Dall Island oh my

We’re in Ketchikan and have been for over a week. It’s raining and blowing SE. James Cotton is on the stereo. Time to see if I can get this thing up to date.

We left Craig about 2:30 on Sunday the 6^th of June. As soon as we cleared the dock I raised the main, hoping to take advantage of the 10-15 knot NW afternoon sea breeze. Our destination was Hole in the Wall, a sheltered bight off Divers Bay on the west coast of Dall Island. Since it was less than 25 miles away by shortest route I decided to detour into Port St Nicholas where I could get pictures of Karl and Jeri’s gorgeous house. It was a fun downwind run to their dock and then a beat back out to Bucareli Bay. Gaining Bucareli Bay I set the genoa and turned off the engine. We beam reached all the way to Ulloa Passage making 6-7 knots. What pleasure!

It was interesting to finally see Waterfall Resort, a converted cannery. They began the conversion when I was living in Petersburg. I had done some radio work for them but never made it out to actually see it. What an operation. Besides the old cannery buildings there were 25 or so cabins and probably 30 or more aluminum high speed fishing boats tied up at their marina. The rest of the way to Hole in the Wall was unremarkable. We were anchored on the second try a little before nine.

What a pretty spot. We ended up spending two nights. I got a chance to try my new crab pot a couple times. Unfortunately all I caught was a starfish. Jazz and I explored several beaches both on the inside and out in Divers Bay.

I really wanted to go down the outside of Dall Island mainly because of its remoteness but also because it hadn’t been logged as thoroughly as the east coast. The issue was a SE gale forecasted to hit Thursday night. What it meant was that the next anchorage had to be secure enough to weather the coming gale. I took a look at the options and decided on Port Bazan about a 25 mile run down the coast. It had a mud bottom and was closer to Cape Muzon, the southern tip of Dall Island, than my second choice, Waterfall Bay. I prepared the boat for an early departure.

The skiff was aboard and the anchor up by 8:30 Wednesday. The forecast for the day called for a small craft advisory due to seas with 8 foots seas and 15 knots NW building to 20 knots in the afternoon. With the early departure and the 10 knot wind I raised the main all the way up as we motored west across Divers Bay. Once we were able to turn SE the wind was as predicted with 8-10 foot seas. Two hours later the wind had built to 20-25 knots, more than I’m comfortable with, solo sailing with an unreefed main. We had been running with Otto steering but our yaw rate was becoming dangerous. Just as I was turning off the autopilot to take the helm we suffered an accidental jibe. The boom swung across snapping the upper block on the boom vang with a loud crack. It also broke loose the two 15 gallon fuel jugs that were now shifting and rolling around the mast. We were still 30-40 minutes to the entrance to Port Bazan and shelter.

To further elevate the stress level, I wasn’t exactly certain of the location of the entrance. Finally I just trusted what the nav computer was saying and steered for the mark I had placed outside the channel. It was a huge relief to sail into the lee of the entrance when it eventually opened up. As we negotiated the channel leading into the port I spied another amphibious deer out for a swim.

Twenty minutes later we were “surveying” for a suitable spot to anchor. But it was deep everywhere it wasn’t rocky. If the bottom is mud and the weather is settled, I can sleep with a 3:1 scope, that is, 3 feet of rode for one foot of depth. I can get away with that because Blue Note’s rode is 3/8” chain and the anchor is big. But in stormy conditions I like to have at least a 4:1 or better yet a 5:1 scope. The rode is 160 feet but it has been spliced with an oversized link that doesn’t easily pass through the hawse pipe, limiting it to a little over 100 feet. I tried anchoring in a place that had 20-25 feet of water but it was rocky and the anchor shifted as the boat swung. Not good. We reanchored in about 45 feet and got a good set backing down on it. I wasn’t totally comfortable with it but the wind wasn’t supposed to pipe up for another 18-24 hours. I figured I’d check out other areas in the morning.

About 5 in the morning I was awakened by a loud gust of wind accompanied by a 15 degree roll! I leaped out of the bunk, pulled on a shirt and started the engine on my way to the cockpit. The wind was howling out of the west at 30-40 knots and we looked like we were dragging the anchor. I jumped down and flipped the nav computer on to confirm. Sure enough, we were 200 feet from our original spot and slowly but surely moving down wind. I went back topside, put the boat in gear dead slow ahead and set the autopilot to steer us into the wind while I ran back down to my cabin to put on pants and shoes.

The wind had moderated to about 25 knots and gusty when I got up on deck. I went forward and retrieved the anchor. Now where? I was stuck with Port Bazan as the conditions outside were bound to be nasty. I decided to take a look at the extreme head of the bay. We headed there.

We rounded the point marking the entrance and immediately were in a lee, a hopeful development. We criss-crossed the head watching the video sounder for rocks, bottom type, and swinging room. I finally picked out a spot in about 18 feet and what looked to be a mud bottom. I set the boat into the wind dead slow astern and went forward to deploy the anchor. After all the rode was out I got back to the cockpit and backed down hard. The anchor set with a satisfying jerk. For better or worse we were anchored. It was 6:44 Thursday morning.

We stayed more or less in that spot for four days. The peak measured gust occurred Friday night and was 44 knots out of the SW. Most of the time it blew out of the south but there wasn’t a direction it didn’t blow from at some point. Sometimes it would stop for as much as an hour. Jazz spent most of the time sleeping. I napped in my clothes the first night waking every ½ hour or so but relaxed as it became apparent we weren’t going anywhere. I spent my time reading and doing crosswords. I ran the engine 2-3 times a day to charge the batteries and for heat since it was too windy to fire up the heater.

You would think that at least we could experience the wilderness even though the conditions were less than optimal. Wrong. Apparently the land surrounding Port Bazan is owned by a native corporation as there was an active clear cut underway, replete with the howl of chainsaws, the hoot of the horn on the highline, the growl of Jacob brakes on the logging trucks, and the angry buzz of the Hughes 500 helicopter coming daily to check on the job. This only when the wind abated enough that these sounds could be heard over the scream of the wind in the rigging. Never-the-less we did get ashore at least twice a day for Jazz, but I was loathe to stay for long with the boat unattended.

Monday dawned partly cloudy with light winds. Time to go finally. The Dixon-Entrance-to-Cape-Decision forecast was for variable winds to 10 knots but once again a SCA was posted for seas to 10 feet. We’d been there before. Our destination was Nina Cove on the east side of Long Island on the west side of Cordova Bay about 35 miles. I decided to wait until we were outside in open water to raise sail having been burned before. We were underway before 9.

For once the conditions were pretty much as predicted. The problem with the conditions was the seas. Without much wind there was no stabilizing effect of the sail. We got hammered. After two hours of violent motion and vandals I looked for shelter. I opted for Security Bay.

Once again it was with much relief when we got into the shelter of the Bay. Once again the problem was where to anchor. There really aren’t any-too deep right up to the shore line. I remembered Mike in Craig mentioning that the bight just inside and to the north of the entrance could be used for a temporary anchorage. We headed there.

After a questionable anchor set I paused to take stock. We couldn’t stay where we were, at least not with getting rest. I set about securing everything that had come loose that morning. After a little more than three hours we were ready to brave the outside once again. Before retrieving the anchor I set the main with two reefs. We got underway.

The rest of the day’s travel was very pleasant. The wind had built to 15 knots NW and the seas had moderated to 8 feet from 8-10 feet. We rounded Cape Muzon and proceeded north up Cordova Bay with 2 foot seas once we had gained the lee of Cape Muzon. The sail to Nina Cove was actually fun. We were anchored in the Cove by 8:30.

I’m going to post this and continue with the narrative tomorrow. The pics are the ¼ mile long dock to the beach in Craig, Karl and Jeri’s place, crossing Bucareli Bay, Waterfall Resort, the entrance to Hole in the Wall, the amphibious deer, our neighborhood in Port Bazan, the approach to Cape Muzon.

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