7 Jun 23

We slept like stones last night, thankfully, and did not awaken until just before 08:00. After a leisurely breakfast, the wharfinger came down and told us we needed to move to the breakwater wharf sooner rather than later, as the boat that had reserved our slip was already nearby. We moved over about 09:30. In the meantime, after receiving a very good weather forecast for the next two days and having looked at the best time for heading into Venn Passage (immediately upon departing Prince Rupert), we decided to just go ahead and go, at least as far as Brundige Inlet anchorage, some time before noon. I was still trying to update chart data and the Garmin InReach, so we went up to Cowpuccino’s coffee shop to see if their WiFi was any better than the marina’s. It was not, but the coffee was excellent. Caffeined up, we got back to the boat and finished uploading and syncing everything we needed. On the way back to the boat, I got to chatting with Ralph and Peggy on “Flyer”, 2001 Beneteau 477, and got loads of good intel on dodger and bimini makers - Breezy Canvas, rather than Iverson - and Starlink. Looks like we are going to acquire a Starlink unit at the next opportunity, as it gives very good satellite connectivity to the WWW; a game-changer, as Ralph said. We finally got away from the dock at 11:20 and headed slowly toward the entry to Venn Passage, as we were only just past low water. Venn Passage was commenced at 11:55, about 1 hour after LW. We were through the passage by 12:50, have never seen less than 3.9 m of water. Then we turned NW into Chatham Sound. The wind, naturally, was right on the nose, but only blowing the forecast NW 5-15. We thought at first that we would stop for the night at Brundige and then cross Dixon Entrance tomorrow morning, but by the time we got to the north end of Dundas Island, we could see that the crossing was doable and that we would make it to Foggy Bay by 19:00, so we carried on. As we passed Holiday Island, at the NE corner of Dundas Island, we passed near a 16 ft skiff with a 60 HP outboard engine, apparently tied to a float in about 60 m of water, with no one aboard. Thinking it had dragged the mooring ball off location and out to sea, we hailed Prince Rupert CG radio to let them know it was there. Almost immediately, someone else came on the line to inform us that it was his boat tied to a halibut line and he was taking a snooze in the boat, completely out of sight. Somewhat embarrassed, we signed off. As we cleared Dundas and headed out across Dixon Entrance, the wind freed up enough that we could sail, so the engine was killed and the jib and mainsail were unfurled at 15:52. After about 40 minutes, the wind backed 15 degrees and died off a bit, so we furled the jib and started the engine just as we crossed the US/Canada border at 16:00, Alaska time (one hour behind PST). There was still a cell signal, so we were able to connect up with the “CBP Roam” app and cleared US customs; we are clear to go and do not even have to check in at Ketchikan. On the way up the Revillagegido Channel, we passed the “Viking Something-or-other” cruise ship and the “Columbia”, the Washington State Ferry, both headed south toward Vancouver and Bellingham, respectively. As we turned into Foggy Bay, we encountered a single humpback whale feeding on one of the reefs, so stopped to take a few photos. The anchor was set and the engine off by 18:19. Immediately after preparing celebratory G&Ts, we cooked dinner and settled in for a quiet evening. The wind died down to nothing and it was warm enough to get down to only 2 layers. Maybe summer has arrived, or at least Juneuary is over.

54-57.042’N, 130-56.398’W; Log = 49.6 Sum (2023) = 816.3 N-m; Eng. hrs. = 7.5, Sum = 3243.4