04 June 2012; At Sea.

Although it is nicer to spend the night in bed, this was a good night to be up and about, if you have to be up and about. It was wind still, a full moon was shining over the waters of the Inside Passage and the ship was gliding serenely through Johnston Strait. We arrived ahead of schedule at the Narrows, courtesy of the fact that there was some traffic that we wanted to overtake. If there is small craft out there that is going the same way, then it is always better to have those behind you, than in front of you. You never know if they might decide to veer over at the last minute and get into the way. The Celebrity Century was ahead of us and that made sense as she has to go to Icy Strait which is a longer distance than for us going to Ketchikan. So she has to maintain a higher average speed and why should we be in the way then? Although there is enough room to overtake in Johnston Strait it is all extra hassle and that is better to avoid when possible. 

Preparing to blow up Ripple Rock.

Seymour Narrows is still a place to treat with great respect and thus we go through on currents less than 5 knots. Less than 3 knots is even better but not always possible due to traffic. In the old days Seymour Narrows was outright dangerous as there was a pinnacle rock in the centre. Apart from having to navigate the current, a ship’s captain also had to make sure he sailed close to the shore to pass safely by it. The ships were much smaller of course but at the same time the danger was inherently greater.

Boom, that was the end of Ripple Rock.

Therefore the wise decision was made to blow the whole centre section up. A tunnel was dug in the bedrock under the Narrows and the shaft completely filled up with explosives. When the button was pushed it resulted in the largest non nuclear explosion until that date. The record might still stand as of today. I believe there is a video clip of it on YouTube which is quite spectacular to watch. The result was that the whole width of Seymour Narrows can now be safely used for the transit.

With the large cruise ships going through it means that we now favor the centre of the channel. It gives more time and space to correct for drift if the ship is being pushed over by back eddies caused by the current. Another reason to go through near slack tide. The back eddies get larger with the increase of the current as so much water is coming through that it cannot flow away quickly enough and bounces back in various ways from the shore. We sailed through with 2 knots of following (Ebb) current. Which was fine by me; following current means extra speed and less fuel consumption. By 05.00 we were through Blackney Pass and heading into Queen Charlotte Strait. That brought us by 0800 hrs to Pine island Pilot Station for disembarking the Canadian Pilots.

The remainder of the day was spent in Queen Charlotte Sound. For those out on the open decks it was a good day as we saw hundreds of dolphins coming by and quite a few Humpback Whales playing around. We even noticed a Fin Whale. They are around but we normally do not see them that often because they are much less conspicuous than the humpback whales who are real show offs. I am still waiting for the first sightings of the killer whales, there are resident pods around in this area but we have not seen them yet. We think they are still further out, hunting for seals and waiting for the salmon to start running before they move more inland. Tonight we sail through Hecate Strait, Dixon Entrance and then into Alaskan Waters.

We have been ordered by the agent to be at the pilot station at 04.15. 45 minutes earlier than normal, as there will be a whole parade of cruise ships going in. Star Princess at 03.45, we at 04.15 and the Sea Princess at 04.45. that will bring that parade to the docks 30 minutes apart for docking purposes. We are expecting one more ship, the Silver Shadow but she is coming in around 13.30 hrs. The weather for Ketchikan looks quite good, less than 5% of rain expected, so I am hoping that if that 5% has to fall it does not do it in the downtown area on top of the ship.