PRUTH BAY AT ANCHOR

Friday, May 22nd

Surprisingly, John awoke at 6:30 and went fishing with Greg and Bill. It was a quick trip though, they came back just two hours later pretty chilled to the bone. I spent the morning cooking in the galley, and made a macaroni salad and a big batch of clam chowder for future meals, it always tastes better on day 2, so maybe it is tomorrow night's dinner? This was my first major cooking project in the new boat, and I am loving my new galley, so much more space for my creations. Our plan today was for a lunch time weenie roast on the beach, a tradition that Shannon started years ago, and is something we try to do every stop here. Shannon and David had originally planned to be here with us, and Shan was in charge of organizing the weenie roast. Since they peeled off earlier than expected, Shan passed all the supplies to Connie so that we could carry on her vision. 

Pruth Bay has the most GORGEOUS beaches on the west and north sides of the island, they are like a beach you'd find in the tropics, sweeping half moon bays with white sand beaches. They are absolutely stunning! So after gathering the troops on our dinghy around 11:30, with everyone bundled up (it was overcast and chilly), we motored over to shore to the docks at Hakai Institute, a marine research facility that's been here for a long time, formerly a fishing lodge. Hakai Institute is privately funded by a multimillionaire and his wife through the Tula Foundation. They are doing amazing things so it's worth reading up on them. Upon arrival, we unfortunately learned that beach fires were prohibited this year, a first, so disappointing! But also understandable since there is no way to fight a fire on this small island, and it would be devastating. BC and Canada/US overall have had a terrible time with wildfires the past 10 years, so we are guessing there is a moratorium on all manmade recreational fires just to be safe. After a short hike east to west across Calvert Island we came to the first beach "West Beach" and everyone that had never been here before just gasped when it came into view. It is nothing like you'd ever imagine seeing up on the rugged coast of BC. Then we did the rather technical and challenging hike to "North Beach" equally gorgeous with so much sea life. It was a really low tide so we hiked to the tall rocks at the water's edge and viewed the plentiful sea life - mussels, anemones, starfish, periwinkles, and all kinds of shell life. On the beach we found gobs of abalone shells, beautiful mussel shells and polished rocks and wood. As the day wore on the sun came out and warmed us all up while the wind died down, making us shed our layers and enjoy this unexpected gift of a beautiful day! 

Since we weren't able to have our beach fire and weenie roast we decided to come back to the boat and execute lunch here. The boys had to move the boats out to deeper water this morning before our hike. As we were eating lunch in our new location, we spotted a huge eagle's nest on shore and that was another hour of entertainment as we watched Mom and Dad Eagle take turns sitting in the nest and guarding the nest. There were ravens nearby on neighboring trees that we surmised were waiting for an opportunity to steal the eggs or baby eaglets. Now we are all spent for the day. Too late of a lunch to make dinner, so now we just have to stay awake until a reasonable bed time hour! What a great day. 

The iconic scary tree at Pruth Bay on Hakai Institute land, carved directly into the tree in the 1980s

Greg and Connie awaiting "Boober" (Boat Uber, our dinghy) to pick them up for our trip to shore

Another boat in the bay, but the picture was about all the seals atop mostly submerged rocks in our bay

Wolves!! We didn't see any of them but if you haven't seen the documentary "Island of the Sea Wolves" it's directly related to wolves carving out a habitat and existence subsisting on marine life. It's on one of the big streaming services. 

Hiking the well developed trail through the gorgeous woods

Love the patterns in the sand

Kelp Art

The tangled coastal woods probably ravaged by severe weather over time

A swamp but a pretty swamp

A couple of toads in the swamp

Connie arriving at North Beach on Calvert Island after our strenuous hike

Just another beach panorama

Sea Life - starfish, sea anenomes retracted of course for the low tide, mussels in the background

BIG group of Mussels

Such interesting rock formations 

John exploring tidepools

I thought this was funny, looks like a duck sticking out of the sand (it's wood)

Giant Tree Fungus

Just In Case.....

Lorrain and I on the beach, John  photoboming

First view of West Beach from the trail, taken by Connie

Our Eagle Family behind the boat, one is in the nest and the other guarding the nest, perfect perch

PORT McNEILL TO PRUTH BAY

Thursday, May 21st

Off the dock this morning and underway by 5:30am. We tried to watch a movie last night but both of us were nodding off at 7:30pm, so we went to bed and I think both had a pretty good sleep. Today is a very long run, about 90 miles, crossing Cape Caution which is the largest body of open water we will face on this trip (unless we go on the outside of Chichagof and Baranof in July, which John is hoping to do, me not so much!). Crossing Cape Caution we are exposed to the mighty Pacific for about 3-4 hours, so it has to be fairly calm. Today the swells are predicted to be 4' with 10 second spacing, and the wind is predicted to be no more than 10 knots, so we are hoping the weather Gods cooperate. John does extensive research and planning, utilizing many sources to determine whether it's safe to cross. Then all we can do is hope that the forecasters are right! With the spacing of the swells it should be a ferris wheel ride of slowly going up and down. Will report back later when we have finished today's journey.

UGH, first sea otter sighting just outside Port McNeill. For those that have read my blog in the past, you know how I feel about them. Yes they are cute, but they demolish the shellfish populations, prawns, crab, clams, everything. The otter populations are out of control, and headed for the San Juans next.

AFTERNOON UPDATE: We had a great crossing after a  little bit of a rough start. The waves began building and white caps appeared about 2 hours into our journey and we hadn't even reached the open water yet. I was hoping that it wasn't going to escalate. Thankfully, as predicted, the water smoothed out over the course of the morning and we had a really pleasant transition past Cape Caution and on to Pruth Bay, on Calvert Island. We tucked back into a nice protected finger off of the main bay, where Abells anchored on their own and we rafted (tied the two boats together) with Bryans on one anchor as an experiment. Combined, our boat and Bryan's boat is collectively about 250,000 lbs so quite a bit of weight on one anchor. Our hope is that in settled water that the three boats can raft together over the summer, as it is infinitely more fun when we are tied together. Since it was the very first time that the Bryans and Abells had crossed Cape Caution, it was time to celebrate and toast the accomplishment! We all gathered on our boat for cocktails and snacks around 3:30, which stretched into a several hours, many cocktails, and no dinner. We all know how that goes! What a fun afternoon! Happy to be across the Cape and on to our next leg of inside waters for the next week, except for a brief trip into Milbanke Sound as we round the corner to dart back inside. BONUS: We were greeted by many eagles upon arrival, their distinct chatter music to our ears. 

Lorraine took this picture from her boat in 3rd position behind us and Abells as we headed out into the open ocean Cape Caution Crossing. 

Heading out to cross Cape Caution, Huntress in front, UnforgetAbell second, taken from Far Niente

Here's another one that Lorraine took a few days ago that turned out nice. 

 BLIND CHANNEL TO PORT McNEILL

May 20th

We had a wonderful dinner last night at Blind Channel, the menu is small but the quality is top notch. I had sablefish in a citrus butter over veggies, it was really good! Thank you to my travel partners for making it a special night for us. 

Today was another fairly early day because we had to time the Greenpoint Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids to get out to the Johnstone straits. Normally we go south out of Blind Channel for 15 minutes and hit the Johnstones immediately, but the group decision was to delay the Johnstones by going up and over. The entire cruise to Port McNeill was uneventful, maybe a humpback sighting, but that was the extent. The best news is that the water was calm today, at most some light chop at times, but it was a great journey up to Port McNeill. Port McNeill is a cute little town, historically a logging and mining town. In fact they have the largest quarry in the Northern Hemisphere, which I found out by googling this morning, I had no idea. But enroute north we've always passed by the large marine shipping facility just north of the town so I probably could have looked it up much sooner. We all executed our minimal errands in town then met at the Devil's Bath Brewing, a local craft brew pub, for a lively happy hour and send off for Shannon and David who are peeling off here to enjoy the Broughtons at a leisurely pace. They had planned to spend a few more days with us, but had to make the tough choice to play it safe. Favorable weather predictions for crossing Cape Caution have been spotty so they don't want to get caught up north waiting for a window to come back. We've personally traveled with them to Alaska twice before (2018, 2022), so we will miss them terribly. Safe travels to you two. 💕

Dinner at Blind Channel

Farewell to Shannon and David, on docks at Port McNeill

CAMPBELL RIVER TO BLIND CHANNEL 

Tuesday, May 19th

Today it's our anniversary as previously mentioned! 19 years of bliss, that's our story and we're sticking to it! Seriously, it's been a wonderful adventure in life with my love. 

Another early day for us, the captains decided we needed to be outside the harbor into the channel by 6:15, which meant we started to prepare around 5:45, for John that meant unplugging power readying the lines, and for me it meant slugging down the coffee just so I can function. Still having jet lag residuals. Our journey today started out uneventful, an easy cruise to meet our goal of hitting Seymour Narrows at slack water around 7:15. After that, things began to ramp up and by the time we hit the turn off to go up to Blind Channel, all the boats were taking spray over the bow, and sometimes even over the flybridge! It was all stirred up. The tides are huge right now which, when combined with current and wind, makes for a bit of a rock n' roll ride. Once we turned the corner the water settled and all we had were currents to deal with from there to Blind Channel. At this writing, we are all settled in on the docks and about ready to go for a hike in the woods on the beautiful trails they have here. 

After a little down time, we set out to hike up to the Big Cedar at Blind Channel. It is a Western Red Cedar that is estimated to be 800-1,000 years old, left standing by early loggers so people could enjoy this massive tree. It's a beautiful hike through the woods with the forest floor soft and cushy with needles and hemlock pine cones, and later in the summer lush with huckleberries. Tonight we are eating out (again!) at the Cedar Post Inn, the wonderful German restaurant here on the marina premises, owned by the Richter Family for over 4 generations. It is a meticulously well run marina, with the grounds neat and tidy and interior decor tasteful. Oh and cinnamon bus in the morning if one desires. Over and out for today. 

Hiked up to the Big Cedar at Blind Channel

L-R, UnforgetAbell, Far Niente, Lucky Dog, Huntress, docked at Blind Channel

Hiked out to the lookout point

Wedding Day, May 19, 2007 (yes we had a tropical themed wedding) - woah, that spray tan of mine!!

Just a couple of big kids on their honeymoon in Paris, 2007

SECRET COVE TO CAMPBELL RIVER

Monday, May 18th

Happy Anniversary to Connie and Greg! 41 years! Tomorrow is John's and my 19th anniversary, not sure we will make it to 41 but we hope so! Let's see, we'd be 87 and 89 so it's possible if our respective genetics play out, John's folks are 88 and 87, and my Mom lived to be 94, passing away just 2 weeks shy of her 95th birthday! Let's hope we are as fortunate. 

Whose idea was it to make Aviation cocktails last night? Oh yes, it was me, what was I thinking. I just had one but it kicked my butt, judging from the way my head feels this morning. Apple Fritters helped my brain fog a bit. Anyway, we cast off this morning at 6:45AM for the 6-1/2 hour run to Campbell River which is our first major provisioning and fuel stop. Now we can shop for fruits and vegetables, wine, and anything else we've forgotten. The water was like glass and the sun was bright for the entire trip, it was a great leg of our journey! We saw a couple of humpback whales very briefly along the way, but too far away to take pictures.

The wind was blowing at Campbell River, like it usually does. Everyone else made their way into the harbor while we did our usual routine of stopping outside the entrance to pull in our tender that we tow, and tying it alongside the big boat before proceeding into the harbor. After we accomplished that task while drifting backwards in the 5 knot current, I then proceeded to set up the big boat with lines and fenders to go into the harbor to the dock. I was outside walking back from the front of the boat, and inadvertently bumped a fender clip (or my clothing caught on it, not sure which) which released the fender into the swirling current! Crap! As I watched it being swept away, John abandoned his captain post and came back to help me get the tender untied so I could race over to fetch it, which I did without too much trouble. After docking and getting settled it was a marathon shopping trip to the Canadian Super Store (like a giant Walmart with groceries) to provision up, because after our stop at Port McNeill in two days, there are no grocery stores for nearly 2 weeks. We had a nice dinner out at CARVE, an absolutely excellent restaurant, celebrating the Abells' anniversary, then it was off to bed for our next early departure, 6:15AM.

HUNTRESS underway to Campbell River

Happy Anniversary Greg and Connie!

MONTAGUE HARBOUR TO SECRET COVE

Sunday, May 17

Happy Birthday to our darling granddaughter Emma who is 3 today and we are sad to be missing her birthday party! We love you sweet girl.

Connie and I started our day with another walk on shore; today we managed 3.5 miles and hiked through the campgrounds and woods surrounding Montague Harbour. Perfect start to the day! Once again we have a leisurely boat departure at 10:30 because we are trying to hit a particular passage by noon for slack water. Porlier Pass is one of the gateways into the straits and also through which the water funnels during tide changes, sometimes with swirling currents of up to 7 to 10 knots, so one is always wise to try to time that transit at slack. 

As I mentioned, we have a new boat this year. On our other boat, I was more of an active partner in pulling the anchor, releasing the tender for tow, and generally helping to facilitate. John would be out on the bow bringing up the anchor and we had a hand signal system to inform me if he wanted me to engage the engines, back up, go to one side or the other. We were more of a partnership. With the new boat, John now has what is basically a remote control for the boat, so I no longer have any active role in this process. It's a bit sad for me in some ways, but I will adjust. I still drive the boat quite a bit and navigate, and plan routes, so I am still involved. I also coil up all the lines and pull in all the fenders (most of the time, i have been forgetting a couple the last 2 days, have to get back into my routine). And I am chief cook, which is quite a bit of work actually. Unless we are onshore because the rule on our boat is if we are on a dock and there's a restaurant available....we are eating out! 

We hit Porlier Pass at 11:45 to a nothing burger, no currents or hazards, a smooth transition to the Georgia Straits. Then we set in for the 3-1/2 hour crossing to get across the straits to Secret Cove for the night, a small marina on mainland Canada. We had the most beautiful crossing in the glorious sunshine and eventually ran from the flybridge because it was so toasty, tunes cranked. Such a great afternoon! After getting settled in at Secret Cove we of course had to hit the little store on the dock to see what treasures we could find, and I needed lemons for my cocktail recipe for Aviations, a cocktail that dates back to the 1920s, and it is very good if you like gin. To be honest you can't even taste the gin after the other ingredients are added (lemon juice, creme de violette, and maraschino cherry liqueur). Shannon found a stuffed toy croissant with a mustache, and had to have it. I only found my lemons, some water, and apple fritters....which I had to have. Anyway tonight we had "appetizers for dinner" as a group and Greg blessed the fleet, which we feel is imperative. Greg blessed our last two trips to Alaska, and we had great weather and no calamities, so we are so thankful whether people believe it is just superstition, a religious or pagan belief, or dumb luck....it works for us, not gonna mess with it!  Crashed somewhat early because tomorrow we need to hit the water early to get to Campbell River for supplies and groceries, and we only have a few hours to accomplish our errands. As mentioned we had to shave off our second day in Campbell River due to weather delay. 

FAR NIENTE at anchor in Montague

Looking back to our following fleet

Close up of fleet, Far Niente nearest, and UnforgetAbell bringing up the rear. Lucky Dog ahead of us.

Beautiful Day on the water!

El Capitan at the helm

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

REID HARBOR, USA TO MONTAGUE HARBOUR, CANADA

Saturday, May 16th

Well, our trip has already experienced its first weather delay, as we were supposed to be in Secret Cove last night, having crossed the Georgia Straits. However, Poseidon (God of the Sea), Aeolus (Keeper of the Winds), and Mother Nature held a conference and conspired to keep us from that schedule - it was blowing in the straits and we would have had opposing current which makes for a bucking bronco ride, not our favorite scenario and a recipe for sea sickness or even worse, scrambling the contents of the kitchen cupboards. This meant calling the marinas we'd booked and shifting our reservations around a bit. We decided to shave a day off at Campbell River to make up for the lost day and get back on schedule.

We left Reid Harbor around 9:30 and called in to Canadian customs enroute, easily getting clearance which is the first hurdle of any boat trip. We were hoping to make it up to the Flat Top Islands and Silva Bay today, but the marina had no room for us so we took refuge in Montague Harbour off Galiano Island. Lucky Dog chose to go to Ganges for the night. Far Niente anchored in Montague on their own and UnforgetAbell rafted off of us once our anchor was down. The previously predicted rain hadn't shown up yet so we took a gamble and went for a nice walk onshore - boating is so sedentary that we have to take advantage of any opportunity to stretch our legs! After our exercise what better than to have Happy Hour at the Crane and Robin, a cute little cafe in Montague Harbour, which probably erased all benefits of our walk, but dang they make good margaritas! The sun came out this afternoon and it was quite toasty, such a welcome change from yesterday's bluster and wind. We each made our own respective dinners onboard tonight, and I once again hit the wall from jet lag, being completely exhausted by 7PM. John motored over to Far Niente for some after dinner wine and conversation and I crashed. 

PS I guess I lied and I do have photos from yesterday after all, see below. 

White caps on Lake Washington as we departed

Rough Lake Washington!

Poseidon in Bronze brought home from Pompeii, boat decor

Captain John in the locks

Going under Deception Pass bridge

5/16 - BC Ferries

Crane and Robin in Montague Harbor

UnforgetAbell and Huntress anchored in Montague Harbour

HUNTRESS AND FRIENDS GO TO ALASKA 2026

Friday, May 15, 2026

Anchors Aweigh! It's May 15th and we are off to Alaska again in our new boat HUNTRESS, this time with three other boats, LUCKY DOG (Shannon and David), UNFORGETABELL (Connie and Greg - last name Abell thus the boat name, it's not a spelling error!), and FAR NIENTE (Lorraine and Bill). Many of you are probably aware that I just returned from a nearly month long adventure throughout Europe with my  girlfriends (since kindergarten) from my hometown of Bellingham WA. We returned from Athens on Wednesday 5/13, landed in Seattle at 5PM, home by 6:30PM, which was 4:30AM Athens time, and I did not sleep on the plane. I hastily unpacked my suitcase and put everything away, and packed up a few bags to take to the boat. John and I grabbed some dinner and caught up, then I crashed - hard.  Although I had completely prepped for this boat trip before I left for Europe, yesterday (May 14) was still a flurry of activity as I had to catch up on my grooming (hair, brows, toes appointments) so I don't scare my travel companions. Fit in a last minute visit with the grandkids, did a little grocery shopping for fresh items, and then off to the boat to spend the night to facilitate an early departure in the morning. We left the dock at around 6:30AM this morning and made our way to the locks, where we had a very short wait for our turn. UnforgetAbell and Far Niente were on the same path with us and they were only running the small locks so each of us had to wait a cycle to get through. The weather outside was a bit skunky, windy and rainy, as we cruised up through Deception Pass and on to Reid Harbor at Stuart Island where we all threw down anchors around 6PM. John and I hosted dinner on our boat and also provided transportation (we call it Boober, "Boat Uber") to our boat, since we tow a tender  and everyone else's tenders were topside. We had a lively kick off dinner with homemade margaritas by Lorraine (she makes the best scratch margaritas ever) and burger night with yummy burgers from Fischer Meats in Issaquah. As I said, I provisioned this boat before we left so our freezer is full of vacuum sealed meats and other food. Once we get to Canada then we can provision with fruits and vegetables and all the fresh items we are not supposed to take across the border. It was a rather early night because everyone was worn out - Shannon and David had spent the previous night at Shilshole Marina where the sea lions have completely taken over the docks in the inner harbor. They barked all night and will also chase you if you get near them! I still had jet lag and hit the wall, Connie also had no sleep the night before, so we were the sleepwalking group! Was so nice to climb into our new flannel sheets, all cozy. I have no pictures from today, but will catch up in the coming days. 

BLAKELY ISLAND TO BELLEVUE (MEYDENBAUER BAY YACHT CLUB) - THE END OF OUR TRIP

 Sunday, August 24, 2025 

Today’s agenda is to head for the barn. We were going to stay out one more night to avoid the weekend crowds going through the locks, but John decided we should just suffer through it and get home tonight. Our nemesis, Point Wilson, was in our path so we timed our arrival at PW to a tee to avoid an unpleasant encounter – something we’ve experienced more that we care to admit. Anyway, the straits of Juan de Fuca were glassy smooth the entire way, the sun was out, it was so enjoyable. The passage by Point Wilson was a nonevent, and we made our way to the locks arriving at 4PM. There was already a huge lineup at the locks and it was abundantly clear we weren’t going to make that cycle so made the decision to tie off to the wood pilings in the locks staging area and wait our turn. The locks are always a sh*t show because so many people don’t know the protocol, or there is the occasional idiot that crowds the line, and we had both today – I have three stories to tell. First off as we were motoring slowly (which you are required to do) down the Shilshole channel at the entrance, a huge Hatteras (brand of boat) behind us peeled off and went between the red buoy and the shore which is a very shallow shoal. You non-boaters may have heard the term “red right returning” and that means always keep the red buoy to your right when returning to port. The fact that this big boat took the chance of running aground was truly reckless, but he made it, and threw us a nice wave in a no-wake zone to boot. He ended up tying off to the same pilings in the staging area, but made sure he was ‘ahead’ of us again. My second story is there is a train trestle that spans across the waterway leading to the locks and some boats are too tall to transit and need to wait for the bridge to raise. We were the third boat to arrive at the locks for this round, and for the last 2 hours various boats have been arriving and hovering behind us waiting their turn, including one large sailboat, who was at least 10 boats behind in the order of arrival. A big commercial vessel arrived and they have priority boarding, so up went the bridge and in followed the sailboat who apparently thought he was next in line to go into the locks so positioned himself so. Now sailboats, no matter the size, don’t typically get the wall position because of their oval shape, they normally raft. So for this guy to think he was at the front of the line spelled another kind of idiot. My third lock story. As we waited for the next large lock opening we watched another idiot in a small boat decide to jump in the water in the lock entrance staging area! This is a HUGE safety issue and he should have been cited. Darwin awards are calling. FINALLY around 6:30PM the large locks opened for boarding. The rule is, if a boat is larger than you, let them in first because the large boats tie off on the wall, then the smaller boats raft off the larger boats, that’s how they load the locks.  Two smaller boats that were tied up ahead of us on the pilings decided that it was time to cast off their lines only to be told by locks staff “if it’s bigger than you, let them through” so they became mere obstacles for us to dodge around. Mr. Hatteras idiot was slow casting off the pilings so we slipped right past him as payback for his earlier idiot move. Mr. huge sailboat also had to stand down as he was told to wait as well. Anyway, we got ourselves tied down in the locks and waited as the rest of the locks were loaded. It was high tide so a pretty quick trip up and out, and by now it was 7:30 and dusk was setting in. Being a Sunday on the lake, it is very crowded with small boats, kayaks, paddle boarders, and lots of boat traffic. The speed limit is 7 knots for about an hour as we weave our way through Lake Union, through the Montlake Cut, and finally under the 520 bridge where the slow speed limit ends. But by now it’s getting fairly dark so we don’t want to go fast either. We arrived at our home port, Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club, only to find our subletter forgot to get his boat out in time, so after a couple of phone calls we were given permission by our neighbor to use his slip overnight. Using flashlights John was able to guide the boat to the dock with ease, and we were finally at our home port. We grabbed the essentials and took a Lyft home to our townhouse, collapsing into bed without dinner, a fact neither of us seemed to care about. Another trip in the books, and this 2025 Boat Trip Blog is now complete. Thanks for following along, hopefully I didn’t bore you to absolute tears. Love to All, Sincerely….Denise

Straits of Juan de Fuca, flat calm

Boat in the locks. Took this picture because our grand daughter's name is Emma

Commercial boat entering the locks

The sailboat that decided he was first in line

One of the many crazy floating toys in the lake