We didn’t leave Prince Rupert on Wednesday until about 2:30pm to cross Dixon Entrance because the weather wasn’t cooperating until then. (More info on our Dixon Entrance crossing here, if you’re interested in the details.) We made a very good choice in our timing, and we rewarded with relatively calm seas…
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This Costco shopping cart doesn’t look all that bad, considering we bought some stuff for the boat and some stuff for home! I thought I’d share with you some of our favorite Costco provisions, since I’m focused on this subject right now. Shelf-stable Organic Bake-at-Home (or bake-on-a-boat) Sourdough Bread. This stuff is…
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I set the alarm for 4:30am yesterday morning in Ketchikan — after 4 (so we’d have the 4am weather report), but 4:30 for a little extra sleep since sunrise wasn’t until 6am. No point having more than about an hour of pre-sunrise cruising. The alarm went off, I checked the…
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As (non)luck would have it, Dixon Entrance was completely calm during the two days we stayed to go to Kasaan for the Chief Son-I-Hat Whale House rededication, and now it looks like it’s supposed to be crappy the rest of the week. Tomorrow MAY be a window to go, but we’ll…
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Oral history indicates the Haida people have inhabited Haida Gwaii for over 17,000 years. Archeological findings have established habitation on the islands as far back as 13,700 years. Regardless of which number is correct, that’s over 100 centuries of cultural history, dating back beyond 10,000 BC. So when the Haida invite you…
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Today we awoke to drumming and singing on the dock as the first canoe arrived from Klawock. We watched the greeting but didn’t take photos, since it felt like we were a little late to the party. Another canoe was paddling all the way from Ketchikan (a 30+ mile paddle). They left…
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We learned a new word while chatting with the carvers here in Kasaan the other day. It’s a German word that means “making something worse while attempting to make it better.” The word is: verschlimmbessern. They’d just learned it from Thomas, a man we met (while paddling the Haida canoe yesterday!).…
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This afternoon we got an opportunity to paddle a hand carved Haida canoe here in Kasaan Bay! This is the first canoe built by Stormy Hamar (head carver on the longhouse project), and he plans to make more (which is great, because they’re super fun to paddle). It’s a little tippy when…
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The sunsets in Kasaan are so beautiful. These are three photos from last night, at different stages. As the sun sets, the low golden light shines bright on the village and the hillside (behind me)…maybe I’ll take photos of that next time, but it’s hard to look away from the changing colors…
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We left Ketchikan this morning after breakfast and headed across Clarence Strait to the village of Kasaan. Shortly after leaving Thomas Basin, we saw a very large humpback in Tongass Narrows, right in front of the airport (just past the airport ferry dock). Kind of weird to see one in that…
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