Alaska 2021 - August 19 - August 23

 

Alaska 2021 – August 19- August 23, 2021

 

We left Klemtu on the 19^th and headed for Shearwater where we were able to spend a night at the dock and go out to dinner!  The Fisherman’s  Bar and Grill was open and we had a great dinner that night of Fish and Chips and  we were able to pick up a few groceries at the store for our journey south.  The 19^th ended up being our last night with Dave and Jane on Bidarka.  They are ready to go home so they decided to leave on the morning of the 20^th and head for home. We decided that we would rather take our time than race ahead so we said goodbye.  It has been a great summer cruising with them in Alaska.

On the 20^th we headed to Kisameet Bay.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we explored the bay. It is an Indian Reserve and someone is building some kind of operation there.  There is a floating dock, a ramp and stair system up to an area where they have installed some building structures. There is also a covered pit of some kind.  The area has been surveyed and there is a lot of material for fencing, water retention, a satellite dish,  etc . Perhaps a mining operation of some kind?

 

 

 On the other side of the bay was a river that leads to a lake.  Our hope was to find a trail but the one we found was very difficult along some survey tape so Liz and I decided to stay on the beach and let Steve and Glen explore. They made it to the lake and got pictures of a waterfall coming out of the lake where Salmon were making their way up to their spawning area. As muddy and scratched up as the boys came back I am glad we stayed and enjoyed the sun on the beach!  If you look closely at the waterfall picture at the top downed tree that is laying down over the water - halfway down the 2nd branch (right side of branch), you can see a Salmon jumping to get up the waterfalls! We followed up our beach tour with dinner outside on Magic Moment deck.  It is hard to believe that it is the first time we have been able to eat outside this summer and it was fantastic!

We went to Millbrook Cove in Smith Sound on the 21^st and then crossed Cape Caution on Sunday the 22^nd.  We anchored in Skull Cove on the south side of Bramham Island, south of Nakwakto Rapids. It is a beautiful area that we have always passed by on our way North so our plan is to spend the day exploring this new area- we went to the rapids the morning of the 23 and it is hard to describe so I have included three pictures. The first  two pictures are Nakwakto Rapids which are among the fastest in the world – they can run  up to 16 knots of the ebb and 14 on the flood and we went on the ebb (water going out)  when they were running about 11 knots and what an amazing site it was. There are six inlets in Seymour Inlet past the rapids and that is why the rapids run so fast – all that water has to come in and out each day with the tide changes so it is a huge amount of moving water going thru Nakwakto.   We also went out Slingsby channel where the water meets the Queen Charlotte Strait and the third picture shows the standing wave to the entrance caused by the water movement.  I have videos that are amazing but to large to share here. 

We left Skull Cove headed for Blunden Harbor where we hope to meet up with Willard and Diane Thomas on Sea Life for a crossover day before Steve and I head south. The others are going to spend some time playing in this area before also heading south. We saw Whales on the way to Skull Cove.

Alaska 2021 - August 11-August 18

 

Alaska 2021 – August 11- August 18, 2021

We left Foggy Bay this morning with beautiful sunny weather and calm Dixon Entrance water for a 5 hour cruise back into Canada and Prince Rupert. We called into Nexus when we got into Canadian waters and they verified our boat, passengers and ArriveCan information including our Immunization record and a negative Covid 19 test within 72 hours of crossing. They asked us to call back in once we arrived at the Dock in Prince Rupert and they gave us our Custom Clearance number.  It was a very easy organized process and the weather is beautiful today. We met up with Brian and Steve on Tonic – a 52 Ft Offshore and all had happy hour and dinner on the Nelsea as we shared our Alaska adventures!

On Thursday the 12^th we left Prince Rupert for our destination of Billy Bay which we reached going down the Ogden Channel across from the native village of Kitkatla. It was very windy in Billy Bay so we went around the corner to an unnamed cove which was quite beautiful. We headed out in Glen’s jet boat for a tour of the area and found former home sites, abandoned sheds, outhouse, lawnmower, motors, stoves, etc along the way. There were also built-up levees on the inlet that seemed to have grassy areas and old abandoned fence posts behind the levee– there is no information about the area in our reference books so we are not sure when they were from or what their purpose was but it is all abandoned at this time.

On the 13^th  (Happy Birthday Linda Jung!) we  headed to Hevenor Inlet which we reached via Petrel Channel. Our hope was to find an anchorage with fewer horse flies- we are closer to the Ocean here and it has a cooler breeze but we did not escape the horse flies but we did manage to find a lot of crab! Our next stops were Patterson Inlet and Elthelda Bay in the Estevan Group where we made a jet boat run to the ocean and around the islands.  The weather has changed back to rain and cool so no horseflies which is nice! Happy Birthday to our Son Tyler on August 15th!

Our next stops included Surf Inlet on Princess Royal Island where we found an abandoned power plant and a trail to Bear Lake where we found abandoned trucks, backhoe and equipment for the old mining operation at the end of Bear Lake. We wish there was a way to go across the lake to see the abandoned mine but there was no way to get a boat into the lake and it is 8 miles away.  We also found an interesting drawing on a rock face that was not painted or etched in the stone. We have no idea what material was used in the drawing- just another mystery!  Next was Alston Cove in the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservance. We went in search of Spirit Bears but no luck in seeing one and also no luck with Crab or Shrimp – 6 pots out for the three boats and all empty - no signs of salmon or bear either!

Next stop is south of Klemtu so Liz can have phone for a call today and we can all catch up on internet! It is back to rainy and foggy today, August 18.