1 March, Saturday afternoon, we pulled out of the wind into the shelter of Prince Rupert harbor, tying up at Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht club. It was quite cold, salt-water ice slush on DE's decks and off we went on a food run to Safeway, then shore-break for the dogs, then the hunt for dinner ashore. After being thrown out of the local pub -- some people have no sense of humor; turned away at an upscale place -- I knew I should've showered -- we finally landed at a small Italian place which was very, very good. Back on board for a movie -- 1957 Forbidden Planet, which blew me away as a kid... in this case, maybe too much Gillnetter beer at dinner as I slept thru most of the movie.

2 March Sunday. The weather report and forecast for crossing Portland Inlet / Dixon Entrance is not encouraging, but they've been wrong before, DE is stout (and her crew able) and besides we had inside poop from our 'pro from Dover' Ron, who said to run out the Prince Rupert back door, Venn Passage, hug the coast up to the inlet, pop across and sail into Ketchikan in the sunshine. There was sunshine, very nice sunshine, and Venn and the hug the coast thing worked well up thru Port Simpson, but once we cleared the shadow of Maskelyne Is into the outlet of Portland Inlet, we were hammered by 2-3 meter, very short period chop and 45 kts (at least) wind. The sea was streaked white and building as we nosed out. Salt spray rapidly froze to the weather side of the boat. It was only a 5 mile run across to shelter, but at some point one has to acknowledge that any small problem in these circumstances could grow into a very big problem and there was no reason we must make this crossing today... So we turned around and are now tied up in the small harbor at Port Simpson. The forecast is not encouraging on into the week, but we'll take another look early tomorrow.

3 March, Monday. Pre-0700 start at very low tide out of Port Simpson through pancake ice. We could see that winds are less than yesterday's attempt and where Portland Inlet was at max flood yesterday, it is on the ebb this morning. 1-2 meter short chop, 30+ kts wind, sloppy but manageable with lots of freezing sea spray on the starboard side. Crossed in less than an hour -- easy-peazy, took some inside channels (per Ron) and now 1030 (Alaska time) we should arrive in Ketchikan late afternoon. All in all a great run -- interesting range of weather and problems to solve; great company to do it with; gorgeous views and a stout, dependable boat. I'm sorry this passage is all but over. Ketchikan, a small break, then 2 short days to Wrangell and back to work (on the boat).