Return to Canoe Cove
Tuesday, July 31st – After Jan and Jim leave us in Port Hardy, it is time for Avante to head off too. The wind is now up to 15 knots, and it is blowing the boat hard onto the dock. After a challenging departure, we eagerly set out with visions of a wonderful sail under a sparkling sun, but by the time we get to the end of the bay, the wind has dropped to below 5 knots. Winds up here are fluky, strange and most undependable. Come for the scenery, the peace and the solitude, but don’t come for the sailing! We knew that, but it still is frustrating.
As we motor south, we hail Port McNeill for dock space. None is available. Their visitor berths are on a first come, first served basis, and we are now at the height of the season. We continue south and hail Alert Bay, a small First Nations’ fishing village trying hard to become more of a tourist destination. To our delight, they have space for us. We motor in, and, as we pull up to the assigned dock, a sign reads that this dock is for 40-foot boats. Be that as it may, there is room for all 52 feet of Avante, and we tie up with relief. Our only worry is low tide, but we check the tide tables and calculate that we should stay floating with only about a foot below us. The next morning as low tide approaches, The Captain checks that depth gauge, and sure enough, there is just about a foot of water under Avante‘s keel.
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Alert Bay turns out to be a delightfully quiet, picturesque spot, but for us at this point, any place where the sun is shining and it is not raining would be delightful and picturesque!
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It is so warm that it actually feels like what we know as “summer”. We have cocktails in the evening sun and then head into town for an early dinner. We’re back on the boat, in bed by 2030 and there’s not a peep from either of us for almost 12 straight hours.
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It is obvious that The Captain and The First Mate could use some R&R before the final leg of the trip. The hard part of our trip is over, and we will be retracing our path for much of the 250 miles between us and Canoe Cove Marina. We have no more friends joining us, and we have no schedules to meet. We have thoroughly enjoyed having a number of good friends join us for various legs of our trip. That has added to our enjoyment but has put us on a schedule. Despite some flexibility built into the schedule, it did occasionally become a driving force. Although we would never compromise safety, we were underway on a number of days when the weather was poor, and it would have been much more comfortable to have sat at anchor for the day. Even though The Captain could do just fine with only one day of R&R, he gives The First Mate two full, wonderful, glorious days here and a promise of a relaxed last leg of the trip. Wow! This is cruising! The only must-make date we have on our calendar is August 19th back in Telluride. That is the Wedding Celebration of Judy and Warner, our crew on the very first leg of this voyage. Got to make that event for sure!
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Walking into town, we pass under the Namgis First Nation Welcome Sign with its interesting carving.
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Not far out of town is the Big Tree Loop, a pleasant walk through the heavy Pacific Rain Forest. The sun continues to shine down on us, making it a perfect day.
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At the Namgis Burial Grounds, we are amazed to see the number of totem poles. Some are new and brightly painted, but many have weathered with time.
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Each one tells a history or story. How The First Mate wishes she could “read” what is being told with the carvings.
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Friday, August 3rd – We depart Alert Bay and head down Johnstone Strait. It is overcast and the wind is blowing from behind us at 5 – 8 knots. Wind increases to over 10 knots in the afternoon. and we raise the mainsail. Stopping for the night in Port Neville, we are well anchored, but we are fairly exposed to the wind blowing into this inlet. All night long, we have winds of 15 – 25 knots with gusts to 30 knots. Neither of us sleep very well.
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The next day, we decide to get off Johnstone Straight and explore some of the alternate passages and channels. We go through a rapids at Race Passage and head to the Cordero Fishing Lodge, which is located in a quiet, picturesque bay on Cordero Channel. There are no roads here, and the only way to reach it is by seaplane from Campbell River or by boat.
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Built over water like a modern logging village with dock space for several boats, they have room for Avante.
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With our more relaxed schedule, we arrive in early afternoon and have time for a hike in the forest above the lodge.
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Looking back down at Cordero Passage, we marvel at the clear blue skies and the weather which has become so much more agreeable!
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It’s another night off for the cook, and we have dinner in the lodge dining room which is decorated with pennants from the many boats and yachting clubs which have visited.
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Friday, August 3rd – We only have 35nm to go today, but the list of the places that we need to traverse is a little daunting: Dent Rapids, Yuculta Rapids, Plunger Passage, Uganda Passage and The Gorge. The First Mate only sees one name that she likes: Calm Channel.
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We get through all the rapids and passages undaunted and spend the night in Gorge Harbor. We have reached the popular Desolation Sound, and there are many, many more boats than when we were here in late May. We actually have one boat anchor too close to us. Winds are light, and boats are drifting in all directions around their anchors. This novice does not believe us when we point out our anchor position. He drops his anchor right on top of ours and then disappears below decks. If the wind picks up at night, we will have a real mess. We shake our heads and move away to re-anchor in deeper water.
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Underway at 0745 the next morning, we exit through The Gorge and motor south in the Strait of Georgia. The day is sunny and calm, definitely summer weather. We are now on a mission to get south, and the scenery is distant as we motor well off either shore for most of the day before anchoring for the night at Lasquetti Island.
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Tuesday, August 7th – We reach the northern end of the Gulf Islands and find a line up of boats waiting for slack at Dodd Narrows.
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Winds have been on our nose all day today. Needing to get to Dodd Narrows at slack tide, we kept the sails furled and just motored all morning. We now have some time, so the sails are raised, again using the large powered primary winch to raise the mainsail. We enjoy a great sail down Trincomali Channel into 12 – 18 knot headwinds, tacking well over 25 times.
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We finally drop the sails just north of Montague Harbor, where we anchor for the evening. This photo shows The Captain unhooking the halyard after what turned out to be our last sail on this trip.
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Wednesday August 8th – We have some things that we want to do on the boat before going back into the marina, and decide to spend the night at Reid Harbor on Stuart Island. As this is US territory, we need to clear customs, so we stop at Roche Harbor. On this fine summer day, it is full of anchored boats as well as a haphazard line of motor and sailing vessels waiting to tie up to the Customs Dock. We join this informal line-up. Ahead of us is a big motor vessel that, blissfully unaware, keeps idling backwards into us. Behind us is another 50-foot sailboat whose captain is having a very hard time holding position. Making matters worse for all us boaters are numerous seaplanes that are cutting through the line to get to and from the seaplane dock. Every time a plane comes in or departs, our line-up has to scatter to give that plane room to maneuver. Feeling a bit intimidated by this crush, The First Mate suggests to The Captain that he might like to take over the helm, but, calling this one more good learning experience, he declines.
A boat on water does not sit still. Currents pull her, winds push her, and even in dead calm, an idling prop crawls her one direction or another. It’s a trick to get her to stay in one place, especially when other boats, a mere handshake away, are engaged in the same dance. For well over 45 minutes, we all jockey around. Finally, it is Avante’s turn to head onto the dock. A boat has pulled off the dock, leaving a space open. The First Mate slowly eases us up, but there is no way Avante is going to fit into this vacant spot unless she is lifted up and placed there like a jigsaw puzzle piece. It is way too small for her. We have to circle around and hope that the boat behind us does not take our turn. It graciously does not, and fortunately, another boat soon leaves the dock giving Avante sufficient room. Closing in on the dock, The Captain jumps off and quickly ties off a line, but the outward pull of the current from the dock begins to swing the bow way out. It is a stretch for The First Mate to throw the bow line to The Captain, and it takes a superhuman effort for him to pull Avante back in. The Captain, not too pleased with our sterling performance, stomps off to the Customs Shack. Stuck on the boat, The First Mate watches the sailboat behind us come to the dock. Even with bow thrusters, they do such a miserable job and are getting so close to taking out Avante with their efforts that The First Mate and several others on the dock run over to give them a hand. She now feels better. We may not have made a picture-perfect landing here, but at least we did it on our own without half the people on dock helping us. She has discovered that contrary to our experiences with physical activities in Telluride where no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better, out here on the water, no matter how badly she think she is doing, there usually is someone doing worse.
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Anchoring in the early afternoon, we have never seen so many boats in Reid Harbor. It looks like a summer encampment! We are going to leave Avante in the marina while we return home to Telluride for a summertime month in the mountains. Even though we are only leaving her for a short period, we have a number of tasks to do to get her ready, so we get started going down the list.
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As we enter Canoe Cove Marina the next morning, a harbor seal raises its head as we pass. Somehow, he does not seem very impressed when we arrive back at the marina after 3 months, having traveled over 3000nm. Our trip to Alaska is over, and what a great adventure is was!