Alaskan Sea-Duction: Chapter 19 Kutze to Prince Ruppert

This was going to be a very long day, but one I have looked forward to since I was a kid. We would be navigating the Grenville Channel, also known as the trench or ditch. This is a 48 mile long channel less than a 1/4 mile wide and everyone uses it from tugs to cruise ships. If you have seen an Alaskan cruise ship advertisement, more than likely they will show the ship in the trench.

We woke very early so we could be started at 5 AM. It was hard to do when we had a party over at Jon and Tracy, Pairadice. It was cold and as I looked down the inlet.....fog. Great! We I needed a brushing up on my fog skills, meaning navigating buy instruments. As we pulled the anchor I tapped on the wash down pump and boom, it started up. Hope this is a good sign. We inched our way down the inlet. I was a little worried as we were at low tide and at the entrance is a wide shoal and I didn't want to go aground.

As we went around the first corner the fog got real thick. I started to think this was a bad idea, so I stopped forward motion, debated on going back and waiting. We sat there for about 20 minutes and the fog lifted just a bit. I could see about 1/8 of a mile. We are going. I put Kay on the bow and started inching my way down the inlet. I would place the curser out in front on my GPS and then selected "go to curser." I would move forward until I got to the curser, then do all over again. We did that all the way down the inlet until I could see the shoal on the GPS. We made it around without incident and entered Princess Royal Channel. The fog lifted about a mile later, but it started to rain.

About 6 hours later we entered Whale passage and Wright Sound. The red blob had found us. There was a red algae bloom going on and it looked like going through tomato soup. It was nasty. No whales either. I sure hope we see some whales soon or Kay may throw me overboard. We hit camp point and officially entered the trench. It go narrow.

There was a tug with a tow heading for us and Prince Rupert traffic (VTS) came on calling the tug telling him there were mutable AIS targets ahead of him to include the Alaskan Sea-Duction but are not participating in VTS. AIS is a device that transmits my position, speed etc. I can also receive AIS information. The west coast has a system called Vessel Traffic System (VTS) that all commercial boats and certain recreational boats if they are over a certain length must participate in. You are required to report in at certain points and give the VTS controller when you will be located at on a particular time. It is like air traffic controllers for airlines, but on the water.

About an hour later we hear Traffic call the A2 telling him about traffic ahead of him. I could see him on my AIS. It was a 100+ yacht. He was going about 12knots and I was going 10. Then I could believe my eyes. A little green and yellow boat. It was the Zucchini! He was in the middle of the channel and would not move! he was holding his ground. I called A2 to make sure he could see this tiny boat. I then called the Zucchini to inform him we were behind him. He responded "I have been watching you for a while, we will hold our current position so you can pass!" Really I thought OK. So A2 and I passed the little boat about the same time and the channel is not that wide. I bet his wife was hitting him with a stick when the wake from our two boats hit him....The little boat that could did exactly that and came through it, but had to have stuff thrown all over the cabin.

We followed A2 through the rest of the trench. It was everything I thought it would be. Waterfalls everywhere, tall mountains and a few inlets. The approach to Prince Rupert was a little complicated due to all the rocks and little islands you have to navigate around. We made it to Cow Bay Marina where the staff was waiting to help us dock. It was getting sunny and what a beautiful evening. I did have my windshield wiper quit, so off to the parts store tomorrow. We will be off to Alaska on Sunday, weather permitting. Alaska/Canada boarder is only 36 miles away. We are almost home.