Blunden Harbour to Ahclakerho

The Predict Wind forecast for our rounding of Cape Caution was favorable, and that is holding this morning as we depart Blunden Harbour. Winds are less than 10 knots and the seas less than 2 feet with gentle ocean swells. We started with wind and current at our stern, so the ride was very pleasant. Karen had me check to ensure we weren’t going hit an ebb out of Slingsby Channel, as that can make for an unnecessary rough patch before you get to the Cape.

The current was forecast to change, but the winds to remain favorable. As we shifted to wind over current, we expected the chop to build a bit, but nothing like our arrival day into Blunden Harbour.

As we approached Cape Caution with Karen at the helm, she had been watching the Alaska ferry Kennicott heading south. Our courses are opposite but offset by a safe distance. The Kennicott has been maintaining a steady course and it was clear we would pass without concern.

Suddenly, the Kennicott turned to the East, setting her course directly towards us. AIS says we now will have less than 400 feet when we pass.  We were within a mile of one another as I called her on the VHF to request her intentions. Immediately, she replied that she is dodging a whale and will be turning back on course quickly. I thanked the bridge for the fast response and as we cleared the frequency, she began her turn back to the west. We passed within 1000 yards, but these ferries do not produce significant wake. We’ve have passed much closer to these hulls in narrow Alaskan waterways and are always amazed at how little wake they produce.

Overall, we enjoyed a very nice ride, with the seas lying down as we approached Cape Caution light.

A couple of distant passenger ships and a Canadian Coast Guard ship laying off Cape Caution was the extent of the vessels we saw.

Our destination is Ahclakerho Channel, It’s a long way up Smith Inlet to make the turn into Broad Reach, channel almost an equally long way back down the Ahclakerho Channel to our anchor spot in the vee of the larger Ahclakerho Island.  It was 2011 when we were last here and we have fond memories. We learned about this special spot from James and Jennifer Hamilton in their “Cruising the Secret Coast” book.

one of the many fishing vessels prawning in this area

To reach the anchorage, you do have to pass though a narrows, which we timed for near high slack. Charting is excellent and there was no stress. We passed a commercial prawner above the first narrow spot, and he waved his thanks as we slowed down to avoid waking him as he was pulling pots.

karen found the little red totem on the shore side rocks in the narrows

The anchorage requires a stern tie, something we have not done in a very long time. The good: we are only a few feet below the high, so we do not have to scramble too far to reach a tree. The bad: the current and winds want to turn us away from the shore – far away. Also, there are not a lot of suitable trees to run our stern line around.

And did I mention it was raining? It took us a couple of hours to find a suitable place to tie that had a safe landing spot for Karen to scramble ashore and a decent tree within reach. We also set the anchor twice as the rocky bottom was a challenge to get a good set. Lots of scope was needed to get a firm grip on the bottom.

Once all was set up and both ends of the stern tie line were back on the boat, we still needed to haul away on the line to turn the boat against wind and current 90 degrees back towards the shore.

After getting out of our wet clothes, we settled in for the night. Even though rainy, the views from the anchorage are nice. And like last time we were here, not another pleasure craft in sight.

As it approached 7pm, the closing time for the commercial prawn fishery, the F/V Corey anchored in the north arm abeam the island. My guess is she sits in about 60 feet. Not a bad place to anchor if you do not want to stern tie.

sunset in the ahclackerho

Blunden Harbour Lay Day

We had a good night’s sleep despite the wind and white caps. We awoke to sun and 10-15 knots of wind but no white caps. We’ll spend the day in Blunden Harbour as the forecast for tomorrow is much more favorable for going around Cape Caution.

a perfect for a dinghy explore

The reason Blunden Harbour made our float plan this year is a long-standing desire to get into Bradley Lagoon. You need at least +11 feet to get past the rocks, and the lagoon is very large. It would be easy to miss the timing to get back out if you lose track of time.

Even through the winds were up again and small white caps were all around, we launched the dinghy to see if we could make it into the lagoon. We picked our route carefully, using the lee of several islands to get out of the chop.

We arrived an hour early for high tide. When we entered, the tide at the Raynor Group was 11.5 feet.  Although the current was still running into the lagoon, it seemed like there was enough water to get into the lagoon and not too much current to be a problem. Turns out it was just enough water. The rocks on either side of the main flow were quite visible under the surface, we rode the current in and kept the dinghy off the rocks. Definitely favor the right 1/3 of the channel when entering.

The wind was still quite strong, and touring the north or south arms of the lagoon would mean one direction would be a very wet ride. Therefore, we headed into the east arm of the lagoon. The arm is wide, and the water mostly greater than 15 feet on the +11.5-foot tide. The shallowest we saw was a 5.5-foot spot.

We arrived at the end of the charted water and continued on for another .9 mile. You feel like you’re the first person to explore the area when there is nothing shown on your chart.  It was pretty, remote and well sheltered from the wind. Very enjoyable.

After an hour we arrived back at the entrance of the lagoon. I wanted to test the theory that slack would be reasonably close to high tide at the Raynor Group. That didn’t come to pass.

preparing to exit bradley lagoon

The water was higher, but the current flowing in seemed even stronger than when we came in an hour earlier. We went back though the rapids right at the high tide predicted time, but the flow was very strong; maybe 8 knots. I had to continue to add power to make way and was happy we had a 30 hp Yamaha pushing us through. With the higher water, the flow was more linear and the rocks well covered, but the high flow rate and turbulence demanded all my attention at the helm.

current on our bow as we exit bradley lagoon

Our total dinghy trip was 6.9 nm. After we returned to OceanFlyer, I looked at Google Earth and saw that even though we thought we had reached the end of the east arm, if we had continued to explore the “end” a little further, we would have found a channel and could have continued further to the NE.  Next time!

Tomorrow, we think the weather will cooperate for our rounding of Cape Caution.

Lagoon Cove to Blunden Harbour

As we went to bed last night it started to rain lightly. It was the first meaningful rain of the trip. The rain continued overnight, and we cast off from Lagoon Cove in a light mist.

However, with the rain comes light winds and clam sea. A good tradeoff for our trip up Queen Charlotte Strait to Blunden Harbour.

As we entered Queen Charlotte Strait, about 10 miles from our destination, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the wind and seas picked up.

We had a steady 25 knots on our port forward quarter and the seas rose to 2 feet. For OceanFlyer that results in a reasonable ride, but puts saltwater spray on deck. And just after I got the salt off her at Lagoon Cove.

oceanFlyer enjoying a bit of a sporty ride

The winds continued to build, sometimes reaching 35 knots. The seas also increased to 3 feet. Lots on banging into the waves for an hour and a half.

 Inside Blunden Harbour the winds are about the same as outside. The fetch is obviously less but small white caps persisted well after we went to bed. The advantage of having a 70,000 pond boat is that is rides well at anchor in these conditions. 

Lagoon Cove Lay Day

The docks started out empty except for OceanFlyer. The biggest change was the arrival of the 5 Grand Banks that comprise the NW Explorations Mother Goose flotilla. We were looking forward to seeing our friends Bill and Cindy and meeting the rest of the flotilla participants.

A dock full of Grand Banks

Boat chores were the order of the day. Once those were behind us and the tide reached 9-feet, we launched the dinghy and explored Cracroft Inlet We had scoped this potential anchorage out 2 years ago, and wanted another look.  We saw five feet under the dinghy on a 9-foot tide as we rounded Farquharson Island and then visited two previously marked anchor spots before heading to the end of the inlet.  The charted large drying area in the SE end of the inlet was just covered as we made our way to the “end”. If you could keep going, you’d end up in Port Harvey. Alas, today’s tides were nowhere near high enough. If the lure of Lagoon Cove was not so strong we would definitely anchor in this well protected inlet.

Happy Hour at Lagoon Cove was again the highlight of the day. With more vessels at dock, the selection of yummies made it easy to concoct a dinner from the smorgasbord. Fresh prawns, hot cheese dip, spinach dip, incredible cheese and meat trays, and even peanut butter cookies for dessert. No hardships here!

We enjoyed a pleasant visit with our friends Bill and Cindy, who are leading the flotilla north to Ketchikan. We offered to take a drone photo of all the flotilla participants poised on the deck of Arctic Star, one of the Grand Banks in the flotilla. It turned out great, and hopefully will give everyone a nice memory of their visit.

the crews of the NWE flotilla pose for a “family photo”

Tomorrow we head for Blunden Harbour to position ourselves for the rounding of Cape Caution.

Forward Harbour to Lagoon Cove

Today’s schedule is driven by weather and currents. Johnstone Strait has been plagued by 20-30 knots winds and 5-foot seas the last few days.

The forecast for Today was no different, so we’re up at 5am so we have lesser winds of 15 to 25 knots and favorable currents. Unfortunately, we’ll have winds over opposing currents, so we are expecting 1-2 foot chop. But that is an OK ride for OceanFlyer. The current in Chatham Channel also favors this early-departure schedule. We’ll get to Lagoon Cove early, so we’re prepared to anchor out until space becomes available on the docks.

Our plan worked perfectly, a rare occurrence when dealing with weather forecasts. We had a nice run down Sutherland Channel and when we turned into Johnstone Strait, we started with 1 1/2 foot chop that increased to 2 feet before laying down a bit just before we turned up Havannah Channel. We hit Chatham Channel right at slack. Overall, a good transit.

Our arrival was indeed early at Lagoon Cove but there were only 4 boats on the docks, so Dan directed us to a berth on the shoreside of the SE dock. We haven’t been on the shoreside of that dock before, but there was plenty of water. And the best part was that it was protected from the wind-driven fetch.

a rare sight, only one boat on the docks at lagoon cove

a view of lagoon cove docks from over the “homestead”

a good look at the rocks on the shore side of the docks. no problem

lagon cove is truely special

We spent the day doing boat chores, walking the gorgeous property, beachcombing catching up with Dan and Kelly and doing some planning.  The sun was out and the views were glorious.

gotta love dan and kelly’s sense of humor

great signs guide you through your walk around the properity

 Happy hour was the first time this year that Dan and Kelly served freshly caught prawns, captured despite the fact that the commercial fleet is extremely active. As always, the Lagoon Cove prawns were delicious.

evening fuel delivery to lagoon cove