BC Inside Passage on the David B Adventure

gulfcoast john

Here's our blog on doing the BC Inside Passage on the David B. We hope to utilize what we learned by trailering Cat O' Mine cross country to the San Juans area maybe in the summer of 2024. Hope this is helpful in your own planning if the PNW is something you have never experienced in person.

Safe Travels!

John

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5301133412174992135/5813142584862437187

hardee · Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:02 pm Post subject:

John, Thanks for that link. I got sidetrack on the parts about Port Harvey. I have not been up there this summer, (I did meet with the Port Harvey Yacht Club at Port Hardy -- but I cruised up the island in one day on my motorcycle, due to time constraints and some other obligations) but that whole area is well worth the trip. I spent 100 days up in that area (Mid Vancouver Island -- Campbell River and north) in one stretch the first year I retired.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

hardee · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 3:04 am Post subject:

If you are looking at going north from the San Juans, there is a former C-BRAT who has extensive experience doing just that, multiple times.

Sam Landsman had a 22 Cruiser, Retriever, that he did both SE and BC coast and also a Vancouver Island circumnavigation on. He currently does shepherding of bigger boats up and down the coast. He and his partners have a website that is worth perusing. Check out thier site at:

https://slowboat.com/

for really great photos and good writeups.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

thataway · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 4:07 am Post subject:

When I click on the link, it goes to a page which says "choose a name for your blog". Nothing about the Highsmith's adventure. Please advise. Thanks.

Robert H. Wilkinson · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:07 am Post subject:

Bob, I just clicked on the link and it is working now. Sam lives and works on a 50' Nordhaven called 'Akeeva' - look for that name. Found some Utube videos under the 'webinars' banner and his profile under the 'meet the team' banner. Looks like he weathered out covid in Mexico but was back leading flotillas up the coast in 2022.

Very interesting guy with an amazing job! Thanks Harvey - good to see you back!

Regards,

Rob

pcg · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:08 am Post subject:

Strange... when I click on the link, it changes the URL and takes me to my own blog posts. ???

NORO LIM · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:09 am Post subject:

Rob,

I think you may be talking about the link in the post by Harvey. Bob is talking about the link in John's original post. I am having the same experience as Bob (and now Paul, apparently) with John's link.

DayBreak · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 10:19 am Post subject:

gulfcoast john · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 11:28 am Post subject:

Sorry, this is my first attempt at using Google’s Blogger and there’s no instructions. Looks like I linked to an Edit page; rookie error.

You PNW guys have likely cruised all these areas and many more. Hope it’s helpful for those who’ve never visited.

Try this link instead:

https://highsmith2.blogspot.com/2022/09/learn-to-cruise-inside-passage-of-bc-on.html

Safe Travels!

John

DayBreak · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 12:21 pm Post subject:

Ah, got it now. Thank you John and hope you can join us at the annual San Juan Islands Friday Harbor gathering in 2024 as mentioned earlier. Thumbs Up

Gary

Robert H. Wilkinson · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 12:34 pm Post subject:

Bill, your right - my bad.

John, beautiful pics - enjoyed the blogs info and your sense of humour.

Regards,

Rob

NORO LIM · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 12:46 pm Post subject:

John, the new link works. Thanks so much for sharing your adventure. Love the pictures and commentary.

Regards,

Bill

thataway · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 12:49 pm Post subject:

The second link works. Thank you! I have been following Sam's adventures from the beginning, (First met him when with his full family when all 5 were cruising on the 22) His purchase of the Nordhavn 50, was a surprise, along with his trip to Baja. It will be interesting to see if he goes up and down frequently. I had gathered that perhaps not every year.

Thanks to all!

John, thanks for the Blog. There are hundreds more places that you didn't see. There are plenty of hiking trails. When you get back to P'Cola, we can clue you on those. Many of the fishing camps have good trails, there are many back roads, old logging trails, current logging trails, Indigenous peoples trails. Lots more to be discovered, including hundreds of pieces of logging machinery, full size locomotives, complete towns left to decay etc.

Get Don Douglas and Reanne Hemingway Douglas's publications on exploring Alaska. Don Died in 2018. (They went to the same college I went to) There have been a few errors, but generally are excellent guide books. Some other book described full skeletons in a dugout canoe in BC waters, but we found it. It was totally undisturbed. So I suspect very few others had seen it. There are wonderful hot springs for a hike and soak--and some without a hike.

Unfortunately a cruise like this does not allow you to stop for some time and explore more. Some of our best memories of people we met along the way! That is where many of our stories come from.

We took our Cal 46 thru Seymour Rapids at a flood of 7 knots--going 14 knots was a new high for us. I will admit there was some trepidation when we first went thru some of the rapids for the first times. There is a publication "How to Cruise to Alaska, Without Rocking the Boat Too Much". There are also many books to read about the history. There is a good book store in Port Angeles, which has many of these books, some used. I gave all of my books to C Brats, and have lost track of where they went by now.

One of the pleasures of the C Dory, is "dancing through some of these rapid and being able to go thru 3 a day, rather than one pass or rapid a day in a displacement boat.

We have seen the David B--and she looked like a lot of fun. Earlier I believe she was used as a portable fishing camp--with a number of skiffs and kayaks aboard. Great way to begin seeing some of the best cruising grounds in the entire World.

colbysmith · Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 7:43 pm Post subject:

John and Eileen, when you are ready to cruise the San Juans, or even Alaska, give me a heads up. If I haven't made other plans, I'd enjoy going with you. Been there, done that, and think I got a pretty good handle on tides and currents. Wink

Colby

Hunkydory · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2022 10:32 am Post subject:

John & Eileen, I enjoyed your blog of cruise aboard the David B. What a great way to get acquainted with PNW cruising. The David B does get around. I saw it & gave it a good look over, while talking to the captain from the dock at Auke Bay near Juneau this summer. What a beautiful old converted Tug. It was there at Auke Bay on two of the three times, I stopped by there last summer & when with our Alaska cruising group, it was the only other boat anchored with us for the night at the entrance to Fords Terror.

Jay