Pacific North West Advice

[nwdiver]

For halibut and deep rock fish, 200 ft of 100-150 pound test line on a hand spool with a large weighted bottom lure, easier to use and more portable than a heavy rod, when fishing in the dingy make sure you have a gaff and fish bonker......

[Waterford]

slowboat.com has some excellent resources for planning travel in PNW waters. Look at the stuff under the webinars tab.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Thank you dad

we are a J/37 sailboat, just put a brand new yanmar in boat last year and we sail well even in light air.



Are are planning to go north into Canada, up the inside passage and would like to make it over to Haida Gwaii but not sure about the cruising grounds there.

We took our J37 through the Skidegate Channel to the west coast of Haidi Gwai - the channel is a hairy trip. The west coast was great - way empty of cruising boats. We had good summer weather, except for having to sit out a gale for a few days. The Douglas guide was fairly accurate.

[Eder]

Yes...clams & oysters... most of the clam beds are posted with red tide warnings as Fisheries don't have time to monitor them all.
We test our clams & oysters by touch/waiting for numbness on the tongue...if you are away from settlements and the tide is fresh most likely the shellfish are as well.

[Siberian Sea]

I’m from just up the coast in SE Alaska and I would use the smaller lighter one. My reason is this. You shall find the tides much larger in the north then what your used to in South Cali.. Now as your exploring around there’s going to be a lot of beaches and coves your going to want to visit but.... a dingy that heavy and hard to move is going to not be as nice when the tide leaves it high and dry. Or your come to the beach at low tide and then need a long line to reach a good spot to securely tie it. So easy to just carry the light boat above high tide line or to the water at low tide.

[basssears]

For general anchorages/marinas etc guides we use:
* Dreamspeaker (hard copy)
* Salish Sea Pilot (PDF's)
* Waggonner's Guide (have PDF that's 2 years old now, probably time to update)

For currents our nav software (PolarView) has current and tide tables built in for US but not for Canada, so we also use the current guide for San Juan and Gulf Islands:
https://www.amazon.com/Current-Atlas...782/ref=sr_1_1
... you need the tables to show what page to look at for what time / date, you can get them free here:
https://borsboom.io/current-atlas-tables
Plenty of spots where currents run in excess of 5 knots, so plan your travel to work with the currents not against.

We used ActiveCaptain a bit in the past and are now trying to build out what we know on Zulu Waterways, it's nice to have some local knowledge at some anchorages are quite shallow (especially if you're looking at docks in state parks etc).

As far as gear goes, if you're coming from SoCal, do you have cabin heat? If you're really doing June-Sept you probably don't NEED it but it can be nice to have to dry out the boat on wet cool mornings. End of September/beginning of October can be a quick transition to really wanting heat (we did a Sept 20-Oct 9 stretch on the boat in San Juans and Gulfs, when we left on the 20th we hadn't touched the heater in a while, by the first week of October we were running it every night to take the chill down and dry the boat).

Puget Sound is now all zero discharge, and pump outs in the Canadian Gulfs seem pretty few and far between (easier to find in San Juans it seems).

When you get into Canada remember that they don't do negative tides, so a "zero" tide for them is the equivalent of a "-3" tide in the US, plan depths accordingly.

In general, not as much stern tying goes on in the San Juans, the further north you go into Canada the more and more you'll have to stern tie.

Anchoring depths get deeper too when you get up into the Broughtons etc, be prepared to anchor in 70+ feet of water sometimes.

Despite being thought of as a "wet" area, a lot of the smaller islands are always struggling for enough drinking water, it can be challenging to find potable water at all, much less tasty potable water, so consider anything you might want to do to maximize your water supply.

You'll have very long days and very short nights mid summer, solar works great during that time... by end of September / into October your solar output will shrink hugely compared to the solstice (obviously true most places but more extreme due to high latitude).

You're from SoCal so probably set up for it anyway, but don't discount sun protection while underway... everyone thinks of the rainy PNW but we have gotten FRIED in the cockpit before on very long sunny days.

State parks in the San Juans require a fee to use the docks and mooring balls, if you're planning on spending lots of time in the parks consider getting an annual pass (mooring is usually $15+ for docks or balls, annual pass is $5/foot).

-- Bass

[Captain Puget]

For stern tying - bring a spool of light paracord. When you unspool the stern line ashore to the ring/ tree, also unspool the equal length paracord, pass the stern line through the ring and then bowline the paracord on the other side. Now the person in the main boat can pull both line back to the boat and secure them without causing the person in the dinghy to fight back with the stern line in tow.

[Sand crab]

+2 on the hard bottom dink. The beaches are all barnacle covered rocks. There is not much sand and you will almost always have footwear. On the other hand most of the little dead end coves are all mud at low tide and I'm talking the suck your shoe off mud. You do not want to be walking through that.

The south sound has tide changes up to 20' on the big days so 10' is really common. I think it's that way further north or even more. Your dink might be stranded if you don't pay attention and you will have a long drag back to the water. On the other hand at high tide there is no beach and the water goes all the way to the impenetrable forest.

Almost all the property on the water is private and you have no right to walk on the beach unlike Cal. That being said I have only been hassled once when we stopped for lunch while kayaking. It's crazy because if there is water there then you can be there but not if there isn't.
If you are down this way check out Gig Harbor, it's a real boaty town.

[Macblaze]

I second the Best Anchorages (https://www.amazon.ca/Best-Anchorage...15968622&psc=1) and if this is a one-off I would opt for the Salish Sea Pilots (pdf https://salishseapilot.com/) rather than the Dreamspeaker books.

The further north you go, the more you will be wanting a better dinghy.

[canyonbat]

I didn’t see what you have for ground tackle. We carry 250’ of chain and another 200’ of rope. We regularly use all of the chain and often the rope as well and have had times wished we had more. We started with 400’ of stern line but went with 600’ last summer as we found we were usually swinging 90 to 180 degrees from the shore when we tried to deploy the stern line and it barely reached to the shore and back to the boat.

As for books, we used Waggoners up to Ketchikan then switched to the Douglass Exploring Southeast Alaska guide for Alaska. When we came back south, we had to switch back to Waggoners and were very disappointed. The Douglass guides are not Ad based, they give detailed notes and drawings about most anchorages and even give GPS coordinates for the entrance to the anchorage as well as the best spot to drop the hook with details about the holding ability of the bottom. Also, Ports and Passes is an annual “must buy” purchase for us.

[Robert E]

Dear Jeff, there is much wonderful advice here. You will find the Pacific Northwest a wonderland. These are our cruising grounds and we are going back this summer. Recent guides, a hard bottomed dingy, attention to currents, licenses to fish, Canadian charts, radar, heat as you go further north and time to explore are recommendations we emphasize. Yes, winds here need special attention if you wish to sail. And you can. There is a new, recent guide that we think changes the equation in favor of sailing over motoring. The book "Taken By the Wind: The Northwest Coast: A Guide to Sailing the Coasts of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska Paperback – October 31, 2016." This will be our guide this summer.

Perhaps our paths will cross. Good luck.
Bob and Jan, S/V Shamrock

[CptCrunchie]

Originally Posted by Macblaze

The further north you go, the more you will be wanting a better dinghy.

[Stu Jackson]

Waggoners has a very good section on cruising. Crack the book, you already have it.


When I moved here in 2016 I put this together:


Canada Current Atlas Cheat Sheet Source

https://www.starpath.com/catalog/books/1806.htm


How To find TIDE Tables

Go here: Volume 5

2017 Tide Tables - Tides, Currents, and Water Levels

[Dartanyon]

No new information from us, but a few things to second – we cruised Desolation Sound last summer, (in the midst of wildfire season unfortunately)

Salish Sea Pilots are an excellent resource. https://salishseapilot.com/

Hard dink – barnacles and rocks yes, but also dropping crab pots and other pointy things. We've got fold down landing wheels on our dink which means I'm never worried about it being stranded and heavy at low tide. https://amzn.to/2SyFNkG

Currents can be a real hazard - have a couple of ways to read them (maybe software & a book) - Port & Passes was fairly accurate https://amzn.to/2UiGQ9Y or the Canadian tide table (can't find a link handy)

[Cpt Mark]

A lot of good info. I did most of the east side of Vancouver Islan last summer. Plan was to circle the Island but weather and time didn't allow for hot. Actually should say wx forecasting didn't allow for it. 50 knots predicted was only 15 . Oh well, spent a lot more time in Desolation sound which was phenomenal. Nobody has mentioned Princess Luisa Inlet. That will be the highlight of your trip. Just remember, when approaching the inlet you will see a channel and on shore you will see a cross. (It's a religious camp that has an awesome tour, wish we'd have done it) . DON'T go there. That cross is for your boat's grave!!!! Keep going past that spit of land and on the other side you will see the well marked channel. All I can say is I'm glad we draw 2.5'.

The narrows can be exciting. Hit them when you are supposed to, especially at 1st. After you've been through a few you'll get the hang of them and can be a bit looser on the times.

AIS. Cruise line ships, tug boats are moving fast and when they are around a bend or 3 you won't see them. In the channels generally no big deal but they also have to go through the narrows and time it just like you.

Check out you tube. Lots of channels about the area.

Crab traps. We put them in shallower water. Later when going into a tight harbor we were dodging them in 200"+ of water. Really? 200'? There's a species called box crabs. Sousing to Kings. A bit smaller than Kings but all the meat is in the legs. Ask the locals whom were all super friendly.

Pumpouts. Far and few between. Most people just pump overboard. We had enough capacity to find pompous.

Tide tables. We bought the Canadian tide book which took a bit to get used to but you must know exactly when you can pass through the narrows. The narrows may only be 200 yards long but often it's 1 boat at a time. In 1 case your opportunity to go through the narrows was 4 minutes. We passed on that one.

Windlass. Do you have an electric one? The guidebooks said "great" holding. Most of the places we hit had shale bottoms. No holding. More than once we gave up and went to a marina. Frustrating. We had a 35lb Rocna. The locals know where the good holding is within an anchorage. We started asking people who were already anchored where we could go.

Cider. If you like cider, Growers comes in a 2 liter plastic bottle for $7 U.S.D. Really loved their products.

Check in. We went to South Pender Island. You motor up to the customs dock with your Q flag etc. Captain ties up and goes to the head of the stairs with all passports. Usually there is nobody there so you pick up the phone and talk to the friendly customs people and that's it. You're cleared into Canada!It was so awesome, and so easy. If everyone on board has their Nexus card clearing into the U'S. can be done with a cell phone call without having to go into a port of entry