Haida Gwaii Haanas

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by drb1025

I followed all of the guidance for rounding Cape Caution-go on the flood, winds less than 15 kts, etc, and I was still very glad to have stabilizers. I found out later that the rough seas were the remnants of an earlier Pacific storm. For me anyway, I wouldn’t venture into the Pacific without stabilizers.

Ask Crusty about his adventure across Cape Caution in 2016.......

[JDCAVE]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

No worse than crossing Cape Caution. Pick your weather...

It’s worse cause it’s a much longer crossing!

24 kts off the south Hecate ODAS and about 3 hours still to travel.


All kinds of unstabilized boats have made this crossing. Just not as comfortably. I know of an unstabilized KK42 that has travelled to Haida Gwaii many times, including the north and west sides.

Jim

[MurrayM]

Was done for thousands of years by canoe...but they had slam-dunk 100% guaranteed "local knowledge"

[Retriever]

I went in an unstabilized Nordic Tug 37 a few years ago. The crossings both directions were easy but long. I was singlehanding and Rose Harbour to the Bella Bella area was something like 16 hours.

At the time Gwaii Haanas required attending an orientation at the Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate before going into the park. The alternative was getting a package of information sent to you in advance, which is nice because you can enter the park from the south end if you want. The Haida Heritage Centre is very good and well worth visiting when you're in Skidegate.

Fresh water is available at two places in Gwaii Haanas, but it's not filtered or treated. No other services are available.

The Haida Watchmen were informed, helpful, and entertaining. Getting to some of the heritage sites was a bit difficult since the anchorages right in front were usually rolly. Launching the dinghy and landing on the beaches was challenging enough (at least alone) that I often took the kayak.

Unfortunately Masset isn't a Canadian Customs port of entry, so if you're southbound from Alaska you must first clear in Prince Rupert.

[sunchaser]

What a wonderful thread, especially for those of us like Delfin who are planning the journey. A few years ago when spending a few days at the commercial dock Fairview in Prince Rupert, one of the guys who routinely traveled to HG for fishing said his retirement dream was a trawler with stabilizers so the crossing would be less stressful.

We've covered the water between Rose Point, Dundas Is. and Prince of Wales Is. - nasty is my recollection when the surf's up. Much like HG, POW has some fascinating active Native communities. A few years ago Eric showed us some over powering totems and lodges not too far from Thorne Bay. Now if I could just coerce him to return

[Retriever]

A few more thoughts...

I rented a car in Skidegate and explored Graham Island for a day. Tow Hill and the nearby beaches were a highlight. Several small museums were interesting.

The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant is a must read for anyone heading to Haida Gwaii!

[JDCAVE]

Originally Posted by Retriever

A few more thoughts...

I rented a car in Skidegate and explored Graham Island for a day. Tow Hill and the nearby beaches were a highlight. Several small museums were interesting.

I agree. However, car rentals are difficult to arrange because the boating schedule is hard to synchronize with the small fleet of cars there. I’d move heaven and earth to arrange a car rental to go razor clamming on North Beach. I’d choose a meal of razor clams over prawns, crab, salmon, halibut....

Razor clam fritters after a successful “dig” at north beach...

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by nwboater

Has anyone made the trip out to Haida Qwaii in an unstablized trawler? I would like to know if this open water crossing would be uncomfortable for us. We have a 47’ Selene fitted with anti roll chocks.

Sounds like the issue is a beam sea over shallow water for 10 hours. Even with stabilizers, that is not our favorite point of sail, since it is the hardest type of sea for even active fins to modulate the roll. A night crossing would probably be advised, except for the fact that apparently the strait is littered with crab pots.

[GoldenDawn]

As mentioned previously, we did a night crossing to Haida Gwaii and did not encounter crab pots on our route from Larsen Harbour to Lawn Point (where you have to cross the bar). Generally if you stay to the south of Dogfish Bank, there are fewer pots. And yet another reason for a single engine . . . just sayin'

We had the radar tuned down to 0.5 mile as I recall and made a point to check this often. If I run this route again, I will mount a big LED spot light on the bow pulpit and leave this on. The Canadian Coast Guard lifeboats keep their spots on for night passage. You are trading off better night vision for better vision into the night . . .

[Nomad Willy]

Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction

No worse than crossing Cape Caution. Pick your weather...

Cape Caution?
You mean Queen Charlotte Sound of course.
A LOT different.
FAR more exposure. Look at some charts. Lots of Hecate Strait is very shallow. Especially in the NE quarter. I've heard horrible stories about that part of Hacate Strait. Lots and lots of fetch.

To compare it to crossing Queen Charlotte Sound is apples and huckleberries.

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Originally Posted by Nomad Willy

Cape Caution?
You mean Queen Charlotte Sound of course.
A LOT different.
FAR more exposure. Look at some charts. Lots of Hecate Strait is very shallow. Especially in the NE quarter. I've heard horrible stories about that part of Hacate Strait. Lots and lots of fetch.

To compare it to crossing Queen Charlotte Sound is apples and huckleberries.

Sure if you approach from the south. I was thinking crossing from Prince Rupert which would put you in the lee side of westerly swells. But in full disclosure, I have not yet been there.

[Nomad Willy]

ASD,
I went from Masset to PR in an open OB that I designed and built. It was a shop project at the HS. Was a nice day and I gave Rose Spit 5 miles of clearence. Even then there were big swirls of water. Lots of water out there. Didn’t go over any Hecate Strait shallow water.

From PR it’s a very long way till you would get behind Rose Spit avoiding some NNW summer winds. And getting close the the east side of Graham Is, look at the charts and see how far out the shallows go.