after the storm

July 31, only one more month left

Buck and Lisa drove up from Seattle to Port McNeil and joined us yesterday. They were a bit later than we thought, not that it really mattered, but I was headed up to the Laundromat to check emails to see if they had left a message for us since there is no way to call us on a phone up here. Glen has the only working phone and he and Liz had already headed out and we were going to meet them after picking up Buck and Lisa. As I got to the head of the dock, they pulled in and parked and I think it took them both a few moments to recognize the bearded one, I look a bit too much like a local right now.

They had a few things they needed to shop for and had to arrange for someplace to leave their car for a week and then we were off. We only had a short run down across Blackfish Sound to meet up with Glen behind Mound island. It was uneventful on calm water under gray skies. It is quite cool right now with rain forecast for the next couple of days but no wind of significance is expected. That will be good.

I had to replace my windshield wiper motor on the fly bridge for the Seaview window insert. Lucky it was a standard part and the marine store had several in stock. I turned the wiper on during the heavy rainstorm we passed through yesterday but forgot to turn it off as we were navigating between rocks and things. As I docked I began to smell something hot, not quite like overheated wires but close. I started checking wires on the bridge, under the command console, under seats, and I finally touched the wiper motor I nearly burned my hand it was so hot. The wiper had stopped in mid stroke on the dry window and the motor burned up trying to move it. Lesson, don’t run the wiper on a dry window. Gil Fetzner had warned me about that problem before I left, as he did the same thing with his new Seaview window just showing people how his new window insert worked.

We docked next to Dave and Janet Robinson on Ashanti, other club members who were just hanging out at Port McNeil. Shortly after we arrived, Jim and Marcia Krell on Chinoo, another club member arrived and docked just across from us. We had first run across Chinoo at Ketchikan on the way up back in May. They too are headed home.

Buck brought up more fishing gear and says we are going to catch fish this week. Were going to give it our best and see what happens. The fish seem to finally running so just maybe there is a salmon out there with my name on it. We even pulled out the fishing for salmon made easy book and read it to find out how it is supposed to work. Stay tuned for more fish stories.

We joined Liz and Glen as planned at the Mound Island Anchorage. It rained all day and then it rained harder. We moved up to Joes Cove on Eden Island after a slow run through the many islands that make up the Broughtons. We tried fishing for a while off Mamalilaculla, the old Indian village on Village Island; again the fish won another round.

Joes Cove is a nice secure anchorage but there were several other boats that we shared the anchorage with. We went out in the Dinghy’s for another try at catching a fish and once again, the fish won. We tried numerous different lures and bait none of which seemed to entice the fish to nibble. It kept raining and after a couple hours in the rain in the dinghy and as the rain got even harder Buck and I decided to retreat and let the fish win this round.

Next morning the rain let up, there were patches of blue sky and as it turned out we were finally going to see blue sky and sun in the afternoon. Glen got reservations for us at Pierres at Echo Bay for Friday and Saturday for the pig roast so we pulled the empty crab pots and near empty shrimp pots and trolled our way towards the next stop. The fish won another round today and Buck is now convinced that there is really something to the Miner Curse which prevents us from catching anything significant.

Pierres at Echo Bay is a great place and our first real social event since leaving home. There are dozens of boats and there are a number of old acquaintances here. I spotted a boat headed in to the bay just ahead of us and the captain looked amazingly like Larry Claiborne and the first mate much like Kathy. At lo and behold it was. So we spent a pleasant afternoon at happy hour talking to them and recounting our various experiences and voyages. We found a couple other boats from the yacht club, Ray and Sue Biggs and Richard and Merlyn Symms were here as well.

Katie said you all wanted to know if we survived the storm. We did but it was a was a dark and stormy harrowing night and for a while we were not sure we would make it. The wind blew 60 plus, the waves were an epic 18 feet high and the rain came sideways. We had extra lines out, double the fenders and prayed the docks would survive the night and that we would not have to seek refuge in the fish cannery next door.

At least thats what it was like somewhere near us but fortuneatly for us, not at our dock. We spent a perfectly calm and quiet night with nary a ripple on the water. The fish smell did blow the opposite direction all night so at least we were relieved of that ominous threat. We were quite comfortable in Port Hardy as was most of the fishing fleet that came in to wait out the storm. We could see the waves out in front of the harbor a mile or so out in the strait but the trees did not even sway on the hills around us. It did rain a bit but not enough to keep us from walking to town again. I would not have wanted to be out in the straits however because it was as I described above out there just a mile from us and at Cape Scott just 45 miles to the north they were reporting 60 mph steady winds with higher gusts. The 18 foot waves were reported in the area we crossed the day before.

Today we are in Port McNeil, 16 miles tot he south after Sherm and Nancy left bright and early this morning to fly home we shoved off and went in search of the elusive salmon. They are still elusive and the score remains the same Tom 0, Salmon winning.

We got some more advice on how to catch salmon so we spent some more money on different lures and frozen anchovies. Yep were going to try fishing with Anchovies.

Port McNeil is a much nicer place than Port Hardy, smaller however but it does not have a smelly fish cannery.

Glen and Liz continued on south a bit and will wait for us in the Broughtons tomorrow after we pick up Buck and Lisa. Hopefully they will make it here by early afternoon so we can shove off and get back to our search for the wild salmon.

One positive thing about last nights stay at Port Hardy is we caught about half a dozen crab right off the docks in about an hour and had crab and steak for dinner. Funny thing is that I left the pot down all night figuring I would have a full pot by morning. Nothing in the pot at all when I brought it up. Go figure. 6 in an hour and then nothing. Even the crab are getting the upper hand on us.

Right now I am sitting in the laundry mat doing the wash with Chris and using thier free internet connection so this one is comming your way without any photos.

And yes, my official return date is still September 2. My budget for fuel is gone so I may be rowing the last 300 miles and will have to go back to work to pay off the second and third mortgage I had to take out for fuel. Hopefully Buck got the message to bring long oars with him.

July 27th, Port Hardy

Reflections on a perfect morning



Outer passage, south bound from Prince Rupert

We crossed Queen Charlotte Strait this morning with relative ease. Chris did not much like it but it was a much easier crossing than the one we did northbound. We had little wind and 4 foot rollers that were a bit uncomfortable but nothing that caused us to take any spray over the top. We kicked up the speed to shorten the time in crossing and were over in less than four hours. Glen decided he was going to go and explore Nakwato rapids despite the storm warning that came out this morning. There is a 920 MB low in the gulf that is going to be making it presence known sometime early tomorrow morning in the way of 45 to 50 mph winds from the SE. The coast guard made a special weather warning announcement at 10 am this morning. The weather service is calling this an unprecedented low pressure system for this time of year. According to the books this type of wind is virtually “nil” during June, July and August. Not sure where Glen is tonight, hopefully somewhere nice and snug.

Were secure at a fairly substantial dock outside of the breakwater at Port Hardy. There was no room inside, all space was reserved and occupied so were relegated to the outer docks. It could be an interesting day tomorrow but it should not be too bad where we are. The worst part of this place is the fish smell. We are adjacent the fish processing plant and every once in a while, no almost always there is an overpowering smell of fish wafting through the air. It is not very pleasant. Our only other option is to make a run for Port McNeil but there is no guarantee of dock space and we cannot raise the harbor master to see if there is any. So were going to weather the storm and the smell here. We moved behind the new concrete dock and off the old wood dock and pointed the bow towards the direction of the wind so we should do better when it does get here. The advantage of the storm is we will be up wind from the fish processing plant so the smell should blow away from us.



Our view and the source of the offending fish odor

Apparently the fishing is very good for the last couple of days anyway. We wove our way through dozens of small fishing boats out on the point today and have watched them come in all day long with their catch.

We walked the town today, a nice walk but it being Sunday, most everything was closed down except the latte stand and book store.

Our AT&T go phones are not working. For some reason AT&T says my phone number is not valid and so I cannot add any money to the account which is at a zero balance. Chris’s phone just will not work. So we are back to being phoneless again.

We are a day ahead of schedule to get Sherm and Nancy off due to weather so we will sit around tomorrow and read books, play dominoes and try to keep the boat from breaking loose from the dock.



This is the direction the wind will come when it does arrive

Marine Forecast
Winds
Issued 04:00 PM PDT 27 July 2008
Tonight and Monday Gale warning in effect. Wind northwest 10 to 15 knots diminishing to light early this evening and becoming southeast 10 to 20 late overnight. Wind increasing to southeast 20 to 30 early Monday morning and to 30 to 40 late Monday morning. Wind increasing to southeast 35 to 45 Monday afternoon.

Waves
Issued 02:00 PM PDT 27 July 2008
Today Tonight and Monday Seas 1 metre building to 2 to 3 late Monday morning and to 3 to 5 Monday afternoon.

July 25, 2008

Were sitting in Oliver Cove Provincial Marine Park off Reid Passage which is just north of Shearwater. We had a relatively short run from Meyers Passage today because we got a late start. We decided to go exploring by dinghy, just a short 20 mile excursion to the end of Alexander inlet. We figured not too many people ever venture to the far end because it is the middle of nowhere but when we got there, two boats were anchored there. Nice place but it is well off the beaten path.



Yes that is a bent propeller and shaft stuck in the rock in front of the sign. Warning, rocks win when you run over them.



The gale force winds never materialized that was predicted. We had a perfectly calm evening and it did not start clouding up till much later today and right now it is raining. We came back down via moss passage which took us into Milbank Sound where the rollers were getting bigger by the minute. Somewhere out there the wind is kicking up and causing these big waves. This was not Liz water and she was not feeling well, skipping dinner after less than 20 minutes in them. I was even getting a bit queasy so were happy that were sitting here safe in the anchorage. Right now just outside of our anchorage, the rollers are breaking on the rocks in big white plumes of froth and spray. Hopefully they die down a bit by tomorrow so we can sneak across Seaforth Channel and into Shearwater without too much rocking and rolling.

I went exploring in the dinghy after taking Sophie for her walk and found a black bear lying in the grass in a small cove just out of sight of the big boats. We were in the dinghy about 50 feet away and the bear showed little or now interest in us until Sophie spotted the bear and started barking. The bear got up and slowly walked towards the trees stopping to check us out several times before disappearing into the woods. Unlike the brown and grizzly’s we saw that ran the minute the saw us, this one was in no hurry to get away.

I went back after dinner with Chris, Sherm and Nancy to see if the bear had come back but no such luck.

We are going to try and get into position to run across Queen Charlotte Strait on Sunday. That means we need to be at Fury Cove tomorrow night. It sounds like our window for good weather for crossing is just one day with high winds forecast later in the week.

tough life



perfect morning in Monckton Cove


Calm before the storm, outside route

July 25 from in front of Klemtu

July 25, Meyers Cove in Meyers passage

We left Monckton Cove this morning intending to head inland to avoid the pending gale force winds that were predicted for late afternoon. The day was unbelievable. It was clear blue sky and no wind and the water was like glass. The updated weather report seemed to indicate the low that was headed our way may have stalled a bit and that we might be able to finish our outside route before it hit so we went for it. The outside route down Laredo Channel is beautiful. There is a number of possible inlets and protected anchorages along the way and I had all of them plotted just in case the front moved in faster than we anticipated. If the wind had picked up while we were out there it wound not be a nice place. The fetch and size of these waters is nothing to take lightly. Camano Sound is 10 miles across and opens to the ocean, Laredo sound is 5 miles wide and opens to the south west ocean swell. But the scenery is unbelievable, the islands a totally different climate and eco system. The islands are rock with a shallow layer of dirt for trees to take root so anything that grows is small and sparse. It looks more like an eastern Washington topography instead of a pacific coastal one. The outer passage is definitely worth doing if the weather is right and one needs about four days to do it right and spend some time exploring the many coves, inlets and lagoons that proliferate the area. We were very disappointed that we could not spend more time around the Anger Island area or that we could not stop there for a night as there are miles and miles of inlets to explore by dinghy. We needed to keep moving and get further south than those anchorages would allow.

We made it to Meyers Passage, a distance of 72 miles, just as the barometer began to fall and the wind changed from the NW to the SW and picked up a bit. The high cirrus clouds were forming and it looked like we timed it just right. Two large cruise ships entered Laredo Sound from the ocean as we crossed it heading towards protected waters in Meyers Passage. We found Meyers Cove just at the narrows of Meyers Passage and were able to get the anchor down and firmly set as the wind seemed to be picking up. But then the wind died and the clouds dissipated and as evening wore on it got nicer. Were still waiting for the winds to pick up which should happen sometime tonight and the clouds and rain to roll in but as of midnight the stars are out in all their brilliance and the winds are dead calm. The latest weather forecast still calls for Gale force winds but now scheduled for Friday morning into the afternoon.

We have made it further south that we thought we might, equal distance to being at Klemtu on the inside route. We might run north a bit and see Fjordlands National park on our way to Shearwater and Bella Bella tomorrow weather and wind permitting.

We had a fabulous dinner thanks to Liz of pasta, crabmeat, tomato crab bisk and fresh bread. You would pay big bucks for such a meal in a restaurant and it would be hard to beat the setting here in the middle of wilderness on the back of Glen and Liz’s boat, watching eagles soar overhead and enjoying the beautiful sun and blue sky. Tough life but someone has to do it and it may as well be us.


July 23, 2008

Ok, I have finally lost track of time. What was the last thing I posted? Leaving Prince Rupert at 130 on Monday, we actually got kicked out by the harbor master, evicted I think, apparently we overstayed our welcome. But we were ready to leave anyway. There was a 15 mph wind and current pushing me up against the dock but we got away cleanly. The outside of the dock is not a great place to be cause the dozens of fishing boats that come and go all day keep your rocking. I was more queasy sitting at the dock that I was crossing Dixon Entrance.

Leaving Prince Rupert I had to dodge dozens of gill netters and their nets. The wind had kicked up the waves and the three foot rollers made it hard to see the nets. With Sherm and Chris helping me find the identifying orange floats that mark the end of the nets we were able to avoid running over any of them. Running over a net is likely to ruin both the gill netters day and ours.

We stayed at Captains Cove at the west end of Ogden Channel. It is a very good anchorage. The guide book talks about a noisy logging operation that detracts from the site but that operation has been shut down for at least 5 or six years by the large amount of new growth on the log dump platform.

I managed to catch two nice cutthroat trout out of the river that flows in the bay but nothing else was biting. We did well with the crab pots catching 12 in the two pots we put down. Unfortunately we did not do so well with the shrimp pots, catching nothing but snails in either one.

Leaving Captains cove we headed south to Monckton inlet via Ala Passage. Ala Passage is a narrow, rock strewn meandering passage that cuts out about 10 miles of open water in Principal Channel. It is much more scenic and enjoyable albeit a bit more challenging than the open water. Glen led the way since he had electronic charts that covered the route while both my Nobeltec and C map were missing the necessary charts for this particular area. Not sure why but they are not there. Without detailed information there is no way one could safely maneuver through this pass. I had the paper charts and those helped but it would not be easy using paper charts alone. I have to admire those captains who used only paper charts to find their way around these waters, I guess were spoiled by GPS which shows where you are at any given moment within a few yards. I do keep the charts handy and follow along using chart books just in case the electrons fail but so far they have been almost flawless for both Glen and I on this trip.

Principal channel is huge. For as far as you can see to the SE and back NW the channel runs without obstruction. It is several miles wide and if there were a gale blowing either direction this would be one ugly piece of water to be on. Luckily there are numerous inlets to pull into to get out of the weather if the wind were to pick up.

Monckton inlet is another amazing place. We are tucked in a small cove on the north side of the inlet, entry through two narrow openings into a small bay, just big enough for the two boats in about 25 feet of water. We took a dinghy ride to explore the far reaches of the inlet after a dinner of crab, salad and fresh baked biscuits. At the end of the inlet is a small lagoon which we were unable to enter due to the low tide. I am not sure you could enter it even at high tide by dinghy. We also found a small creek entering the lagoon a little further down the inlet. The water coming out of the creek was 65 degrees while the water outside is four or five degrees colder. Not sure what makes the water so much warmer, a hot spring or a large shallow lake that the creek drains from, guess we will never know on this trip. In the same bay we found a man made rock dam. My guess is it is a fish trap of some kind, as the tide goes out it forms a shallow pool from which fish could be caught. No telling how long ago it was built. For sure there is not any sign of active use or any sign of human activity of any kind in the entire inlet.

The entrance to the inner bay is a bit tight. The map shows only 6 feet of water at low tide but we anchored in 25 feet and we only had a 6 foot tide that night. It does show only about 6 feet in the entrance and Glen got down to 2 feet as we left. He went a bit further south than I did, by just a few feet and came close while I saw a minimum depth of 8 feet as I left. Gotta be careful in these places and make sure you are spot on in your navigation to avoid the rocks and shallows in these places.

By the way, the gale winds never appeared.

July 21, Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert

We made it! We managed to get across Dixon Entrance after yesterdays aorted attempt. We left this morning at 0630 to take advantage of the predicte weather window. The weather bouy's were still reporting 7 foot seas but winds were down to 15 to 20. We had about 3 hours of 7 foot rollers but the wind was down and the rest of the crossing was relatively simple and easy. If these were 7 footers today, and I believe they were, yesterdays had to be 10 or 12 footers. Everyone made it across ok including Liz who fell asleep part way across. Sleep is the best defense against sea sickness if you can get there before you get sick. We picked up the speed a bit to get through the worst of it faster and probably burned all the fuel I put in in Kethcikan. We were able to maintain about 14 knots once I activated my one good trim tab and got the nose down. Without it we could not get more than 11 knots at full throttle. Trim tabs lowered the nose and made for a much smoother ride through the big stuff. We also followed Glen so he was able to smooth out the waves a bit for us which made it a bit easier and better ride.



Following Glen in 7 foot rollers

We met a couple of brothers who pulled in to Annette Bay and tied up to the float next to us last night. They had been out gill netting at the mouth of th bay when we entered. They told us that the winds kept picking up after we went past them until about an hour later they were getting concerned and guessed the wind speed to be 40 plus with gusts to 50. We actually saw a small water spout blow across the entrance of the bay out past where they were fishing. They said that we made a good decons to turn around because Dixon would be no place for anyone n a small boat tonight. They thought this was one of the worst storms of the season and the weather forcasts had not called for anything this severe. I clocked one gust at 36mph on my wind meter and that was in the shelter of the bay so I know it was blowing much harder out in the open.



Annette Bay during lull in storm


Nancy was over talking to them about fishing and must have told them of the lack o fish in our freezer because one of them brought over a couple of nice salmon for us. We invited them over for ice cream and fresh fruit which they gladly accepted. We had a great evening listening to them talk about their lives as fishermen out of the small village of Metlakatla on the island. Their entire family fishes, all five brothers as well as dad. One of them owns a house in Spanaway and both of them graduated from Bothell High School so it was like talking to neighbors. Really nice guys and enjoyable to listen to. They make a good living fishing and love Alaska.

Were sitting here in Prince Rupert tonight enjoying the warm sun and blue sky which we have not seen for a while. Nancy is cooking one of the salmon and dinner should be great.



dive bombed by a seaplane as we entered Prince Rupert

Once we leave here it may be a while before we post again as we are going to go the outside route down principal channel on the west side of Pitt island and I seriously doubt if we will have any connectivity until we are back in the area of Shearwater.

July 20, Ketchikan 5 miles south

Well, we found out what Dixon entrance is like in wind. Yikes! We turned back at the north end of Mary Island . Reported winds were only 15 but it looked like 30 or 40. We were still in the lee of Mary and Duke Island so we thought it best to head for Kah Shanks Cove instead of Foggy Bay. It was only another few minutes and it was clear that we were not going to make even Kah Shanks taking water all the way over the top of the fly brindge. We turned back so the waves and wind were astern and headed for the nearest cove, Moth bay but when we got there it was quite obvious that there was not enough protection in the cove from the south winds and they were supposed to get even stronger as the afternoon went on.

We found shelter behind Bold Island as we headed north and we agreed that the best opition now was to head to Anette Bay which was well sheltered from south east winds. unfortunately it is only 5 miles south of our starting point in Ketchikan and we travelled about 20 miles to get there.

Hopefully tomorrow we will have lower winds and will give it a try one more time because the reports for later in the week are about the same as for today, higher winds. It is still raining

We found a large dock floating in the end of Annette bay that we tied to. Were the only boats here. At the end of the bay there is an abandoned military base. It looks like a prison camp without fences. Signs say it is the Task Force Alaskan Hiway. It appears to be a base camp for an engineering battalion of navy seabees and army engineers. It looks like it was recently used with tended gardens and fresh tire tracks yet everything looks like it has been boarded up for years.

July 19 Ketchikan

Creek Street in Ketchikan

Storm! Our first storm and thank goodness we were at the dock in Ketchikan. We recorded gusts up to 38 mph in the harbor behind the breakwater last night. It was really blowin and raining hard for the first time. Gale warnings in Dixon entrance with reports of gusts up to 50 mph and wave heights of 13 feet. Good thing we don't have to cross until Sunday or Monday.



Sherm and Nancy got here right on time and brought the rain with them. this was definitely a rain gear type of day. Even so we endd up walking the town and touring the shops along with 5000 of our closest friends from two curise ships. If you want tourist jewelry, nic naks or other useless items you can find them aplenty here in Ketchikan. We found a few of these items and figured they were ideal for family gifts so our christmas gift shopping is done.

debbie, too bad you missed it but We finally got a photo of a killer whale jumping right in front of the boat and some good sized salmon jumping clear out of the water in the river.





Salmon jumping in Ketchikan creek

July 18, Ketchikan

It is Raining, honest to goodness Alaska Rain and blowing. Were tied up to the pier in Ketchikan so were good but it is wet. This is the first real rain we have had since Shoal Bay back in May on our way up. Sherm, Nancy, better pack your rain gear on top of your luggage.

We got in about 1100 am this morning after crossing Clearance strait with 3 foot rollers and 20 knot winds. It was not bad since we got across with the flood tide so the current and wind were going the same direction. I can only imagine that it was quite a bit worse when the tide started ebbing and running against the winds.

Last night we went exploring an found the old indian viallageof Kassaan and the remains of the long house and the remaining totems on the beach. There were a few grave sites and lots of bear sign.

Our refrigeration problem is resolved. We were able to pick up a new refrigerator in town and they delivered it to the boat an hour later. Glen and I had it installed in an hour and were ready to go shopping and restock for the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately as we approached Ketchikan the Glending engine synchronizer stopped workin. We were just rounding the point into Tongas Channel when the port engine started loosing RPM's. My first thought was a plugged fuel filter. I shut off the synchronizer and the RPM's came back up. So tonight I am reviewing the manuals on the Glendening to see if I can troubleshoot the problem and get it running again. It is not as significant a problem as the refrigerator as we can run without it but it is nice to have it working.

Hopefully trouble only comes in threes because I have had the three allowed problems now. Tonight when we got back from dinner at the Ketchikan Yacht Club we were able to open the cabin door without any problem but when we went to open the door to head over the Glen and Liz's boat for our nightly movie the door would not open. the latch has broken and the door will not open. We will work on that tomorrow as well.

July 17, 2008, Snug Harboer Anchorage

We spent the evening of the 15th doing laundry after saying a tearful goodbye to Debbie. She had a wonderful time and we will miss her unbridled enthusiasm for everything Alaska. We had pizza for dinner and brought the leftovers back to the boat and stored it in the refrigerator. Later that night I told Chris that something smelled in the refrigerator but did not think to much more about it. We did a little more shopping for groceries and wandered down the street to look at a jacket that Chris wanted my opinion on. I thought it looked good so she bought it and we ended up talking to the proprietor for about 30 minutes about just about everything including raising kids. We had stopped in a small store that was also the offices of a guide and outfitter. We ended up spending an hour in there talking to the owner and his volunteer summer helpers. They were a husband wife team who were retired from the forest service. He was a former type 1 Incident Management Team Planning Section Chief so he and I talked about incidents we had been on for quite a while. He had been a regular cutomere of the guide for years and had asked if he could work for the guide outfit when he retired from the forest service. For the last two summers he has been coming up with his wife and working on the boat having a grand time. They were kind enough to give me a hand drawn map of some good fishing grounds and guaranteed that if I went there I would catch salmon. I had to promise to not share the secret spot with anyone however so the map is now shredded and the location secretly marked on my own maps. We decided to alter our intended course south and try out hand at fishing there. They were headed out the next morning and would be down there with clients so it sounded like a good bet if we were going to catch any fish before we met us with Glen and Liz.

The morning of the 16th we got up and prepared to get underway. I was just ready to cast of the lines when Chris came on deck and said we might want to wait a minute, the refrigerator seemed to be not working, everything in the freezer was thawed out. Uh oh. I checked the electrical connections and the kitchen outlet had popped its breaker. I reset it thinking that was the problem but in hindsight, the light in the refer never was off and when I checked later the refrigerator was not on the same circuit as the reset circuit.
We ended up throwing out all the frozen foods including several sealed bags of frozen fresh caught crab. That was the most painful part of the whole deal.As it turned out the refrigerator was simply no longer making things cold but we did not determine this until we were well on our way south out of Wrangell. We might have been able to find a refrigerator in Wrangell but it would have been difficult for me to remove the old one and replace it by myself. .

I decided the best option right now was to head south for Ketchikan and hope they had a refrigerator that would fit into the same space. We were out of phone contact so we just had to keep heading south. I tried calling Glen a couple of times to let him know of our change in plans but could not raise him on the air. We stopped for a short while at the secret fish spot and tried trolling a green hoochie but had no luck. We spotted the guide boat about half an hour later just south of the location but still in the area he had identified as a hot spot so I know we were fishing in the right spot but our luck remains bad when it comes to fishing. I wanted to stop and try again but it was getting late and if we were going to make Ketchikan before dark we needed to keep going.

I finally raised Glen as we neared Point Stanhope and discovered they had stayed in a cove in that area and were just getting underway heading south. Between the two of us over the radio we decided to alter plans. They had enough room in their refrigerator to take on what was still good from outs. He had phone contact so he called Ketchikan and found a store that had several refrigerators that would fit in our space. So we decided to hold up short and anchor in Snug cove on the outside of Thorne Bay on the East side of Prince of Whales Island. We would then get into Ketchikan either Thursday or Friday and have time to purchase and install the new refrigerator before Sherm and Nancy arrive on the 19th.

We entered Snug Harbor cautiously because the book again says there is only two feet of water over the entry bar at low tide. We were at mid tide so we were expecting 10 feet or less. We discovered a minimum of 25 feet of water over the lowest point so once again the book is overly cautious and the charts are less than accurate. The nobeltec shows 16 feet at low tide so it appears to be much more accurate. It is a perfect little protected anchorage that no one goes into because of the caution and charting showing such a shallow clearance.

Glen and Liz caught two good sized salmon at their stop last night, alright it was from right in front of a fish hatchery so does that count?

We tried fishing again and again the fish won. I trolled for an hour out to a point off the entrance to thorne Bay where there were dozen other boats fishing. No luck. I watched others pull in salmon but nothing on my line. Of course when I reeled in the line to head south I discovered that the flasher, hoochie and all were gone, all that I was trolling was the deep 6 diver. I guess without a hook and bait the chances of catching anything is pretty small. No idea when it broke but the line between the deep six and the flasher was broke in half. Hmmm!

Were now in Smith cove with 20 plus MPH winds blowing outside. The sky is blue and it is a gorgeous day except I am watching Glen filet his fish while I have nothing to do but type.



Eagles everywhere you look

Before leaving Snug harbor we took a little dinghy ride into Thorne Bay which is a large community as far as Alaska communities go. It was a large logging center which is still a fairly important part of their lives. We will miss the biggest logging rodeo in the country which is next week. Oh well, another time. Apparently this is not a show but an actual logger competition with real loggers going head to head with chain saw throwing and axe throwing. We were told we could throw a chain saw if we attended. Oh boy, I guess I will have to practice for next year.



We found a Piper Cub on floats at the dock so we had to take some pictures for Steve and Ed.



Piper Cub on floats

Were having Glens fish for dinner and the shrimp we caught in my trap. Glens trap was missing when we went to pick them up, adrift in the current somewhere. He found it a mile or so down from where he dropped it hung up on a shallow spot. No shrimp however. This is the second time his pot went adrift, the first time off Taku inlet and we never did find that one.

july 15, Wrangell

Alaska state ferry in Wrangell Narrows


We are back in Wrangell tonight where we dropped off Debbief for her flight home. the time went just too fast and her short stay with us was over all too soon. She had a wonderful time and we enjoyed sharing this adventure with her as she was so excited and enthusiastic about everything we saw. She was like a kid in a candy store and it was a joy to watch her experience this part of Alaska. We will miss her.

We left Petersburg and made it part way down Wrangell Narrows on Sunday stopping at Keene Island Anchorage. We checked out another possible anchorage across from what is called honeymoon anchorage in the middle of Wrangell Narrows but Glen could not get the anchor to bite so we moved on. The anchorage behind Keene Island is ok, nothing spectacular and it is a bit shallow to get into and it too was hard to get the anchor to set. We went exploring by dinghy the next morning and ran through Beecher pass which is just west of Keene Island. the charts are very non descript and show the pass to be only 1 foot deep. We saw a number of small fishing boats using the pass as well as a couple larger fishing vessels. We ran it in the dinghy and had a minimum of 18 feet of water the whole way and most of the time it was 30 to 60 feet deep. We found a much better anchorage furhter in bhind Fair island with 30 foot depth and good protection on all sides by several smaller islands. If I had to do it over again this would be the preferred anchorage and by the looks of it the anchor would set in mud rather than rock.

We went through Beecher pass and took the north arm through the better anchorage and north of Fair island. Never got less than 22 feet of water on a 4 foot tide.

We did not go far on Monday, stopping to check out a potential anchorage behind Butterworth island. The little cove that Glen tucked us into was perfect and we named it Dodges Cove. A crab fisherman thought it was pretty safe as well as he had anchored a small float with several crab traps stored on it in the oove. The cove is a channel between Butterworth and woewdski island but at the narrow point between the two islands there is a reef with minimal clearance on the west side to get by. We stopped just short of the reef and dropped anchor. We tried our hand at fishing and I was able to catch two nice sized dolly varden trout that we ate for dinner. Debbie was familier with thse fish and fixed them up for the barbcue and the meal was great. The big fish fed four and I ate the small one by myself.



Dodges cove

Next morning, brite and early I cast off and let the girls sleep while I ran in to Wrangell They wanted a full day to explore and shop since I had interupted their shopping in Petersburg so we could get fuel and they had missed a couple of shops.
(Fuel was 4.59 a gallon plus 72.00 sales tax.) We will meet up with Glen and Liz somewhere between Wrangell and Ketchikan either on Wednesday or Thursday. Were supposed to meet them on Wednesday at Vixen Harbor but we got some hot tips from a local guide on where to catch salmon so were going to try our hand at salmon fishing tomorrow and may not get to Vixen harbor tomorrow as planned to meet the dodges. I promised the guide I would not divulge his secret spot so no matter what you say or do to me, I will not divulge the secret location unless of course I fail to catch anything.

King salmon fishing has effectively closed. You can now no longer keep anything smaller than 48 inches long. the guide we talked to has been fishing for 30 years and has never caught anything over 48 inches long. Lots of 60 plus pounders but even those are not 48 inches long. And you can only possess one a year. He says they are easy to catch right now, they were pulling them in all day long yesterday but had to throw them all back.
we will go for silver and chum salmon but with my luck I will catch nothing but small king and have to let them go to stay legal.
It looks like were not the only ones heading south now. We have talked to a number of other boaters here who are all on their southbound journey. In talking to the locals here they do not think the fuel prices have cut down business too much. they feel the season was about the same as always.

Weather is still cool and gray, little rain showers and fog but it was still a shorts an light jacket day. I jumped off the boat when we docked in my bare feet and the people who helped us dock commented later that they thought I was a bit nuts when they saw me without shoes. They were like Debbie, all bundled up like it was going to rain or something. It is summer you know!

July 12, Petersburg

Water fall at Red Bluff Bay

Bears, eagles, whales, waterfalls, icebergs oh my, bears eagles, whales, waterfalls icebergs oh my! Debbie has seen it all now and was turning every which way today looking for the elusive whales that were always just beyond camera range, and scanning the miles and miles of shoreline for the bears that were lurking just inside the tree line and took over dozens of photos of waterfalls. Eagles became common place and by the end of today she saw and photographed every iceberg in LaConte Bay. Today was a great day even if it was a bit wet and a bit grey.

We left Red Bluff Bay yesterday and on our way to Kake where we sere to look at the totem poles and visit the village, we stopped for about two hours in Security bay to try our hand at halibut fishing. The guide book said it was a good place to jig for halibut. Glen caught one in abot 2 minutes and that turned out to be the only keeper of the day. I caught two infant halibut that I threw back to grow into adults for the next time we come up here. I caught three bull heads and two rock cod and a star fish and we called it a day and headed towards Kake. Before we got there I tried to turn on the generator to recharge the house batteries but the Generator would not stay running because once again it was sucking air into the fuel system and Diesels do not run well on air. We stopped in the middle of Keku Strait just off Kake for about an hour and tied the two boats together while Glen and I tried to fix the bugger. We tried to fix it by removing the filters from the system to see if that was where we were getting air but alas, it still would not run. So after bobbing around working in a hot engine room with the strong smell of diesel fuel and getting somewhat queezy, we opted the keep moving to more protected waters of Portage Bay 30 miles further along and skip sightseeing at Kake. Without the Generator my house batteries were too low to use the inverter and I lost all the equipment that uses 110 volts. Little things like the computer with the nobeltec mapping software, the refrigerator and freezer just to name a couple important items. So it was pretty important to figure out the generator and soon or all the crab and halibut we had frozen was going to be lost. Not to mention I would have to resort to paper charts for navigation or trust Glen to keep me off the rocks.

We made it to Portage Bay and anchored along with about a half dozen other boats. That was the most boats we have shared an anchorage with yet on this trip. With Glens help I was able to isolate the generator problem to a poor electrical connection on the fuel pump. The same fuel pump that I was unable to find a replacement for when I was down in June. We may have found a way to fix the faulty connection and so far it has continued to run without a problem but it would be nice to have a replacement for when it does finally fail completely.



Entering LaConte Bay, narrow channel, shallow water and small icebergs

From Portage bay we were headed to Petersburg where Debbie and Nobel, Glen and Liz's guests need to fly out of on Sunday. We thought a small side trip to LaConte Bay to view more icebergs would be an appropriate way to finish the trip for Debbie, Nobel and our Debbie. Now keep in mind that when I was planning this trip I had crossed LaConte Bay off the itinerary because of the guide book description of the hazardous and difficult entry into the bay. This is how it is described. ("LaConte attracts special interest, however its remoteness, difficult entrance, lack of large scale charts or aids to navigation means it is seldom visited by cruising boats. You must favor the north shore to avoid the large drying mud flats that flow out of the Stikine River North Arm while at the same time avoiding a line of rocks that extend from the north shore into the narrow, shallow channel for a few hundred yards . You must avoid this dike of rocks and the stationary icebergs all major obstacles. It is not well charted so you are entirely on your own when entering. The water is opaque giving you no visual warning of the depth or rocks. The low water bar (20') can be plugged with groundeed bergs and at the same time a strong 3 to 5 kont flood current can put you and small bergs on direct collision courses with the stranded house sized ice chunks leaving you unusure of which side to pass. Several groundings have occurred on this reef, extreme caution is advised.") But once again, with Glen leading and total faith in our ability to avert disaster we decided to give it a try. And sure enough we found the guide books once again a bit on the overly dramatic and exaggerated side of difficulty. We were able to wind our way through house sized icebergs and find open water with a few feet to spare on either side and defy the shallow water, minimum depth 22 feet, and made it into the inner bay. Once inside, proving to ourselves that we could do what the books advised against, we turned around and made it back out before the icebergs that were not grounded on the shallows and still floating moved too much and blocked out only avenue out of the bay. Of course we did take time to scoop up small ice chunks for our drinks with the fish net. Why else would we venture into such a terrifying location?

Were now in Petersburg and had time to walk the town, which was all boarded up and closed down, after dinner. Dinner tonight was fresh shrimp and halibut, yep, were actually eating food that we managed to catch.



Petersburg

Our Debbie set the record for photos taken this week. She had snapped over 800 photos so far. Get ready for the slide show gang; you’re going to get to see the entire week of cruising frame by frame from her camera. Today we saw waterfalls, whales, ice bergs and more ice bergs and a few more whales, a bunch of eagles but no bears. In all fairness, this is amazing country and there is so much to see and enjoy and every day brings a totally different veiwscape and surprise. visiting it the way we are is an up close and personal experience of Alaska and as I have said before, four months is not enough tme to do it all. We will be back.

July 11, Red Bluff Bay

Not Liz's kind of water



Liz's kind of water



Bears in Red Bluff Bay

Add Red Bluff Bay as another spectacular place on a long list of spectacular places. This is a long narrow inlet and gets its name from the prominent red rock bluff that is at the entrance. It is a treeless rock ridge that is very different from all the other rock formations up here. There are dozens of waterfalls cascading into the inlet as you journey down to the end where you anchor in front of a large grassy river delta. And yep, there are bears! We spotted a momma and a cub grizzly foraging on the river bank and we were able to get fairly close by kayak before momma stood up, sensed us and took baby off into the woods at a rapid pace. Debbie was hanging back quite certain that the bear was going to come swimming out to us so her photos are of little brown specks in the grass but I think she was as thrilled as one could be. She is just amazed at the spectacular scenery and I am not sure if she has more photos of fishing boats or waterfalls or whales off in the distance but it is a good thing her camera is digital or her photo developing bill would break the bank.,

The bugs are out finally but they were not too bad anchored out but try paddling ashore and they eat you alive. Better them than the Grizzly’s however.

Glen found a waterfall that he could motor right up to with the big boat and stick the bow into the waterfall with 125 feet of water still under his boat. Got some good photos of them getting a shower and boat wash.

Were headed east today, towards Kake and then on to Petersburg by Sunday. We should be able to post this somewhere enroute today. I have been surprised at the number of places we have had connectivity. Certainly not in the bay where I am writing this but when we get out we should be in sight of the cell tower above Baranoff Hot Springs. We were able to cruise down the middle of Chatham Strait yesterday and Chris was able to get to her email and banking and I was able to post the last blog. Pretty cool stuff this technology we have.

The generator is acting up again, sucking air from somewhere. I tightened all the connections again and got it running and it stayed running and the fuel bowel on the filter stayed full so maybe this time I stopped the air leak. Other than this reoccurring problem everything is still running well. As long as the engines start every morning and we can charge the batteries each day were in good shape.

July 10, 2008 Baranoff Hot Springs

The community of Baranoff HS, no bear in sight


Hot pools at Baranoff HS, no bear in sight


We decided to stay an extra day at the hot springs. It is a very pretty place with snowcapped mountains surrounding the bay a large waterfall cascading into the bay just in front of the dozen or so cabins and houses that make up the community of Baranoff. We are anchored across the bay in front of the entrance to the small lagoon. The entrance is only about 15 feet wide and can only be entered with a dinghy at higher tides.

It rained hard the night of the 8th butt cleared off on Wednesday and we had some sun breaks and even some warmth for a while in the afternoon. The pattern seems to be clouds and rain at night and in the morning with clearing in the afternoons followed by a day of relatively nice weather followed up by clouds and rain. So we have alternated sunny days with rainy days for the last week or so.

The wind picked up a bit coming down from Angoon and we took a bit of spray over the top of the boat but it was a comfortable ride nonetheless. Today is cloudy but it looks like the sun will make an appearance a bit later.

We walked up to the hot springs yesterday afternoon, a distance of about half a mile on a boardwalk. We were advised by several people that there was a large grizzly hanging around the hot springs changing area and one lady had been in the hot pool when the bear wandered on by about 50 feet away. Others heard it in the brush grunting while they were bathing. We hiked past the hot springs because we did not know where they were and ended up at the lake where there are two or three public use rowboats and canoes. No paddles or oars but several boats. We opted not to venture out on the lake and spent some time taking photos and then headed back down. No sign of the bear yet. The rest of the crew had hiked on ahead of Glen and I as we ventured to some higher ground for better views and on our way back down we took a side trail that was muddy but well traveled and found the hot springs and bathing pools which sit right next to the raging river that drains out of the lake. The rest of the crew had missed this turn so we spent the next 20 minutes enjoying the pools by ourselves. Still no bear.


We hiked on down to find the others still in search of the hot pools and when we told them it was back up the trail only Liz opted to go back up with Glen. Debbie and Chris decided to use the three bathing tubs in a three room covered bath house.

The locals have built the bath house for public use and it is cleaner and much more convenient than the hike to the rock pools above. Hot water is piped from above and flows into the tubs.
Liz and Glen returned about an hour later reporting the hot pools were a busy place with half a dozen others enjoying them and still no bear sighting. The locals said there are two or three local grizzly bears that wander in on a regular basis but they seem to behave themselves and do not seem to mind people to much. They know when the bears are around because the local dogs keep barking until they move along. It still makes one wonder however when you see the locals walking along the boardwalk with a shotgun slung over their shoulder and a shotgun leaning against the wall just outside the door.

The entire town is community is built on stilts along the hillside and above the bay. A couple of the cabins have collapsed and lie as they fell along the shoreline. A couple of industrious US&R rescue types could easily jack and shore up the two buildings and make them usable again. They are for sale and would make for a great fishing lodge if someone wanted to spend a little time fixing and finishing what someone has apparently abandoned. Of course it would help to have someone who knows how to fish so you would have satisfied clientele to keep the place going.

There is a small store here and the girls along with several other boatloads of people waited patiently for it to open. The locals said the owner usually opens late in the day for a few hours or whenever she feels like it. Right on Schedule the door opened at 5 pm and we quickly ran the ladies over for a shopping spree. Ice cream, soap and books were apparently the hot items that we could not do without.

I tried my hand at fishing again and sure enough the fish won another round. We had hot information that the entrance to the bay was a good spot for halibut. If I could have stayed on the 120 foot depth it might have worked but the wind just kept blowing the dinghy and I into 500 foot water and I don’t have that much line. I saw salmon jumping but they apparently do not like the lure that I have so they are not biting either. So far it would have been cheaper to buy fish from the local vendors than to buy the fishing license. I did get stopped by the state police in Angoon while we were fishing and they checked my license so even up here you better stay legal because you never know where these enforcement guys might be lurking. The looked like any other small fishing boat up here until they were 20 feet away and then it was obvious they were not fishing. They were a couple of nice guys out of Juneau, running around on a rainy windy day. They said it took just two hours to run down from Juneau while it took us a day and a half to run that far. Nice work if you can get it on a nice day but it did not look like much fun on this day. The little three sided shelter in the boat was big enough for one guy to stand and drive while the other guy had to huddle behind the driver to get out of the wind and rain while they zipped around at 30 mph. The girls thought the officers were cute.
They asked if we had caught anything and if we had any crab on board. I of course had to answer truthfully and say no. They said that seemed to be the same response from everyone, no one was catching anything.

I digress, back to Warm Springs, and a lazy afternoon and evening and we are ready to move on again, this time we are heading just a few miles down the coast to Red Bluff Bay. Were probably not going to go down to Tebenkof Bay on this trip and will save it for another time. We will slowly start heading east towards Petersburg.

July 7th, Angoon

Today was an awesome day and Debbie is simply having the time of her life. We left Sitka yesterday, July 6th and cruised about 30 miles north to Shultze Bay which is just west of Surgius narrows which we need to pass through at slack water. It can run up to 8 knots at full flood or ebb tide and we were now in position to run it at the 9 am slack. We passed at least 50 fishing vessels headed in to Sitka as we cruised north. It was the end of a commercial salmon opening and there was weather coming in so everyone was headed to port. It looked like some kind of exodus as there was a steady stream of boats going south and we were the only one going north. Sitka was full when we left so I am not sure where all these additional boats were going to fit. It was blowing hard when we reached Shultze bay and anchoring was a challenge. I finally found a spot on the north, lee side of Piper Island and stern tied so we were out of the wind. It was a perfect solution and we spent a comfortable afternoon and evening while we waited for Glen to arrive. By the time he arrived with Debbie and Nobel the wind had died and we enjoyed a perfect evening. I put out the crab pot and only got more starfish.

We cruised through Surgius narrows and Peril strait today without incident. It was a gray and wet day but beautiful in its own right. Debbie spent all day watching the shoreline for bear and she was not disappointed. Just opposite Appleton Cove Glen spotted a momma Grizzly and two cubs on the beach and we were able to get close enough to get some good photos.

We stopped shortly after that to do some fishing while we waited for the currents to change direction so we could enter the inner harbor at Angoon. The current runs up to 7 knots there and all the books recommend entering and exiting only at slack water. We stopped at the north end of Peril Strait where it joins Chatham Strait and fished for about three hours. It has been fairly windy coming down Peril Strait but the water here was dead calm. It was perfectly smooth water with rain and fog so all in all it was a pretty gray surrounding. I managed to hook a good sized halibut and was able to get him to the boat but when we tried to net him we managed to dislodge the hook from his snout and he was gone. Was I bummed. That is the third Halibut I have hooked and been unable to land.

About an hour later I got a second Halibut and this time we got him into the net and on board. He was smaller than Becky’s or Nicholes but at least I have caught one now.

We cruised on over the Angoon with about two hours to wait for the slack water and just as we got across Chatham Strait we spotted what we thought were small black fish (porpoises) swimming to play in our bow wave. But the next thing we saw was a large killer whale leap entirely out of the water right in front of the boat. This thing came all the way out vertically and was 5 to 6 feet above the surface of the water with its tail before it arched over and dove head first back into the water. It was something out the movie Free Willie when the whale escaped out of the pool! No we did not get a picture! We watched a large pack of killer whales for the next hour as they swam around us. We were all stunned and amazed at what we saw and it has to be one of the highlights of the trip so far.

We entered Angoon’s inner harbor without a problem. I had called the harbor master and got someone on the phone who was quite helpful but who denied being the harbor master. He said he wasn’t but what the heck, what could he do to help. When I asked about the entrance he asked if I meant the entrance to the inner harbor. I said yes and he asked how big our boat was. I told him 43 and 55 and he said, you want to come into the inner harbor? I said yes and he said well, I guess it will work, we had a 100 footer in her a few days ago and he made it ok. I guess you can too. Not to many boats that size come in here you know. The books do suggest not entering without local knowledge or local advice.

We made it in just fine but the local advice about following the markers and avoiding the uncharted rocks was very helpful. I think Angoon is the Tlinget word for boat graveyard. The harbor here is full of abandoned and derelict and soon to be derelict Alaska boats. Glen was told that he was parked over a sunken fishing vessel and that he probably needed to move which he promptly did. There is definitely something down there according to my depth sounder on the dinghy. The shores are lined with sunken and rotting hulls and we are surrounded by small boats with years of moss growing on them.

The harbor master met us at the dock and took our information so the city of Angoon can send us a bill for moorage. When we asked how much he did not know, just told us that we would be billed. Trusting folks here in Angoon..

Speaking of Dinghy’s! Glen and I took a long tour of Kootznahoo inlet which is where the inner harbor of Angoon lies. The inlet is amazing and it is the Indian word for land of bears and eagles.. The inlet is huge and to get into the labyrinth of waterways you have to run up a outflow rapid that is like running a class 3 river. What a hoot! We were gone an hour running at 25 knots and only covered half of the inlet. We ended up coming out a different way than we entered and had to run down another class 2 river current. This is truly a remote, spectacular and hauntingly beautiful place that not very many people ever get to see. When we asked a local about it he told us that you cannot get there because fo the rapids by boat so don’t try. He looked at us like we were nuts when Glen suggested a route up the first inlet across from the docks, he just looked at us as goofy tourists and said no and shook his head! All the guide books say there are too many uncharted rocks to actually enter the inlet very far. One book says “Caution, the navigation of Kootznahoo Inlet should not be attempted by strangers; A guided can be obtained at Angoon Petersburg and Sitka. Not being the type to shy away from an adventure we disregarded the guidebooks and local knowledge and went to find out for ourselves. We found the rocks to be charted fairly accurately on the Northstar GPS on Glen’s dinghy. It got us there and back without hitting anything solid. There is not a sign of anyone being there before except for two crab pots in the first bay past the first rapid. Too bad it is not better charted and marked because Glen and I are convinced at the right tide you could get a full sized boat into Mitchell bay which is the middle section of the Inlet and anchor in total security and explore for days by kayak or dinghy. The shores are perfect for wildlife sightings and the rock formations are spectacular and out of place. They look like sandstone and are carved out as if rivers of water or wind scoured the lower sections leaving large mushroom shaped tops capped with trees. The rock formations are not everywhere, just here and there throughout the inlet and just seem out of place in the forest of trees that surround them.

July 8, 2008
The plan is to head down to Baranoff hot Springs to get Debbie warmed up again. She runs around in fleece and long johns while I run around barefoot and in shorts. It is just like in the office, she has a heater under her desk in the summer and I have the AC on.

I doubt if we will have connectivity after Angoon until Petersburg so until then enjoy, we certainly are!

July 5th, From Goddard Hot Springs

Goddard Bay



the hot springs





We left Sitka and motored down the coast to Goddard Hot springs a distance of about 10 miles. For a short portion we are exposed to the Gulf of Alaska but it was a picture perfect day and there were only very small rollers breaking on the multitude of rocks that make the navigation interesting. It is a maze of small reefs that ensures you pay close attention to the charts. We tried trolling for a while for salmon, it appears they are finally in and the fishing is not bad out here. We had no luck except for a small black rock fish that I caught. The girls were watching a small seal following the boat about where the bait and lure were at and shortly after the seal dove down the line went tight and they screamed that I had caught the seal. When I reeled in the line it was not the seal but the rock fish. Not sure what I would have done with a seal.

The hot springs were great. There are three of them with the uppermost one out in the open. It is an old wood sided pool with a foot of rotten wood sediment in the bottom that you stir up when you step in. The water is really hot; it takes a bit to get into it. It looks like your bathing in mud after everyone stirs up the bottom. There is an old claw foot tub someone has set into the pool so everyone had to get their photos in the tub. The mosquitoes were out so the mud pool was the preferred location while up there. We moved down to the middle hot tub which has a forest service wood building around it. We tried getting in but not even Debbie could stand the 115 plus degree water.



Deb in a tub

We moved down to the lower one where a group of Kayakers were enjoying it and joined them. During the evening at least 5 fishing vessels pulled in and most of the crews took their turn in the hot tub at some point in the evening. We went twice, once before dinner and once after. Well worth the effort. Debbie was even warm for the first time since she arrived in Alaska. We found out she was not only wearing long pants and shirts but had on long underwear to boot while we are running around in shorts.

We woke up this morning to the shallow water alarm, were in 9 feet of water and the rocks we are stern tied to are just a few feet behind the boat. Plenty of water left however as we are at low tide and the water is going back up now. Debbie is out this morning with Sophie in the Kayak in her own little slice of heaven. She is looking at all the marine growth and animals on the rocks, it is a minus 2 foot tide this morning and I don’t think I have ever seen her grinning so much as she is this morning. Not sure what she sees than we don’t one rock covered with sea slime looks like any other up here but to here it is a different world with her biology background.
I caught a few monster starfish and she thought that was just great.



Were in no hurry today, Glen and Liz will run back into Sitka to be there in the am to get Shaun and Nichole off and pick up the next group of passengers. We will find a place to hang out near Sitka and then meet Glen and the gang at Shultz bay just this side of Surgius narrows on Sunday night. We will need to top off fuel before we head north towards Peril strait We will be out of internet touch after leaving Sitka so this will be the last entry for about a week. We are going to do the east side of Baranoff Island, the hot springs and Red Bluff bay and then run over to Tebenkof Bay and spend a couple of days there before going north Petersburg and then on to Wrangell to drop off Debbie. We got good advice on where to catch some halibut and that Tebenkof Bay is a hot spot for crab.

Sherm, can you check on the possibility of changing debs flight from Wrangel to Petersburg. that will give us a bit more time to loiter about.

July 3, Sitka

Liz gave me a hard time for the first photo of the bear in the tree, something about a bears butt. So here is the better shot.




Crabs in the pots

We woke up early to dense fog in DeGroff Bay. We needed to get an early start in ordr to get to Sitka in time to meet Chris and Debbie's flight. It never occured to us that the dense fog just might create a problem for planes landing at Sitka. We had no problem navigating through the fog and arrived at Sitka at about 9am. Chris called shortly after and said that they were delayed in Juneau due to weather at Sitka so we waited.
they made it in about 1030, the fog was still thick and according to Debbie it was an exciting landing with the pilot getting an ovation from the passengers for finding the airfield succesfully. He was the first pilot to manage to land in the past two days. One poor guy on the plane had been 15 hours between ketchikan and Sitka as he waited for the fog to clear and multiple flights were cancelled or delayed.
Sherm made it out on time and were looking forward to having both him and nancy back in a few weeks. He was pretty helpful and made the run down from Juneau to Sitka enjoyable and I promised I would not list the litiney of small mishaps that could be blamed on him. (Fenders, Flames, Toilets,) In his defense he made coffee, lots of it, cooked breakfast, made lunch while underway, swept the cabin, did dishes and made the bed for Deb. All in all he's a pretty good first mate.


We walked the town and found it much more interesting than Juneau or Petersberg or Wrangel for that matter. We had a ringside view of the fireworks which were last night instead of tonight. Not sure why they set them off on the 3rd but they do. The fireworks site was directly across from the boats about 500 yards away and the concussion from the big rockets was pretty impressive. We had to drug up sofie so she was out of it. She found a spot down deep inside Glens boat and hid under a couple layers of pillows in Nicholes room and did just fine. She is still a bit unsteady on her feet this morning, maybe a half of a pill is still too much doggy downer.

Chris and Deb are on their way to do another load of laundry, the towels that never got done prior to my departure. Should be underway for Goddard Springs tonight. Tomorrow Glen and Liz have to be back here to drop off and pick up people. We will hang around the area and meet them on the 7th somewhere along Peril strait.
It looks like the salmon (kings) are finally starting to run so we will try our hand at some fishing out here.

July 2 from De Groff Bay

July 1, 2008
Tenekee Springs




Main street of Tenekee Springs

Quite the place! Building codes, rules, safety regulations, these are all words that have no definition here. Put up pretty much any kind of structure you want pretty much wherever you want it. I think you come here if you are anti establishment. Actually the people here are friendly and once you get past the first impression it is a pretty interesting place. Sherm and I took a walk when we first arrived and saw maybe three people, none of whom had inkling to look at us or say hello. Felt like the outsiders that we were.
The hot springs have designated hours for boys and girls. The girls had it till 10pm then it was guys only. Clothing is not an option thus the segregation by time. The girls went up to take a look and came back with a dismal view of the facility but that did not faze Glen or Sherm. They headed off at 10 pm determined to not let a little sulfur odor or green slime deter them and it did not. I passed on the opportunity for a rejuvenating soak in the hot springs in favor of sleep. A week on an air mattress on the floor of my In-laws place and I was thankful for the soft bed in the aft cabin of the boat.
Next morning the boys reported the soak was relaxing and the odor and green slime was not as bad as reported by the girls, go figure.
The next day also showed a distinct difference in the townsfolk. When the town woke up people were friendly and most of the population of 100 was out walking or doing whatever you do in Tenekee. The restaurant bakery store was open so Glen, Liz, Sherm and Nichole and I had a pretty decent breakfast.
The school is still open and they have a grand total of 6 students. Last time we were here about 10 years ago they were talking about closing it due to having only 6 students but the townsfolk have found a way to up the numbers when it comes to meeting the rules. They import grandkids for a month of school, up the numbers to whatever is required to meet the school board requirements for students and are able to keep the school running. It is the nicest building by far in the town. Interesting enough after climbing 95 steps to the front door there is the obligatory handicapped accessible sign on the doors. Sick Alaskan humor.

We left about noon after Sherm ran back the half mile to the bakery to pick up the coffee mug he left behind. We tried our hand at fishing across from the town and Nichole dropped her line and had a good 25 lb halibut in just a few seconds. Two hours of fishing later and that was all we had to show for our efforts. I think she got the only halibut left in the bay.



Were in Appleton Cove tonight, a great little anchorage part way down Peril strait. We will ride the tide out tomorrow and down Peril strait after a morning of fishing and crabbing. Hopefully we will have better luck here than we did at Tenekee. Stay tuned.

Checked the pots this evening, motherload, about 6 in one pot and none in the others. I moved the pots closer to the hot spot and when Glen checked the pots in the morning we had about 12 more big crab. I think we have our limit for the day.

We paddled around the bay and up the creek as far as the current would allow and enjoyed a hot sunny afternoon waiting for the right time to leave to time our arrival at surgius narrows at slack water which is at 5pm. The horseflys were out but at least they were not biting to much.

we had an uneventful but interesting run through Peril Strait and hit Sergius Narrows at exactly 5 pm. Not bad.

We decided to anchor in DeGroff Bay tonight. The book says it is an enchanting place with a narrow and intricate entrance with room for numerous boats, but the authors had never seen any other boats in there. We pulled in, strait forward entry with 40 feet minimum under the keel and there are three other boats in here including a 90 footer. Bummer, so much for privacy.

It is a pretty nice place but we are sitting in a fog bank and the wind is blowing off the Pacific so it is pretty cool in here, a drastic change from what we left in Appleton Cove.

We will pull anchor and head into Sitka early tomorrow to meet Chris and Debbie by 9am.



The Bear photo I promised in the last blog