Tuesday - Thursday, May 16-18, 2006: Hartley Bay to Prince Rupert

What a wonderful surprise this day has been. After leaving Hartley Bay we ran into some really choppy water at the entrance to Wright Channel. We suffered for a half an hour then it calmed down and we rode a flood tide going north up the Glenville Channel. We were traveling "Mach 2" going over 12 knts for over 4 hours!!! We decided to keep going as this was almost a free ride. It looked like we could make it to Prince Rupert around 80 miles in less than 8 hours!!! Beautiful scenery, an Orca feeding just south of Kennedy Island in Arthus Passage. We pulled into beautiful Prince Rupert and tied up at the yacht club. The motion in the bay was intense and I put out every buoy to keep from smashing into the concrete dock. We decided that we needed to walk on dry land after the long day and get a Guiness at the pub in the harbor. The area is called Cow Bay and is the cruise ship port for Prince Rupert. It is very cute with lots of shops and restaurants. We ate a good dinner at the Breakers Pub with the Maizel’s and realized that it was almost 10 p.m. when we finished. We have so much daylight up here that it is easy to lose track of time.

Next day we walked around Prince Rupert, ran errands to get parts for the boat and stocked up with fresh produce and berries at the local Safeway. I am amazed that I can get all types of berries in Canada. Great lettuce is harder to get than berries. The cruise ships seemed to unload passengers constantly, so the sidewalks were crowded. I had walked up fairly early to the Cow Bay Café to make reservations for that night since the ships were in and was told it may be impossible to get a reservation. We were lucky to get in and had an excellent dinner there with the Maizel’s. Adrianne is the owner/chef and quite accomplished. Off to bed and an early departure for the long trip to Ketchikan across the Dixon Entrance which can be pretty hairy.