Our route and current location: [Note - I forgot to turn on tracking for a while - the track is discontinuous and misses our trip to Prince Rupert]
https://share.garmin.com/RonRisden
For those following along at home - and at work - the Sail Blog app is just a straight line, giving our anchored locations - where we end for the day. The Garmin track linked above, which starts in Powell River, gives a fairly continuous track of our travels; showing the ins and outs (and backtracking) we are doing. Also you will notice that the dates of the writing may seem a little off. Entries get written when there is a good internet connection and may reflect that date. We will try to start putting the date(s) we are at a specific location into the heading.

Prince Rupert is the northern- most large city in BC. The moniker "Rainy Rupert" is appropriate according the some of the local folks we talked to, but it was mostly pleasant while we were there. It is a large port, having container ships, cruise lines, ferries, as well as commercial fishing boats all using the same waterway. We were berthed in the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club (hereinafter known as the PRR&YC ) for our stay. The finger piers were very small and unsteady, but the staff was very helpful and the best pub in town was at the top of the ramp. The only other thing of note is that our berth was right next to the fuel dock - and the fishing fleet leaves early and moves out fast. The endless line started at @ 5:30 am and included not only large fishing boats in the 60 to 90 foot range, but some large Canadian Coast Guard vessels as well as a couple of very large tugs. Every time one of the boats would turn around the wake created in such a small space would throw us around in the berth. A little like trying to sleep in a storm.

We managed to get in several excursions into town. We had a great tour of the local Museum of Northern BC. This museum had a lot of artifacts that we had not seen in relation to the various First Nations peoples of the coast and so added to the knowledge that we had been gaining on our trip. Also no trip to land would be complete without a trip to the local marine supply store where Kirsten picked up a pair of 'Alaska extra-tuffs', rubber boots notable for their waterproofness and durability. A few other items to help out with our oil/oil filter/fuel filter maintenance projects and we were out.

We had evening drinks with the sailboat that came in next to us. I had first seen this boat in Shearwater Marina and liked it a lot. It is an older Bristol 47 extended to 49 feet. The folks on the boat were mostly a little older than me and were all related expect for one. The owner lives in Brisbane for most of the year, but is able to take off several months to come sailing; keeping the boat in the Sydney, BC area over the winter. It is always interesting to meet up with people you have seen in a previous anchorage or marina. This had happened to us several times in the last 2 months, but in this case though, it may be one of the last times as we were preparing to cross over to Alaska while a majority of the cruisers at this time of year are turning around to head back down south.