I made it back to Bellingham! My trip through Alaska was actually more difficult than the trip through Canada. The wind was blowing from the south the whole way through Alaska so it was slow going. I also didn't have an autopilot for the entire trip, since it broke on my way up to Juneau, so I was chained to the wheel the whole time. It wasn't the end of the world, but in the future for a long trip I would rather have some way of not having to steer the whole time. So I left Ketchikan and after crossing Dixon Entrance, I made my way into Prince Rupert to check in with customs, and they were quite reasonable and nice, so I continued on my way. Upon entering Greenville Channel, I stopped in a place called Lowe Inlet and there was a waterfall with Coho Salmon jumping up it! It was great, I paddled over and tried to get some video and pictures. The salmon are pretty reckless, and they can't really see where they are going, so I ended up getting hit a few times by them as they jumped and I was right next to the falls. I was surprised not to see bears there catching fish in mid air. Maybe they don't know how to do it here. After Lowe Inlet, I caught lots of great current, where in the morning it would be high tide, and I would be in the middle of a long passageway, so the current would help me go "out" and then it would be noon, and I would catch the current "in" the next passageway. I did this for a few days and it worked great. I also started catching winds from the north, (and some sun!) which really helped too. I could fly the spinnaker, and a few times I was holding speeds of over 8 knots. In one of these places, I passed the quintessential Canadian navigation marker:
Eh? And here is a picture of the spinnaker that earned me so many miles:
When I got across Queen Charlotte Entrance (the north end of Vancouver Island), the winds lightened and the wildlife suddenly came out! I saw some Orca,
An Elephant Seal,
And Dall's Porpoises and Pacific Whitesided Dolphins. I also found a bunch of Humpback Whales just north of the San Juan Islands, in the middle of the Strait of Georgia. I hadn't seen them much down here, so that was a nice sight. Upon getting close to the border, however, it began to get gloomy. The smoke from all the fires soured the sky and I met up with my friend Danny in the San Juans and he took this picture of Layla in the smoke.
Pretty nasty, huh? So I made it through Canada in 10 days, and Ketchikan to Bellingham in 12. Thats pretty quick. Now I'm trying to get settled into Fairhaven and get the boat in better order again for the winter.
