Pierless Blog - 2026-06-01 Allison Harbour to Kisameet Bay

 May 31th - Sunday- 4:45 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.   65 Nm Traveled 

Our night at Allison Harbour was quite peaceful.  We had a long day planned which included rounding Cape Caution, so an early start to avoid higher winds and take advantage of tide/currents was in order.  Cape Caution is a milestone of sorts for cruisers.  This leg of our journey represents the first bit of coastline directly open to the Pacific Ocean.  In poor conditions it can be a treacherous undertaking.


Moonset over Allison Harbour

After hauling in the anchor, we headed out of Allison with the sun coming up and a full moon on the western horizon.  Quite a nice start to the day!  Our initial plan was to head to Calvert Island.  Calvert has many interesting areas to explore.  Sandy beaches on the ocean side, wolves, bear and otter.  There is also a research institute on the island and many miles of trails to explore.  While traveling north, looking at the weather and our goal of reaching Haida Gwaii, we decided to push north as far as we can today to gain as much ground as possible toward out goal.


Cape Caution Area

We motored out with light winds in the 5-10 Kt range with 3 foot swell.  Great conditions for rounding Cape Caution.  Given the light conditions, we stayed closer to shore in order to enjoy the scenery provided by the headlands and islands along the way.  Egg Island, with its lighthouse and seaside cliffs, rocks and trees was quite stunning.  We passed inside to get a better look on the way by.


Dave and Egg Island

Passing Cape Caution and approaching Calvert Island, we entered Fitz Hugh Sound.  We would follow Fitz Hugh the rest of the day until reaching our anchorage at Kisameet.  We passed Calvert and a number of possible anchorages along the way.  Since our progress was good, we pressed on past Namu and finally to Kisameet Bay.

Entering Kisameet Bay

Kisameet was not quite what we expected.  The anchorage location was by a couple seasonal cabins and a detached floating dock.  It was quite and protected, but we expected something less developed.  As it was, we were tired enough from the long day not to care much...



Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are now open to everyone.

Popular posts from this blog

Pierless Blog - 2026-05-30- Port Neville to Port McNeill

Image
May 30th - Saturday - Departure Time 6:1 5 a.m.     45 Nm Traveled Neville was a great refuge from the wind and currents.  The wind continued into the night, but by morning it was mostly calm.  Tika (our neighbor on the dock) departed around 4 this morning.  The kayakers were likewise long gone on their paddle toward Alert Bay. After the morning brew of java, we cast off our lines at 6:15 to head north.  Our initial plan was to go about 9 miles down Johnstone Strait, then cut north into Havannah Channel to get out of the rough waters and winds.  As forecast, the winds were quite low and the current with us, so we decided to wait until reaching Havannah to decide whether to push on down the strait to Port McNeill.  Continuing toward McNeill would get us farther in the direction we need to go to reach Haida Gwaii, so it was an appealing option.  In addition, Port McNeill was going to be our last stop for provisions and fuel before heading ...
Read more

Pierless Blog - 2025-06-21/22 - Tenedos Bay/Desolation Sound

Image
 June 21, 2025 - Laura Cove to Tenedos Bay Tenedos Location       Path to Tenados Bay Saturday, June 21, we raised the anchor and headed to Tenedos Bay.  We enjoyed our two days at Laura Cove and had a great time exploring the area on foot, paddle board and dinghy, but we were ready to explore more of Desolation Sound. Leaving Laura Cove Dave at the helm      The move to Tenedos Bay was a short trip of about 6 1/2 nautical miles.  We stayed outside the small islands this time to enjoy a more expansive view.  There are several anchorages in the bay, so we had a few options.  One is close to a trail leading to Unwin Lake, a popular swimming spot.  The anchorage has many stern-tie locations to accommodate more boats.  Unfortunately, a boat was already anchored without stern-tying.  This lets them swing with the tides and basically sweep the entire anchorage.  We decided it was a bit dicey, so headed to the "inn...
Read more

Pierless Blog - 2026-05-29 - Forward Harbour to Port Neville

Image
 May 29th - Friday - Departure Time 4:45 a.m. We raised anchor and departed early from Douglas Bay (in Forward Harbour) to catch the ebb current down Sunderland Channel and into Johnstone Strait.  Douglas Bay was a great and well protected anchorage from the NW winds, so we were a little reluctant to leave the shelter it provided.  Winds were "on the nose" during most of this section, but the tail current kept us moving forward at a reasonable pace. Dave at the helm After exiting Forward Harbor and rounding Althorp Point, we had 12 - 28 Kts winds in the face.  The favorable current kept our average boat speed around 3 Kts.  As before, we hugged the north side of Sunderland to get some protection from the wind and waves.  This is a trick I used when canoeing and kayaking and it has worked fairly well thus far on our trip.    Wave action in Sunderland Channel We continued down Sunderland into wind and waves with a tail current.  We passed a lar...
Read more