Distance: 74 miles covered in 11 hours of cruising
Highlights: Fog. Fishing boats. Light fog. More fishing boats. Heavy fog. More fishing boats. Or was that a whale? (Yes, another Glen & The Whale Story) Pea Soup fog. Freighters. Finally clearing - both in the weather as well as exiting Alaska and getting through Canadian Customs in Prince Rupert. Refuel, and back at it to make more headway south. A very long day, some of our most tense hours at the helm despite relative calm water, but because of poor visibility. Shades of gray...our day began in fog and ended in fog. Our flotilla relied almost exclusively on radar for at least half of our 11 hours of cruising on this challenging day, often spent avoiding fishing boats that our radar showed in our course even if we never actually saw them. Saying for the day: "I've never seen so many boats I never saw!" Lots of ghost ships!
Journey and Beyond heading out of Foggy Bay at 5:00am for our long crossing of Dixon Entrance, leaving Alaska and re-entering British Colombia. This anchorage is living up to its name today...
Journey and Beyond heading out of Foggy Bay at 5:00am for our long crossing of Dixon Entrance, leaving Alaska and re-entering British Colombia. This anchorage is living up to its name today...
During the crossing of Dixon Entrance, it was hard work to keep within visible contact with each other, even if just 100 to 200 feet apart. The fog was usually so thick that from Seaquel, we could not see Journey another few hundred feet ahead of Beyond. We were in constant audio contact via VHF radio, and we could monitor each boat's position on the radar. But visuals were few and far between...
A rare opening in the fog where we could see a reasonable distance...
Nicole is good natured as usual despite the 5am departure. With a crossing of a serious body of water it is also time to wear her life jacket...
The water is not as rough as our northbound crossing, but still is no cake walk...
Visibility - or lack thereof - is our biggest challenge today. Below, Beyond is within a couple hundred feet of Seaquel yet can barely be detected...
Not much to view out the starboard window...
Since we could not see the shoreline, occasional navigation aids reinforced our physical position relative to where we expected to be based on the chartplotter...
A whale of a story: Glen, in the lead in Journey, had a tough day constantly altering course due to fishing boats that would appear on the radar. A few times Glen called out on the VHF: "Turning hard to starboard!" (or to port depending on the situation) in response to a vessel suddenly appearing on a collision course. Glen is normally very calm and collected, but we all felt the stress on this day. At one point, in a near-panic, Glen called out just as he turned to avoid one vessel: "I've got two more fishing boats heading right for me. I don't know where they came from, and I don't know where to turn to avoid them!" At the last second, barely within vision from where we were behind Journey which had slowed almost to a stop, the 2nd and 3rd vessels turned into...….HUMPBACK WHALES! That's right, what was showing up on the radar and interpreted as the sudden appearance of two more commercial fishing boats, were in fact two Humpback Whales, and at the last second the whales dove and just missed hitting Journey. So while our visibility was limited to the two-dimensional radar screen, the whales were operating in three-dimensions and avoided us by diving down. Wow, what an amazing "close call" adding to our wealth of whale experiences on this high-sea adventure!
Crossing from Alaska (United States) into Canada. The two yellow "blips" are radar signals showing Journey and Beyond having just crossed into Canada just ahead of us...
SE Alaska - been there, done that! Hooray!!!
Even when we got close to land, it was largely obscured by fog...
With the water relatively calm and fighting only the fog, Nicole falls back to sleep...
Most of the boats we encountered were commercial fishing vessels, traveling at moderate speeds, or sometimes not moving at all. A few smaller recreational boats, lacking radar, were traveling way too fast for the conditions. It was on us to "see" them (via radar) and alter course to prevent a collision...
Running on instruments: the iPad has Navionics navigation software; the Garmin Chartplotter also displays the radar images as an overlay. Necessities: the camera, of course, is always close at hand; and hot tea is a must on a long, cold day...
Two eagles peering through the fog...
As we approach Prince Rupert to clear customs, the fog begins to lift a bit...
Prince Rupert: welcome to Canada!
Prince Rupert is a major port, and the many freighters dwarfed our Ranger Tugs...
Having cleared Canadian Customs, we are heading south again and back into the fog...
Peggy's sigh of relief: that freighter may not be the most scenic view of the trip; but being clear enough to see is a bonus compared to our "non-views" for most of this day...
Anchoring in Kelp Passage with the wind helping dissipate the fog...
The flotilla finally secured on anchor after one of our most challenging days. We will sleep well tonight!
Mark and Moxie: a handshake and a kiss (lick) to celebrate shore duty upon arrival at our anchorage and the end of a very long day of navigating in dense fog...
Moxie enjoying some room to roam on the rocks and a secluded beach. The sun makes a belated and very brief appearance...
Fog starts to roll back into Kelp Passage...
Journey (left) and Seaquel (right) secure on their anchors as they become enveloped in fog again...
Seaquel becoming yet another ghost ship in shifting fog, like many we encountered today...
Another view of the flotilla under anchor...
A perfect exclamation for our "Shades Of Gray" day, with the sun serving as a reminder that the fog is temporary and with perseverance, this too shall pass...
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