Onboard

July 3d
Yesterday's embarkation was quite tedious. Though they wanted everyone there 3 hours before departure, we because of checkout time at the RV park, were even earlier, did not load until 6 PM (departure time). The highlight of the 5 hour wait was watching the explosive sniffing dog “playing” in the parking lot and a visit by the llama and cart show;


. We did manage a delightful lunch in old town Fairhaven.Since this ferry has many stops the efficient loading of vehicles is not any easy affair. We are fortunate that we had a berth reserved, for deck space was fairly limited by the time we came aboard. Once underway though leaving Bellingham Bay was the thrill departures should be, complete with a CG escort out


Today started beautiful morning entering the Queen Charlotte Strait. Just passed a pod of Orcas but not close enough for a photo op. Earlier went through a fairly large school of Pacific Whitesides. Weather is just about perfect, light breeze no waves to speak of, few clouds, but great visibility. The ferry route stays east of Queen Charlotte Sound so I expect a fairly smooth sail all the way to Ketchikan. What is noteworthy is scarcity of sailing yachts up in this area. Being familiar with the lower B.C. Coast this is so uncrowded. Of course conditions are not always as they are right now, in fact Queen Charlotte Strait and Sound are notorious for their intense weather. I am sitting here bemoaning the fact I did not bring charts with me to identify locations. I had thought I still had my Blue charts loaded on my Garmin Map 76s for the area but unfortunately they are not. With no Internet access I am kinda lost in space.

Ketchikan 4th of July

Sitting in the ferry terminal trying to update during the 1 hour layover before heading on to Juneau. It is overcast here but no rain, so considered a great day. Yesterday afternoon we had numerous Humpback sighting up fairly close. We have had very smooth sail, only feeling motion during open water crossings, woke up at 1 AM when we crossed the Dixon Entrance, but that lasted for only an hour. Of course this will change when we cross the Gulf of Alaska in a few days.





Dock watchers at Ketchikan;














Piloting a 418'LOA, 85'Beam through the Wrangle Narrows is quite a feat even with the minimal 17'6" draft