Distance: 52 miles covered in 7 hours of cruising
Highlights: Choose alternate route for crossing of Strait of Georgia due to worsening weather forecast. By heading to Jedediah Island, we can get halfway across the strait and can determine whether to wait out another day to complete this large crossing. Good early conditions deteriorate the closer we get to our destination in the middle of the strait: we experience some of the roughest seas encountered on the entire trip.
Early morning shore duty with Moxie. The four boats rafted across from Seaquel are one of many that formed in busy Laura Cove yesterday. This morning, no boats are stirring other than ours...
Hard to leave the calm and serenity of this protected cove for what will likely be a rough day in the Strait of Georgia...
Home is south, so we set our course accordingly...
A spectacular yacht among dozens of smaller vessels under anchor as we pass Prideaux Haven...
Further south, Seaquel is not the only boat heading out early to avoid the stronger afternoon winds on the Strait of Georgia...
Interesting dinghy...
Passing Sarah Point as we depart from Desolation Sound. Our original plan was to stay along the Eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, past Malaspina Strait, to a delightful marine park we had stayed at two decades ago called Smuggler's Cove...
View of Copeland Islands Marine Park from Seaquel's starboard window as we enter the Strait of Georgia...
Sea Lions basking in the sun near Copeland Islands Marine Park...
Another Bayliner 38 also heads out into the Strait of Georgia. 25 years ago, on one of our crossings of this strait, we had waves breaking over the upper helm on our identical vessel, Take Five. You can see that running the Bayliner 38 from the upper bridge, those waves were spraying at least 15 feet in the air. Hoping to avoid a nasty crossing like that if we can...
Our last protection before open waters of the Strait of Georgia: Savory Island where dozens of small boats are moored along an expansive sandy beach that we explored last summer. The latest weather warns that staying on the eastern side of the strait toward Smuggler's Cove may expose us to stronger winds and seas. Plan "B" is to angle across the strait toward Jedediah Island. We will have some nasty exposure in the middle third of our day, but our revised destination is a highly protected anchorage at Jedediah sandwiched between Texada and Lasqueti Islands, called Deep Bay, that should provide good protection for the night...
Crossing paths with Invictus as we head toward open water. This Mega-Yacht is 217 feet in length and 43 feet wide at the beam, towering over the water with six decks, and weighs nearly 2,000 tons (compared to the Arctic Charm yacht we helped rescue that weighed 100 tons). She accommodates 12 guests in 9 cabins and employs a crew of 19. Oh, and if you care to charter Invictus, she is available for a mere $525,000 per week (plus expenses)!
So far, so good, water is relatively calm in the Strait of Georgia. If it were to stay like this, we would have a very easy day and hope to arrive at Jedediah Island in time to have lunch on anchor by noon...
Not a lot of boating activity on the open water. The Strait of Georgia is a vast body of water that demands respect. It is 150 miles long and varies from 12 to 36 miles wide, and at times you cannot see the distant land far off on the other side...
Still relatively calm on the Strait of Georgia: note on the Garmin Chartplotter (red highlighted circle, below) three pieces of information: 1) Current cruising speed is 11.2 knots; 2) We are 28.2 nautical miles from our destination (Jedediah Island); 3) Expected arrival time is 12:00 Noon (based on current speed and route). While we averaged around 7 knots with the flotilla throughout most of the Alaska journey, today we are cruising between 11 to 12 knots while the water remained good. Getting across and out of harm's way as speedily as conditions will allow is the name of the game today...
With every passing hour wave activity is noticeably stronger...
Life jackets are a precaution when crossing big water in rough conditions...
Nicole sporting her lifejacket just like Dad. But rough sea conditions don't faze Nicole at all, especially now that her bunk is moved aft instead of forward at the bow which takes a lot more wave action...
Wind and waves continue to grow the further out we go into the Strait of Georgia...
Short video #1: Crossing Strait of Georgia with waves: now 18 miles out, arrival time pushed back to 12:30 as conditions get sloppy...
Getting a bit wet outside...
Short video #2: Crossing Strait of Georgia with waves: "Ah, the calm waters of the Strait of Georgia" (says Mark, facetiously)...
Wind and waves continue to hit Seaquel as we work to "quarter" the waves, taking the impact on an angle to the starboard bow...
Short video #3: Crossing Strait of Georgia with growing waves and near-constant spray over the helm...
We can count on one hand how many vessels we saw out in the chop today. But to our surprise we came across a sailboat, under sail and moving briskly downwind as we powered upwind...
Peggy observes the sailboat from the cozy, warm confines of Seaquel's dry, heated cabin. We enjoy day-sailing on Campbell Lake back home; but out here sailing means withstanding endless hours in the weather, including the spray and cold on larger crossings like this...
On the sailboat, you can see (below) the main is "reefed", or reduced, to mitigate heeling from the strong wind due to severe wind...
Sometimes, between large waves we cannot see much at all...
We were heading nearly straight into the wind, with waves characterized by an unusually narrow "period" (the time for two consecutive wave crests to pass a fixed point). This caused Seaquel to pitch significantly, bow up and down, causing a great volume of water to wash upon us...
As the wave period shortened and the pitching worsened, we slowed down to mitigate a severe pounding. Shown below, our speed has dropped from 11-12 knots to 7.3 knots. The wave period got even worse the closer we approached Lasqueti Island to where we dropped our speed down to just 3-4 knots, and it felt like time was standing still at this slow speed in rough conditions. This was a question of: A) Going faster to get out of the wind sooner, but paying the price by getting pounded harder, or; B) Having patience to slow down, withstanding the wind longer but not getting pounded as hard. We continued to slow down, and our hope of having a peaceful lunch on anchor by noon slips away. Now we just wanted to get to our destination in one piece...
Seaquel handled the extremely choppy, short-period waves remarkably well, although it was a bumpy ride. We had experienced larger waves further north in Alaska northbound across Dixon Entrance; nasty following seas in Chatham Strait, and more remote, distant crossings like Cape Caution. But unique on this day, in fact in all of our years of boating experience, was the wave's extreme short period, partly due to the fetch (distance the wind travels) in these expansive waters. This necessitated that we drastically reduce speed or risk going airborne from the top of one wave crest to another. Note that none of the videos above were filmed at the height of the wind and shortest wave periods, as at that point all attention was paid to boat handling rather than shooting video...
All of our weather/wind forecasts indicated strong winds throughout the area this afternoon, but having been to Jedediah Island previously we were confident that Deep Bay, a popular anchorage that has protection around all sides, would be a refuge in this otherwise exposed expanse. Finally, as we enter Sabine Channel close to Jedediah Island, the wind subsided, waves calmed a bit, and the view improved...
As we enter Deep Bay at Jedediah Island around 1:30 pm, there is good news and bad news. Good: as expected, the wind is abated (although still present as noted in the Canadian flag blowing at 90 degrees, below). Bad: every other boat in the area had the same idea, and this snug anchorage was very crowded with 9 boats already occupying the tiny bay. We would have to anchor very precisely and very quickly to avoid snagging another vessel's anchor rode or being blown too close to another vessel before we deploy our stern tie...
Deep Bay is characterized by relatively deep water in such a tight space that one drops an anchor in the very middle of the bay, and can pull back to EITHER side. Most boats anchor here on the south side of the bay, but with the crowd there were boats already anchored with stern lines to both south and north sides. We were anchoring in 30 foot depths (at low tide), which meant we needed a minimum of 90-100 feet of anchor rode out for holding power. That's a significant amount of swing with other vessels nearby prior to getting the stern-tie secured on shore. It would be easy to cross anchor rodes if we were not careful, and in fact on our first try we deployed and then had to retrieve the anchor as Seaquel drifted too close to another vessel. With that experience showing us the speed with which Seaquel would drift due to wind and current, we initiated a 2nd attempt successfully and secured the very last spot on the south side of the cove...
To anchor, we had to circle precariously close to the blue sailboat (below, right) to achieve the proper distance and angle to deploy our rode; while keeping clear of the white sailboat (below, left) as we backed into position to secure the stern-tie. In such conditions, we have learned some critical lessons for deploying the anchor in wind/current when a stern-tie is needed: 1) Deploy the dinghy off the stanchions and have oars ready; 2) Secure the stern-tie line to the dinghy; 3) Be prepared to row to shore, wade into the water and/or climb steep terrain (have life vest on and already wearing rubber boots or water shoes). All of these steps should be completed PRIOR to deploying the anchor...
A full compliment of boats on anchor in Deep Bay, all on stern-tie. Not shown: around the corner to the left are two more sailboats stern-tied to the opposite shore...
Seaquel safely secured on anchor with stern-tie, picture-perfect under the "Deep Bay" sign...
Getting your "ducks in a row": Seaquel is the dark blue bow poking out just this side of the sailboat...
Shortly after anchoring, another vessel (blue/white sailboat) entered Deep Bay also seeking, as Bob Dylan would say, "shelter from the storm"...
Likewise: note how close this sailboat comes to Seaquel as it positions itself for deploying its anchor, and how close it must drop anchor quite near where our anchor rests. Keep in mind that Seaquel's anchor is dropped mid-channel, straight out from its current position, past where this sailboat presently sits. Note: a sailboat has a significant advantage anchoring in wind: so much ballast below waterline makes it less prone to drift versus a powerboat. Still, a small mis-calculation can result in tangled anchor rodes...
It's good to finally be secure, here in Deep Bay, with wind thrashing the Strait of Georgia not far away...
Time for shore duty with Moxie...
Jedediah Island is one of our favorite islands. Not only are there miles of hiking trails to explore, but one can scramble up cliffs on both sides of Deep Bay for magnificent "aerial" views of this beautiful and scenic anchorage...
In this tight anchorage, we end up pulled back very close to shore, but the steep-sides of Deep Bay accommodate this...
The stern-tie reel on Seaquel (below, left) still has most of the yellow poly-line on the reel. But in other anchoring conditions along the Inside Passage to/from Alaska, we have utilized the entire 600 foot length of this line...
Settled into our anchorage, we checked the aft cockpit compartments for water, having already experienced taking on water into storage compartments earlier on our trip during rough crossings. Sure enough, we had significant water in the battery compartment due to the rough seas we endured...
Nicole helped us out to drain the standing water in this tight space: we borrowed a feeding tube with plunger that allowed us to suction out water even in very tight spaces between the batteries. Since we've already experienced ill effects from corrosion on the battery terminals, it is critical we get all of this salt water away from the batteries...
Late sun over Deep Bay on Jedediah Island...
A rough day in open water, but given our options it is nice to have the majority of our crossing of the Strait of Georgia behind us. Based on the weather forecast, we may sit out tomorrow, and complete the crossing two days from now to be safe. But as one of the most scenic islands we've ever visited, with extensive trails and beaches to explore, there are worse places to "sit out" a day than magnificent Jedediah Island...
~Mark
Early morning shore duty with Moxie. The four boats rafted across from Seaquel are one of many that formed in busy Laura Cove yesterday. This morning, no boats are stirring other than ours...
Hard to leave the calm and serenity of this protected cove for what will likely be a rough day in the Strait of Georgia...
Home is south, so we set our course accordingly...
A spectacular yacht among dozens of smaller vessels under anchor as we pass Prideaux Haven...
Further south, Seaquel is not the only boat heading out early to avoid the stronger afternoon winds on the Strait of Georgia...
Interesting dinghy...
Passing Sarah Point as we depart from Desolation Sound. Our original plan was to stay along the Eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, past Malaspina Strait, to a delightful marine park we had stayed at two decades ago called Smuggler's Cove...
View of Copeland Islands Marine Park from Seaquel's starboard window as we enter the Strait of Georgia...
Sea Lions basking in the sun near Copeland Islands Marine Park...
Another Bayliner 38 also heads out into the Strait of Georgia. 25 years ago, on one of our crossings of this strait, we had waves breaking over the upper helm on our identical vessel, Take Five. You can see that running the Bayliner 38 from the upper bridge, those waves were spraying at least 15 feet in the air. Hoping to avoid a nasty crossing like that if we can...
Our last protection before open waters of the Strait of Georgia: Savory Island where dozens of small boats are moored along an expansive sandy beach that we explored last summer. The latest weather warns that staying on the eastern side of the strait toward Smuggler's Cove may expose us to stronger winds and seas. Plan "B" is to angle across the strait toward Jedediah Island. We will have some nasty exposure in the middle third of our day, but our revised destination is a highly protected anchorage at Jedediah sandwiched between Texada and Lasqueti Islands, called Deep Bay, that should provide good protection for the night...
Crossing paths with Invictus as we head toward open water. This Mega-Yacht is 217 feet in length and 43 feet wide at the beam, towering over the water with six decks, and weighs nearly 2,000 tons (compared to the Arctic Charm yacht we helped rescue that weighed 100 tons). She accommodates 12 guests in 9 cabins and employs a crew of 19. Oh, and if you care to charter Invictus, she is available for a mere $525,000 per week (plus expenses)!
So far, so good, water is relatively calm in the Strait of Georgia. If it were to stay like this, we would have a very easy day and hope to arrive at Jedediah Island in time to have lunch on anchor by noon...
Not a lot of boating activity on the open water. The Strait of Georgia is a vast body of water that demands respect. It is 150 miles long and varies from 12 to 36 miles wide, and at times you cannot see the distant land far off on the other side...
Still relatively calm on the Strait of Georgia: note on the Garmin Chartplotter (red highlighted circle, below) three pieces of information: 1) Current cruising speed is 11.2 knots; 2) We are 28.2 nautical miles from our destination (Jedediah Island); 3) Expected arrival time is 12:00 Noon (based on current speed and route). While we averaged around 7 knots with the flotilla throughout most of the Alaska journey, today we are cruising between 11 to 12 knots while the water remained good. Getting across and out of harm's way as speedily as conditions will allow is the name of the game today...
With every passing hour wave activity is noticeably stronger...
Life jackets are a precaution when crossing big water in rough conditions...
Nicole sporting her lifejacket just like Dad. But rough sea conditions don't faze Nicole at all, especially now that her bunk is moved aft instead of forward at the bow which takes a lot more wave action...
Wind and waves continue to grow the further out we go into the Strait of Georgia...
Short video #1: Crossing Strait of Georgia with waves: now 18 miles out, arrival time pushed back to 12:30 as conditions get sloppy...
Getting a bit wet outside...
Short video #2: Crossing Strait of Georgia with waves: "Ah, the calm waters of the Strait of Georgia" (says Mark, facetiously)...
Wind and waves continue to hit Seaquel as we work to "quarter" the waves, taking the impact on an angle to the starboard bow...
Short video #3: Crossing Strait of Georgia with growing waves and near-constant spray over the helm...
We can count on one hand how many vessels we saw out in the chop today. But to our surprise we came across a sailboat, under sail and moving briskly downwind as we powered upwind...
Peggy observes the sailboat from the cozy, warm confines of Seaquel's dry, heated cabin. We enjoy day-sailing on Campbell Lake back home; but out here sailing means withstanding endless hours in the weather, including the spray and cold on larger crossings like this...
On the sailboat, you can see (below) the main is "reefed", or reduced, to mitigate heeling from the strong wind due to severe wind...
Sometimes, between large waves we cannot see much at all...
We were heading nearly straight into the wind, with waves characterized by an unusually narrow "period" (the time for two consecutive wave crests to pass a fixed point). This caused Seaquel to pitch significantly, bow up and down, causing a great volume of water to wash upon us...
As the wave period shortened and the pitching worsened, we slowed down to mitigate a severe pounding. Shown below, our speed has dropped from 11-12 knots to 7.3 knots. The wave period got even worse the closer we approached Lasqueti Island to where we dropped our speed down to just 3-4 knots, and it felt like time was standing still at this slow speed in rough conditions. This was a question of: A) Going faster to get out of the wind sooner, but paying the price by getting pounded harder, or; B) Having patience to slow down, withstanding the wind longer but not getting pounded as hard. We continued to slow down, and our hope of having a peaceful lunch on anchor by noon slips away. Now we just wanted to get to our destination in one piece...
Seaquel handled the extremely choppy, short-period waves remarkably well, although it was a bumpy ride. We had experienced larger waves further north in Alaska northbound across Dixon Entrance; nasty following seas in Chatham Strait, and more remote, distant crossings like Cape Caution. But unique on this day, in fact in all of our years of boating experience, was the wave's extreme short period, partly due to the fetch (distance the wind travels) in these expansive waters. This necessitated that we drastically reduce speed or risk going airborne from the top of one wave crest to another. Note that none of the videos above were filmed at the height of the wind and shortest wave periods, as at that point all attention was paid to boat handling rather than shooting video...
All of our weather/wind forecasts indicated strong winds throughout the area this afternoon, but having been to Jedediah Island previously we were confident that Deep Bay, a popular anchorage that has protection around all sides, would be a refuge in this otherwise exposed expanse. Finally, as we enter Sabine Channel close to Jedediah Island, the wind subsided, waves calmed a bit, and the view improved...
As we enter Deep Bay at Jedediah Island around 1:30 pm, there is good news and bad news. Good: as expected, the wind is abated (although still present as noted in the Canadian flag blowing at 90 degrees, below). Bad: every other boat in the area had the same idea, and this snug anchorage was very crowded with 9 boats already occupying the tiny bay. We would have to anchor very precisely and very quickly to avoid snagging another vessel's anchor rode or being blown too close to another vessel before we deploy our stern tie...
Deep Bay is characterized by relatively deep water in such a tight space that one drops an anchor in the very middle of the bay, and can pull back to EITHER side. Most boats anchor here on the south side of the bay, but with the crowd there were boats already anchored with stern lines to both south and north sides. We were anchoring in 30 foot depths (at low tide), which meant we needed a minimum of 90-100 feet of anchor rode out for holding power. That's a significant amount of swing with other vessels nearby prior to getting the stern-tie secured on shore. It would be easy to cross anchor rodes if we were not careful, and in fact on our first try we deployed and then had to retrieve the anchor as Seaquel drifted too close to another vessel. With that experience showing us the speed with which Seaquel would drift due to wind and current, we initiated a 2nd attempt successfully and secured the very last spot on the south side of the cove...
To anchor, we had to circle precariously close to the blue sailboat (below, right) to achieve the proper distance and angle to deploy our rode; while keeping clear of the white sailboat (below, left) as we backed into position to secure the stern-tie. In such conditions, we have learned some critical lessons for deploying the anchor in wind/current when a stern-tie is needed: 1) Deploy the dinghy off the stanchions and have oars ready; 2) Secure the stern-tie line to the dinghy; 3) Be prepared to row to shore, wade into the water and/or climb steep terrain (have life vest on and already wearing rubber boots or water shoes). All of these steps should be completed PRIOR to deploying the anchor...
A full compliment of boats on anchor in Deep Bay, all on stern-tie. Not shown: around the corner to the left are two more sailboats stern-tied to the opposite shore...
Seaquel safely secured on anchor with stern-tie, picture-perfect under the "Deep Bay" sign...
Getting your "ducks in a row": Seaquel is the dark blue bow poking out just this side of the sailboat...
Shortly after anchoring, another vessel (blue/white sailboat) entered Deep Bay also seeking, as Bob Dylan would say, "shelter from the storm"...
Likewise: note how close this sailboat comes to Seaquel as it positions itself for deploying its anchor, and how close it must drop anchor quite near where our anchor rests. Keep in mind that Seaquel's anchor is dropped mid-channel, straight out from its current position, past where this sailboat presently sits. Note: a sailboat has a significant advantage anchoring in wind: so much ballast below waterline makes it less prone to drift versus a powerboat. Still, a small mis-calculation can result in tangled anchor rodes...
It's good to finally be secure, here in Deep Bay, with wind thrashing the Strait of Georgia not far away...
Time for shore duty with Moxie...
Jedediah Island is one of our favorite islands. Not only are there miles of hiking trails to explore, but one can scramble up cliffs on both sides of Deep Bay for magnificent "aerial" views of this beautiful and scenic anchorage...
In this tight anchorage, we end up pulled back very close to shore, but the steep-sides of Deep Bay accommodate this...
The stern-tie reel on Seaquel (below, left) still has most of the yellow poly-line on the reel. But in other anchoring conditions along the Inside Passage to/from Alaska, we have utilized the entire 600 foot length of this line...
Settled into our anchorage, we checked the aft cockpit compartments for water, having already experienced taking on water into storage compartments earlier on our trip during rough crossings. Sure enough, we had significant water in the battery compartment due to the rough seas we endured...
Nicole helped us out to drain the standing water in this tight space: we borrowed a feeding tube with plunger that allowed us to suction out water even in very tight spaces between the batteries. Since we've already experienced ill effects from corrosion on the battery terminals, it is critical we get all of this salt water away from the batteries...
Late sun over Deep Bay on Jedediah Island...
A rough day in open water, but given our options it is nice to have the majority of our crossing of the Strait of Georgia behind us. Based on the weather forecast, we may sit out tomorrow, and complete the crossing two days from now to be safe. But as one of the most scenic islands we've ever visited, with extensive trails and beaches to explore, there are worse places to "sit out" a day than magnificent Jedediah Island...
~Mark
Mark,
ReplyDeleteWe were at Prideaux Haven the same time as you. Beyond was anchored next to us. We were at Glens talk at Roche for the rendezvous. I followed your blog every day. It was hard not to notice your positive attitude and all of the smiles in the pictures. Going to Alaska is on my bucket list and Glen gave my wife some encouragement that our R 25 can go up there. Thank you for taking me on your journey. Happy Trails.