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Today we had a very sweet sail up Roscoe Inlet. The wind was behind us – we set our genoa head sail and sailed all the way up the inlet to our anchorage. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing between 10 and up to 20 knots. This is what it’s all about! It was very relaxing just having the head sail up. Roscoe Inlet – especially the head of the inlet- is quite spectacular. We explored it the next day and it rivals Princess Louisa in beauty. Granite cliffs with waterfalls and snow capped mountains. Beth baked cinnamon buns and served up hot chocolate to celebrate at the head of the inlet.
Every night we put the hatch covers on over our forward berth to keep out the light so we can sleep! We are truly in the north up here. The sun doesn’t set till 10:00 pm or after and it is still light till almost midnight! It then gets light again at about 4 am! Way too early for me. We thought we might see the northern lights up here but can’t stay up late enough to even see the stars! The long evenings are really lovely but often we don’t realize how late it is. It will be 9:00 pm and we haven’t had dinner!
We have had such beautiful weather so far on our trip but now it seems as though we are in for some rain. Norm installed our rain catcher to help fill our water tanks. The pressure is dropping on the barometer – not a good sign. We motored over to Mathieson Channel to Rescue Bay as there was no wind and the rain began. Fiordland, up Mathieson was reported to be beautiful. We decided to go even though it was overcast and we were glad we did. The scenery was stunning! The fiords are very narrow with high mountains of granite. The clouds lingered at the top of the mountains and the day was quite grey. It reminded us of “Lord of the Rings’. Everywhere you turn there is another waterfall. We were able to enjoy “Kynoch Falls” all to ourselves. Not another boat in sight. We nosed Sarah Jean right up under the falls and felt the spray on our faces. Amazing!
The famous “Spirit Bear” or Kermode bear resides only on Princess Royal Island up here on the central coast. They are actually a type of black bear and as we rounded every point I would scan the shore with my binoculars for sightings of this or any bear or wolves! We spent a few days around this island in Laredo Inlet and in Surf Inlet. In the evening or the mornings we kayak around the bay and explore the river bed as that is reportedly where the bears are often sighted. But alas, no luck! We did see tons of beautiful and very large Lions mane jellyfish in our Surf Inlet anchorage. It is amazing to watch them move through the water and they are very orange! We put our crab trap out in Laredo but only caught one undersized red rock crab.
We heard STORM WARNINGS on the VHF radio when we were anchored in Laredo Inlet. There were big SW winds blowing out there! We had gusts of 30 knots in our anchorage! So we decided to stay put for a while and had a relaxing morning of reading. When the wind died down a little we decided to venture forth and practise our high wind techniques. It was wild out there! The main sail was double reefed and the self tacker partially furled. Blowing up to 25 knots. Luckily we were heading north up Laredo Channel and the SW wind was behind us again. Shared the channel with 2 VERY large cruise ships! Norm perfected our downwind technique using our double head sails and the new whisker pole. We were rocking at 8- 9 knots!
After a week of hardly seeing another cruising boat, Beth had a BIG need for some social contact! We were headed for Bishops’ Hot Springs and hoping that there would be some other boats. Another great downwind sail up Whale Channel and the sun came out! Yahoo! The rain began again in ernest upon our arrival at the hotsprings so we wasted no time enjoying a very lovely hot soak in the tub overlooking the anchorage. Boy that felt good after sailing all day. We were lucky to be able to find a place at the dock as it’s quite deep for anchoring in the bay. We met other friendly boaters from Ft. St. John who took our lines when we arrived. They had trailered their power boats to Kitimat and put in there, coming down Douglas Channel to Bishop’s. Everyone came on our boat for a visit and a drink. Later another sailboat came in with some very soggy sailors. We invited them to raft to us and invited them to the party! We mentioned we were headed to the Charlottes and it turns out this fellow wrote the guide book we have on Haida Gwaii! What a coincidence. We ended up talking to the wee hours!
We stopped in at Hartley Bay to refuel and check our email with our Wifi booster. Not much here in this northern Native community except fuel and satellite dishes. The Hartley Bay people are famous for rescuing the ferry passengers when the “Queen of the North” sank just a mile or 2 away at Gill Island. We sailed by the spot the next day and heh – Gill Island is very big – not sure how the people on the bridge of BC Ferries missed it!
Nearly every morning we listen to the HAM radio and check in on the Great Northern Boaters Net. It’s quite entertaining and we pick up information on good anchorages and on weather as well. With no cell phone reception or internet and often not another cruising boat in sight for days the HAM radio has been our only lifeline to other human contact! We also check in with our contact from Bluewater Cruising Association 3 days a week. These contacts allowed us to hook up with Ron and Meredith on “Erramus”. They invited us aboard for dinner in Miller Bay on Pitt Island and served up some freshly caught perch which was delicious. We really enjoyed their company and the evening aboard their 40’ Valiant.
Our plan was to head to the top of Banks Island and prepare for crossing Hecate Strait to Queen Charlotte City. The weather had improved again – high pressure and sunny skies. The tides were good too – neap tide which is small changes in tides. However our autopilot decided to pack it in! Because we so close Prince Rupert we decided to go there to see if it could be fixed. We were disappointed by this change of plan as we were anxious to head over to the Charlottes while the weather was good – sunny with NW winds. However, as we have heard from many a cruising boat, it’s very common for things to break down especially autopilots! So on July 1st it was off to Prince Rupert to stay at the yacht club in Cow Bay – only a stone’s throw from downtown. While Norm was working on the autopilot and talking to the local electronics people, Beth did the laundry and reprovisioned. It was hot and sunny and we actually really enjoyed this quaint waterfront town with its large sportfishing and commercial fishing operations. There are eagles everywhere! We enjoyed an excellent seafood dinner at the Cow Bay Café right on the water. They had fireworks in the harbour for Canada Day.
The verdict on the autopilot is that the computer on the unit failed and cannot be repaired up here in the north. Replacement would be thousands of dollars and a week’s delay so we have decided to go without it and push off to the Charlottes. It’s not an essential item. We do have our Hydrovane – our wind steering system which will steer the boat when we are sailing. We’ll just have to hand steer when we are motoring. Our chart plotter system still works and of course we have paper charts so we will be fine.
The sun is shining again today. We will head south and find a good cove for jumping off across Hecate Strait on July 4! We’ll hopefully celebrate with a beam reach with 20-25 knots from the NW.
Love to all our family and friends, we miss you!
Beth & Norm
Prince Rupert
