The last day....

5:30 AM up anchor! Raining and very grey. Trees, rocks, water. Motored in big Pacific Ocean swells until we were inside the islands some more on the way to Prince Rupert. The plan was to get there by 1PM and have the afternoon for a nice long shower (!) and a trip to their excellent museum with native objects. However, we rode over a gill net that was extremely hard to see. H was watching and they saw one end buoy but not another end til they were a few feet from the net and instantly stopped the engine. The fishing boat was far away, not tending his net. A common hazard. So Lindsay donned the wet suit to dive the prop but couldn’t hold her breath that long in the swells. Next; Kate the cook is a scuba diver so she donned the suit with the tank but couldn’t manage under the boat. 3rd time is the charm. : 1st mate Mike, donned the scuba gear (first time for him) and managed to get it loose. (it was around both props, but not wound up). Out skipper also has lots of experience diving for these nets but has injured his ears.. In the meantime the fishing boat had wound up his net which made it worse (tighter) and in the process slammed into the tap rail of the sailboat, causing some minor damage. (probably more than the very minor damage to the net) Mike managed to drag the sailboat away and we were off….getting to Prince Rupert, BC 4 hours late.(which included waiting for the customs agents to get there and question everyone individually.) but it was another Alaska adventure! so no complaints. So it was a quick goodby to a really fine group of people ( we never did get a group photo) - all like minded in wanting this sort of adventure. 6 of us stayed at the same hotel and were eating our dinner together in the restaurant when we saw the Island Odyssey take off, around 7PM (this blip from the Crest restaurant window) as they had a long journey to get to their next trip. ( A charter in Desolation sound) It's a fine company, Bluewater Adventures.
We've been watching the weather there since we came back to hot summer, and it seems to have continued cold and rainy!

Day 10 and 11, set