May 31 - June 12, 2016

May 31 – June 4

      We went home for a few days to catch up on a bit of work and to go to S’Wiched since the restaurant opened while we were gone!   Yum – the food was great so everyone go try it out if you find yourself in Maple Valley – In the same shopping center as Safeway just to the south on Maple Valley Black Diamond Road.

    While we were gone the weather was terrible – rainy and windy while we had 80 in Seattle!  You might have heard about it on the news- on Friday June 3 a Cruise ship got blown into the dock at Ketchikan doing almost $4 million damage to the dock and $6 million to the boat – OOPS- Glen picked up his daughter Nicole that day in the Grady – gusts to 40 knots and 8 – 10 foot waves. Nicole said the Grady was taking waves over the top.  Glad we were home in Seattle and glad they got back to the boats safe.

June 4 – June 12^th

    This part of our trip was very remote – once we left Ketchikan we have not had any cell or internet service so I have a lot to catch everyone up on.  We left Ketchikan with Chris and Tom on Miners Debt headed to meet everyone else on the Prince of Wales Island in Kendrick Bay.  This bay was beautiful and very protected and puts us in the best position to go around Cape Chacon tomorrow which kind of feels like we are crossing the Dixon Entrance again as it is open water.  Nicole and Glen went fishing and Nicole caught the first Halibut of the trip!  We woke up to beautiful weather and after we went around the Cape we were back into lumpy rollers as we made our way around the south side of the Prince of Wales Island.  We spent the night in a bay by Hessa Island and Steve and I went fishing – Steve caught a Ling Cod which we had that night as Fish Taco’s on the Nelsea!  Chris made an amazing Mexican rice and Lenore added homemade coleslaw.  Diane and Liz flew in on a float plane that afternoon back from their trips home. We spent two night at Hessa bay and explored in the Grady.  Steve and I each caught a Cabizon but only kept Steve’s which was large.  We left Hessa Bay for Mabel Bay and spent one night there then moved on to Hetta Cove.  At Hetta we tried to hike to the lake but it was very steep and no trail so after getting a glimpse of the lake we went fishing and Steve was rewarded with a 44 lb Halibut! Yeah- fresh halibut for dinner.  From Hetta we went on to Crab Trap Cove which is by Hydaburg.  We spent two nights there and had our first afternoon of warm weather to relax in. Caught more crab in the cove and  we went to Hydaburg by dinghy and small boats which was about 2 miles away.  We had a beautiful sunny day and  a nice walk thru town to see the Totem Pole park.  We also had a tour of the carving shed and learned about the Haida Nation from Haa Goo who was quite a character. He taught us about his clan which has about 400 people in it and has the Raven and Eagle family lines which follow the mothers.  Haa Goo has a home in Seattle and family there but basically moved back to Hydaburg to be the Story teller of the Haida clan.

  We moved on from Crab Trap Cove to Port Rufugio to spend the night before heading to Craig on the 12^th. We had very wet rainy windy weather in Port Rufugio so we hunkered down on the Sea Life and had a group Spaghetti dinner which was perfect for a windy rainy day.  We were treated to a whale going thru the bay tonight after dinner. 

May 25 - May 30, 2016

May 25 – May 30, 2016

   We left Ketchikan on May 25 headed for the Misty Fjord National Park and Punchbowl. Chris and Tom ended up flying home from Ketchikan to move Tom’s parents to a retirement community in Gig Harbor (they have been living at one on San Juan Islands).  They will be gone for about 10 days and fly back up with us when Steve and I return on Saturday June 4^th. 

     Misty Fjords is a beautiful area of Alaska with steep granite cliffs and waterfalls. We came here in 2013 on our last trip and as I said then, the pictures don’t really show the beauty of this area – if you get the chance to see it I highly recommend a trip thru the Misty Fjords.  What seemed different this time is that there were many many more float planes out of Ketchikan taking the cruise ship people on a visual trip and at times we had 3 to 4 float planes landing in the areas we were anchored.  I am sure it was a surprise for them to see so many boats anchored together!  We met up the first night with Fran and Jeff on the Salpare.  It was fun to catch up with them and share Taco night with everyone on the Nelsea!  Fran and Jeff left on May 26^th for Ketchikan and Jim and Carolyn Mathison on Sea Jay and Gary and Lenore Timm on Noon Balloon caught up with us – they will be with us for quite awhile so now we are 6 boats in the floatilla until Chris and Tom return and we become 7 boats.  We also will  have 4 boats under tow so we have many  boats between fishing boats, dinghys and the big boats tied up at night! We spent two nights at Punchbowl then off to Walker Bay where we heard we would see Grizzly bear and cubs- the reports were correct and it was so much fun to see a mama with 3 cubs and another mama with 1 cub.  Grizzlies are quite different looking than the black bear we have been seeing – many pictures attached! We also continued our Jumbo Prawn and Crab catching so another seafood night on the Nelsea.

    May 29^th it is time for us to head back towards Ketchikan for our flight home for a few days and the weather was nasty – rainy, cold, misty(hence the name Misty Fjords) and the water was awful. Leaving anchorage this morning Glen had a dinghy problem – the Splice on the line attached to his Davit that raises the dinghy to the top of the boat broke an as the dinghy was falling back into the water it hit the side of the boat and flipped upside down.  Luckily not one got hurt but the dinghy motor is totaled along with a lot of the electronics etc due to being upside down in saltwater.  Luckily we have the same dinghy and we are not using it much since we are towing Nellie so Glen will use ours – he is working with insurance etc but probably can’t do anything about his replacement  in Alaska.  We got underway and the water is very rough with up to Six foot seas.  We decided to end our day at Alava Bay after a few hours of fighting the weather.  Not the best anchorage as it was very lumpy until the early hours of May 30^th but a fun place to stop as a barge arrived to pick up a float plane that was broken down and tied up to a float by us. Fun to watch them put the plane onto the barge.  We had a rocky night but woke up to beautiful water for our trip to Ketchikan on the 30^th.  Steve and I and Liz and Diane are all flying home tomorrow for a few days of work then backup for us on Saturday with Chris and Tom and we will join the others in an anchorage on the Prince of Wales Island.

This is how we Bear Watch!

Oops – Dinghy problems

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!

May 15, 2016

May 15, 2016  Eucott Bay to Ocean Falls

A cooler day today that started with sprinkles in the morning - cooler and rain by evening.  We had another beautiful scenery day as we cruised down to Ocean Falls - the Ghost town.  It once had up to 5000 people as it was a Crown Zellerback Mill town and also has the Link Lake Dam which provides power to Shearwater and Bella Bella.  Several Olympic Swimmers came  from this town.  Crown Zellerback closed in 1973 - rather than lose all the jobs the Canadian government tried to operate the mill but gave up in 1980 and much of the town was bulldozed and abandoned.  Today there are 25 residents and it swells to 100 during summer.  So strange to see all the deserted buildings - hospitals, hotels, homes, etc. Pictures to follow - the internet here is so slow that I will wait to add the pictures until we get to a faster internet service.

May 13 - May 14, 2016

May 13 - May 14, 2016  Joes Bay to Shearwater to Eucott Bay in Dean Channel

We left Joes Bay for Shearwater under sunny skies - the water was calm.  We spent the morning trying to trouble shoot Tom's problem - calling technicians in Florida, Seattle and Canada with our Satelite system..  They gave us a lot of suggestions except the one it ended up being - A fuse!  It is hard to believe that a fuse could knock out all steering on the boat but it did.  Problem solved so we went out to dinner at the Pub in Shearwater to celebrate.  Last chance to stock up at the store, do laundry on shore, go to the marine supply store and use the WiFi for awhile.  We left Shearwater and went  to Eucott Bay in Dean Channel where we found the Hot Springs - what a beautiful spot!  We took the dinghys out exploring and came across a humpback whale eating which was fun to watch. We spent time in the hot springs, had a group dinner on the Nelsea and a relaxing evening in beautiful Eucott Bay.  Tomorrow we are off to Ocean Falls.

May 12 - May 13, 2016

May 12 - May 13, 2016

We left Blunden Harbor to cross Cape Caution headed for Fish Egg Inlet and Joes Bay.  We had our first real mechanical issue of the cruise when Tom and Chris on Miners Debt lost all steering.  They had Auto Pilot on and the boat lost all steering and was turning to the left only.  After many attempts to fix it Tom and Pete tied ropes on the rudders to stop them from turning any direction and Tom had to continue on to Joes Bay using only his engines to control direction.  Luckily the weather was great and there was beautiful scenery to see on our way to Fish Egg Inlet and Joes Bay.  Once we got anchored we took all our dinghys thru to Elizabeth Lagoon which is huge.  We had to access the rapids at high water slack and we could not stay too long or we would not have been able to bring the dinghy's back to the boats.  A great evening in Joes Bay and tomorrow Friday the 13th we head to Shearwater to see if we can get Tom's boat fixed.

May 9 - May 11, 2016

We left Port McNeill to head to Blunden Harbor.  It was a bit foggy so our first time with radar this trip.  Also the first for Crab, Crab, Crab - we got lots of crab and had a crab feed on the Nelsea.  We ate until we were full and spent the afternoon drinking margaritas and picking crab from freezing so we have lots of crab.  We spent two nights in Blunden - the first night with 4 boats and the 2nd Glen and Liz came and we had 5 boats again.  It was windy the first day but beautiful the next and we explored the Lagoon around Blunden.  We will leave here and cross Cape Caution on the 12th headed for Fish Egg Inlet and Joes Bay.