Day 47 ~ Mink Bay, Boca de Quadra, Alaska to Prince Rupert, Canada

Eileen was up first and anxious to absorb all that Alaska has to offer, she went off into the dinghy. She was so excited to see this beautiful eagle soaring towards her, up until the time she realized that it was a seagull. Before she returned to the boat she pulled the crab pots, which had a fair collection of crab. Derek, Dad and I were all anxious to get back to the halibut grounds so we agreed to let the rooster wake us up. Becca has obviously taken a few lessons from Wendy because she asked for a reprieve and agreed to be the chain flaker. As we prepared to leave the bay, I realized how warm it had gotten already.

Dad and Eileen hoisted the dinghy, Derek hoisted the anchor and we were off to pull the shrimp pots (we got 4 shrimp). Two hours later we were back to the halibut grounds. The kids and Eileen dropped their lines and then Dad jumped in with them as I tried to keep us off the rocks. Dad was the first one with a fish in the boat, he caught a salmon. Both Becca and Eileen caught a sea bass that Dad told them they couldn’t keep because they were just too ugly. Later, Derek and I heard Dad talking to someone on the phone about how good sea bass were…..seems suspicious. Perhaps it is all based on the effort to clean them. We fished for less than an hour and then we headed off back towards Canada.

Derek had turned into quite the junior navigator. He spent the entire day on the bridge with me navigating our way towards Canada. I don’t think he realized the significance of our route. Everyone else on the boat slept. At one point I said to Derek that the weather was much prettier towards Hawaii, he suggested that we turn right. I explained to him that it would only last so long and that when we ran out of gas we would have a lot of explaining to do. The fog started to set in around us pretty good, it was everywhere but we could still see the seat of the Dutchman’s pants….if you don’t get it you’ll have to ask Wendy.

As we approached Vern’s Passage, we were an hour ahead so we negotiated with Dad and got to fish for 30 minutes. We had several nibbles and then realized that the fish that were biting were just a step larger than the herring that we were using for fishing.

Once on the dock in Prince Rupert, Eileen had a major melt down when her technology wouldn’t work.  Afterwards she recovered and we fixed dinner. After dinner, the kids jumped in and did our next float plan. Derek was all over the physical charts, flagging and measuring while Becca was putting it all into the computer.

The evening was an emotional struggle for Dad and I, while we were both excited about heading home we were both sad that our trip of a life time was rapidly coming to an end. At one point Dad threw open the galley door and told us to step outside and breathe the air of the port! 

After the kids went to bed, Dad and I walked up to the bar but they were closed. Fortunately, the bar on the Simbalaut was open. We got our noses fairly wet before heading to bed. Eileen watched the only movie that was watched the entire trip.