Sincerely, Denise

PRINCE RUPERT, CANADA ON THE DOCK

Saturday, May 30^th

It has been a crazy morning here in PR. Woke up to rain, then a glorious sunbreak, then just when you’re about to go for a walk a giant squall moves in and it’s blowing sideways rain! We had a quiet morning around the boat, just doing chores and relaxing. Abells and Bryans left around 10AM to walk up to town and shop. A giant Princess Cruise ship pulled in sometime overnight or early morning, so the town is probably crawling with people. We plan to head up there but as I said, keep waiting for that break. The wind is coming from the southeast and blowing the weather over the hills behind Prince Rupert so we don’t even see it coming, it all of a sudden appears over the crest of the mountains! I did some recon this morning on our future destination of Ford’s Terror which is just south of Juneau. We originally planned to go up into Tracy Arm to see glaciers but after last year’s massive landslide and subsequent Tsunami (second largest Tsunami on record) some of us are spooked to go that deep into Tracy Arm. The cruise ships have cancelled their stops at Tracy Arm as the geologists have warned there still might be some residual weakness in the hillside. Watch this very informative video if you are interested in seeing more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIziQW3-QJA

Anyway, Ford’s Terror is a very technical trip as you must transit a very narrow passageway, between two sandbars, and over a charted rock (sources say you just have to trust even though you are driving right over a submerged rock, but it’s deep enough at high tide). High slack is approximately 45 min to 1 hour after Juneau high slack, and doesn’t last very long.

“Kevin” the manager came down to our boat late morning with his charts and his stories and regaled us for a full three hours on where to go in the vicinity, local stories, his life story and then some. We loved it and all I could think of is “where is my Mom when I need her!” (she was a professional writer). Kevin’s stories need to be documented, he is such a wealth of knowledge. After he left, we eventually ventured out for a walk around town for some boondoggle errands. I needed batteries for my bathroom scale….why?, I ask, do I want to know, but I do. My pants are the telltale sign but I just feel I need to stay on top of this or it will get out of hand over the summer! Abells needed a toaster, theirs died after leaving Port McNeill so they were toastless and wanted to remedy! We found both items, did a little shopping and sightseeing around town where they have a beautiful hidden garden, and a boat from Japan that washed up in Haida Gwaii, and now resides as a memorial in Prince Rupert to lost fishermen. The boat was traced to a Japanese fisherman that ventured out and never came back. In September 1985 Kazukio Sakamoto took his vessel, the Kazu Maru, out to fish in local waters. Tragically neither he nor the boat returned home. A year and a half later the Kazu Maru was found in Skidegate Channel (the body of water that separates the north and south islands that make up Haida Gwaii) by the DFO patrol vessel Sooke Post. It was quickly established that the overturned vessel had been a considerable time at sea.

Eventually the Kazu Maru was taken to Prince Rupert where she was restored and an open shed was built for display. A plaque nearby commemorates her voyage and a park surrounds the shed, built as a dedication to all mariners whose lives have been lost at sea. Sakamoto’s wife referred to the Kazu Maru as ‘the love of his life’ and indicated he would have been happy to know the little craft was part of a park honoring mariners, recognizing the danger of a life at sea.

Coincidentally, the two cities of Owase and Prince Rupert had become ‘sister cities’ in 1968 so it’s perhaps appropriate that this stoic little craft should find its way across the seas to her ‘second home port’ of Prince Rupert.

Appropriately, we had Japanese food for dinner at the delightful OPA restaurant, a tiny hole in the wall sushi place that always has a line out the door!