July 21: Prince Rupert


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Log Entry: Wednesday, July 21st, 1999

Foggy Bay to Prince Rupert: 51.7 nm

		click on an image to see details
(Chart: route)	(Chart: anchorage)

We left Foggy Bay at 5:30. We went through a large fishing fleet south of Foggy Bay: lots of nets to dodge! (almost ran into one ...)

The sea was about 3-4 feet on our beam, so uncomfortable. However, everything became calm as we got to Dundas Island and Green Island: exactly the opposite of our experience coming north. On our way across Chatham sound, there was a lot of unusual boat traffic:

	the US Coast Guard cutter north of us hailed a vessel, asked it's name, where it was headed (Ketchikan), where it had come from (Prince Rupert), asked whether they had ever been boarded by the US Coast Guard (never), then where told they were about to be boarded! As they were on a reciprocal course to ours, they were also uncomfortable, all the more so as they were an un-keeled motorboat.
	someone on a boat somewhere nearby had what was at first reported as an epileptic fit, then a heart attack: we followed this for a while: a medical officer trying to talk the guy in the radio through what to do; trying to figure out how best to get the victim to a hospital, etc., etc. ...

As we approached the Venn Passage, a narrow channel which winds around shoals, drying rocks, old pilings, and marshes, we were confronted with about 300 fishing boats, all steaming at full speed through the channel, all coming straight for us!! We wound our way slowly through the passage against this torrent of metal hurtling our way, insisting, with difficulty, on our right to share the space.

When we came into the large bay which Prince Rupert sits on, we radioed the Prince Rupert Yacht Club to inform them of our arrival, and were told that they had a spot for us, and to call them when we were closer. So, we decided to get diesel before docking (our experience everywhere has been that if you wait until you leave to gas up, it usually has a negative impact on your departure time: we end up leaving later than we wanted to because the gas dock isn't open early enough). On the way in, I cursed at another boat VERY loudly because he darted in front of us as I struggled to control the boat in a tight area, trying to turn with the wind blowing and only a small slot available at the dock between two other vessels.

After gassing up, we radioed the yacht club again to get directions for docking, and were told that there was no space!! There was a space at their "overflow" dock, but we would have to vacate the space at 0500 the next morning, as a 200-foot boat would be docking there.

Did an oil change on the engine; Jane sprayed 16 gallons of Fantastik all over the forward head, and it's now the cleanest head in the Pacific!

Had dinner at the Cow Bay Cafe: she remembered us, the food is to die for ...

Jane's log:

"We had a swell as far as Dundas, but an easy chop after Green Island. Coming through the Venn Passage, the entire fishing fleet was coming in the opposite direction! There was no room for us at the yacht club, so they put us on the overflow dock for the night, but we had to be off by 5 am to let a cruise ship dock there at 6. We had dinner at the Cow Bay Cafe."