What a week! It started with the usual: chasing salmon in Rivers Inlet. Took us a bit, but we cracked the code on Tuesday—hit our limit with coho, pink, a spring, and even a lingcod.
The next day?
Same spot, and we landed three more right in front of a lodge guide. Their guests actually cheered when Capt. Paul pulled in a big coho. Not gonna lie—felt pretty good.
Then it was back to Port Hardy to drop off Capt Paul and welcome our son Josh, who drove up from Victoria for a visit.
We soaked up some quality family time, including a hike to the WWII crash site of Flight 576. It’s a beautiful and sobering trail.
The video’s coming soon on the Exploring the World Onboard Tangaroa channel.
After a few days of provisioning and topping up 400 gallons of diesel (ouch but not a total ouch), we headed north again. This time, we had a much better crossing to Skull Cove, Bramham Island. From there, we hiked to the remains of an old whaling research station tucked in the forest—hidden plywood cabins slowly being swallowed by nature.
And this morning, we tackled the infamous Nakwakto Rapids.
Fastest navigable tidal current in the world (thanks, Guinness Book), but we nailed the timing. We’ll go back through in a couple of days and take Punga out to Tremble Island (the island in the middle of the rapids that you can only access at slack tide) to leave a Tangaroa nameplate. It’s a bit of a tradition—boats that’ve transited the rapids leave their mark there.
Now we’re in Seymour and Belize Inlets—over 220 miles of deep fjords, remote as it gets. This area wasn’t even charted until the late ‘80s, and it really feels like untouched wilderness. We’re officially in the Great Bear Rainforest now.
It’s wild. It’s quiet. It’s everything we hoped this leg of the Great Siberian Sushi Run would be.
Thanks for being part of the journey,
Janis & Blaine
Hey Crew —
This past week has been wild. We're in River’s Inlet with our friend Captain Paul trying our luck at salmon fishing. The first half? Pretty quiet—one halibut and a lingcod found in a crab trap (does that even count?).
We took a break from fishing to explore Draney Inlet, where we anchored in front of a massive waterfall and checked out abandoned logging gear.
Found an old Ford engine, a nearly sunken float with Detroit Diesel parts, 6–7 Yamaha outboards, a smoker, and more—all just wasting away. No, we didn’t take anything… but that smoker was tempting.
We also had a few surprises. A stillborn seal pup, a startled mama seal, and Maggie slipping on seaweed while going for a swim (yes, we filmed it).
Now we’re anchored at a perfect little cove we’re calling “Pauly Cove,” and the salmon are finally biting—we limited out in four hours today. Freezer’s filling, spirits are high, and Blaine’s happy working on his own boat. Right now he is wiring in our new see in the dark camera!
Thanks so much for your support—welcome to all our new crew members! If you're not one yet, head to onboardtangaroa.com to join. You’ll get early videos, behind-the-scenes content, and our weekly real-time updates every Wednesday in Wheelhouse Weekly.
Catch you next Monday for the Real Time Update,
Janis & Blaine
