starboard, where the light was perfect for a “portrait” of them during the crossing. Inspired by as much boredom as anything else, a couple of the boats did “pose” for pictures.

Change of Latitude poses for a photo

Happy crew aboard Patos

We were surprised to see the Haida Gwaii islands from over 50 miles away. This was both good and bad, as it kept us from feeling like we were in the middle of a vast ocean, but it also seems to make the passage drag on when you can see your target but it never appears to get any closer.

Smoooooth seas

The direct approach to Queen Charlotte City is guarded by a bar that dictates that you steer a more northerly course and pick up a marked channel. This adds to the feeling of “are we ever going to get there” because once you enter the channel that runs along the island’s shore, you still have two hours to go. As we got into the marked channel, the waves and wind picked up some, but not much.

Although Emmelina had talked by phone to the “harbour master” at Queen Charlotte City to make sure that we had berths at the dock, attempts to reach him on channel 16 proved to be fruitless. After about three hails, Prince Rupert radio came on the frequency to inform Mother Goose that there is no harbor master at Queen Charlotte City.

So Deception told the rest of the fleet to stand outside the breakwater as they entered to see if they could find space for us all. There first report was that there was little if any dock space available and that the larger boats, ourselves included, should start looking for space in the Bearskin Bay anchorage outside the harbor.

I proceeded over to the area noted in the Douglass and Douglass guidebook and just as I completed my anchor circle, confirming the needed depth and lack of obstruction, Deception called to say that a fishing boat was just leaving and that a couple of other boats were moving to make room for us.

Deception called us in and we proceed to negotiate the small entrance and narrow channel lined with working boats. Once inside, we found our slip and Jordan, who had been dropped off earlier by Deception, waiting to catch our lines. The wind was 10-15 knots in a direction that would blow us off the docks. Add to that, there was just enough space for Alaskan Dream, but no more, between an old log tug and a small sailboat. I used all the tricks I knew to get in, and we were secured in sort order to the docks at Queen Charlotte.

Just as we approached the docks, sailboats started to leave so we called in Deception into that space. The one 46 and two 42 Grand Banks rafted three deep in the only other space on the docks. Lance and Kathy on Dream Catcher said they would prefer to anchor out, so I gave them the coordinates of the anchor spot I had just surveyed.

Three of the fleet rafted in Queen Charlotte City

The busy docks at Queen Charlotte City

We settled in and rested a bit, then headed up the ramp to dinner at Oceana Chinese & Continental.  We had decent Chinese food and beer, and then quickly found ourselves back aboard Alaskan Dream after a quick stop at the Visitor's Centre. We were ready for a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s required briefing on the rules and regulations for boaters in the Gwaii Haanas national park reserve.

Shabby looking eagle on a shabby looking boat

Prince Rupert to Spicer Islands

Today we leave Prince Rupert for the Spicer Islands. This leg is a warm-up trip of “only” 39 nautical miles. The next day we cross the notorious Hecate Strait to Queen Charlotte City, a long haul of 75 miles. The weather forecast continues to be very good. And while we will have mostly cloudy skies, the clouds will be high, with some breaks and the winds should be light with no rain.

The heavy industrial ports just south of Prince Rupert

I don’t expect to see much on this leg. Most of the sightseeing is along the shore as you leave Prince Rupert. The town, the cruise ship and working boats along with the grain loading facility at the south end of town are worth checking out as the speed limit of 5 knots gives you plenty of time to witness the hand of man on the wilderness.

 Patos enjoying our perfect cruising conditions

Ferry Boats are about all we see along our route

The goal of this leg is to position ourselves for the crossing the next day.

Spicer Island is a very nice anchorage. The holding is good with a rock, mud and kelp bottom. There is room for lots of boats along spread out along the “U” shaped anchorage.

The first no name cove we tried, the one the Douglass & Douglass guidebook says has a "Jello-like bottom", was too shallow given the 20 foot tide swing for today. So we set our anchor part way down the southwest facing arm. In addition to the six boats in Mother Goose, (tied in two rafts plus us by ourselves) there was an 80-foot Alaskan anchored at the top of the ‘U’ and a two-masted sail boat nestled in the small cove at the end of southwest cove.

An all brown but tasty dinner of Orange Ginger Chicken and Rosemary Garlic Potatoes

Closer to sunset, a small sailboat joined us, anchoring near the large 80 foot, Alaskan.

Beautiful sunset at the Spicer Islands

Prince Rupert

Today is an unplanned lay day so that the crew of Mother Goose can make critical repairs on the 42’ Grand Banks Change of Latitude.

Northwest Explorations is flying in parts that should arrive in the afternoon. Turns out that the bearings in the idler pulley on one of the engines seized up, causing the pulley to stop rotating. So as the engine continued to turn and the belt rode over the pulley, the heat caused the pulley to melt. No one wanted the charterers to continue across Hecate Strait on just one engine, so repairs were essential. Thus, our extra day in Prince Rupert – not a bad place to spend an extra day.

Happy crew from Deception take advantage of a shopping day in Prince Rupert

Kathy and Lance from Dream Catcher came over to visit in the morning, and we entertained them in our “jammies”. In fact, we stayed in our jammies until 10:30am, relaxing and watching the intermittent rain. You often get to know and see more about your “boat mates” on these trips then under normal circumstances. It is part of the charm of this kind of traveling.

We have been searching Alaskan Dream in hopes of finding the emergency handle for the windlass. It was nowhere to be found, and it is a critical safety component if the electrics on the windlass fail. Jordan came over and gave the boat a look, and agreed it was missing. He took the handle from Dream Catcher as a model, and went to the local machine shop to have a new one made. It would be ready tomorrow at 9am, and at $80 Canadian it was a done deal.

Jordan also worked on troubleshooting our oven burners, as only one was working. He managed to get two functioning, which is the minimum I need to cook. We had only two functioning burners on Alaskan Dream last year, albeit a different two.

Lunch was again at Dolly’s, so you know how we highly recommend it. Karen’s halibut sandwich with yam fries was really good, as was my Caesar salad with blackened halibut. I had made chili after Kathy and Lance left, so we let it simmer when we left the boat for lunch.

Karen takes advantage of the WIFI at the market

My USB hub was not working, so we took a walk into town to Data Boy to pick up a new one and visit the ATM machine. On the way back, I got a Slurpee at the 7-Eleven. This now seems to be a tradition any time we are in Prince Rupert. Unfortunately they use Pepsi instead of Coke as they do in the U.S., but I made do. Karen stopped at the Starbucks in the Safeway for her last chance at a Starbucks’s unsweetened iced tea and some free WIFI. We also found some amazing balsamic glaze with fig at a small shop called Home Work. All in all, a good day.

Dinner was at the Cow Bay Café. Recognized as the best place to eat in Prince Rupert, Karen enjoyed her freshly caught Spring Salmon with mushrooms, and my ribs were good too. I had ice cream for dessert and Karen devoured a peach, blueberry and almond fruit tart. We noticed that many of our “boat mates” also enjoyed the culinary delights at the café that evening.