There are several myths about going north that I would like to demolish.

1. That the outside of Vancouver Island is toooo dangerous.
2. That going up the inside is shorter, has fewer logs and more places to
   stopover.
3. That the outside has worse weather.
4. That the Queen Charlotte Islands are uncharted and the place on the
   chart where they should be has been replaced with  Note "A": Thar Be Dragons.
5. The Canadians won't allow any foreign vessel to transit the outside, if
   they have to stop for fuel or supplies, unless they have cleared at Victoria.
6. That the cost of charts for cruising in BC is prohibitive.

Here goes my take on these issues.

The outside of Vancouver Island is more exposed to direct storms, but the
inside is subject to cold outbreaks from the mainland landmass and East
winds of up to 50-100 knots, depending upon the season. The Strait of
Georgia and Johnston Strait are subject to strong winds which can make then
impassable for small craft, most often when storms are
approaching  offshore. I just went up the outside with it calm when the
inside passage was blowing hard from a cold outbreak.

Going up the outside will save 120 miles of time, fuel and close quarters
navigating. The spring melt is underway and the  Skeena River near Prince
Rupert is dumping logs into the inside passage. There were very few logs on
the outside of Vancouver Island. There were a few between the North end of
the island and the south end of the Queen Charlottes. There are many places
to stopover on the outside, but you need some charts.

There are MANY places to duck and hide in on the way up the outside of
Vancouver Island. In that respect it is much safer than the outer coast of
Oregon or Washington. The Marine Atlas charts would seem to provide a
reasonable level of detail for these purposes.

If you read the Sailing Directions for BC, both books cost about $60 each,
it mentions that the outside of the Queen Charlottes have not been surveyed
properly inside of 50 fathoms or so. I would be wary of approaching those
islands anyplace that is not charted with large scale charts, which is most
of the outside coastline.

For chart work in BC I use the Marine Atlas by Bayless Enterprises. There
are 2 volumes, volume 1 covers the inside of Vancouver Island and volume 2
Port Hardy BC to Skagway AK. Neither volume has much coverage of the Queen
Charlottes. If you stick to the main routes, they are generally clear of
obstructions with only a few places that you need to be extra wary. I carry
the Sailing Directions for Northern BC. The cost of all this is $150 US. I
would suggest that you supplement this with regular charts for places the
Atlas does not cover in enough detail and you want to operate there. My PDA
has all the charts for SE Alaska.

I estimate that you can save about another 100 miles by running straight
from the North end of Vancouver Island to Ketchikan by going up Hecate
Strait, just past Rose Spit. All in all you can save about 220 miles of
fuel and at least a days time by this method.

Hecate Strait has a bad reputation, but you are not going to use this route
unless the weather is reasonably calm anyway and my estimate is that except
during short periods during storms and near max ebb or flood (in shallows
or narrow passages), this strait is pretty safe. I would not get near Rose
Spit during strong currents. The flats south of Rose Point called Dogfish
Bank seem safe if the swell is low, no storm activity around and the
current is not running hard. The low detail charts show a lot of 3 fathoms
spots, but I ran up through there several miles offshore and found that the
shoal spots are pretty small and general depths run 10 fathoms or more.
Queen Charlotte City is a fine spot to stay overnight if you are cleared in.

If you call Canadian Customs before leaving Neah Bay they may give you a
clearance without demanding you come to Victoria. In any event the Customs
station at Ucluelet BC (NW corner of Barkley Sound) is only open in the
summer. There is no other formal year round clearance station on the outer
coast of Vancouver Island. I got a phone clearance at Ucluelet since the
station was not open. They might have demanded that we appear in person
somewhere else since the station was not yet open. Since we were headed
almost directly for Ketchikan, they were real nice about it and cleared us
by phone. I had called while at Neah Bay and been given incorrect
information about the station being open, that worked in our favor. I
suspect that if you don't raise any of their "red flags" that in most cases
you can get a clearance number by phone while still in the US.

It would have been cheaper to fly a customs agent to Ucluelet than to take
the boat back to Victoria as a matter of cost, time and the chances of
hitting a log or other damage. I would use this argument for a phone
clearance, in any event. Most of these issues can be settled by some deft
negotiation. Offer to do anything they want, but point out the cost and
inconvenience and risk to your boat. The Canadians are human and are
generally not looking to be unaccommodating.

Regards,
Mike

Capt. Mike Maurice
Tualatin(Portland), Oregon

Here are a few thoughts to add or supplement Mike's take on the "outside" of
Vancouver Island and from there on to Ketchikan.

Over the years we have been on the TWL, I have been preaching what a neat
area the "outside" is for cruising. It is pretty well known to Oregon
boaters, especially sail boats from there. One year we will cruise the west
coast of Vancouver Island and the next year we will run the inside passage
on up to Alaska. We have been doing this for many years now. Both routes can
have their nasty weather.

The west coast also has many places you can not only duck into but you can
cruise inside and behind the numerous islands which are along the coast.
Well protected, beautiful cruising.  The headlands and penninsulas can be
rounded in about a half day with a slow trawler so you are back in protected
waters fairly soon. Generally the further up the island, the worse the
weather.  A lot of history there along the coast also.

You must have good charts.  Don't take shortcuts with your chart purchases
to save money.  If you don't have good charts....you have no business going
there.

For awhile the powers that be in Canada considered having Victoria as the
only port of entry for the entire west coast.  I screamed like crazy and
wrote many letters to the settlements along the coast telling them that they
wouldn't see many U.S. boats. They in turn raised heck with their government
to have some place for us to check in.  We used to have to go into Bamfield
and that was ok but it was dropped in favor of  Ucluelet.  It would have
been prohibitive to have to take a day to go from Neah Bay down the Strait
and into Victoria and then turn around and run back another day to our
destination.

There is more fog on the outside but that's ok as there are far fewer boats
there and those who are there seem to know more about handling their boat
under those conditions.

I have had a hard time with insurance companies refusing coverage or brokers
not telling the truth about our having coverage on the "outside."  Be sure
you have your coverage IN WRITING where you intend to cruise if off the
beaten path.  The same is true for the inside passage north of Bella Bella
B.C.

Sandy and Dawna Floe
Sea Eagle (39 CHB)
Randle, WA