Tuesday 24 May 2016

May 17 - May 23 Khutze to Ketchikan

May 17 - May 23

Several Days without internet - We started at Khutze which is a beautiful bay where we anchored in front of a waterfall.  From there we went to Bishop Bay which has a wonderful hot springs.  It was harder to get to the Hot Springs since a storm took out the ramp that led from a floating dock to the shore but many of us climbed the rocks on the shore to get there and it was well worth the effort.  The water was perfect!
    Next on the travels was Lowe Inlet where we saw our first black bear on the shore!  Verney Falls is another fun sight in Lowe and there is also a BC Department of Fisheries and Oceans cabin that we went to (named the Lowe Budget Hotel!).
   The following day we were off to Kumealon Inlet.  This bay once held a large logging camp so we explored the shore a bit as they leave quite a bit of equipment behind when they abandon the camps - building, logging skids and even Helicopter Fuel tanks!  There is also a beautiful lagoon that we explored by dinghy.
    From Kumealon we travelled to Prince Rupert for our last night in BC. We keep running into another group of 6 boats that are part of NW Explorations to Alaska so some of the time we have had 11 boats travelling at the same time - we must have looked like an invasion as you can see from the picture of all of us arriving in Prince Rupert at the same time - quite a sight behind us! We shopped for a few groceries since we hope to get to Ketchikan soon.  It was also laundry day (yes there are household chores even on the boat!).  We ate dinner at the Pub by the Marina - Halibut Fish and Chips!!!
   We woke up on May 22 and decided that we would leave Ketchikan for Dundas Island which is the last Canadian Island before we would cross the Dixon Entrance to Ketchikan.  We did not leave until 9am but when we got to Dundas we realized that it looked like we should go on to Ketchikan because the wind they were predicting did not materialize so we kept going and arrive in Ketchikan at 6pm - a 9 hour cruise.  Dixon entrance had 5 - 6 foot rollers but no wind until we got to Ketchikan so it was a good day to cross and we have fueled the boat ( 700 Gallons of Diesel- The Nelsea holds 1050 gallons!) and are ready to start the Alaska part of the adventure. Yesterday was a day to go to the hardware and marine store, get our Alaska fishing licenses  and finish the grocery shopping.  We  met up with two more of the RHYC boats that we will be spending some  time with in Alaska so we had a dinner for 14 at the Bar Harbor Restaurant which was terrific!

































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