(Pictures included of entering Prince Rupert which is a relatively well appointed port with commerce including a Walmart! Also the waterfront has a lot of industrial elements. )
Blog Reader, Blog Reader, Blog Reader, good morning this is Tammy at the Blog. The weather prediction is partly sunny with winds coming from the SW 16 building to 20 kts in the afternoon. We need to go 59 NM today so another long day. We lost some time when we sat waiting in Port McNeil for weather to improve at Cape Caution so we are making up for that now. We don’t mind and on long days the entire crew takes a shift and gets a nap!
Dan and I pulled my shrimp pots this morning and I finally have enough shrimp to keep! Crabbing seems to be a lot easier but I am not going to give up though so don’t worry.
9:00 and we are underway and we had a great breakfast of homemade sausage, eggs and hash browns. I bought the sausage in Pender Harbor at the Madeira Park meat market. I only knew about this market because a man that I met on the docks was on the way out of the store and he flagged me down. He told me that I must not miss this place because the guy makes all his own sausage. He was correct and the sausage was amazing!
Sadly the flotilla trip is coming to an end in three short days. We will pull into Ketchikan, take on groceries, clear out the garbage, pick up a few marine or hardware items, do laundry (ugh) and break bread a few more times with the group before we all split up and go our separate ways. Eileen and Dan will turn around and make their way back to Washington over the next two weeks. Sandy and Dale will probably leave the Yacht Shot in Ketch and take a ferry to Juneau and other places. Ran and Jan will make their way to Glacier Bay and Juneau and meet up with family. Andrew and I have about 10 days to get to Glacier Bay as we have a highly sought after permit to enter the park on June 30. Andrew programmed his computer to send an automatic email request for permit 60 days in advance of the day we would enter the park. He is so smart and of course he got the permit and we are so excited about going into the park in a much smaller boat than the cruise ship that we were on a few years ago!
We spent a good part of today in the Grenville Channel which is called the ditch. I didn’t understand it until we got there. The water is so calm and the passage is narrow. It was like taking the boat up a wide ditch for sure. So calm in fact that the captain decided to take a nap and I have to take my turn at the helm. Domino standing by on channel 68 and 16 and taking the helm. We are in Arthur passage and the water is relatively choppy.
6:45 Arrived at Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club. Don’t get excited, the name is much more glamorous than the location but a marina is a marina and we are both tired so it is great to be in a slip for the night. Coming into the marina was exciting because as you know we are typically set up for a bow in port tie and at the last minute we were informed that I needed to switch the boat to a bow in starboard tie. I managed to get it all switched and am seriously considering buying more fenders and rope so that I am prepared for all combination and won’t have to move things around ever! Call me lazy but I call that prepared!
Dinner at the Breakers Pub with the entire group. Cute town but things are mostly closed up now and we are leaving in the morning so we will have to see more of Prince Rupert on the way back through. Pub was busy and I can see that this is a busy port as it seems to be full of fisherman and pleasure boaters. I am not sure why but you can spot a fisherman from a ground and you can certainly spot pleasure cruisers. It sounds like Price Rupert is growing and that there may be plans for some new marinas in the future.
Long day and we are all bushed so off to bed early, Domino signing off on channel 68 for the night.
- Left Dock/Weighed anchor: Anchor up and underway 9:00 AM
- Cruise Log: 59 Nautical Miles
- Weather Conditions: Partly sunny, Winds from SW 17 kts.
- Navigational Obstacles: Not falling asleep in the ditch because it was boring and very calm!
- Wildlife Sighting: Birds
- Arrived Dock/Dropped anchor: Arrived in slip at 6:45 PM
- Slip for the night: $58.50 (Back in the real world where you pay for a slip instead of anchoring for free. )
- Time today Helm for TEA: 4 hrs
- Time today Helm for ACA: 5hrs
- Lessons learned: Consider the purchase of two more fenders and more rope to set up boat to be slipped on either side.
- Fun Meals underway: Big breakfast
