The view from our bow in St. John's Harbor...not bad, eh?
July 26th St. John’s Harbor to Thorne Bay
7:30 departure 55
degrees sunny and breezy
David woke me up from a sound sleep at 7 am. I was dreaming
that I was at a big rollicking party with friends. I was having such a
wonderful time before that rude interruption!
Right off the bat, we had several whale sightings. Always a
thrill. David timed our departure in order to cruise through Snow Passage at
the optimum time. It is another narrow passage with many rocks and Islets.
Today, whirlpools were added just for fun. The Belle was being pulled to and
fro and David was kept busy at the wheel. Once through, David uttered, “Phew,
now that was a challenge!” When I took the helm during an engine check soon
after, we were still being “whirled” about a bit.
Thar she blows!
We decided not to stop in Coffman Cove for the night. Clarence Strait was so calm that we wanted to
keep on going and get as far as we could that day. The Strait can be rocky so having the
sublimely calm conditions was something to take advantage of for as long as we
could. It didn’t get choppy until about two hours out of Thorne Harbor on
Prince of Wales Island. The winds
kicking up and the strong currents made docking more than a challenge.
David made two attempts to dock but could not swing the
stern over close enough for me to step off.
We saw people at the end of the dock at the fish station, and I was
tempted to yell out to them to help. On the third try the harbormaster and a
gentleman from our neighboring boat arrived like the cavalry, and we gave them
a good work out. It took at least 15 minutes to get her secured and in the spot
the harbormaster needed us to be. Not sure we would have made it in without
their help.
Tied down and ready for those winds
We were planning to stay no more than two nights but both
gentleman warned us of the winds picking up on the strait during the next two
days. They suggested that we stay put and so we will. This is our first weather
delay on our trip which is pretty remarkable.
Our neighbor was looking for a rental car so that he and his
wife could explore the island. He found a local Inn that would rent one to him
for two days, and we decided to rent it on Sunday so that we can explore a bit.
Thorne Bay used to have the largest logging camp in the
United States. The industry has since switched to tourism mainly fishing
lodges (we were told the fishing hasn't been so great lately). The logging industry created miles of paved roads throughout the island
which link Thorne Bay to the many other island communities. We will be driving
that Scenic By-way on Sunday. According to the travel brochure, Prince of Wales
Island has 4,000 people in 12 unique towns with 990 miles of Pacific Ocean
shoreline, and we will be experiencing as much as we can.
Seaplanes come and go all day long
David decided the engine’s oil pressure was running too high
so decided to drain the 40W oil and replace it with 30W. He is hoping this will
help with the pressure and slow down the oil leaks. David looks at these
“lay-overs” as an opportunity to get jobs done on the boat. He plans to finish
the deck painting while we are here. He does like the Belle looking her best.
In fact, as we were leaving the boat this afternoon, a gentleman brought his dinghy up just behind us and called out to us. He said he very much admired our boat and wanted to talk to us about it. Said it would be the ideal boat for his son who is in the Coast Guard. He and his wife are involved with youth groups and thought it would be a great boat to take them on excursions. We gave him our card after answering several of his questions. He parted with, "You never know. Miracles do happen."
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