Pacific Northwest 2015

Route Choices? Alaska first then down?

Thanks for all the feedback on my original question, I'm hijacking my own thread to ask another.

We're getting close to leaving San Francisco for this leg of our trip. Looking for a good weather window in late March thru April but will wait rather than push. We'll explore the Salish Sea area for a couple of months after that.

I'm asking this question because we have a schedule, not the best thing to have on a boat but unavoidable. My daughter graduates from Oregon State in mid June and we plan on attending then returning to the boat (in the Seattle area) after that to start our season in the PNW. A late start but it's what we have to work with.

We are considering heading straight to Alaska first and then slowly making our way back south to the Broughtons and Desolation Sound later in the summer. Does this make sense to those of you knowledgeable with this route? Any local weather issues to consider doing Alaska first (early July) or later (late August)? I plan on following the ferry routes but any suggestions there would be appreciated as well.

We plan on returning to San Diego in late fall/early winter so we are not expecting to make another trip this far north for some time as we need to rejoin the work force and put the son into high school in 2016.

Thoughts and suggestions?

P.S. We're a 55' steel trawler built out of Nova Scotia with 5000+ nm range with some extended cruising experience so we don't have many concerns about being off the grid so to speak. We travel at 7 knots.

This route would take you to the extremes on BC's coast (without going to the west coast of Vancouver Island or Haida Gwaii) and keep you away from the usual knuckle dragging louts who stick to the Inside Passage

Outside Inside Passage Northbound — Borealis Sailing Expeditions

Okay, I am bias, but I believe that SE Alaska is a much more interesting place than BC. I agree that it is wise to spend most of your time in Alaska. The cruise industry is very much aware that Alaska has more to offer than BC. They take several hundred thousand folks a year to Alaska without featuring BC. No intention to knock the good folks in BC because BC does have some nice areas. The 17 million acre Tongass National Forest has spectacular tide water glaciers, mountain vistas, old volcanos, old canneries and gold mines, abundant wildlife, excellent fishing,crabbing,hiking, beach combing, numerous whales, and is visitor friendly.

Old deckhand said:

Okay, I am bias, but I believe that SE Alaska is a much more interesting place than BC. I agree that it is wise to spend most of your time in Alaska. The cruise industry is very much aware that Alaska has more to offer than BC. They take several hundred thousand folks a year to Alaska without featuring BC. No intention to knock the good folks in BC because BC does have some nice areas. The 17 million acre Tongass National Forest has spectacular tide water glaciers, mountain vistas, old volcanos, old canneries and gold mines, abundant wildlife, excellent fishing,crabbing,hiking, beach combing, numerous whales, and is visitor friendly.

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If you stick to BC's Inside Passage on the north coast you're missing 95% of the show...which is fine by me, because us locals get to enjoy the rest of the coast without the crowding

Rysol,

The best advice I have heard is to leave SE Alaska and head south in the first week of August. After that, the winter rains/storm cycle can set in. On our southbound trip in 09, we left in the third week of August and spent one day travelling, and two days hiding from 40+ knot winds. Almost every day we heard 'maydays' on the VHF. That was a very tense trip! Go north fast, go south slow and enjoy. The best months, weather wise, in SE AK are June and July.

Rsysol said: "My daughter graduates from Oregon State in mid June and we plan on attending then returning to the boat (in the Seattle area) after that to start our season in the PNW. A late start but it's what we have to work with."

Another option might be to get your boat to Ketchikan or Juneau and then fly south for your daughters graduation. That gives you more time to explore Ak and head south. It might take you 2 weeks to get up there without pushing it.


Jim
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In 12 SE AK trips (and several more in BC), my experience suggests this:

On the front end of the trip, May and early June can be pretty cool and wet, if not necessarily very stormy. Even so, I might consider getting up to Ketchikan or Prince Rupert before flying to the graduation and back.

Heading back south, on 2 or 3 trips I have had to hole up for several days to even a week of fairly rough stuff in southern SE AK and the Dixon during the third week of August. 30-35 knots in Clarence Strait is no fun at all. More often however, crossing the Dixon in the last half of August is not too tough.

I'd say be south of the Dixon Entrance by the first of Sept, and south of Cape Caution before mid-Sept. Once south of Cape Caution, you can dink around for a while.

I would watch the weather carfully. March/April is a little early. When we made the trip we hired Omni Bob as our weather guy and he is very good. Be prepared to dive into a harbor somewhere if needed.

http://www.oceanmarinenav.com/

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

I would watch the weather carfully. March/April is a little early. When we made the trip we hired Omni Bob as our weather guy and he is very good. Be prepared to dive into a harbor somewhere if needed.

http://www.oceanmarinenav.com/

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Thanks for the recommendation on Bob, we are queued up to use him for this route. Also considering hiring an experienced captain so my wife and son can avoid this section of our trip and fly up to Seattle to meet us.