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!
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