July 27, 2017

We had the alarm set for 5:00am but sadly we were both awake before hand and couldn't sleep. Left at 5:30am as planned and headed out. Not great when we left but then it got a little worse. Not terrible, but we were going into the wind and the waves and the current so we did a lot of slamming. Then as we got further south, the swell had more of an effect so we were also rockin' back and forth. Good day to have been on a boat that had stabilizers. I'd call it a 3.5 to 4.0 on the Bella meter.

But true to the forecasts, the American's were right and it was 15kts and 3 ft seas all the way down to Cape Fox, and then once we got to Dixon Entrance, the Canadians were right and winds were light and we had flat calm seas. Go figure. So the actual crossing was a break and quite nice. Wind came up slightly after we reached Dundas Island, but it was nothing. So the rest of the trip was fine.

We arrived at Cow Bay around 4:00pm so a long day (9.5 hours) of traveling. When we arrived, the harbor master had found a spot for us for all 3 days and we didn't need to move around. How great is that? We were quite happy. He took one of his slips and turned it into a linear dock. So he said to pull as far forward as we could which we did. No one else around at the time, but just before we left for dinner, a couple of small runabout / fish boats tied up on either end of the slip behind us.

We called Dolly's and made a reservation for dinner at 6:00. Really good food. Greg ate too much and we probably had too much beer. But after today …..

July 26, 2017

Checked the weather again this morning, and the Canadians have done a complete reverse on their weather prediction. Thursday morning is fine, but then the wind comes up in the afternoon and now Friday and Saturday and Sunday are complete blow outs! The Americans are in violent disagreement. The GRIB files show that Thursday is OK and Friday morning is OK but then starts to build from there. So now we're thinking we'll go all the way on Thursday.

Weather turned for the worse here too. It poured all night and was still raining in the morning. It stopped eventually though and we walked over to Safeway to get some provisions (mostly for the crossing) and then went and got some ice at Tongass Marine. Back to the boat and had some lunch. Then we decided to go downtown, but we stopped at "the mall" at a hair dressing salon so that I could get a "bang trim". Keep the hair out of my eyes! Then we hopped on the free downtown shuttle and went into town. Walked around, had coffee and a scone, went to the museum. Place emptied out again as the cruise ships left.

Back to SB for showers and dinner - had to eat up all our veggies that we can't take into Canada. We did a pretty good job! Met our new neighbours, Mac et al on Harmony, who are also apparently thinking of crossing tomorrow. Greg filled the water tanks and it's pouring. The weather really got worse and it's blowing 15kts in the harbor. Took the garbage up tonight before heading into Canada - Quote: "It's fucking miserable out there!".

July 25, 2017

Worked on the computers, then Greg did the oil change which went very smoothly. I did some website updates. Lunch. Then we headed up to Laundry and did several loads. Brought cleans clothes back and then put them away. Thought we would take Miss B for a walk so we headed up to the liquor store to get some American Beer to take into Canada (so sad!). We stopped by the Veterinary Office to see about getting Bella's nails trimmed. Turns out it was "Toe Nail Tuesday" today from 10:00 to 2:00 and we had just missed it. They had no one available anymore today or tomorrow to do nails. Yeah, that's the McLaughlin luck we expect.

Back to the boat, dinner, some television. Greg has a pretty good migraine going. The weather is looking better for Thursday and Friday and Saturday, so we're thinking of going to Foggy Bay on Thursday and crossing Dixon Entrance on Friday. We made reservations at Cow Bay for Friday and Saturday. They called us though and said they were full on Friday and they only thing they could offer was the outside of the Breakwater, so we took that. But they have room on Saturday. Guess it's getting busy with people heading back.

July 24, 2017

Not a great sleep last night, but the dock was fine. When we woke up, we decided to bail and head to Ketchikan and just start back towards BC. We didn't really leave early enough as it was close to 8:00, but we were at least able to pay the harbor master for the nights moorage and power and not just leave what we hoped was enough money! (No prices listed anywhere)

It was fine for the first few hours but the wind picked up steadily as did the current in the opposite direction. Tongass Narrows it got a bit choppy as we ended up with "wind over tide". We went all the way down to the fuel dock to fill up so we wouldn't have to deal with it later. We also filled up both the propane tanks, and the gas can. The whole process took some time and you can really get slammed there with not much protection from the wake or chop.

We called the harbor master and he said they were filling up. He directed us to Bar Harbor North and Float 13, slip 24. We are quite a bit further away than the last time we were here, also not as protected. We walked up to the harbor masters office with Miss B, and then walked north to look for Napa Auto Parts. Last night Greg determined that we had put 200 hours on the engines since we left Bham. He likes to do an oil change at 200-250 hours, and considers an absolute max was 300 hours. Doing the math, it's clear that we'll put more than 100 hours more on them between now and the end of the trip so we would blow by that 300 easily. Might as well do an oil change now, as it will only get harder to find somewhere to do it later. Here we have a place to dispose of the oil right at the top of the dock. But he wanted to get some new oil filters so that we weren't "using up" our spares. So, off to Napa Auto Parts which is where the fuel dock get's it's marine oil filters. OK then.

We stopped at "The Landing" which is a hotel right across from the local ferry terminal. It has a coffee shop inside and we got some very late lunch to go. We ate it outside in the pet area of the hotel which has a nice picnic bench. Although it is grey and cloudy, it's not raining and we can tell that the overall outdoor temperature has increased a bit, i.e.: we can stand to sit outside!

Turns out there is more than 1 auto parts store in this direction. So we hit both of them and learned more about oil filters and which ones are compatible with what. Also got a jerry can and we were able to get more diesel fuel additive. Success!

Back to the boat. Greg started pulling stuff out and found out that he only had 1 spare oil filter. So B and I stayed on the boat while he went in the other direction to the marine stores to see if they had any compatible oil filters. He returned with more information but no filters. We fed the B and hung out for awhile. Then we went back to "The Landing" and went up to the bar (Jeremiah's) to have beer and appetizers for dinner since we had such a late lunch. It is a bit breezy but it was nice to be able to walk outside and not be freezing.

July 23, 2017

It was bright and calm this morning which was nice and we could even see a bit of blue sky. We talked to Reiki Master on the radio and they were getting ready to go out to put an anchor down on a pinnacle and start fishing. They had not decided where they would go afterwards - whether it be Coffman Cove, or back to Wrangell. We decided that if it was nice enough out there, that we might go all the way down to Thorne Bay instead of Coffman.

So we said our goodbyes and see-you-soon's and headed out. It was flat and glassy and warm and sunny. Whodathunkit! So we cruised all the way down. As per the McLaughlin way though, as we arrived it clouded over and cooled off again.

When we arrived at the marina, we could not hail the harbor master. There was also a couple of "Reserved" signs all along the transient moorage area. A sailboat was just leaving a slip and said the harbor master had put them there as transient and so we should be fine there. As we were about to pull in, a woman beckoned us a bit further down it and said we should go there. She said the harbor master doesn't work Sundays and they were expecting a tour boat so we should just use this slip. So we did. As we pulled in, we recognized Dan from "Adventurous Ohana" who was helping us with lines. We had talked with him in Meyers Chuck just after we left Ketchikan. They had been cruising the area and were heading back to Ketchikan to get grand kids the next day. There was some fishing and crabbing talk, but of course we are still batting 0% there. He did mention that there is a place though where you can rent a truck to drive around Prince of Whales Island which we thought would be a good idea.

We grabbed a bite for a late lunch and then went for a walk with Bella. We walked to the small grocery store, but we really didn't need much. We dropped the groceries at the boat and also left Bella there as she is too much of a pain to walk, and went cruising around the town. Of course, everything is closed on Sundays and again we managed to arrive on the wrong day. We couldn't find anywhere to eat, nor the place to rent the truck or find out if the truck was available tomorrow.

The tour boat came in just before our walk - "Alaska Dream". What a weird looking boat. A giant wedding cake catamaran, and it seemed to hold a *ton* of people. They all walked into town at some point and we could see the group all together. Maybe 40 people? When we walked by the Library, *they* were open as they were expecting the tour. (What tour goes to the Thorne Bay Library?). As we walked back to the boat, there was woman setting up a table selling hand made items. Like it was a cruise ship. But the best part is another woman arrived and set up a table selling fresh baked cinnamon buns to the group. We got ourselves one of those!

Dinner on the boat. We exchanged some text's with Byron as they had arrived at Pruth Bay and had internet. It turns out they are not going to go as far north as they originally intended. So they are going to hang out in the Shearwater area instead and will just "gunk hole" around. They were wondering what our schedule was. So we went through some ideas and back of the envelope stuff and thought we would be in Shearwater between 10 and 14 days. Give or Take.

July 22, 2017

It poured down last night and was a little bit slappy against the hull while we slept. We checked the weather in the morning and it was blowing 7 kinds of stink at Lincoln Island. We headed over to Reiki Master to see what was up with them and they were not inclined to go anywhere either until the wind was down. We decided to check again around 11:30 to see what was up.

The 4 of us played "Rummy-O" in the cabin which was nice. We looked outside occasionally and it looked really really awful out in Clarence Straight. We had a good view of it, but were nicely tucked away where we were. The one downside is that the wind or tides would keep the boat facing in one direction, but the swell was coming in from another. So the boat would rock back and forth. On Reiki Master, it wasn't that noticeable. We listened to the later weather report and just started laughing when we heard the Lincoln Point one - we were clearly not going anywhere, even though the fish were not biting at all! Roger had a line in the water but it certainly was not getting any action which did not make him all that happy.

Kim had made Split Pea soup in her new "Insta-Pot", but we decided to go back to Spellbound for lunch and give them a break from us. Back to Reiki Master for halibut taco's for dinner.

July 21, 2017

Left around 6:00am to catch the flat water and arrived in the cove around 8:30am to see Reiki Master. We anchored behind a small islet and then headed over to Reiki Master to say hello and connect. I stayed on Reiki Master with Bella for a while and visited with Kim while Ken and Greg went fishing. It got a little too snotty out there so they came back, just in time to take Bella and myself back to Spellbound to use the mat!

The afternoon was a bit of rockin' and rollin' as the boat was facing the opposite direction to the swell. Bella meter was about a 2.5. Shortly after lunch we invited ourselves back for a visit. It seemed like Reiki Master was getting less rockin, but it may have been an illusion. We visited and played "Rummy-O" while fishing. Kim served dinner to everyone which was nice.