Odyssey goes to Alaska
May 10, 2021
Tomorrow we start our 8th trip to Alaska. First time in this boat....a very long story but this is our 2nd Helmsman Trawler. We had planned to go north last year but Covid changed our plans. We are hopeful that we will be allowed to cross into Canadian waters and transit through to SE Alaska where we will float around for the summer. Due to Covid, we will be allowed to anchor, fuel and take on water but not deviate from the route of passage, not fish or crab or leave the boat. Our float plan has us transiting Canadian waters and arriving in Ketchikan (weather permitting) in about 9 days. I will be trying to post along the way with photos. Stay tuned!
May 14,2021 This is the first real post for this blog since we are underway. I'll start at the beginning and catch up. We left home Tues, May 11 as planned Diesel, the Shih Tzu had a grooming appointment for early that morning...likely his last for the summer. Picked him up at 0930 and we pushed off the dock at home at 0950! There was a bit of fog which cleared as we crossed Rosario into Thatcher Pass but the water was flat! We cruised over to Friday Harbor where we topped off with fuel and then made our way up to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island. There we ran into Marco and Karen from Helmsman Navigator and met Karl and Shellie from Helmsman Amy Ann. We also met Tom and Kay from Alaskan SeaDuction ( on their way to AK). We had a nice visit,compared stories and boats and got a good night's rest.
The next morning, 5/12, we pulled anchor at 0700 and headed for Van Isla to clear Canadian customs. We did not know ahead of time about the app ArriveCan which they wanted complete before we met with the customs officers. Once that was done they boarded Odyssey and searched it. Seems their biggest concern and target was cannibis in any form. We had none but I had a tiny old bottle of Lavender oil at my bedside that aroused their suspicians. So old the label was worn but they were most curious about it. Was I sure it was not cannibis??? Yes! Take the lid off and smell it! Neverthe less, they cleared us after we supplied our float plan and meal plan(to make sure we had enough food!!) We made the trip to Nanaimo and dropped the hook at 5 pm. Long day and a longer one comeing tomorrow.
We pulled anchor at 0520 andmade for Campbell River! The first 20 miles were a bit bouncy but the sea finally laid down and we had smooth cruising the rest of the day. At the north end of the Strait of Georgia the currents/tides changed direction. From about Campbell River the sea ebbs north through Johnstone Strait and floods south. From that point also, the Strait of Georgia ebbs south and floods north. So when we hit Campbell River (actually Cape Mudge) our nice forward motionon the incoming tide stopped and we met an incoming(in the opposite direction)current working against us...running at 6 kts. So suddenly we went from 9 kts down to 3 without changing our rpms. Fortunately Gary read the water/currents correctly and found the path of least resistance, caught the speed of some back eddys and took advantage of God's rpms! We cruised most of the way to Gowland Harbor in excess of 8kts. We dropped our hook in Gowland Harbor at 530 which made for another long day.
This morning we pulled anchor at 0620 to make slack at Seymour Narrows and catch the ebb which would take us north up through Discovery Passage and Johnstone Strait. Gale warnings out but early AM looked promising.
We made the narrows at slack tide and took off. Made great time on good water all the way to Chatham Point where things started to deteriorate. Before long we were in 6-8foot seas and were slamming into the waves taking green water over the bow. Never a fun thing! We fought our way for the next 3 1/2 hours. We called ahead to a boat infront of us (happy to have AIS!) and asked about sea conditions. They said things were deteriorating. This boat was a 60 footer...much bigger than we are and they were quiting for the days. We checked weather (thank heaven we bought a cell phone booster for our internet!!) on line. Fanny Island was reported WNW @39 kts!! To much for our stamina. We turned around and skipped back to Helmcken Island for the night. A tiny little uninhabited island in the middle of Johnstone Strait with a good little nook with roomfor 2 boats tops but protected fromN/S and W winds. We called the Canadian customs folks (since we deviated from our float plant) and let thew know our whereabouts....this is a totally new concept for us bt we are playing by the rules!!! They were nice and understanding about the weather.
Hope things are better in the AM. It is still 45 miles to Port McNeill!
