At long last we are almost home. On Thursday we took a ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. Yesterday we took a bus from Port Hardy to Campbell River. And today we’re taking a bus from Campbell River to Nanaimo and then a plane to Friday Harbor. Yea!
It’s been a wonderful trip – not what we expected – but still wonderful. Thank you all for joining in us through this blog. Have a wonderful summer everyone!
P.S. I saw this painting in a store window and it made me smile just thinking of how happy this doggy is.
Happy Summer Solstice everyone! Here at Port Edward the sun rise this morning was at 5:08am and sunset tonight is at 10:19pm. Pretty amazing.
Now that you know how our boat will get home this is what we know about the plans to get us home. They are very fluid at this time.
Since the boat gets hauled out of the water Tuesday afternoon and loaded on the transport truck Wednesday morning, we will spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights at a hotel in Prince Rupert. Thursday morning at 7:30am we catch the ferry in Prince Rupert which will take us to Port Hardy, near the northern end of Vancouver Island. We arrive in Port Hardy Tuesday night at midnight. We’ll spend Wednesday and Thursday in Port Hardy and catch a bus to Campbell River on Friday. (There’s no bus on Thursday.) From there we have a few options which we’ll finalize as we get closer.
Now for some fun stuff!
Last Saturday we decided to take the bus into Prince Rupert just for the heck of it and to kill time away from our boat. As we arrived it was clear that something big was happening.
It turned out to be the big event of the year – Seafest! The downtown was lined with people all waiting for the Seafest parade to begin. It was the perfect small town parade. (I took a video of the First Nation contingent but I don’t know how to share it here.)
There was a car show happening in the Safeway parking lot.
This car is a drag racer and is not street legal.
When I peeked in the window I got a chuckle out of what I saw. It’s hard to see the lever from all the reflections but you’ll see why…
From here we spent the rest of the day walking around town enjoying the sights which I’ll share with you now.
Lots of murals everywhere.
And I’ll leave you with this wonderful “thought for the day” taped to a window.
Very little to report since my last post a week ago. Chris and I are still hanging out on our boat in Port Edward. However, we think all the stars have finally aligned and we’ve come up with a definitive plan! If all goes well next Tuesday, June 24 in the late afternoon we will have our boat hauled out of the water here at Port Edward. The hull will get pressure washed and early Wednesday morning a trucking company will pick up the boat and haul it to La Conner Maritime Services. (La Conner is a town not far from Friday Harbor with an excellent Volvo diesel mechanic.)
Although we’ve spent most of our time reading, knitting, and stitching…
we have found a few places to walk which we do every day. Here are a few pics from our walks nearby.
A lot of train activity here filled with either containers or oil tankers. One day I counted a train like this one that had 149 train cars, each with 2 big containers stacked on them! Most all of the trains are very long like this. They take about 15 minutes to go by.
There’s a Natural Gas storage and transport facility next door. Here’s one of the tankers passing by.
Salmon and crabbing season is opening soon and there are crab pots stacked everywhere in preparation for the big commercial seafood companies’ fishing fleets to load up onto their boats.
Back in Prince Rupert we came upon these goats lounging in a vacant lot.
As for our boat, our current plan is to have a trucking company pick up the boat and take it to La Conner for service. Now that that is in the works, Chris and I will start working on a plan for how we will get home. There are several interesting options to check out.
As sad as this sounds, we continue to find interesting things to do in the area and have been very comfortable living on our boat all this time. We’ve been really lucky to have access to our neighbor’s internet. (This neighbor just left this morning to go fishing for the next six days so we will have limited service during that time.)
This picture is from a hike we did early in this trip when we were still a part of our little flotilla. It’s a day I have not yet blogged about. Hopefully someday.
Thank you all for joining us on this unplanned adventure.
Well, I see I’m getting my days all mixed up but oh well. In case anyone is paying attention, Friday the 6th we drove to Terrace and settled in to our hotel. Had dinner at the Wheelhouse Brewing Company in Terrace. Amazing to find a great brew pub here. Great beer and great food.
Saturday the 7th we hiked up to the museum and had take out sushi.
Now on Sunday we drove 97km north to the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Park. It was a long drive but incredibly beautiful. As we left town we crossed the “Old” Skeena Bridge, built in 1923. This bridge is an historic feat of engineering that once boasted the title as the longest, single lane, wood deck curved bridge in North America.
The bridge now has a metal deck with a wide sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists.
And this warning sign which I thought was great.
Here’s a view of the road to the lave beds. We followed the Skeena River most of the way there. So beautiful.
Lava Beds
These lava beds are the result of a fissure eruption from Tseax Volcano, which occurred just 300 years ago. This eruption caused large lava flows that dammed the Nass River and destroyed four Nisga’a villages, resulting in an estimated 2,000 fatalities. The lava flows cover a significant area and have left behind a unique landscape with diverse vegetation. (I had never heard of a fissure eruption. Pretty amazing.)
On the drive back to Terrace we stopped to check out several interesting self-guided auto tour sites along the way.
Vetter Falls
Beaupre Falls
Here’s a map of the area. Note the road to Terrace at the bottom of the map.
Lava Lake
Here’s a view of the drive back to Prince Rupert to turn in the car on Monday. Always spectacular around here!
Last Friday morning we woke up and realized we had absolutely nothing to do for the next 3+ days. Sooooo we bussed ourselves into Prince Rupert and rented a car! And we were off on a Bonus Adventure into the unknown.
Our destination was the town of Terrace BC about 145 km inland from Prince Rupert or about an hour and a half drive. Several locals said it was worth a visit. We’d also heard it’s a beautiful drive along the Skeena River.
Around mid-day we check in to the Best Western. Very clean and a short walk to town. Here’s the view from our window. There are mountains like this all around us.
It was very beautiful everywhere. It was also very hot – in the 70’s.
After lunch we decided to check out the Heritage Park Museum – a 2.5 km hike up hill. Here’s the view of Terrace from the top of the hill.
Here there were eight historic and authentic log buildings built between 1910 and 1930. These included: Belway Mining Cabin (1910); Fred Hampton Barn (1912); Homesteader Cabin (1914); Lineman’s Cabin (1919); Kalum Lake Hotel (1920); Bruce Johnstone Cabin (1921); Dix’s Dance Hall (1925); Trapper’s Cabin (1930)
In the center of these buildings was a small heritage garden valued because it supports a variety of plants that came from homesteads in the region. There are several ornamental plants and fruit trees scattered throughout the 1.73 acres which were donated by families that arrived in Terrace during its early years.
Dinner was take out sushi at a nearby Japanese restaurant. Very good.
This is the story of the North Pacific Cannery. Everyone we talked to said it’s a “must see”.
On Tuesday, June 3 Rosa, the office manager here invited us to use her car to drive 7 km south to this National Historic Site. The North Pacific was established in 1889 and is the oldest remaining salmon cannery on the west coast of North America. In it’s early days it employed Chinese, First Nation, Japanese and Europeans. Although they worked long hours side by side their housing was very segregated.
View of the remaining buildings.
Building on right (above) is the net drying shed upstairs.
Down stairs was the machine shop and workshop.
Beatrice in company store.
The huge building with the red roof in the earlier photo is where the processing and canning occurred.
Inside this building they did a great job showing the evolution of all work being done by hand and the slow evolution of mechanization. From off loading the fish to cleaning, gutting, chunking, and canning.
Housing
Fuel shed some distance from the rest of the facility.
Well, it’s now Wednesday, June 4, 2025 and we’re still docked at Port Edward…waiting. I’ve completely lost track of what day of the (un)cruise we’re on.
Here’s what we know so far:
The mechanic came “the next day” as promised. He did some tests and is convinced it’s a blown head gasket. We are currently looking for a second opinion.
It’s the start of fishing season and all the mechanics in the area are booked for the next 4+ weeks working on the commercial fishing boats.
Most of last week was very rainy and windy with an inch of rain most days. This week, no rain so far. Chilly, cloudy and gray until mid-afternoon when we are treated to some blue sky and sunshine.
Chris and I are doing great through all of this with occasional bouts of stress regarding all the unknowns.
On the positive side:
We’re meeting several great people on the dock. Dan is kindly sharing his Starlink internet with us. He’s also a wealth of local knowledge.
Ken, the manager of this place, has been really great with helpful insights and resources.
Rosa, the office manager, loaned us her car yesterday so we could visit the famous Cannery 7km from here. (More on this in a future post.)
The local wildlife is fun to watch.
Since there is nothing here at Port Edward (except fishing boats) we are grateful to have a bus stop not too far from here that takes us into Prince Rupert, about 25 minutes away.
Stay tuned for future posts about some of the highlights of the trip so far.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 Prince Rupert to Port Edward
When we woke up this morning our neighborhood had changed overnight. This is what we woke up to.
We got a mechanic to check out the boat this morning and gave us an idea of what was happening with the engine. He recommended that we move the boat to Port Edward where he would have better access and tools.
The distance by car is 10 miles. The distance by boat on one engine with the wind and tide against us was 4 hours. I look slow slog. Lucky for us our loyal boat partner Island Dancer (Nordic Tug 37) followed us there for added safety.
Once tied up to the dock at the Port Edward Port Authority there were a lot of diagnostic tests run. It was the end of the workday so the mechanic will be back tomorrow morning.
We had a really good dinner (with peas added) on our boat as we hunkered down for the night.
Monday May 26, 2025. Klewnuggit Inlet/East Inlet Inlet to Prince Rupert
Here’s a great shot of our little boat on this peaceful bay where we all spent last night. (Thank you Barb.)
We got an early start this morning and although we did add coolant something was still wrong so we continued on our way with the port engine only. We have such wonderful boating partners who stayed with us all the way.
We’re now settled in at Cow Bay Marina in Prince Rupert. Check out the neighborhood. Light Wave is the small (40 ft.) white sleek boat in the foreground.
One of the best parts of going slow for me is all the knitting I can do. Here’s my first finished project.
Life in Japan and Beyond 