DJI Inspire 1 – Riveted

More Melanie Cove Shenanigans | BC

Laura Domela — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 02:58:54 +0000

We took the Inspire 1 up this afternoon for some aerial photos. My camera controller was glitching out a little bit, but I managed to take a few nice overhead shots that should give you a good sense of this place:

After doing some more work, we decided to go hike some of the trails here from the head of Melanie Cove. If you’ve read the book The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet, you’ll know about Phil the Frenchman’s cabin right here in this area.

[About the book, from amazon.com: The Curve of Time is a biography and astonishing adventure story of a woman who, left a widow in 1927, packed her five children onto a 25-foot boat and cruised the coastal waters of British Columbia, summer after summer.Muriel Wylie Blanchet acted single-handedly as skipper, navigator, engineer and, of course, mum, as she saw her crew through encounters with tides, fog, storms, rapids, cougars and bears. She sharpened in her children a special interest in Haida culture and in nature itself. In this book, she left us with a sensitive and compelling account of their journeys.]

Anyway, we kayaked over to the trailhead here in our cove.

Cultural Heritage site? Aboriginal artifacts? Wow! This might be a more interesting hike than we’d originally thought! Just a few steps up the trail and there’s an outhouse and a fork…we took the right fork and headed for Laura Cove. The trail is good, but then in many (MANY) parts of it, there are downed trees that you scramble over or crouch and crawl under. It’s pretty fun for the first mile or so. The trail…straight ahead, under these trees:

This part was like those parts of the obstacle course/boot camp game shows where young buff dudes high-knee over fences:

Cool fungi:

We eventually came to a little stream that babbled out into the head of Laura Cove (where we’d kayaked just this morning). Okay, cool…pretty. No artifacts, no cabin. Maybe the cabin was on the trail that went left at the fork. So we headed back and then took that fork. Well…that fork…goes up up up and then down down down and then up and then down and then up some more and then way down. The whole time you climb over rocks and logs and man are my legs getting tired. We never saw any cabin or artifacts or anything like that at all. But the views were lovely:

We made it back to the kayak after about a 3.5 mile hike. (This is about half a mile less than the hike we normally do at home every morning, but holy moly all that up and down and log climbing and rock scrambling! Legs. Tired.)

Back at Airship I googled the dang cabin and it sounds like the remains are at the head of Laura Cove. JUST WHERE WE WERE EARLY TODAY. Twice!! Fine then. Maybe we’ll dinghy back over there in the morning before Kevin’s conference call.

Dinner tonight is Cilantro Thai Grilled Chicken (chicken breasts, chopped garlic, 1/2 c cilantro, 2T fish sauce, 1T sesame oil, marinate all together for half an hour and then grill), roasted baby potatoes and sautéed green beans.

We’re not sure yet where we’ll go tomorrow…maybe Lund? Maybe another anchorage we haven’t been to.

Airship to Alaska | Day 6 | Shoal Bay to Port Harvey, BC

Laura Domela — Fri, 13 May 2016 21:43:49 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We left Shoal Bay this morning around 8am (after Kevin retrieved our crab traps…which contained two more big male Dungeness) to time getting to Greene Point Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids at favorable times. We were early for Greene Point (oooh, look how scary!)…

…in order to get to Whirlpool Rapids around slack. The drama was non existent. Just how we like it.

Conditions were calm in Johnstone Strait, and bonus! The current was helping us out about a knot and a half's worth.

Sideways totems on the shore:

We're now at Port Harvey hanging out with George. The main building is of course gone (here's the story of what happened), but they're rebuilding, and George will still be making cinnamon buns this summer (starting in about a week). There's a nice 48' x 48' floating dock that will soon have a big tent on it, making it a nice place to hang out with some shade. He's also got a pizza oven coming from Italy that will be installed in the new digs. Can't wait to see how great this place shapes up to be (after a TON of work after the barge sank last November). If you're coming this way, definitely stop and say hi to George and ask him about his pizza oven. The support of the boating community is so important for cool spots like this to thrive, and Port Harvey was, is, and will continue to be such a great spot for boaters.

Here's today's route from Shoal Bay to Port Harvey (43.4 nautical miles, 5 hours 35 minutes):

While we were cooking our crab for dinner (crab enchiladas!) Kevin took the drone up and we got a few cool photos of Port Harvey:

And here's a shot of the repairs and new 48' x 48' floating dock:

Tomorrow morning we'll head over to Pierre's at Echo Bay, and then on Sunday hopefully over to Port McNeil to prep for crossing Cape Caution and provision for the next leg of our trip. (Today the conditions were 1.5 foot waves with a 14 second period….glassy!! Let's hope it stays that way!)

Airship to Alaska | Day 5 | Squirrel Cove to Shoal Bay BC

Laura Domela — Thu, 12 May 2016 19:39:57 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We got up early (5:30am!) to make the 3 hour cruise up to Dent Rapids. Looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous day.

After we’d woken up a bit, I cooked some breakfast for us (bacon and eggs underway, woohoo!) and we made it to Yuculta Rapids about an hour and 15 minutes before slack. Transiting this direction, the three rapids in order are Yuculta, Gillard, and then Dent. Dent is the one that matters most, so you want to get to Dent at slack. We were aiming for about 45 minutes before slack at Yuculta, but it looked (and was) just fine when we got there. Approaching Gillard we binoc’d the shores and it all seemed fine as well. By the time we got to Dent it was…well, kind of calm! Anyway, no big deal.

A tiny bit of churn here at Gillard:

We decided to stay at Shoal Bay for the night. We arrived just after 10am due to our early start, so we get a whole day to work and hang out here. Except the Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to be on or working, so we’re pretty much just hanging out. Kevin’s doing some work (texting back and forth with our employees using the InReach app on the DeLorme, 160 characters at time…hey, whatever works!). I’m writing this blog post in TextEdit on my Mac and I’ll post it when we next get connected. This place is one of our favorites. It’s super chill, and extremely beautiful with the view up Phillips Arm. We stopped here last year on our way south and we’re pretty happy to be back.

We put out a couple of crab traps and then went up and walked around the grounds.

It’s SO picturesque that it’s hard to believe the landscape just looks like this, colors and all. At the hummingbird water cooler/crack delivery system up at the pub things were SUPER peppy!

You can't believe how MANY hummingbirds are flocking to this feeder. I think the owners filled the feeder three times today…and it's empty. Again. The hummingbirds are total bitches to each other too. They slam the others away…you can HEAR it. Blam! And they're constantly chirping. I wish you could hear the fluttering/buzzing sound that their wings make. All together it's like a swarm of wasps, Hitchcockian-style. Kevin took some video (that includes a hummingbird body slam and then the two lock (one hummingbird's feet around the other's head as they plummeted to the ground). NOT what you think of when you think of these cute little buggers, is it?

Here's a video. Not for the faint of heart:

Back at Airship, Kevin took the drone up and I used the other controller and my iPhone to manage the drone’s camera. I’ve got left, right, up, down, and shutter…so I took the photos while Kevin flew. (He refers to himself here as the aerial tripod, but it’s much more than that!) Here are some of the shots we got today:

Back on Airship, the hummingbirds were trying VERY hard to get some nectar out of the Canadian flag, poor things.

In the morning we’ll leave here around 8am to get through Greene Point Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids at agreeable times, and then head to Port Harvey by way of Johnstone Strait and Havana Channel.

Oh yeah!! First whale sighting of the trip! In Calm Channel today, we saw a few spouts and then the tail of a humpback as it dove…but we never did see it surface again.

We checked crab traps a bit ago and had two keeper male Dungeness and one LARGE red rock. So…guess what's for dinner?

Today's route (30.7 nautical miles, 4 hours 28 minutes):

Airship to Alaska | Day 4 | Lund to Squirrel Cove

Laura Domela — Wed, 11 May 2016 19:44:30 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We got up early this morning in Lund and headed up to Nancy's for breakfast (and a couple of blackberry cinnamon rolls to go). Prawn season opened today, so the docks were crowded with prawn traps and buoys being loaded onto fishing boats. We left after breakfast and decided to head up toward Toba Inlet.

I snapped a photo of our neighbor's boat as they headed out this morning. We'll likely meet up with them again (they're on their way to Wrangell) so I can give them this photo, but hey guys! If you see this post, just right click and save it if you want it!

I love turning the corner into Desolation Sound and being greeted by this:

It was gray and drizzly this morning but cleared up nicely for the rest of our day.

We went up to Toba Inlet and cruised in about half way to check out some waterfalls.

Pretty stunning scenery, isn't it? And it's only going to get better (well, more dramatic) from here.

We did a fairly long cruise today just to cruise…we ended up anchoring in Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island, which as you can see on the map, is not that far from Lund (as the crow flies). Today's cruise was 55.4 nautical miles in 7 hours 32 minutes:

We drove around the anchorage area in Squirrel Cove surveying the bottom with our new sonar….great way to pick a spot where there aren't a bunch of logs!

Once successfully anchored, Kevin took the drone up and we took a few photos from the air:

Tomorrow we'll head outta here around 5:45am to get to Dent Rapids by high slack (9:21am) and then we're not sure where we'll stay tomorrow night. We'll let you know tomorrow!

Ford’s Terror, Endicott Arm

Laura Domela — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 01:57:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Ford’s Terror is a very steep and narrow fjord 60 miles southeast of Juneau in Alaska’s Inside Passage. You can only enter or exit the fjord at high slack tide when the rapids (and the 2-3 foot waterfall!) have turned calm and there is enough water covering the shallow area to let you pass.

The Ford’s Terror name comes from a naval crew member (Ford) who, in 1889, rowed a dinghy into the narrow entrance of the fjord at slack tide. The tide began to rise, forcing its way through the narrow entrance, and Ford was trapped by the turbulent current for the next six hours. It is mostly uncharted, but with local knowledge and some careful timing, getting in and out of this fjord is a calm and peaceful experience.

The Ford’s Terror “waiting room”:

We arrived early (for the evening high slack) and parked ourselves over by the tall waterfall and binoc’ed the entrance. Yep, white waters over there. We decided to fish for a bit to kill some time. (Caught nothin’.)

When it was time (about 20 minutes after high slack tide in Juneau), we pointed our stern at the waterfall and headed carefully across, between the two shoals toward the entrance. We watched our depths as we made it around the shallow bend in totally calm water. I took no photos because I was concentrating at the helm, but it was really a non-event. Once inside, it was like going back in time.

Photos alone cannot possibly capture the beauty and the feel of this place. One person said it was a bit like having Yosemite all to yourself. We decided that might be slighting Ford’s Terror a little bit.

We had the place to ourselves and decided to stay two nights in Ford’s Terror. We arrived on Tuesday night around 8pm and didn’t leave until high slack tide on Thursday morning. It was not enough time.

I made crab cakes on Wednesday morning and we did a little Crab Cake Benedict for breakfast:

Then, we saw black bears on the shore:

Kevin had flown the drone earlier while gathering footage for his Ford’s Terror video, so it was all ready to go and he was able to get some footage of the bear (drone in upper left of photo):

Then, three or four Dall’s porpoises came over and swam all around our boat for a while:

Kevin and Tiffani went out in the kayak to see if they’d come close, and they did. They came closer than in these photos and were swimming all around the kayak.

Here’s an additional photo, for scale. White sliver = kayak:

We went for a dinghy ride and saw two eagles…one in a nest and the other keeping watch:

Ford’s Terror was worth every bit of the anxiety about getting in and out of there that I’ve had for the last month. It’s funny when you hear about a place like this. Phrases like “favorite anchorage in SE Alaska” and “favorite anchorage in the world” were by far the two most common, but in so much of the literature about this place, the entrance and exit sound so ominous. It’s poorly charted, and extremely remote, and so the “what ifs” your brain can create about things that could go wrong are plentiful. Luckily, with some careful planning and just general good thinking and common sense, it’s not much of a thing to get in and out.

And as I said, as nice as these photos might be, they cannot possibly capture the scale of this place. Alaska is ALL about scale.

Here is Kevin’s spectacular video of Ford’s Terror, taken with his new DJI Inspire 1, which is proving to be worth every dime spent to get it, and get it to Ketchikan. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Glaciers, Icebergs, and Drones

Laura Domela — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 04:31:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

A giant cruise ship wake rocked us hard awake around 5:15am as it headed past our Tracy Arm unnamed anchorage (sometimes called Tracy Arm Cove and in to see the glaciers). Since we were all awake, we decided to head that way ourselves and left our anchorage at 5:45am.

Icebergs on the way in:

Stealth iceberg with cool texture:

Incredible scenery.

The morning wake culprit:

We made our way to South Sawyer Glacier (the most active one) because we could.

Deke was out on the bow with the boat hook, pushing some of the closer/smaller bits away as we made our way through the ice. The cruise ships left, and we had a nice open spot where we could kill the engine and hang out for a bit so Kevin could fly the new drone and get some glacier footage.

Getting ready to take off:

Kevin did two full flights and got some fabulous footage. Here's the video!

Amazing, huh?

We left South Sawyer and headed into Endicott Arm, towards Ford's Terror. More incredible scenery:

Ice chicken on an iceberg:

Out in Endicott Arm:

Oh hey, more humpbacks!

Our goal was to get to Ford's Terror for the high high slack tide in Juneau (around 7pm) so we could wait and watch for the rapids to die down for our entry. We are SUPER excited about Ford's Terror! I'll tell you more about it in the next post!

Here's today's track (78 nautical miles):

Kevin’s Got a Brand New Drone

Laura Domela — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 12:11:20 +0000

After the Incident at Fury Cove, I convinced Kevin that he couldn't go the rest of our trip droneless, and he eventually caved and ordered the new DJI Inspire 1. We took it out for its maiden flight over at Meyers Chuck the other day.

As it takes off and raises into the air, its landing gear raises up and gets out of the way of the camera. Pretty sweet!

Taking off from the sea plane dock:

The camera can shoot 4K video and 12 megapixel stills and it's on a 3-axis gimbal. The camera and gimbal can be controlled by a second person with a separate controller. (Woohoo! That's me!)

We didn't try that fancy second person thing on the first flight.

Here's a little of our test footage:

Looks promising!