Seattle to Ketchikan Day 27

Monday May 30

Well this is it - our last day underway.

It's about 95 nm from Prince Rupert to Bar Harbor.
Most normal people would break it into 2 parts and stop somewhere along the way, probably Foggy Bay.
But since we were both so eager to get home we decided to make it in one day, if at all possible.

The weather router had assured us that the open ocean crossing of Dixon Entrance would be smooth, and we had prepared ourselves for going out through the "short cut" through Venn Passage.

Here are two map snippets that show the route from Prince Rupert to Foggy Bay (about 60 nm) and then the route from Foggy Bay to Bar Harbor in Ketchikan (about 35 nm).  Of course we did it all in one long run.

Prince Rupert to Foggy Bay

Foggy Bay to Bar Harbor

We departed at 7 AM, running directly behind two other boats whose owners we had come to know during our 3 day layover in Prince Rupert.  I had shared our weather forecast with them.

One of the boats was named "Floating Island."
The owner lives in Butte Montana, but keeps the boat in covered storage in La Conner Washington.
The boat is a 1978 48' Tollycraft.

The other boat was a 32' Bayliner called "For Pete's Sake."

I was right behind them as we went through Venn Passage.
My Garmin GPS/depth finder was on the blink for most of the passage so I really had no idea of the actual depth.
But since I was right behind the other boats I had no issues.

Our weather router earned his money on this run, as it turned out to be the smoothest crossing I've ever had.  Lisa didn't even get seasick, and that's saying a lot.

About 12:30 PM we were inside US waters, near Mary Island, when our friendly US Coast Guard decided to pay us a visit, for a safety check.  They check for things like life jackets, flares, documentation, fire extinguishers, placards, etc.

They came aboard and after checking everything gave us what they call a "Good as Gold" boarding report.  If we are approached any time within the next year for another safety check we can show this boarding report and they will pass us by.  Even though it was frustrating to have to stop and be delayed so close to our goal, it is good to get this out of the way now, so it won't be an issue for at least another year.

This time I managed to snap a quick picture as they motored away.
You can see how flat the water is - terrific!

As we approached Mountain Point, barely a few miles from Bar Harbor, we saw some Orca, Killer Whales  Figures, we had not seen any on the entire trip, and now we see them less than 5 miles from home.  Sorry the pictures aren't better, it's the best I could do.

We pulled into our home slip in Bar Harbor at about 4 PM local time.
I called the US Customs office and an agent came down and processed us in record time.
Said he had to get over to the airport.

We logged about 800 nautical miles, and put 112 hours on the engines.

We were glad to be home.