Wednesday, June 25, 2008

June 24 - 25 - Prince Rupert to Ketchikan

Fairly Calm Seas crossing from Rupert to Ketchikan
Old Lighthouse enroute to Ketchikan
Green Island Lighthouse
The winds forecast for the previous day did indeed blowup today. We have until noon to find another place to stay as the docks are again fully booked up. To the right of Prince Rupert YC is the public dock and we see that it is completely empty, so we all sidle our boats back to the public dock and we have a plan in place should all the gillnetters come in during the day. There appears to be an unwritten rule while using public docks that the Fish Boats deem to have first right of docking, regardless of who has paid or not, the danger in being on the dock is that you could be awakened in the middle of the night by a raft of six fish boats just tying to your boat and rafting out. We certainly don’t mind the rafting, but this is a very bumpy place and one teak incident on the trip was enough. We plan to raft up ourselves so that we could come and go if we wanted to. Dave & Penny head off to the museum, Wayne & Cathy head up to get some repairs done to their Auto Pilot and Mike and Betty just puttered around the boat.
As drinks and dinner time, no fish boats showed up so we stayed put until round 11:00 pm, when the first of the fishboats showed up. He was a black cod fisherman from Queen Charlottes, so we purchased some fish to have as one of our tasty meals later in the week. We decide that we cannot chance being locked in, so we pull off the public dock and sidle back over to Prince Rupert YC for the night, good thing we had lots to drink between the wind and waves rocking us all night.
We decide at 6:00 am, that there is a window of opportunity and we head out through Metlakatla Pass to head to Ketchikan. We have decided that we have seen plenty of bears and we will bypass Khutzamateen for another time.

June 23 - Prince Rupert - Sourdough Bay








Not our first choice for an overnight stop, but the winds were threatening to blow to 40 knots and there was literally no room at any of the marinas. We first found a public dock that was empty in Sourdough Bay and because we were right behind the Coast Guard station, we thought we better radio in to make sure it was okay to dock, we were denied, so we dropped the anchor about 50 feet away from the dock and tied a stern line to a piling in the back of the bay. We were happy to be here, a few games of cards, a nice dinner and off to bed. 3:00 am, I wake up to a funny squeeking sound, turns out that due to the currents in this bay, we had drifted around the corner of our stern line and Waynes’ dinghy was acting like a huge fender keeping us off the empty public dock. The current had blown us sideways 50 feet and it now looked like we were wedged against the dock with a 12’ fender (Wayne’s dinghy). After waking everyone up, Wayne deflates one tube of his dinghy (so as to not puncture it) and we manage to get secured again until it was time to pull anchor and go to our dock reservation at Prince Rupert Yacht Club. Our first anchoring incident was not life shattering nor did it do any major damage to anything (including Wayne’s Dinghy)
At 10:00 am the next morning, we were able to take the boats to Prince Rupert Yacht Club for one more night at a dock. We all walked to town, the boys to the marine stores and the ladies off to Safeway for re-provisioning. Oh and to the Liquor store, where we purchase out their supply of Southern Comfort.
While we are there, surprise, surprise, we run into Mikes Mom and Step Dad who are awaiting the Ferry to go to the Queen Charlottes for a mini vacation. We have a few drinks with them then early to bed (to catch up from the 3:00 am awakening)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

June 22 - Hartley Bay

Hummingbird flies into Sambuca after the Fake Flowers

Being Observed
A quiet night was spent in Hartley Bay at the public docks. It’s hard to believe that the kind folks of Hartley Bay were the saviors of all those passengers of the former “Queen of the North” upon her sinking. We did not see anyone around until dinner time, when all of the townspeople went to the School to have graduation ceremonies. There are no roads in Hartley Bay, but there is a board walk that is used by the towns people to commute via golf carts and mopeds and ATV’s. A very nice “Long House/Community Center”, Fuel, but no store. Apparently the owner of the store went to Prince Rupert one day and never came back.
While we were there, a sailboat and one of its passengers was brought in to see the nurses as the sailboat had hit a rock up Grenville Channel and the lady driving, had the Tiller smash into her collar bone upon impact .No damage to the boat, but the rather abrupt stop left the lady to be brought in for observation by the towns nurses to ensure that her injuries were not serious enough to be treated by the nearest hospital.
Dave finds a new friend in Hartley Bay, the mangiest looking black lab, who was just as enamored of Dave! She slept the night on the back of Dave’s boat and we jokingly asked Penny via radio the next day “Who does the strange dog on her swim grid belong to??”
A long day up Grenville Channel brings us to Prince Rupert at dinner time.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

June 21 - Foch Lagoon


Plenty of Ice Shelves left in Foch




Sheer walls protect this hidden basin


Snow melt is fast as evidenced by this waterfall

We weren't sure where the name came from, but a switch of vowels would give you an idea of the difficulty in getting in there. There was a about a 4 foot overfall when we first arrived at the entrance of this picturesque inlet. So, rather than ruin a perfectly fine day by running the rapids, we opted to drop the fishing lines outside the entrance until the current settled down. After a few hours, it had settled down enough for us to go through. It was still a fast ride through, 6-7 knots. We spent a quiet night in the rain at the head of Foch Lagoon.

June 20 - Kitimat








Kitimat still has a population of approximately 10,000 and the two largest employers are Alcan (Aluminum) and Eurocan (Mill and Pulp/Paper). Its a nice company town and the people were most enjoyable. Most Kitimatians shop in Terrace where the population warrants the larger chain stores.

We found that the majority of boats in marina were from out of town (Alberta/Vancouver) - there is a waiting list of 60 boats to get in, so the moorage is tight in even the smaller areas. There is great fishing up here with large spring runs into the Kitimat River.

While in Kitimat, we did the math and found it was cheaper to rent a "wreck" (van)than to cab it around as the MK Marina is 11 km from Kitimat Downtown. There is a bus that runs by the marina, but it only runs twice a day. A cab is 25.00 each way and one cab would not have held all the liquor and food we shopped for in town. We had a wonderful dinner at Sea Masters in Kitimaat Village last night. If you ever in the area, stop in to the Kitimaat village for a tasty treat! We drove around town (took about 20 minutes) and saw all there was (we think)

June 19 - Weewanie Hot Springs to Kitimat

As the Sign Says

What you see from the bayside
Finally a Shave and Shampoo

Cheers
A discussion on World Peace?
It was a dark and stormy Day
Enroute to Kitimat, we stop at the third and final hot spring in the area.... We have renamed this trip to the "2008 Bowling Alley and Hot Spring Tour!" Two nice anchoring buoys in the bay and the water in the springs is a bit warmer than Bishop Bay.

Some rough seas leaving Weewanie and heading to Kitimat. Luckily its on our sterns so its just slightly uncomfortable. We pull into Kitimat around 7:00 pm and tie up to the dock in time for Happy Hour.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

June 18 - Kiltuish Inlet

Raft at the Head of the Inlet
Pucker Factor 1 - lots of tidal Rapids
Another "Can't Anchor" Inlet....I hate it when the books are wrong. With 7 feet under us (lowest point), the three of us slog into a very scenic and narrow bay in the big boats. We anchor at the head of the bay and spend a quiet evening. Crabbing is good here and we leave with two big dungeness.

We are out of Mike's Southern Comfort, Betty's Wine, Wayne's Rum, Dave's regular scotch (he still has the good stuff) and between us all we must have 10 bags of laundry, no more fresh produce and 2 weeks without a restaurant dinner. Although since Dave and Penny have arrived, its been kind of neat being on a dinner rotation. Each one of us has a night that we take so we are only cooking once every three days per boat. The meals have been outstanding - sorry you missed the Salt Cod and Pork Scraps Gayle!

Kitimat is our next stop with a couple of days of cleaning, watering, liquor store runs, blog updating and produce run. Photos for all days missed will be updated in the next few days!

June 16 & 17th – Kemano Bay

Where did the fisherman go

Scenic Gunkholing with Mikey

Totem at Kitlope

Jade Green Water
Teeny Mike in Snow Cave
When the Kemano Kids leave town, they nail runners to this tree
Start of 1/4 mile tunnel to Control Room
As the sign says
Kemano bowling Alley
Kemano Curling Rink

Shoes in Bowling Alley - just waiting for some League Bowling
Our Tour Master to the Power Station in the mountain
Our Boats in the Kemano Yacht Club
Estuary on other side of the Road from Yacht Club
Lupin all over the side of the road
Look in distance to see Grizz with three cubs
Church in center of town


The scenery in this canal when it’s sunny has got to be one of the most spectacular sights we have ever seen. We have run out of metaphors when describing this area. Snowfields down to the water, snow capped granite mountain tops, glacier bowls by the dozen, jade green water, magnificent 3000’ waterfalls, crevasses carved into the mountains like the mountains are going to split apart, snow bowls with avalanche caps just waiting to fall and the list goes on. The words “magnificent, awe inspiring, beautiful” pale to what we visually saw. Dave decides it time for a photo shoot with the boats lined up in front of a waterfall. We are the first to arrive and I happen to look up to the right of the waterfall and see a mother mountain goat with two fairly new kids. Another sight we have never seen before. Just when you think you have seen it all, Mother Nature doles out another visual morsel for us to feast on.
We find Kemano Bay and ask for permission from two fellows working on the docks to tie up to the floats formerly known as the “Kemano Bay Yacht Club”. Alcan did a nice job of building docks that have outlasted around 10 years of the elements.
The Kemano Completion project was and still is a controversial project with Alcan pitted against the environmentalists and various other interested groups. To this day, it has not been completed, with 2 tunnels being 2/3 complete to meeting up. These tunnels were to have met up and would have been 12 kilometers through the mountain, transporting more water for the generating plant in Kemano for the Alcan facility in Kitimat (plus excess power). There would have been more turbines etc built and the output of potential power would have been almost doubled. The crew that are here (approx 50 people) are here to do upgrades to the existing transmission lines that run to Kitimat.
On shore, you have to be careful where you walk as there are huge mounds of grizzly bear scat. There are a few munching on marsh grass across the street from the yacht Club and we were later told not to have food outside as they will come down the docks to get same. Its happy hour and some fellows come down to see what we are all about, turns out we have mutual acquaintances in Port Moody. The first fellow works for Pacific Blasting (Cory) and knows our friend Craig (who bought our last boat “Big Easy” from us and a fellow DCYC member), soon another fellow comes down and then a third. Another dock party in the making. They tell us that they are “Clagged in” as they were being chauffeured up the mountain by helicopter to install a “Catinary system” – some definitions are in order here….. Clagged = too cloudy and foggy to land a helicopter in the mountains. Catinary = electrical transmission lines suspended from one mountain top to another via mountainside platforms. When complete, these transmission lines will span almost 4000’. It’s now six o’clock and the fellows have to head back to camp for dinner. While sitting on the docks with these fellows we heard an avalanche somewhere off in the distance, it sounds like one very long thunder clap.
After dinner we are sitting up on the bridge of Shaman. We see a very distinguished gentleman come down the ramp and we invite him up for a glass of wine. Adam C has been working in Kemano since 1953 and is now on contract to them (after retirement) to oversee the installation of a new catinary. He had lived in Kemano from 1953 to 1970 and was then transferred to the Kitimat division of Alcan. Adam has the honor of being the first man in Kemano to be married under the Alcan Flag back in 1955 and somewhere in the bowels of the garbage dump is his brand new, ordered in 1955 Buick. Adam now lives with his wife in Yaletown in Vancouver, has 5 adult children scattered around the province and only takes on projects that are of interest to him. He is extremely knowledgeable about the transmission lines and he would have been a huge loss to Alcan upon his retirement. He knows every mile between Kemano and Kitimat and every transmission tower standing in between like the back of his hand. His anniversary with the transmission lines will be 55 years in August.
We exchange email addresses and eagerly await the printing of a book he is working on about his life story. If his book is anything like the stories he entertained us with last night, it will be extremely good reading. Adam will try and make arrangements for a tour of the power plant during our stay here! We will keep our fingers crossed on the tour.
Its Monday morning now, Mike attempts to take his motorbike up the road prior to going fishing but gets only about ¼ mile before he is stopped by a big grizzly that won’t get off the road. Mike comes back and goes out to try his hand at catching some fish. Betty drops crab traps and everyone else is puttering on projects.
After lunch, Mike and Dave take the motorbikes and go in to town (about 16 km down the road). The photos above show what is still left of town; a fully working bowling alley, curling rink, recreation center, medical center, church, town homes (being used as bunkhouses), golf course and the power generating plant itself. Mike plays a few frame of bowling and then carries on to catch up with Dave. Mike and Dave make it as far as 10 km down a dirt road to the end of the road when they are stopped by a Momma Grizz and her triplets. Turnaround time and back to town they go.
Adam comes down as promised after dinner and has permission to take us into the power plant. We all pile into the van and head to town. The tunnel where the power plant is ¼ mile long into the rock mountainside, with the generating plant ¼ mile in. This ¼ mile section of tunnel was hand dug right into the mountain. At its peak, there were approximately 500 full time residents in Kemano. At the buildup back in the 50’s there were almost 6000 people in the valley. As each part of the project was completed, the established buildings like the church were moved closer to the town site. Soon all the other buildings were built around it and houses were built to accommodate the families that lived in Kemano. All that remains to day of the houses are the driveways and some beautiful flowering hawthorn trees planted 30-50 years ago.
Tuesday morning, it’s a bit windy and cold, so the ladies opt to stay behind in the big boats while the boys go exploring 20 nm up to the head of Gardner Canal to Kitlope and Chief Matthews Bay by dinghy. Along the way, Dave and Wayne find a “Fishing Belly Boat” floating on its own in the channel. They are, needless to say, concerned that someone may have fallen from the dinghy or may be camping and the dinghy has floated off and left them stranded. They scour the shoreline for many miles and even find a totem pole not mentioned in any of our books. Their search meets with success when they meet up with a boat carrying two chaps who have been looking all day for the lost Belly boat. Mission completed. Back in Kemano, its turnaround day for the workers, so we expect to see the 90’ Nechako coming in sometime this morning. Otters have been playing around the boats since 6:00 am and the rain is mixed with some sunshine and a cold brisk wind.

June 16 – Europa Hot Springs

Owyacumish Bay - Gardner Canal
Mountain Goat (Mama)
Twin Kids






A toast in Europa Hot Springs

These springs are about 18 miles away from the Bishop Bay Springs. We left at the crack of 10:00 and puttered up into Gardner Canal in time for another soak, happy hour and a couple of hands of cards. Cathy and I were lucky enough to soak in two hot springs in one day as we had an early morning soak at Bishop and an afternoon soak in Europa springs. A deer wanders leisurely by the boats on shore and a flock (not sure if Ravens qualify for a “Murder” like crows) of ravens sit squawking and making noise on the shore. There looks to be about 4 baby ravens and a mama and we have never heard such a large racket from these birds….must be raven school in session.
There is one sailboat anchored in the bay with us, but we never see the people going to shore or out of their boat. The next morning at the crack of 10:00, we amble off to see what’s up at the end of Gardner Canal.
Canal.