Making a BIG Splash in Prince Rupert

Another very early morning as we left Ketchikan at 4:15 AM yesterday to make what we hoped would be a calm crossing of the famous "Dixon Entrance".  The weather predictions had been changing a bit so we were not sure what we would encounter but we were prepared with alternate anchorage sites along the way if we started to encounter any really nasty stuff.  It was low overcast, spotty fog and the seas stayed less than 3 feet which made us very happy!

It was JUST 12 hours later when we finally arrived in Prince Rupert.  A VERY long day in deed.  It was very windy in Prince Rupert and descriptions of the port facilities in our cruising books left a lot to be desired.  We pulled into a very choppy dock and called into customs for a Canadian entry number.  The man on the phone could sense I had had a long day and was very kind and understanding when I admitted I was not sure if we were at the appropriate dock for check-in or not.  He looked up our records and gave us the number anyway...must have noticed we have not been a problem in Canada on any previous trips.

By the time I was through with the customs call there we started getting a lot of boat wakes and the wind slapping our poor little Nordic Tug up against this outside dock very hard.  We needed to get out of there!!!  I called the "Rushbooke Harbor" and they said the full fishing fleet was in and it would be "rafting only" which we do not enjoy at all.  When you are all tied together with other boats you never know who will be climbing through your deck or when they will want to leave and have you in the way. 

It was a long shot but I decided to head up the dock to see if Prince Rupert Yacht Club had room for us.  They did so we pulled out and down a few slips to dock up there.  Their docks have wide thoroughfares but the finger piers between the boats are very narrow, metal mesh and very unstable.  Anyway...we pulled into the slot with Gary driving and I stepped onto the finger pier with rope in hand.  Seconds later, Gary left the helm of the boat and jumped both feet flat onto the finger pier about 4 feet from me.  That was it...I was thrown off the dock and into the water!  Shock, wet, cold, Gary said I screamed and went down quite a ways before surfacing.  We have those neat vest type life jackets but they are not self inflating  and we have talked alot about having to pull on the handle to inflate them if we ever fell in.  It did not occur to me so it was just like another piece of clothing on me.  Bet we will be upgrading to the self inflating ones before long.

Biggest problem was how to get out of the water.  Gary got the boat tied up and turned off and then I worked my way over to the main part of the dock and then had three people "assisting me" in getting onto the dock.  Thanks to a hot shower, lots of tylenol and bandages on my scraped arm, I am finally today able to look back and joke a bit about it.  Frankly, it was scary how fast those things can happen.

Gary says the Olympic event judges are still negotiating on what score to put on the cards they hold up for my "diving event".  Think they are trying to figure out how to put a .5 score without having me think it is a 5 score (on scale of 10)!