On Saturday we left Ketchikan and planned on cruising the loop on the Behm Canal thru the Misty Fjords. Thought it would be best to go clockwise around the loop in order to have the NW winds behind us - turns out we always had the wind on our nose. Not that big of deal as most of the way the seas were tame.
The first day we cruised to Naha Bay and stayed on a float just outside of Roosevelt Lagoon - great quiet place all to ourselves. We took the dinghy over to a trail head and hiked a few miles thru the rain forest along the Lagoon. Near high slack tide we took the dinghy into Roosevelt Lagoon (still had some rapids taking us into the lagoon) and cruised around.
We then took off Sunday morning and cruised with many commercial salmon boats for the first couple of hours. We headed to Klu Bay and used the buoy there to spend the night. Many waterfalls in the area and nice and peaceful evening. We had the crab trap in the water and in the morning had two nice sized crabs for dinner.
The next day the plan was to head to Fitzgibbon Cove and explore. We took off and soon hit fog and rain but totally flat seas. We decided we'd keep going to Walker Cove instead, but once we made the starboard turn on Behm Canal the seas picked up from the flood tide and the wind. We got pounded a bit as we crossed to Fitzgibbon Cove. It rained most of the night but we just relaxed on anchor and enjoy the evening.
From there we cruised down to Walker Cove and then onto Punchbowl Cove. Walker Cove was amazing! Purple colored sheer mountains with many waterfalls. Large bowl shaped glacier carved area that was just crazy cool. We slowly cruised thru Walker Cove loving every bit of it. We then cruised down to Punchbowl Cove and stayed the night on the buoy with the entire area all to ourselves! The only sound you could hear was the many waterfalls. Many seals swimming around along with salmon jumping through out the cove.
Fuel conservation was certainly a thought if we could make the entire trip. We went trawler speeds the entire way - 5.5kts. We started the trip with about 54 gallons (40 boat tanks (we have two 23 gallon tanks) and 14 in spare tanks). The loop turned out to be 205 miles with the inlet cruising. We had 14 gallons remaining when we fueled up. So, we averaged around 5 mpg.
Before the trip we changed our props to the Pro-pulse four blade (we bought 7 props from defender for $150) - our mpg at WOT went from 2.3mpg to 2.7mpg. Our hole shot is not good at all but we don't care about that. Our top end speed is probably 3 kts greater than with our aluminum props. WOT is now at 5500 rpms compared to 6000 rpms before.
The main concern with fuel is having to possibly retrace your path to get out of bigger waves or weather - we didn't have to do that but we would have been ok. I'm just glad we have the extra fuel tanks aboard.
Great trip - loved that entire area.
The first day we cruised to Naha Bay and stayed on a float just outside of Roosevelt Lagoon - great quiet place all to ourselves. We took the dinghy over to a trail head and hiked a few miles thru the rain forest along the Lagoon. Near high slack tide we took the dinghy into Roosevelt Lagoon (still had some rapids taking us into the lagoon) and cruised around.
We then took off Sunday morning and cruised with many commercial salmon boats for the first couple of hours. We headed to Klu Bay and used the buoy there to spend the night. Many waterfalls in the area and nice and peaceful evening. We had the crab trap in the water and in the morning had two nice sized crabs for dinner.
The next day the plan was to head to Fitzgibbon Cove and explore. We took off and soon hit fog and rain but totally flat seas. We decided we'd keep going to Walker Cove instead, but once we made the starboard turn on Behm Canal the seas picked up from the flood tide and the wind. We got pounded a bit as we crossed to Fitzgibbon Cove. It rained most of the night but we just relaxed on anchor and enjoy the evening.
From there we cruised down to Walker Cove and then onto Punchbowl Cove. Walker Cove was amazing! Purple colored sheer mountains with many waterfalls. Large bowl shaped glacier carved area that was just crazy cool. We slowly cruised thru Walker Cove loving every bit of it. We then cruised down to Punchbowl Cove and stayed the night on the buoy with the entire area all to ourselves! The only sound you could hear was the many waterfalls. Many seals swimming around along with salmon jumping through out the cove.
Fuel conservation was certainly a thought if we could make the entire trip. We went trawler speeds the entire way - 5.5kts. We started the trip with about 54 gallons (40 boat tanks (we have two 23 gallon tanks) and 14 in spare tanks). The loop turned out to be 205 miles with the inlet cruising. We had 14 gallons remaining when we fueled up. So, we averaged around 5 mpg.
Before the trip we changed our props to the Pro-pulse four blade (we bought 7 props from defender for $150) - our mpg at WOT went from 2.3mpg to 2.7mpg. Our hole shot is not good at all but we don't care about that. Our top end speed is probably 3 kts greater than with our aluminum props. WOT is now at 5500 rpms compared to 6000 rpms before.
The main concern with fuel is having to possibly retrace your path to get out of bigger waves or weather - we didn't have to do that but we would have been ok. I'm just glad we have the extra fuel tanks aboard.
Great trip - loved that entire area.