Lagoon Cove to Blunden Harbour

As we went to bed last night it started to rain lightly. It was the first meaningful rain of the trip. The rain continued overnight, and we cast off from Lagoon Cove in a light mist.

However, with the rain comes light winds and clam sea. A good tradeoff for our trip up Queen Charlotte Strait to Blunden Harbour.

As we entered Queen Charlotte Strait, about 10 miles from our destination, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the wind and seas picked up.

We had a steady 25 knots on our port forward quarter and the seas rose to 2 feet. For OceanFlyer that results in a reasonable ride, but puts saltwater spray on deck. And just after I got the salt off her at Lagoon Cove.

oceanFlyer enjoying a bit of a sporty ride

The winds continued to build, sometimes reaching 35 knots. The seas also increased to 3 feet. Lots on banging into the waves for an hour and a half.

 Inside Blunden Harbour the winds are about the same as outside. The fetch is obviously less but small white caps persisted well after we went to bed. The advantage of having a 70,000 pond boat is that is rides well at anchor in these conditions. 

Lagoon Cove Lay Day

The docks started out empty except for OceanFlyer. The biggest change was the arrival of the 5 Grand Banks that comprise the NW Explorations Mother Goose flotilla. We were looking forward to seeing our friends Bill and Cindy and meeting the rest of the flotilla participants.

A dock full of Grand Banks

Boat chores were the order of the day. Once those were behind us and the tide reached 9-feet, we launched the dinghy and explored Cracroft Inlet We had scoped this potential anchorage out 2 years ago, and wanted another look.  We saw five feet under the dinghy on a 9-foot tide as we rounded Farquharson Island and then visited two previously marked anchor spots before heading to the end of the inlet.  The charted large drying area in the SE end of the inlet was just covered as we made our way to the “end”. If you could keep going, you’d end up in Port Harvey. Alas, today’s tides were nowhere near high enough. If the lure of Lagoon Cove was not so strong we would definitely anchor in this well protected inlet.

Happy Hour at Lagoon Cove was again the highlight of the day. With more vessels at dock, the selection of yummies made it easy to concoct a dinner from the smorgasbord. Fresh prawns, hot cheese dip, spinach dip, incredible cheese and meat trays, and even peanut butter cookies for dessert. No hardships here!

We enjoyed a pleasant visit with our friends Bill and Cindy, who are leading the flotilla north to Ketchikan. We offered to take a drone photo of all the flotilla participants poised on the deck of Arctic Star, one of the Grand Banks in the flotilla. It turned out great, and hopefully will give everyone a nice memory of their visit.

the crews of the NWE flotilla pose for a “family photo”

Tomorrow we head for Blunden Harbour to position ourselves for the rounding of Cape Caution.

Forward Harbour to Lagoon Cove

Today’s schedule is driven by weather and currents. Johnstone Strait has been plagued by 20-30 knots winds and 5-foot seas the last few days.

The forecast for Today was no different, so we’re up at 5am so we have lesser winds of 15 to 25 knots and favorable currents. Unfortunately, we’ll have winds over opposing currents, so we are expecting 1-2 foot chop. But that is an OK ride for OceanFlyer. The current in Chatham Channel also favors this early-departure schedule. We’ll get to Lagoon Cove early, so we’re prepared to anchor out until space becomes available on the docks.

Our plan worked perfectly, a rare occurrence when dealing with weather forecasts. We had a nice run down Sutherland Channel and when we turned into Johnstone Strait, we started with 1 1/2 foot chop that increased to 2 feet before laying down a bit just before we turned up Havannah Channel. We hit Chatham Channel right at slack. Overall, a good transit.

Our arrival was indeed early at Lagoon Cove but there were only 4 boats on the docks, so Dan directed us to a berth on the shoreside of the SE dock. We haven’t been on the shoreside of that dock before, but there was plenty of water. And the best part was that it was protected from the wind-driven fetch.

a rare sight, only one boat on the docks at lagoon cove

a view of lagoon cove docks from over the “homestead”

a good look at the rocks on the shore side of the docks. no problem

lagon cove is truely special

We spent the day doing boat chores, walking the gorgeous property, beachcombing catching up with Dan and Kelly and doing some planning.  The sun was out and the views were glorious.

gotta love dan and kelly’s sense of humor

great signs guide you through your walk around the properity

 Happy hour was the first time this year that Dan and Kelly served freshly caught prawns, captured despite the fact that the commercial fleet is extremely active. As always, the Lagoon Cove prawns were delicious.

evening fuel delivery to lagoon cove

Prideaux Haven to Forward Harbour

Today is all about the rapids. Yucuta, Gillard, Dent, Greene Point and Whirlpool, those are the current monsters we need to time in sequence. Heading North, it’s a challenge, as the rapids the furthest away turn to slack first.

The weather remains very favorable, and we continue to be alone on the water. As we reach each of the rapids, I except to see more boats as all of us typically want to transit at or near slack to avoid problems.

nice weather today

Dent Rapids is the key timing-wise, as it has the most aggressive activity. To our advantage, we are in a cycle of lower highs at the afternoon change, so the flows are below their maximum potential. Further, the current is with us, so we can actually transit all five rapids in one shot without stopping.

Passing through Dent at slack was peaceful as expected. What was unexpected was that there were no other boats to be seen, either going our way or opposing. That is a first for us in our 21 years of cruising these waters. We know it’s is early in the season, but we always expect to see traffic at choke points such as Dent.

We ran all 5 rapids alone. We spotted a few boats tied up at the docks at Shoal Bay and it wasn’t until we arrived at our destination for the evening, Forward Harbour, that we found two sailboats anchored in Douglas Bay.

It started to blow a bit as we went through Whirlpool rapids and the wind funneled into the anchorage. We tried to find a spot to the NE of the two sailboats, but there were two crab pots that were really in our way and the “beach” was a lee shore.  So, we went farther down the Harbour, about 3/4 of the way to the head, and anchored in 55 feet. With the winds blowing down the anchorage there was not a single area that was out of the fetch, but at least we dodged the lee-shore issue.

Our impression of Forward Harbour is that there is no reason to go there unless it happens to serve as a useful jumping off point for Johnstone Strait or when running the rapids eastbound. It was our first time in there, and we are in no hurry to return.

Prideaux Haven Lay Day

Time to relax.

oceanflyer in the foreground at prideaux haven

 All we did on this beautiful sunny day today was to take a two hour explore around the Prideaux Haven anchorage, Laura Cove and surrounding areas. During COVID people would spend months here working from their boats. Even now, it is not unusual to see vessels anchored for extended periods of time. A testament to the popularity of this anchorage. Luckily, this early in the season, there isn’t too much traffic. We explored alternate anchor spots for future visits.

oceanflyer enjoys prideaux haven

 We swung by an interesting metal sailboat called Timmie’s Run Eh.  The owners live and work aboard and apparently the interior layout has offices in the bow. They were enthusiastic about their solar power and the benefits of not needing to plug in. Named after a first date at Tim Hortons. Really cool story.

looking down homfray channel at low tide