Thursday, May 29th, 2025
We left Kumealon Inlet this morning at 5:30. But first we had to pull up the anchor. As we posted yesterday we had to drop almost 350 of chain. As we started to pull up the anchor to remove the bridle (a device to assist in keeping pressure of the windless) the chain stuck. I let out some chain, then pulled it back up. Still stuck. Having your windless act up is never good. First thing in the morning, really not good. Carefully I hand pulled some of the chain off the windless and dropped it back down in the anchor. With tension on the windless one needs to be very careful as to not lose a finger during this process. Unfortunately we know someone who did. Fortunately, when I reset the chain it did the trick. We could now proceed with pulling up all the chain. I did it slowly and methodically. And then we were off.
This was our neighbor, a 65 foot Selene named Big Smile. We joked about how his four million dollar boat was sitting in the pouring rain just like us, so no difference, right? We will let you be the 👨‍⚖️.
Our four hour cruise was pretty uneventful, relatively smooth seas. We just had to watch out for logs, lots and lots of logs. And logs is an understatement. In many cases we were avoiding 80 feet plus full on trees. No joking. Where are all these logs coming from?
Along the way we got the bad news that our weather window for crossing Dixon Entrance on Saturday was quickly evaporating. The winds were moving more slowly across Canada, resulting in brisk westerly winds along our intended route. This slower movement prevents the High from ever approaching the area. The funnel between Graham Island and Prince of Wales Island could have around 3-5 foot seas with very short intervals of 3 seconds. Translation: washing machine on high cycle. We have decided to stay put here in Prince Rupert for the next four days as the weather condition improves. Our new “windows of opportunity” looks like Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime we are going to enjoy Prince Rupert. It’s a great fishing town with interesting shops and the best sushi restaurant—we think—in North America. All fish is fresh of the boat daily. We have already booked our reservation for tomorrow night.
We started out as the only boat on the inside breakwater here at Cow Bay Marina. The bad sea conditions prevented boats from coming into the harbor. But then we got the Coast Guard boat who is on an expedition checking out anchorages in the surrounding area. That’s it for now. Signing off. We are going to the local pub restaurant tonight then looking forward to a good night’s sleep without having to get up at 4:30 in the morning.
Glad you made to Prince Rupert without any problem. Marlene, is there a quilt shop!
Delayed mega compliments to Marlene on that fabulous nautical quilt!! Awesome! What is that heart thingy down the dock from you??
As long as you need to spend a few days to wait Prince Rupert is a really nice place to do it. Glad you are there to enjoy a few days of rest. You deserve it.