2017 Emerald Star Cruise

We woke up a sunny day and Khutze in all her glory.    Sorry to leave.                 Unfortunately we have to leave our favorite place to keep on the move toward Alaska.   The cruise to Coghlan Anchorage was pleasant.   This anchorage is really just a stopover on our way to Prince Rupert.   This anchorage is unprotected and we hope for continued calm winds and seas.  

The weather remains dreary but Khutze remains spectacular.   We started the morning with a trap full of Dungeness crab.   They were all males (you have the throw the females back in) and they were all of legal size.   We kept our share and gave three to a fellow on a neighboring sailboat.     The rest were given a reprieve and thrown back in.   Fred cleaned them and we cooked them on a portable propane stove in the cockpit.   We let them cool and picked them right away.   What we didn’t have for dinner, I used my Seal-a-meal to vacuum pack a few pounds of crab for another day. While Fred was out in the cockpit having a cigar a fellow from a neighboring catamaran came and asked us to move the boat because they are making an IMAX movie and our boat is in the middle of the shot.   It is raining, we would have to put the dinghy back up and we have 300’ of chain down in a dee...

We went through Lama Passage and then through Heikish Narrows in Finlayson Channel .   We went through at high slack water without difficulty.   We entered Graham Reach and into our favorite anchorage on the coast.   Imagine Yosemite Valley filled with water and we are anchored near Yosemite Falls.   Again, the mountains are snow-capped and there are a dozen waterfalls in this inlet in Fjordland.   Khutze actually takes ones breath away.     

The anchorage was very turbulent this morning.   We have to go through some open water today and we had trouble g3etting the weather report that we needed on the radio.   We decided we could always return if we had to.   As it turned out, Seaforth Channel was rippled with 10 kts of wind.   Awesome!   As we cruised Mathieson Channel the wind was only 8-10 kts and we had a 2’ to 3’ following seas the whole way up.   Our autopilot doesn’t like the following sea but we were very comfortable.   We are seeing more waterfalls on both sides of the channel than ever before.   It helps that it is pouring rain.    We have the channel to ourselves and arrived at our destination, Windy Bay.   It is a large round bay but it is rather deep.   We anchored in 65’ with good holding.   We are now in Fjordland.   We can see snowcapped mountains with waterfalls falling over 1000’ to the cove.