Even Hobbit needs care and feeding. Two tasks were to change the oil and fill up with fuel. Buying fuel isn’t pressing as we still have almost half a tank, but if we don’t top off here, we’ll need to buy some in Canada where the price is about a dollar and a half a gallon higher. With full tanks, Hobbit won’t need fuel until we arrive home. Other important tasks while in Ketchikan were grocery shopping, having fish and chips, and going see the final Harry Potter movie: The Deathly Hallows, Part 2.
July 25, 2011, Monday
For the past week it has rained every day except the day we went to Anan to view the bears. And so it was today as we departed Ketchikan without knowing for sure where we were headed. Along the way we decided to take a two day detour into the Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness.
Clearly sightseeing trips to the Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness is big business. During the 25 or so miles we transited inside the monument we were passed by 4 large fast catamarans full of people and there seemed to be a never ending parade of float planes flying low overhead. This is really a beautiful place.
One of the sites along the way is New Eddystone Rock, which received its name from Capt. Vancouver because it reminded him of the Eddystone lighthouse in England. It’s amazing that such a tall, thin rock structure could have been carved out by the forces of nature in the middle of such a wide, deep channel of water.
New Eddystone Rock
The boating book we are using as our primary reference for advice on where to stay and what to do, Exploring Southeast Alaska, stated that if you only had time for one anchorage, go to Punchbowl Cove in Rudyerd Bay. Throughout the monument the water is very deep even close to shore. As a result, anchoring is very difficult. Fortunately there is one buoy in Punchbowl Cove and it was available. What an awesome place to tie up.
Hobbit in Punchbowl Cove
Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness
July 26, 2011, Tuesday
Punchbowl Cove has a magical beauty. It is the most beautiful spot we have seen on the entire trip. Sheer rock walls go up both sides of the inlet. Trees hang on to the vertical rock by running their roots into cracks. Nevertheless, as you view where they are perched, you wonder how trees could possibly grow to 50 or even 100 feet tall in such a place. Mist and clouds are constantly moving across the landscape driving home that the name of this place is the Misty Fiords – we are in a rain forest.
The shoreline seems clean and almost manicured: In most places the trees come right down to the level of the highest high tides and are then replaced by rock covered with the dark orange rockweed (Fucus). In other areas there is a buffer of grass between the trees and the rocky shore; in a few places the beach is dark sand. Waterfalls can be heard from every direction but most are invisible as they are hidden behind the trees. Periodically a rushing stream enters the inlet. The high sides of the fiord coupled with the many turns between Punchbowl Cove and the outside means that the wind can be howling a few miles away and it will be calm in here.
Every ten or fifteen minutes we hear the sound of a low flying float plane taking tourists up Rudyerd Bay and wonder how many of them will take home pictures that include Hobbit. Occasionally we feel swells from one of the sightseeing jet boats. Other than that, we are alone and it is totally peaceful.
The weather cleared somewhat in the early afternoon so we decided to take our dinghy on about a 10 mile excursion to see the rest of the fiord. The whole place is awesomely beautiful. It still amazes me that there can be such a dense forest perched on huge mounds of granite.
The rain kept turning on and off all day.
Punchbowl Cove
Punchbowl Cove
Rudyerd Bay
Rudyerd Bay
Rudyerd Bay
July 27, 2011, Wednesday
It’s fortunate that we took the sightseeing trip in the dinghy yesterday rather than wait until we left today in Hobbit. We woke to moderate rain, a low ceiling, and fog that kept visibility down to less than half a mile. Radar was an essential piece of equipment for our departure. Unfortunately, NOAA Weather Radio is unavailable inside the Misty Fiords because the mountains and fiords block out the signal.
The goal for today was to reach Foggy Bay which most consider the best jumping off point for the Dixon Entrance open ocean crossing to Prince Rupert where we have to clear Canadian customs. As we headed down Behm Canal however, the wind and short period wind waves got progressively worse. Just before reaching Revillagigedo Channel, the main north-south waterway, we decided we were getting beaten up enough and ducked into Sykes Cove. Sykes Cove is a small cove that only provides protection from southerly wind and swells. It did a good job of protecting us from the swells, but we were still reading gusts to 18 kts. We also had difficulty getting the anchor to hold even with 180 feet of chain in 40 feet of water.
After the anchor dragged quite some distance over a cobble bottom (you can feel the anchor skip over rocks by lightly touching the anchor chain) we picked it up and tried a second time. This one skipped a little and then held for the night.
July 28, 2011, Thursday
With still no weather forecast available, we got up at 4:00 a.m. and departed Sykes Cove at sunrise. Well actually we have to assume that the sun rose because we certainly couldn’t see it through the low ceiling, fog, and heavy rain. Venturing out into Revillagigedo Channel we initially found the waves to be only a foot or so and the wind to be less than 10 kts. As with yesterday, however, both rose as we continued south.
It wasn’t long before we gave up on the idea of crossing Dixon Entrance and started wondering about the wisdom of proceeding to Foggy Bay which is only 15 miles from Sykes Cove. Half way there the wind had picked up to 15 kts gusting 20 and the wind waves were up to 3 feet. Since we were starting to feel the ocean swell, we were occasionally getting waves of about 4 feet which caused Hobbit to come down heavily and take spray over the bow.
By moving closer to shore and tacking so that the waves were on Hobbit’s bow quarter rather than the bow, the ride got easier. Dropping the anchor in the protection of Foggy Bay’s inner harbor was a relief. Here we can wait out anything short of a hurricane. A milestone we reached today was crossing the 2,000 mile mark for our trip. The odometer read 2,009 miles since leaving Everett on May 5.
Foggy Bay Inner Harbor
Foggy Bay is really a beautiful anchorage. Hopefully we can come back and spend a couple of days when there’s a spring tide – tide-pooling looks really good here.
Someone needs to point out to the weather gods that it’s late July, the middle of the summer. Prolonged periods of cool weather and heavy rain are not appropriate.
July 29, 2011, Friday
I previously addressed one of Murphy’s Laws which stated: Regardless of what the tables say, the current will be against you. Today we encountered another of his laws: When you really need to listen to a weather report, it will be either unavailable or will fade out and you will receive only static when information on the critical region is being presented.
Once again we got up at 4:00 am in order to leave at sunrise. The first order of business was to turn on NOAA Weather Radio to determine the current conditions and forecast for Dixon Entrance – our open ocean crossing. NOAA has a broadcast that repeats every 5 – 10 minutes and covers all of SE Alaska as well as Dixon Entrance and northern British Columbia. We had a strong signal and heard the forecast loud and clear until they got to Dixon Entrance. At that point the current conditions and forecast faded. We must have listened four or five times before we were able to piece together what was going on.
Current conditions in Dixon Entrance were combined seas of 4 feet and wind of 4 kts. Really good! The forecast was for wind to rise to 15 – 20 kts by noon and 20 – 30 kts by evening as a low pressure cell enveloped SE Alaska – not good. Our anemometer read 2 kts as we weighed anchor and headed out into Revillagigedo Channel. It seemed that there might be a short window for crossing Dixon Entrance and that if we didn’t cross now, we might not be able to cross for several days.
As we entered Revillagigedo Channel we encountered winds of 15 kts and seas of about 3 feet. My first thought was maybe this isn’t so good. Fortunately, as we got further away from shore things calmed down a little so we kept going. In Dixon Entrance we encountered ocean swells of about 3 - 4 feet on our beam and a wind driven chop of 1 – 2 feet on our bow. The ride actually wasn’t all that bad.
Soon after entering Dixon Entrance we encountered a pod of humpback whales bubble feeding. In bubble feeding, one whale creates a curtain of bubbles to force prey, such as herring, into a tight ball. A group of whales then surface together with their mouths open to suck in food. Whales take turns doing the bubbling. Light was poor and we didn’t have time to dally so I didn’t get a National Geographic picture, but here’s one of the whales surfacing with its mouth open.
Bubble Feeding Humpback
Fortunately NOAA was off in their forecast and the wind decreased slowly all morning. After Crossing Dixon Entrance the wind declined to about 10 kts and we went down Chatham Sound against about a 1 foot chop.
The mandatory first stop entering any country is customs. During our journey north we had learned that Canadian Customs had recently installed their own dock in Prince Rupert which people were encouraged to use as opposed to going to a marina and calling for a customs officer. Wishing to be cooperative, a really good thing to do when clearing customs, I used their dock. The dock has a blue gate that is locked and can only be opened by a customs officer – i.e. people tied up at the dock can’t walk on shore. The dock also has a telephone which, when you pick it up, rings at the customs office in Vancouver. Where it rings is unknown to those making a call; personally I assumed it rang in Prince Rupert which has a customs office. Customs only has one dock even though they go to an additional 4 privately owned docks when needed. There’s a big sign giving instructions on clearing customs. So here’s the way our conversation went after I picked up the phone.
Canadian Customs, my name is Hilda (not her real name), how may I help you?
I’m down at your dock and would like to clear customs.
Where are you located?
At the customs dock.
Which city are you in?
Prince Rupert.
Which dock are you located at?
The customs dock.
Which customs dock?
The one with the blue walkway. What city are you in?
Vancouver. What’s the name of the dock you’re located at?
I don’t know, it doesn’t have a name, it’s the customs dock.
We have five custom’s docks, which one are you at?
The one in front of the shopping mall.
I don’t know where the mall is. Can you ask somebody the name of the dock?
There’s nobody here but me and my wife.
Does she know the name?
No, this is the first time we’ve been here.
Well I can’t do anything till I know the name of the dock. Can you walk off the dock and ask someone?
This is the customs dock, it’s locked, I can’t walk off the dock.
Well I have to know where you are.
Will latitude and longitude help you?
That would help.
Please hold while I read that information off my GPS.
Please hang up and call back when you know where you are.
I then used my cell phone to call the local office. They couldn’t help me clear but did say that the name of the dock was the Lightering Dock. They acknowledged that the issue I experienced has been a problem. I suggested they put a sign on the dock saying what the name was.
I asked Linda to take a piece of blue masking tape and write on it really large the words You are at the Lightering Dock which we then taped just below the telephone. I then lifted the customs phone and called Vancouver. We cleared without further hassle.
We tied up at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club just as the rain started to fall. Environment Canada forecasts rain every day for the next week.
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