{"id":1648,"date":"2018-08-30T23:28:01","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T23:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2018-08-30T23:28:01","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T23:28:01","slug":"craig-alaska-boat-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/craig-alaska-boat-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Craig: By Boat, By Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

The F\/V Investor<\/em> was based in Blaine, Washington, snug on the Canadian border with British Columbia (B.C. in local parlance). Traveling from Blaine to Craig by boat is a distance of some 700+ nautical miles. The Investor<\/em>, like many of the Delta 58″ fishing vessels, was capable of a cruising speed of 9 knots. That translates into a minimum 3-day trip through the legendary Inside Passage<\/a>, assuming good weather, an average boat speed of 9 knots and a non-stop journey with everyone on wheel-watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a good reason not to stop: A U.S. boat will have to clear Canadian Customs. The only exception to this rule is for those vessels transiting directly from<\/em> one foreign point or port outside of Canada (say Blaine, Washington) to<\/em> another foreign point or port outside of Canada (say Craig, Alaska). Vessels in transit are defined by motion: “vessel movement must be continuous, uninterrupted, and without delays or stopovers.”<\/p>\n

That can, of course, get tricky, for the Inside Passage is a fickle mistress. The Inside Passage is famous for its fast currents. This is in part because water flooding and ebbing from the Pacific Ocean is constricted as it forces its way through the slender passages that help define this waterscape. Smart sailors wait till slack tide, when the waters momentarily stop roiling.<\/em><\/p>\n