Planning for 2016 - Vancouver Island Inside Passage

[DesertAlbin736]

Tobermory: This is the one that I have. You're saying it's not what you prefer? Of course we'd want the tide tables as well, and my GPS gives local high and low tide info too.

If I recall correctly last time we were up in the Gulf Islands in 2014 diesel prices were about $1.64CN per litre at fuel docks, which worked out to $6.20CN per gallon back when the exchange rate was much closer to parity within a couple cents. With current exchange rate of $1CN=75 cents US that puts the high end of fuel costs at $3.97US per US gallon or $5.30CN. Like many yanks we tend to think in terms of gallons, but in any case the Albin 25 gets about 3.4 NM per litre mileage, or a burn rate of between 1.5 to 1.9 litres per hour.

[joreyn]

Diesel prices in the Broughtons, and to some extent in Desolation, are affected by the cost to deliver the fuel to the fuel docks. According to the one of the owners of Pierre's Echo Bay Resort, if the fuel is coming from Campbell River it costs less than if it comes from Port Hardy. I took on fuel at Pierre's and at Lagoon Cove. Both charged $1.40 CDN which at the time was equivalent to $1.05 US. And that is per liter. That would be about $3.85 per US Gallon. Sullivan Bay was $1.54 per liter.

As for tide guides, I really like Ports and Passages. It covers everything from Southern Puget Sound all the way up the inside passage. It is adjusted for daylight savings, and it has conversion tables which let you figure out the slack water at locations where there may not be an official reading. For example, Yaculta Rapids is 15 minutes after Gillard Passage. Yes this is pretty much intuitive, but its good to be able to plan meticulously up there.

[Tobermory]

Desert Albin
Fuel generally is more expensive in this part of the world in the summer time. That would include diesel. Something to do with refinery capacity and I can assure you it is a constant topic of public discussion. The prices quoted by Blue Moon are probably more accurate than mine for summer cruising.
I have a copy of that current book. It is a leftover from my sailboat racing days before we got GPS to enable us to more accurately plot current effect. I don't use it for cruising, only the two tide books (which also have current information for the passes) that I mentioned earlier. Even though my last two boats have been power boats that I can cruise at 18k, my first two boats were sailboats which cruised at about 6.5k. On longer trips, such as to the Broughtons, I would just make sure I planned all of my longer passages to go with the current. Sometimes that meant waking up at odd hours but I found it too frustrating to putter along at a net speed of 2 or 3 knots. Once you get north of Georgia Strait (or in the Gulf Islands) the current direction is generally quite predictable by referring to nearby passages with current information. Also, many of the charts, particularly of areas in the Broughtons, show current direction for some areas. In the southern Georgia Strait the current flows NW in a flood and SE in an ebb. It is just the opposite north of Campbell River. There can be minor variations to that on some tides and the current atlas may help you with that but I never worried that much about it when cruising as long as I was generally going with the flow.

[DesertAlbin736]

Thanks guys, you're both a great help. Ports & Passages can be purchased online, so I'll be watching for when the 2016 edition comes out.

La Dolce Vita
1971 Albin 25

[DesertAlbin736]

Tobermory:

PS, while I was never much into racing, prior to 2014 I had been a sailboater since 1998, primarily trailerables 25 ft and under. Our last sailboat was a Catalina 25 we named "Orinoco Flow" after the Enya song, which besides local lake sailing we had it docked out in San Diego for two summers, in 2008 and 2012. We sold that boat in 2013 and started looking for an Albin. During the 2012 season we harbor hopped up the coast from San Diego to the Los Angeles harbor of San Pedro, thence out to Catalina Island and back.

In the first picture it looks as if we're about to be run over by that big sport fisher, but in reality we were well off to the side of the main channel near Shelter Island.

[coolchange]

Hey...my 2 cents: all of the above is good info
I like both ports and passes and the visual of the Currents for me is the best
Pump out management is a must...they are few and far between
Water is also a different issue...brown and costs money
Trash management worthwhile...costs to leave it
Gluten free is a harder thing to do up north
Johnstone straite...do what you can to avoid unless 100% sure of conditions...gets ugly fast
give some thought to using your anchor
shrimp are free...oysters too
Dreamseeker books are not the best guides...but help some (I found a lot of the info outdated or inaccurate.)
Curve of time
Full Moon, Flood Tide: Bill Proctor's Raincoast
If you get a chance: Octopus Islands
did I mention watch out for Johnston Straight
did I mention FOG...it will change your schedule

I, also, may be leaving from the Albin gathering in LaConnor for Glacier Bay....you should join us at the rendezvous

[djpeewee]

Thanks for your 2 cents coolchange. Much appreciated. And thanks for the heads up on these issues. Since we haven't done this trip we wouldn't necessarily think of these. A couple of questions:

Pump out management is a must...they are few and far between

From what I read, you can dump anywhere, as long as you are away from aquaculture and anchorages. Is this true? We are planning on adding extra holding capacity anyway, but I want to make sure we aren't being held hostage by the holding tank if we can't go overboard.

Water is also a different issue...brown and costs money

We are good here. Maybe make some $$$ for fuel by selling water? We have a 24 GPH water maker.

Trash management worthwhile...costs to leave it

Do most of the marinas take trash? If not, maybe a bonfire on the beach? We don't bring disposable cups or plates with us and try not to bring glass to limit the waste. The center fish locker in the transom makes for good temporary trash stowage when on extended trips.

give some thought to using your anchor

Are you saying give some thought to using it? Or give some thought to NOT using it? We would like to anchor as much as possible. We just upgraded all of the ground tackle, rode, and windlass with this in mind. My original post may have sounded like we were planning on hitting the marina every night, but this is not the case.

shrimp are free...oysters too

Where do we find the free food?

did I mention FOG...it will change your schedule

Not sure what to say about the fog, other than we are used to it. We have pea soup regularly here in the Strait and it doesn't stop us - it just slows us down. Certainly a different case in unfamiliar territory though. Not sure what we'll end up doing.

I, also, may be leaving from the Albin gathering in LaConnor for Glacier Bay....you should join us at the rendezvous

1. When is the gathering in Laconner? 2. Glacier Bay is our ultimate goal once we get a few trips up the coast under our belt. Probably next year. I'd love to know more about it.

Also, thanks for the reading material suggestions. Since you find some of the information in the Dreamspeaker guides out of date, do you have a better suggestion? Maybe Waggoners since it is updated yearly?

Thanks again for the input.