Sailing Vessel Karma

The northern most town of significance on the BC Coast, Prince Rupert is a large shipping port and cruise ship stop for huge vessels coming from Japan or chapparoning tourists to and from Alaska. This was also the point we were originally going to drop of Zoe, that was until about a day or two ago when she was convincing enough to somehow change her friend’s bike trip plans from bike trip to sailing trip.

A larger town on a yacht also means it is chore time. We had a list of things such as water, fuel (diesel, petrol, and propane), provisions for now 4 for the next probably 2 to 3 weeks plus Heather’s and my trip south from Daajing Giids, a few boat parts, outboard repairs, laundry, and so on. All this settles in our minds as we head up the channel heading to the town and get our first glimpses of what looks to be a pretty but smaller town perched behind huge shipping container docks and up against the hillsides of the surrounding mountains.

Radioing ahead to some marinas, expecting to stay at least one night at a dock, we find that pretty much everything is full so it is off to the town docks at the north of town for us. We pass Sinbad clearly on the outside breakwater of one of the marinas and joke about just tying up to them and having nobody notice.

Down at the town docks its also chaos, but here at Canadian Government Docks there is much more ‘fend for yourself’ sort of mentality. We slowly motor through rows of boats of varying condition and find one to raft to with an easy enough approach. As we are hoping aboard the stranger’s yacht to tie our lines to it Trevor, who is to be our new crew member, appears on the dock. The tie up went off without a hitch and we welcome Trevor aboard.

A quick tour and introductions later we explain the situation of Prince Rupert being a chore type stop and thus the logistics commence. Trevor having Zoe’s car makes things immensly helpful. We set off in search of laundry, Trevor and I driving while Heather and Zoe bike into town. We get lead astray and end up at a strangers house before finding ‘Rinse Rupert laundry mat’ where we all 4 of us find out it is essentially closed for the day. Being it’s now about 5:30 we decide it’s pub time instead of logistics time and set off for a dockside pub for poutine and Ceasers to wash down the sunset with.

After dinner we of course have to head down the private marina to where Sinbad is tied up and are immediately invited aboard for conversation on the aft deck and to introduce our new crewmember Trevor to that of Sinbad. Trevor has the perfect comportment for the perfect style of jokes and storytelling which takes place aboard boats and we part this time with an even more solidified friendship and now knowing we probably won’t cross paths with them for a while as they’re heading up to Wrangle, AK.

Back onboard Karma late that night, while not much logistics got done, Prince Rupert was off to a good start, and we had the freshness to hit the ground running the following day.

Up in the morning and off to a cafe to start the day, a cruise ship pulls into town which is surely to add a change of pace to the day. As the cafe fills up with people with cameras hanging from their necks we leave to start sorting out mainly groceries and the packing of Trevor and Zoe’s things for their subsequent bike trip now on Haida Gwaii.

Leaving them to situate their packing in the Walmart Parking lot, Heather and I set off to the marine stores looking for safety and fishing equipment along with some spares. We find about half of what we need, pretty standard operating procedure when cruising. While we didn’t find everything we needed, we were greeted at each store by helpful and chatty individuals who gave us a feel for the town.

We then meet back up for the provisioning to commence. Into Walmart we go where Trevor did a preliminary scope out earlier for a few things. He reported it was filled with tourists buying the strangest of things, “I am not sure why you would go on a 5 day cruise and need to go to Walmart in order to go clothes shopping”. Amongst this crowd we snaked, restocking for what would be needed aboard. Flour, cans, pasta, tea, coffee, double double creamer, a pink flamingo blow up floaty, but no fresh goods as Walmart doesn’t seem to have anything not available in plastic.

Heather and I set off for Safeway while Zoe hit the BC Liquor store and grabbed the laundry, oh yes the laundry went in at some point earlier in the day. At about this point, maybe around 3:30 or 4, we were on the precipice of either being able to force a departure that day and still make the fuel dock or just take the edge off all the rushing around, stay the night, and be rested and ready to leave without forcing it in the morning. We took the latter and headed back to Karma to unwind. Trevor set off to join a Jujitsu class for a few hours, Zoe, Heather and I biked, rollerbladed, and scootered respectively down the waterfront pathway to the Prince Rupert Brewery.

Trevor joined us after being beaten up by the Prince Rupert locals and we all lazily stared off over the water at a pretty unique sunset. We had read that the community aquatic center offers showers so we headed out just after dark to drive and see if that were true. As it wasn’t, Trevor jumped in to the water at a lookout point and we headed back to hit the sack.

Up the next morning to finish one more chore and hit the Tim Hortons before we left civilization for the next while, we were then back at Karma packed and ready to depart. Off to the fuel dock we topped up on everything one does while chatting with the friendly locals who were excited we were going to see the remote areas of Haida Gwaii. With that we motored on out of the channel, Trevor at the helm for the first time in his life, and Karma stocked to the brim with bikes, food, water, diesel, and a pink flamingo.