Ketchikan Journals

Idling Up the Inside Passage

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A June 2001 trip to Ketchikan by Idler

The good ship Viking Fjord Photo - Ketchikan, Alaska More Photos
Quote: Novice sailor rounds out a crew of three on a private yacht going up the Inside Passage from Bella Bella, B.C. to Ketchikan, AK. (Work in progress)

Idling Up the Inside Passage

Overview

The good ship Viking Fjord Photo - Ketchikan, Alaska
Quote:
Vast, unpopulated spaces. Eagles, bears, and other wildlife. Catching (and eating) fish and Dungeness crab. Mountain peaks and cascading waterfalls. Putting in at remote, pristine bays. Misty inlets and quiet coves. Night skies on deck, followed by a warming drink and cozy bearth. Learning boat basics and steering by G.P.S.   Bonhomie and good times aboard the good ship Viking Fjord. The Inside Passage mystique! Quick Tips: You don't have to be particularly knowledgeable about boats to help crew one, provided that the skipper and other crew members are willing to teach you the basics. (But don't make the mistake of taking anything for granted - a boat's a dangerous place ...Read More
Bella Bella Photo - Ketchikan, Alaska
Quote:
It all started when some friends out in the Pacific Northwest bought a boat. Jan and Jay were planning to live aboard the 65-foot trawler yacht Viking Fjord. Having sold their house on San Juan Island as well as their former boat, my friends planned to start a charter business with their new boat. They needed crew for their maiden voyage up the Inner Passage and asked me if I’d like to join them. Frankly, I was astonished that they’d ask me. I had virtually no shipboard experience other than an occasional passage on large ferries. But then, I realized, what was required was not necessarily experience but a willingness ...Read More

2: Not what ships are built for

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Story/Tip

The Viking Fjord Photo - Ketchikan, Alaska
Quote:
A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. - William Shedd - When I stepped tentatively into the skiff that would take me out to the Viking Fjord, I had little notion of the sea change my journey was about to undergo. A traveller on land, however removed from civilization, never confronts as featureless a terrain as the sea. A wayfarer can cut a notch in a tree or build a stone cairn to mark his route, while a seafarer leaves no evidence of his passage. A ship’s wake quickly subsides into the vast indifference of the sea. There is, when you get right down to it, nothing so lost as lost at sea. These were no...Read More

3: There the sea I found

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Story/Tip

An eagle Photo - Ketchikan, Alaska
Quote:
There the sea I found Calm as a cradled child in dreamless slumber bound. - Percy Bysshe Shelley - Before leaving Bella Bella the following morning, there were errands to run. We had to stop by the Marine Centre at nearby Shearwater to see if they could repair the alternator, plus we needed to stock up on provisions at the small grocery store in Bella Bella. I also needed a fishing license – a whopping $40 for a five-day permit, which I didn’t begrudge paying as so far as I could tell selling marine equipment and fishing licenses or catering to sport fishermen was about the only moneymaking proposition in Bella Bella. We made the run over ...Read More