flotilla – Riveted

Exploring Ketchikan

Laura Domela — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 13:41:02 +0000

We've got some really rowdy neighbors here at the Bar Harbor marina in Ketchikan!

Yesterday we worked all morning and then headed up to nearby Tongass Trading to spend a few boat dollars. We picked up an Anchor Buddy and two small anchors for the dinghy, a new gas can (also for the dinghy…the one we have sometimes leaks when it gets heated by the sun), another dry bag, and a couple of bungee straps for miscellaneous things.

In the afternoon we hopped on the city bus (two bucks gets you an all day pass) with Mark and headed out to Totem Bight State Park. Totem Bight is home to 15 totem poles from abandoned Tlingit and Haida villages.

Eagle Grave Marker. The original stood in the old village of Howkan, and was copied from memory by John Wallace. The addition of the Chilkat blanket to this pole makes it unique, and not a common art form found on totem poles. The design is interpreted as mountains, clouds and creatures that live there.

Wooded paths lead you out to the water's edge and to a field with more totems:

Kadjuk Bird Pole: This Tlingit pole was copied from Cat Island. The fabled Kadjuk bird sits on the top of the pole. The undecorated portion of the pole symbolizes the lofty habitat of the bird and the high esteem in which the crest is held.

Raven is the next figure, with his breast forming the headdress of his wife, Fog Woman, wearing the labret in her lower lip. In her hands she holds two salmon, which she produced, the first in the world. The two large faces at the base represent the two slaves of Raven.

This is the entrance to the Clan House:

[From the Totem Bight State Park website] A community house or clanhouse of this size could have housed 30 to 50 people. Although it is doubtful a clanhouse existed on this site (originally a fish camp), this design is representative of the type in many Indian villages built in the early 19th century.

Inside is one large room with a central fireplace surrounded by a planked platform. The walls and floors were hand-adzed to smooth the surface and remove splinters. The dwelling served as living quarters for several families of a particular lineage. Each was allotted its own space but shared a common fire. Housewares, treasured items, and blankets were stored under the removable floor boards, and food items were hung from the beams and rafters. The members belonging to the house would be headed by a house chief of the same lineage.

The carved house posts supporting the beams inside symbolize the exploits of Duk-toothl. He is a man of Raven phratry wearing a weasel skin hat who showed his strength by tearing a sea lion in two. The painting on the house front was designed by Charles Brown. It is a stylized Raven with each eye elaborated into a face. Designs on the house fronts were rare, and occurred only in cases of great wealth.

On the front corner posts sits a man in a spruce root hat with the crest design on his face and cane in hand. He is ready for a dance or potlatch.

Close up of Duk-toothl:

As the totems start to rot, they are returned to the forest and new totems are carved and erected.

Inside the totem restoration house:

We walked next door to the gift shop and firearms museum over by Potlatch Park.

It was as expected:

I found an Alaska yo-yo in the museum section! I had one of these as a kid (and could do it well!)

After Totem Bight, we hopped back on the bus and had an unplanned tour of Ketchikan (the bus we were on was the one that went the long way to downtown). We explored downtown a bit (bookstore, candy shop, the big Tongass Trading) and then headed over to Creek Street.

Creek Street is a historic boardwalk of buildings on pilings on the banks of the Ketchikan Creek, and a former Red Light District. Now, it's all shops and galleries…and pretty crowded during the day when there are cruise ships parked out front. We were there after the cruise ships had gone, so it was mostly deserted (which also means, sadly, that most of the shops were closed).

It was gray and rainy yesterday in Ketchikan:

We met our flotilla group for drinks and a delicious dinner at the Cape Fox Lodge. To get up to the lodge, you take a little funicular car up the hill from Creek Street.

Most of the others took a couple of cabs back to the marina, but Kevin and I decided to walk off some of dinner, and braved the sideways rain for the two miles back to Bar Harbor. We were soaked by the time we got back to Airship, but it was a fun walk!

I'm sure we'll be bumping into several of these boats (figuratively) as we all continue to explore SE Alaska for the summer.

So far today it hasn't been raining, but the forecast for the next couple of days sounds like gray with rain…so we may go check out the museum and make another pass through the big Tongass Trading downtown.

Day 18 – Prince Rupert to Ketchikan

Laura Domela — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 02:23:56 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 18

(Hi from Ketchikan…we made it!)

The alarm went off at 4am this morning in Prince Rupert and we got up and checked the weather for Dixon Entrance again. It was the same forecast. Waves less than a meter. Wind something something no big deal, and then by tomorrow afternoon it was supposed to pick up (both wind and waves) so our decision to do the whole trip today was still a good plan.

Mark and Margaret delivered briefings (and cinnamon rolls and chocolate covered espresso beans–so sweet!) and off we went!

Passing the Hai Qing from Hong Kong in the harbor on our way across to Venn Passage:

Working our way through Venn Passage:

Green Island Lighthouse (the most northerly lighthouse in British Columbia, built in 1905):

That thing that looks like a zip line running down to the rocks and the sea is actually how they get supplies from boats up to the lighthouse. Imagine hanging out there unloading stuff in that water by those rocks. Nope.

Entering Dixon Entrance:

We saw some dolphins or porpoises (it was still kinda dark) and then a humpback right off our nose:

Our crossing was not bad at all. A little chop early, and then some smallish swells on the beam. Just like we'd planned.

We arrived in Ketchikan after a 10 hour cruise (it didn't seem that long!). Here's Thelonius with a cruise ship backdrop:

We all stopped at the fuel dock and fueled up and cleared customs at the same time. Convenient, and painless (and even fun…our customs guy was really nice, and funny…in a dry way).

Here we are in our new spot at Bar Harbor North:

Today was gray all day with a little bit of drizzle as we arrived in Ketchikan. We got checked in and then walked up to Safeway to get some provisions.

We met tonight for dinner at some nearby pub up the street at the Best Western (not fancy, but good), and then tomorrow night we'll head to the chandlery to spend some boat dollars, then probably to Totem Bight State Park, later on to a funky pub down near Creek Street, and then we'll meet for our "farewell dinner" (sniff sniff) at the Cape Fox Lodge.

The cruise ship schedule for tomorrow in Ketchikan is thick with 8,300 cruise shippers on four boats. Two of the boats leave at 1pm, and two of them leave at 6pm (which is, not coincidentally, when most of the shops close). I think on Friday there will only be 6,400 cruise shippers in town. Oh well…we've been in the BC boonies for a couple weeks, so it's kinda fun to get to civilization (and then some) for a few days before heading back out.

The clouds cleared this evening and the light was gorgeous on our marina neighbors:

Here's today's track (83 nautical miles, 10 hours 35 minutes):

Day 17 – Lowe Inlet to Prince Rupert

Laura Domela — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 02:22:30 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 17

Today was a 60 mile day form Lowe Inlet to Prince Rupert. We left Lowe Inlet at 7:30am and the cruise was pretty chill. No dolphins or humpbacks, but we did see a couple of deer attempting to swim across the Grenville Channel.

It's a pretty wide channel and we were all uncertain whether they'd make it (or why they were heading out in the first place). Perhaps they were running from something (bears)?

Cool rock textures:

We arrived in Prince Rupert at 3pm today. It's quite a change from where we've been the past couple weeks. Cranes! Giant ships! Trucks!

On either side of this tug, there were places that said "Tug" with an arrow. Looks like he missed:

We're at the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club for the night:

We finally had some good internet and cell service, so we did a TON of work in a short period of time, and I was able to post the past four days of posts that I'd written offline. At 6:15pm we all headed up to the Waterfront Restaurant at the Crest Hotel for a nice dinner. This was the view from our table:

Kevin and I shared a beef carpaccio starter, a caesar salad, Haida Gwai halibut and a BC salmon entree, and all was delicious.

We're hitting the sack early tonight (10:30pm!) because the plan is to depart Price Rupert at 4:30am tomorrow and go all the way to Ketchikan (80 nautical miles) rather than stopping after 50 miles to anchor in Foggy Bay for the night (with permission from U.S. Customs), because the weather looks good for tomorrow, but by the next day a front should be moving in that could make our crossing not as pleasant. Although I'm sure Foggy Bay is lovely, no one really wants to hang out there for three days waiting for weather to clear again, so we voted to go go go!

We'll listen to the 4am weather and make the final decision in the morning, but probably we'll see you next in Ketchikan, Alaska! Wish us luck!

Here's our track from today (60 nautical miles, about 8 hours):

Day 16 – Bishop Bay to Lowe Inlet

Laura Domela — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:46:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 16

We left Bishop Bay this morning at 8am. Margaret had set a crab trap out last night, but this morning it was gone. She dinghied around trying to find it this morning, but no luck. On our way out, someone spotted it in this gigantic snag that had come off the shore and became its own island in the middle of the bay, so Mark maneuvered alongside it and Margaret was able to grab it with a boat hook.

No crabs, however.

Today’s cruise was a gorgeous one. More Pacific White-Sided Dolphins surfed our bow wake, and the weather was perfect.

We got to Lowe Inlet and a few of us had a little trouble anchoring in here (deep deep deep in the middle, and then very quick to super shallow around the edges) but we all eventually got settled. Mark came over to show me how to clean out the sea strainer (super easy) and then we had Mark and Margaret over for dinner later on. (That’s the deal…help with boat things equals dinner.) Margaret baked cupcakes and passed them out via dinghy to all the boats (along with our briefing for tomorrow). We’re going to be sad to part with these fabulous guides when we get to Ketchikan!

Pulling into Lowe Inlet:

We set out two crab traps tonight but didn’t catch anything. Oh, and Mark tried my patented “Domela Knot” on his dinghy when he came to visit, and it worked just as well as mine worked at Teakerne Arm.

Kevin and Mark retrieving Mark’s dinghy. (Sorry Mark, I know I said I wouldn’t post it, but look how nice the light was!)

Tomorrow is another long passage (~60 miles) to Prince Rupert. Back to civilization for a night!

Day 15 – Windy Bay to Bishop Bay

Laura Domela — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 01:01:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 15

Departure from Windy Bay: 8am

We stopped in at Butedale for a quick look at the waterfall and the old cannery (apparently being restored):

We continued on and met up with several Pacific White-Sided dolphins and got a nice show. We could see them jumping and splashing around the boats ahead of us first:

We noticed after a few minutes two of them coming up along side us fast.

Pretty soon, we had two bow riders!!

The scenery in here just keeps getting more and more grand.

As we turned toward Bishop Bay, more Pacific white-sided dolphins joined the flotilla again and surfed Cabernet's bow and then ours:

Here they come!

We’re now in Bishop Bay for the night. The two biggest boats took the mooring balls (one with a rafted boat on its port side) and the other four of us are on the small dock.

There was a very large tree floating next to one of the mooring balls when we arrived. Lanette and Ron (and their dog Bailey) towed it out into the bay a little ways.

Someone apparently stole the ramp from the dock up to the hot springs walkway, so we dinghied over and climbed up the rocks to the hot springs for a pre-dinner soak.

Tonight we had a potluck party on our little dock. After dinner several got together over on Thelonius to smoke their Cuban cigars (procured in Canada and must be done away with before U.S. Customs). Here's Larry on Thelonius before the cigar party started:

Margaret’s crab trap was unsuccessful at catching crab, but it did pull up a predatory starfish that was wrapped completely around the bait jar, with its “stomach tendrils” down inside through one of the vents in the lid…already eating and digesting the crab bait. Weird and cool!

Lanette and Ron headed back to Cabernet with the mosquito lantern:

(I need one of these strapped to myself 24 hours a day, since I apparently have "Skeeter Syndrome".) It's really not awesome. At all. I'll spare you the photo of my legs covered in giant red bite/welts. You're welcome.

Today's track (56 nautical miles):

Tomorrow: Lowe Inlet

Day 14 – Rescue Bay to Windy Bay

Laura Domela — Sun, 31 May 2015 00:45:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 14

We slept in, made breakfast, showered, and departed Rescue Bay at a leisurely 10am.

Sea Raven leads the flotilla:

This weather!!

We headed up Mathieson Channel and made a left turn into Kynoch Inlet, then over to Kynoch Falls where we oooh’d and aaah’d at the pretty water.

Sea Raven with Kynoch Falls:

Looking up Kynoch Inlet to the Fjordland Recreational Area. I believe we’ll be spending more time here on the way home.

We’re now anchored in Windy Bay, which is on the north side of Pooley Island, on Sheep Channel. It’s not windy at all. Some light clouds moved in and we’ve gotten a bit of drizzle.

Rob and Jean on Big Red, the American Tug 41, invited everyone over for wine and appetizers on their boat at 5pm. We dinghy-pooled over there and had a really fun evening with delicious appetizers (which ended up being dinner for most of us I think).

Kevin had put out two crab traps so we checked them on the way back to Airship, but no crab today. We took a scenic dinghy tour around Windy Bay and then watched the sunset from the top deck. (Sunset being around 10pm).

Gorgeous sky.

Since we crossed Cape Caution on Monday, we’ve been cruising in some of the most remote and uninhabited wild areas that we’ve ever been in. We’re cruising between countless islands that look like modern humans have never visited them (for the most part). There are no roads, no signs of human activity, power lines, any kind of structures…we’ve hardly even seen any other boats. There is no cell service, virtually no traffic on the radio but for the chatter of our flotilla. It’s even rare to detect a plane flying over. Pretty much the only noticeable signs of humans are the occasional patch of clearcut on the mountainside.

I think we’re going to purchase a sat phone for our trip south when we’re not with the flotilla any more (and back in more remote surroundings).

Sunday we’ll have a longer passage (56 miles) to Bishop Bay Hot Springs, with a quick stop at Butedale.

Here’s today’s route (30.8 nautical miles):

Day 13 – Shearwater to Rescue Bay

Laura Domela — Sat, 30 May 2015 00:21:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 13

Today was a 34 mile passage from Shearwater to Rescue Bay. We left Shearwater at 8am and went through Perceval Narrows (20 miles away) at slack tide. Once again the morning started out gray with low clouds and ended up warm and sunny.

This is one of two eagles at Shearwater that were hanging out in a short tree on the waterfront waiting for handouts:

Also, in yesterday’s post I forgot to include this photo of the large mural here in Shearwater depicting some of the important people in Shearwater history (painted by Paul Ygartua).

Scenic Reid Passage in grays:

And now with some sun:

Rescue Bay is large and there’s room for many boats.

We all anchored and settled in for an afternoon with no plans. Here’s Larry’s very photogenic Monk, at anchor in Rescue Bay:

We set out two crab traps and then went exploring by dinghy.

Near the opening to the bay there were a whole bunch of seals hanging out and splashing around. We went over to get a closer look, but the seals stopped what they were doing to get a closer look at us.

We checked the crab traps and we’d caught one very large Dungeness (7.5 inches) and a feisty, too-small male. We left the crab traps in for a couple more hours, checking twice, and only came up with another female and another too-small male.

We cooked this guy up with a small side of tortellini and some grilled zucchini.

Here's today's track (33.5 nautical miles):

Next stop: Fjordland!

Days 11-12 Ocean Falls to Shearwater & Bella Bella

Laura Domela — Fri, 29 May 2015 01:50:48 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Days 11-12

We left Ocean Falls on Wednesday morning and headed for Shearwater, about 20nm away.

Passing through Gunboat Passage:

Most mornings it starts out gray and misty and then is sunny by early afternoon. This day was no different.

Arriving at Shearwater:

Our new spot on the dock:

Shearwater marina:

Kevin and I headed up to Fishermen's Pub to have some lunch and do some work. We put in two loads of laundry across the way, and also did a bit of grocery shopping in the middle of all that. It was a productive afternoon. The group met for dinner at the pub and it was another fun evening of conversation and laughing. It's a good group!

Lobby of the pub:

After dinner, some of us grabbed our chairs and sat on the dock for sunset and another glass of wine:

This morning a group of us took the water taxi over to Bella Bella.

Bella Bella, also known as Waglisla, is the home of the Heiltsuk (indigenous people of the Central Coast region of British Columbia) , and is an unincorporated community and Indian Reserve community located within Bella Bella Indian Reserve No. 1 on the east coast of Campbell Island in the Central Coast region of British Columbia. More about Bella Bella here.

Our water taxi:

We wandered around the village for a bit and met a few locals. The grocery store (Band Store) in Bella Bella is a bit better than the one in Shearwater…more produce, more selection. They even had wasabi seaweed snacks!

The community center and school:

Exterior of the school and community center:

Totem:

Inside the Elder's Hall, these portraits were painted by Paul Ygartua.

Back at Shearwater:

We had another lovely potluck on the dock tonight. The marina delivered a grill to our dock, and everyone brought things to grill and side dishes. We made crab enchiladas (because…4 large Dungeness crabs!) All of the food was great, as usual. And the weather did not suck at all.

Tomorrow we're headed for Rescue Bay.

Day 10 – Fury Cove to Ocean Falls

Laura Domela — Tue, 26 May 2015 18:18:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 10

We never saw the grizzlies at Fury Cove (dangit), and we departed at 7am for another long cruise to Ocean Falls (58 nautical miles). We saw humpback whales in Fitz Hugh Sound three different times (Airship seems to be the whale-spotting boat).

The first time was right off our starboard side, and it was the tail as the whale dove. Kevin was in the shower and no one in the fleet but me saw it, and I didn’t get a photo.

The second time was 20 minutes or so later, two of them on my starboard side again, also heading south. I don’t think anyone else saw these either.

But the third time, we saw a few huge spouts right off our bow (and behind Mark’s boat).

Kevin told the fleet, and we slowed up as I booked it out onto the bow to get a few photos.

I zoomed in just as the whale was preparing to dive, and we got quite a nice tail wave…maybe three times up and down before diving. Here's a whale tail wave flip book:

I may or may not have been one of those people who cheered at the whale tail from the bow of our boat.

Approaching the entrance to Ocean Falls:

We made a quick detour over to the right of the falls to put our crab traps out. There's known good crabbing here at Ocean Falls, and now that it's been a few days since the "all you can eat crab and prawn dinner" at Pierre's Echo Bay, we're ready for some more crab.

This mermaid (created by local resident Herb Carpenter) greets arriving boaters:

Getting settled on the long dock:

Our new spot:

More in the next post about Ocean Falls!

Day 9 – Port McNeill to Fury Cove

Laura Domela — Tue, 26 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 9

We left Port McNeill this morning at 5am (that means the alarm went off at 4am!)

We had a 60 mile day and our first exposure to open ocean as we exited Queen Charlotte Strait and crossed Cape Caution (about a mile offshore). The prediction originally was for 1.4 metre waves with an 11 second period, but during our first hour or so that changed to 1.6 metre waves (5.2 feet) with a period of 6 seconds (then 5). The general “rule” is that you don’t want the period to be smaller than the waves are tall…and this was, um, THAT. It certainly was not as comfortable as an 11 second period would have been, but we didn't think it was too terrible. The boat handled it well, and we were never nervous. We knew we could duck into Port Hardy for the night, or anchor out at the Walker Group if it was too rough.

Mark led us through the Walker Group so he could show us the (beautiful) anchorage there (in case we need it on our return trip).

We rounded Cape Caution and now we’ve had our first open ocean experience in our boat. Not bad, not bad.

Fury Cove — our anchorage for the night:

Our new view:

A couple sailboats were anchored in Fury Cove when we arrived. They’d been here for two days, and told us they’d seen a mama grizzly bear and two cubs on the beach both days, so we’ve been keeping an eye out for them.

Some of us met on the beach at 4pm to do a little exploring. (Don't worry, we made lots of noise and carried bear spray.)

The beach is called Clam Beach and is covered with white clam shell:

There’s a shack built just up some stairs from the beach (which is odd, because I think this is marine park property).

Hey look…an eco roof!

Kevin and I had taken our kayak and paddled over to the beach, so after our wanderings we kayaked around the cove a bit more. Here’s Margaret saddling up her dinghy. I love Margaret! (She said that Mark, even with his back to camera, is still pretending not to know her.)

Airship anchored (Thelonius in the background):

Opposite direction back out into Fitz Hugh Sound:

Fury Cove, kayak, and Xtratufs:

Next stop: Ocean Falls!