Anne has made it to Ketchikan!
Nineteen days and 750 miles from Anacortes, all seven boats and fourteen boaters have arrived!
The trip from Prince Rupert provided us with new experiences, as did most days.
We left on what apparently is a normal route through Venn Passage if heading north, saving us 12 miles, and requiring very careful navigating through winding and narrow passages that, as usual, were quite shallow in spots, and included rocks.
We saw quite a few fishing boats coming in as we were leaving, so I told myself it was obviously passable, just as we were told!
I have gained a firsthand appreciation of studying ahead and using 2 different navigation programs, plus the importance of having the chartplotter at a very "close-up" setting to watch for the rocks.
We traveled in yet another area that I was surprised we could, and it worked well. The leaders briefed every boat each evening and the cruising guide is also very helpful with specifics.
After exiting the narrow area we continued onward, entering Chatham Sound which was wonderfully peaceful.
Proceeding north, east of Dundas Island our Texans radioed that they just passed whales!
As usual we were spread out miles apart.
Sam's boat was the closer and I was farther west of the two last boats, but I took off anyhow, happy to use the horsepower. After speeding directly east for perhaps a couple of minutes I could see what looked like might be tall splashes, but did not want to slow down and use the binoculars. By the time Cascadia was close enough to see clearly, there were no splashes to be seen, and the others had continued north.
I hope to see photos the fellows got and rumor has it that someone got a great shot.
After that excitement for the slow-traveling boats, one of the faster moving boats called to ask about the border and whether they had crossed it. Apparently there still is a bit of controversy about the exact latitude boundary between BC and Alaska, but we are in Dixon Entrance, and winds and wave heights are what get the focus around here, and gale force winds seem to be blowing often.
We had such minimal swells that we weren't even mentioning them on the radio, even the bigger boats that seem to experience them more.
Quite awhile later our C-Dory radioed to advise there were quite a few fishing boats out, which I unfortunately forgot about until quite awhile later.
We all continued onward, and eventually all the boats crossed the invisible border into Alaska!
The next radio message I recall was on my behalf. Fortunately, Jim, who was ahead, radioed a warning to me that I was approaching what turned out to be gillnetters. I quickly noticed the orange buoy of the one on my starboard but I was not aware of the second one and was on a line to go through rather than around the nets. I owe Jim for that warning since my attention had faltered.
Kevin explained to me later yesterday how important it is to "swing quite wide behind them and to never try to cross the nets."
That was my most important lesson of the day!
We must be very diligent when around purse seiners and gillnetters with their quarter mile nets that are not visible except for buoys at the beginning and the end, and the end ones can get pushed forward sometimes, so give them a wide berth!
I hope to recall this whenever I see a fishing boat with the tall poles. I had never paid much attention to them previously, but now when I see that type boat I want to connect the shape with the need to be watching for nets!
Another event the day we left Prince Rupert was the bear at Foggy Bay, which I did not see, but saw a great photo Ron took.
Foggy Bay is a safe anchorage about half way between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan that serves boaters who travel at slow speeds to overnight, or as a place to wait out the weather or to recover from crossing Dixon Entrance. It is also the only place US Border Control allows boats to stop on their way to Customs in Ketchikan when coming from Prince Rupert.
After Foggy Bay, and after passing Mary Island, we entered Revillagigedo Channel. That name and the travel time both seemed long as I was beginning to think more about what is required when getting to Ketchikan.
For those of us boating there the first time, the "Big Three" might be Customs, moorage and fuel, and just the latter two can be challenging.
Ketchikan has 3 public moorages, and we do not call the single dockmaster for all three until quite nearby. At that time each boat is assigned a slip based on boat size. All slips are permanently assigned so boats are "hot-berthed" which means assigned a slip whose owner is away, and the visiting boat must move if the owner returns early.
So we cannot plan where we will be. Also we are always advised to fuel up before tying up. Now we add in Customs, and it gets complicated. We are not allowed off our boats until the officer visits the boat and inspects us.
The Waggoner Guide spells out the details and Jim's boat and I decide we want to fuel first, if allowed, since the marinas do not have fuel.
We each first must have a marina assignment and be ready to give them the name of the fuel dock.
Here is where trouble begins!
The tide is moving the boat along, I am on the phone (with a terrible connection) trying to get a slip assignment, and another person's call is also coming in at the same time, over mine.There is one person handling multiple calls, with some calling to report they have just left for so many days and those of us arriving, also trying to report our impending arrival and needs, and reception varies. (Remember the tide!)
The fuel docks are south of the public marinas. I hear my friend's assignment with broken reception and he has to ask to have it repeated several times. Finally he gets his and then I am given one.
Jim stops near the first fuel dock and I hurriedly call Customs to give them my slip assignment while circling and then ask if an agent will come to the fuel dock which I name. Hooray! Making progress while avoiding trouble near a fuel dock.
I look up and Jim has reached the dock. I am trying to figure if I dare try to dock in front of him. His wife stands in their cockpit giving clear signals that I need to go around to the other side of the fuel dock, which makes sense.
So I manage to stay away from the fuel dock which is good, but now am too close upstream to the Coast Guard Boathouse. Somehow the boat gets into the turn north of the fuel dock towards the back side but the steering wheel locks up.
"Uh-Oh. That wretched hydraulic topic I should have learned about and been checking the fluid...
Anne! Think!
The forward motion plus current can help, but there are the rocks and it is quite shallow!
THRUSTERS!"
Luckily no boats were on the shallow side and the young man on the dock probably heard the thrusters. With the forward motion and current flowing north that helped, coupled with the thrusters and the full length of the dock Cascadia came close and I tossed my midship line to the young fellow on the dock who grabbed it.
Whew!
Next I tried the steering wheel when tied up and it worked to my amazement and relief.
The fellow brings a very wide nozzle which does not fit. (Recall, I must stay on the boat until cleared by Customs.) I sit on the top cockpit step when he brings a hose from the other side of the dock which fits and I begin fueling, happy to be done with liters and back to gallons.
Meanwhile I am still very relieved to be tied up and not crashing into anything, then remember I need to be careful to stop fueling at the right time. Oops, the pump is not registering, this hose is from another pump. STOP.
The Customs Officer arrives and asks for my passport, boat registration, and some routine questions. Soon he is on his way to the other boat and it seems like the pressure is gone now. I can get off the boat, check the fuel pump on the other side of the dock for when to stop, pay and be on my way! Hooray!
Two giant cruise ships stand tall and still as Cascadia crosses in front, looking for our marina. Signage is nowhere and suddenly the Safeway store appears. How can we be here since we have not passed the other two marinas? Or have we? I proceed a bit farther north, grabbing the guide book again. That had to be it because that was the shopping center.
Turn around, go back to the south entrance. No signs. Where is a sign with the name of the marina? Where is a sign at the end of each long dock?
Now I hear Jim on the radio and he is having similar problems figuring out where to go. Then someone else was calling the dockmaster asking where Dock 5 is and I hear it is the second dock from the south entrance. Then Jim is telling the dockmaster that someone is in his slip.
Three of us all struggling to find where the assigned docks are at the same time and I find Slip 44 on what I surmise is Dock 4, but it can't be, because it is a port tie, and my only request was to put me in a bow-in starboard tie.
So I doubt this can be Dock 4. However, there are no open slip 44's on the dock north or south of this dock. I call in again but the dockmaster is confused because he was trying to sort out the previous call.
I finally decide to pull into an empty slip with a starboard tie and wait. Eventually the dockmaster comes on and he tells me the only place open is 44 with the port tie and he will come and help me.
He does, and I retie the lines 2 more times, then decide it will have to do.
I turn off the engine and radio and am settling in for awhile, with no more driving, no more radio, and plenty of time to sleep!
Anne in Ketchikan
GOING FORWARD
We will celebrate today, Friday evening, and I hope to be much more rested 11 hours from now. At least four travelers will be gone, two by plane and I watched our boaters from the LA area leave at 4:15 am this morning.
Some boats are trading crew and others have family members joining for a week or more.
I plan to stay in Ketchikan and learn more about the area. The library is @ a mile from the marina, and will be a great resource, as will the local Coast Guard Auxiliary.
I look forward to connecting with a couple of local members and gaining some local knowledge of the waters in the area, as well as suggestions of places to safely visit by boat.
If I manage to get to Sitka and Petersburg, I want to stay awhile there also and make connections in person, learning more from the locals, gain some local boating knowledge from Auxiliarists, visit those libraries and perhaps even visit a senior center/ park office.
LOOKING BACK
We received the 2014 Waggoner Guide and 2 large folding charts covering the journey north, guidebooks for British Columbia South, British Columbia North and Alaska early in the year.
In March some of us took a one day class on Diesel engines and had hands-on time with a couple of them.
It was an introduction for me, but I would do better if I took a class on our engine, and that is tricky since Tugnuts use Cummins, Yanmar and Volvo!
We had the option to sign up for three days of classes in March, following the diesel class, and many did. There we received a great deal of information including Customs at the borders, route strategies, navigation details, a detailed overview of where we would be traveling, current updates on using iPads and tablets for weather planning and navigation, preparing our vessel and crew to cruise the Inside Passage, topics such as fishing, crabbing and shrimping, provisioning tips, techniques and information about how to organize an efficient galley, and information about places to visit afterwards in Alaska, including on the way south for those who travel farther north and come south through Juneau. Later in the summer the Anan Bear Sanctuary will be busy with the salmon running, which excites me!
I found all the resources we received gave us time to study and learn at our own pace and prepare as we chose.
When we got underway, much of it was learning by doing.
On Day 1 we entered BC and dealt with Customs then continued on to Ganges, and dealt with docking in the wind immediately.
Going forward we managed to dock and tie up to all types of docks, in a variety of anchorages, had times to practice with radar, traveled in narrow passages with hazards, experienced waves and swells from all sides, tides that were not as predicted, log debris in the water every day, and got off quite early to beat the potential winds a number of days.
Some may say the biggest challenge of our trip was from Nanaimo north across to Pender Island. It was not as tough as the waves two years ago on the Desolation Cruise, but it was tiresome to deal with.
For me, 19 straight days of travel was the toughest. I chose to travel at a slow pace to save on fuel, learning that around 6 km takes much less fuel, but the price is more hours with eyes focused on the driving. We had logs every day and I clipped a couple, but at low speed.
Whales, eagles, a bear, amazing weather most of the time, and now we have arrived in Ketchikan!
We did not have to wait out the weather to cross to Cape Caution or travel across Dixon Entrance. Both sections were quite calm. Our routes and timing, including departures, were adjusted by our leaders for the best weather windows and the days all worked out very well.
However, I saw how wide open those areas are in comparison to our small boats and will listen to the weather carefully and wait patiently as long as is needed when returning south.
I am more tired than I had imagined, and feel an unexpected sense of accomplishment.
This has been an ideal way for me to reach this goal, traveling with leaders and in a group, learning from all.
Anne
June 20, 2014
