As part of Greg and Bob’s continued exploration of Greg’s new Garmin navigation system, they read the section on anchor alarms after we anchored up last night. They set the alarm for 50’ (the maximum distance the boat could move before setting off the alarm) and we went off to bed. The navigational alarm went off twice during the night. The first time Greg checked it alone, and everything was fine, so he set it for 100’ to allow the boat to shift more with the tide and current. The second time it went off at 2 AM, and Greg and Bob conferred, confirming the boat had continued to swing around in the changing current, but was not too close to shore. Having already sacrificed a good nights’ sleep, the decision was made to turn off the alarm and wait until Greg hooked up the depth finder to the new nav system and use that, rather than GPS position, for the basis of the alarm setting.
We have two long cruising days ahead in order to reach Ketchikan on schedule, so Greg rose early today and began the process of starting the engines, pulling the anchor, setting the tender out and taking off at 5:30am. Greg and Terry were adamant that we must take the time to turn off Grenville Channel and motor up Lowe Inlet to a waterfall at the end where they’ve previously seen bears fishing. The rain was letting up as we approached the terminus of the inlet and we spied the lovely waterfall. Soon Terry shouted “There’s a bear!” and we were all snapping photos, exclaiming and high-5-ing. Then Cathryn mentioned the bear had disappeared into the woods with a fish in it’s mouth and expressed her hope that it would reappear shortly, to which Terry responded “No, it’s still there. Don’t you see it on the left down by the water?” It was at that point we realized we’d been watching TWO different bears, none of us seeing both of them! Sure enough, one bear was on the left side of the waterfall, another on the right. One had a brown coat, the other black, but Greg and Terry tell us they were both actually Black Bears. Greg held the boat against the current running off the waterfall, as close as safely possible. What a thrill! Those bears sure are patient. Salmon were jumping everywhere, but we didn’t actually see either bear catch one during the time we watched.
Today was our longest day of cruising: 12.5 hours and 105 miles! To allow a bit of extra time in tomorrow’s schedule in case of bad weather or boat trouble, we continued 3 hours beyond Prince Rupert to Dundas Island, including about 20 miles of “big water” crossing. Cathryn decided to test Greg’s theory that she has now developed her “sea legs” and wouldn’t need scopolamine despite the 3-4 foot sea swells. And guess what? He was right!!! Tomorrow in Ketchikan we add Carol to the mix, a friend of Greg and Terry’s who will make the trip home to Port Angeles with them. In addition, when Bob and Cathryn disembark Thursday to fly home from Ketchikan, our friends Jim and Phebe Richards will arrive in Ketchikan an hour earlier and join the boat for the 10-day cruise south to Port Angeles. After dinner we played another game of “65”, then Greg and Terry went to work drawing up lists of things to take care of in Ketchikan tomorrow: laundry, groceries, re-filling the water and fuel tanks, a stop at the hardware and book stores, and on and on.
Anchorage tonight at the north end of Dundas Island
As part of Greg and Bob’s continued exploration of Greg’s new Garmin navigation system, they read the section on anchor alarms after we anchored up last night. They set the alarm for 50’ (the maximum distance the boat could move before setting off the alarm) and we went off to bed. The navigational alarm went off twice during the night. The first time Greg checked it alone, and everything was fine, so he set it for 100’ to allow the boat to shift more with the tide and current. The second time it went off at 2 AM, and Greg and Bob conferred, confirming the boat had continued to swing around in the changing current, but was not too close to shore. Having already sacrificed a good nights’ sleep, the decision was made to turn off the alarm and wait until Greg hooked up the depth finder to the new nav system and use that, rather than GPS position, for the basis of the alarm setting.
We have two long cruising days ahead in order to reach Ketchikan on schedule, so Greg rose early today and began the process of starting the engines, pulling the anchor, setting the tender out and taking off at 5:30am. Greg and Terry were adamant that we must take the time to turn off Grenville Channel and motor up Lowe Inlet to a waterfall at the end where they’ve previously seen bears fishing. The rain was letting up as we approached the terminus of the inlet and we spied the lovely waterfall. Soon Terry shouted “There’s a bear!” and we were all snapping photos, exclaiming and high-5-ing. Then Cathryn mentioned the bear had disappeared into the woods with a fish in it’s mouth and expressed her hope that it would reappear shortly, to which Terry responded “No, it’s still there. Don’t you see it on the left down by the water?” It was at that point we realized we’d been watching TWO different bears, none of us seeing both of them! Sure enough, one bear was on the left side of the waterfall, another on the right. One had a brown coat, the other black, but Greg and Terry tell us they were both actually Black Bears. Greg held the boat against the current running off the waterfall, as close as safely possible. What a thrill! Those bears sure are patient. Salmon were jumping everywhere, but we didn’t actually see either bear catch one during the time we watched.
Today was our longest day of cruising: 12.5 hours and 105 miles! To allow a bit of extra time in tomorrow’s schedule in case of bad weather or boat trouble, we continued 3 hours beyond Prince Rupert to Dundas Island, including about 20 miles of “big water” crossing. Cathryn decided to test Greg’s theory that she has now developed her “sea legs” and wouldn’t need scopolamine despite the 3-4 foot sea swells. And guess what? He was right!!! Tomorrow in Ketchikan we add Carol to the mix, a friend of Greg and Terry’s who will make the trip home to Port Angeles with them. In addition, when Bob and Cathryn disembark Thursday to fly home from Ketchikan, our friends Jim and Phebe Richards will arrive in Ketchikan an hour earlier and join the boat for the 10-day cruise south to Port Angeles. After dinner we played another game of “65”, then Greg and Terry went to work drawing up lists of things to take care of in Ketchikan tomorrow: laundry, groceries, re-filling the water and fuel tanks, a stop at the hardware and book stores, and on and on.
Anchorage tonight at the north end of Dundas Island
No comments:
Post a Comment