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!