A nasty start across Chatham Sound leads to new friends in Prince Rupert (PR)
We made our chunky sea, very rainy and squally way to Prince Rupert. An arduous passage, always made safe by the captain.
The commercial and cruise boat traffic picked up substantially. Arrived at Cow Bay Marina in PR, as the locals call it, and were delighted to meet two other sailboats from Bellingham. The small world shrank even more this day as Cassie was wearing her Pacific University fleece jacket upon arrival (one of at least five layers of clothing, gear and rain gear) and discovered former Pacific U Provost and spouse were next to us. Grateful to bump into such lovely people and with so many friends in common, we hope to stay in touch.
PR give us opportunities to eat sushi, try Wheelhouse Brewing, get fuel, dole out
Canadian quarters for laundry and showers and walk Coco on real grass.
Leaving PR to head to Alaska requires asking permission from US Customs before arrival and we had completed our paperwork in the required app so it was a breeze to get the green light to cross the Dixon Entrance to US waters. This passage can be challenging and seas are often very sporty here, but we had a sunny, flat-water day.
Grateful. Dolphins, whales and of course the ubiquitous bald eagles all day. T
o top things off, our welcome to Alaskan waters brought Allan’s first two salmon in the boat. We kept one and enjoyed a salmon BBQ in Foggy Bay. Retired the Canadian flag complete with an O Canada rendition, and hoisted Old Glory.