Of the various parts of the trip to Alaska, the one that inspires the most concern for most boaters is the crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. These bodies of water are exposed to the open ocean and can be notoriously uncomfortable, even on a calm day. On the way up, we didn't have too much problem here, as the winds were calm, but then again I had Mike Johnson, who had done the trip a hundred times, to make the decisions. On the way down, I was listening to the forecast carefully, hoping to avoid anything too rough.
We decided to leave Duncanby / River's Inlet once the forecast sounded fairly tolerable, and we headed out to sea, knowing we could turn around and come back if it was too bad. We called for information on channel 16 regarding winds near Egg Island, which is in the north half of the crossing, and a polite reply came back that winds were calm and seas not a big deal, only a couple feet of chop. With increased confidence, we plowed ahead.
Once we got to Egg Island we were in 3-4 foot lumpy seas and 15 knot winds, which is a bit uncomforable but not dangerous. We talked to the gentleman that gave us the report before, and he said something like "oh, yea, well, this is pretty calm to me, I've crossed in 50 knot winds before". Apparently he was a retired commercial fisherman who spent his life in this area regardless of weather conditions, and felt like today was just fine. We made a mental note to ask everyone that gave us a weather report of they were commercial vessel operators or pleasure-boaters before trusting that their meaning of "calm" and "easy" would match ours.
As we continued southward, the swell increased but also lengthened, and the chop died down, and we ended up with 5-6 foot lazy swells that moved the whole boat up and down without causing us much roll. It was really quite comfortable, and continuing southward lengthened out the waves even more until it was like we were in calm water that happened to rise and fall every 10 seconds or so.
We had intended to stop at Port Hardy, the northernmost major port on Vancouver Island, but decided instead to continue south to Port McNeill, as we had heard about the great services they had within walking distance of the marina. On arriving at Port McNeill, we couldn't raise the marina on the radio, and we were getting concerned that we would be anchoring out, but upon investigating the fuel dock, we found that the owners of the fuel dock had just opened a new marina with many hundreds of feet of dock space. It's not advertised well, but the people were very nice.
This new marina doesn't have a clear name yet, but Steve Jackman, the Manager, is currently calling it "The Port in McNeill, PLUS". He got the idea because of the other "PLUS" named businesses in Port McNeill, like the local grocery store, which is "IGA Plus". Steve also owns/manages the local auto parts store, the laundromat. His latest project is renovating an old movie theater and turning it into a multi-media entertainment venue -- used for concerts, movies, etc. He's quite an enterprising young man, and gets hospitatily well, having had spent a stint as manager of the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, BC. Steve invited us and our kids up to play video games on the screen in the theater later in the day.
The 13th was our Anniversary. In addition to cards & flowers, we celebrated with a nice dinner out while Brian and Molly stayed on the boat. We also took a trip to Alert Bay, BC, which is primarily run by first nations tribal members. We visited the Alert Bay Ecological Park, which is a set of peaceful trails through wetlands near the top of the hill. We also visited the U'mista cultural center and big house.
On our final day in Alert Bay, Laura went shopping -- the groceries were delivered to the boat by a mini-tractor pulling a cart (see photos). We ended taking Steve Jackman on his invite to play video games on the movie theatre screen. We played a flight simulator and car driving game before ending up with a boxing game. Brian was Muhammad Ali, and Garth was Sugar Ray Leonard. Watching the two characters beat the crap out of each other on a 42 foot screen was engaging, for sure!
After spending the last 3 nights among the derelicts in Prince Rupert and anchored in two coves, we were ready for a bit of pampering, so we spent the next two nights at Shearwater and Duncanby Landing, two "marine resorts" which cater to the sportfishing crowd. Each of them has a nice marina with guided fishing tours, and each has a gourmet restaurant.
Shearwater is located near Bella Bella, a popular fishing destination along the central BC coast, and Duncanby Landing is located in Rivers Inlet, which is a very popular fishing destination just north of Queen Charlotte Straight. This was our last stop before heading south across Queen Charlotte Sound and Queen Charlotte Straight, which is by all accounts the most difficult part of the trip to and from Alaska.
Although these are both fishing destinations, we didn't have anywhere near the success with our fishing here that we did near Ketchikan. We had a couple nibbles but nothing landed.
At Duncanby, a swallow's nest located above one of the speakers on the dining deck provided lots of entertainment. When one of us would get two close, the angry parents would fly around noisly trying to scare away the intruder and continue flying over us for minutes after we had backed away. They seemed to want to annoy Brian the most.
Heading south from Prince Rupert, we decided to get some miles behind our keel and spend a couple long days heading southward. Our first night stop was at Lowe Inlet, which is a beautiful little spot with ample anchorage for many boats, and a nice waterfall at one end. After calculating room needed for swinging, and adjusting our rode (anchor line) carefully to what we considered a safe minimum, we thought we were set well for the night.
An hour or so later, some commercial fishing boats came in and anchored between us and the boat we were closest to, creating a situation that was uncomfortably tight. We mentioned to them that we were concerned we might swing into each other in the night, and the curt response was "maybe you need to shorten your rode, then!". The gruff older fisherman then proceeded below where he couldn't hear my response. We ended up not having a problem, but it left a bad taste.
We took the whaler and explored the current in the waterfall. Brian set the crab pot in an area that looked pretty likely to be good, and the next morning later we had a dozen crabs!
The next day we passed Butedale, another decaying cannery which is slowly going back to seed. Although the place looked entirely dilapidated and uninhabitable, a couple enterprising souls are trying to turn it into a marine resort where you can stay overnight and get fresh water. We saw some lights on, which are apparently powered by a homemade turbine in the waterfall next door. Although I applaud the efforts of these brave souls, we decided to continue southward to Bottleneck Cove, which is a very nice little spot that is extremely protected from winds. We spent the night without wind in our own private cocoon.
The next morning we decided to give Shadow a bath before heading south to the Bella Bella / Shearwater area. Shadow was well behaved for the bath but wasn't amused as I tried to take her picture wrapped in a towel.
I'd always been told that Red Tide is often not visible, and that it is some kind of algae bloom that collects in clams and can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. But clearly, sometimes you CAN see red tide -- check out the pictures. I've never seen it so obvious as this, and apparently according to the locals this is what red tide looks like when it's really bad. I'm not in the mood for clams or mussels after seeing THAT, I can tell you.
We saw this as we were heading across Dixon Entrance, which is the body of water that separates Alaska from Canada. Prince Rupert is the first port south of Alaska in Canada, and where we were headed to clear customs into Canada and spend the night. The trip across Dixon Entrance and Chatham sound can be a really rough ride, as it's exposed to the Pacific Ocean, but today was looking pretty good, nice and calm, if a bit off-color.
We thought we'd have an easy ride, given how nice it was, but of course nature had a surprise for us. When we started to get within a couple hours of Prince Rupert, we started to get a fairly good 3-4 foot sea on the beam (side). This caused the boat to roll pretty heavily. In addition, we had a sudden dose of FOG.
I was forced to navigate entirely by electronics -- GPS and charts to tell me where we were, and radar to tell us what else was out there. I just had to trust the blips on the screens and hope that it all kept working well and that I was interpreting it properly. When we had just about had enough of the roll, we were able to get to a buoy where we could turn so that the winds were astern, and just about the same time, the fog lifted for the day.
Prince Rupert is a beautiful little port town with a very large set of container cranes marking the entrance. At the marina where we stayed, most of the boats were commercial fishers, and the boat ahead of us had caught on fire somehow and been badly burned. It definitely wasn't the yachty crowd, but it was a nice town. We had dinner at a nearby cafe, the best food we'd had for a while.
After spending the night in Prince Rupert, I woke up at 5am hoping to make some early progress heading south, but went back to bed when I couldn't see the end of the breakwater due to dense fog. At 9am it was just a hair better, so we headed out southward and faced a different type of fog challenge. Apparently, Prince Rupert is home to one of the most active Gilnetting fleets in BC, and the fog is definitely not stopping them. Our route south took us past a fleet of several dozen boats all with nets out.
To get past a gill-netter, you have to first find the boat, and then see if a line is coming off the back. If a line does come off the back, then you need to search a ways away from the boat to find a buoy that marks the far end of the net. It is not wise to go between a buoy and the boat. Kind of like getting between a momma bear and her cub. At least, you'll have an angry commercial fisherman cussing you out on the radio, and most likely a torn-up net tangled net in your prop or rudder and a lawsuit for negligence, with damages for replacing the net, lost fish, and lost opportunity for fishing. Doing this in dense fog and choppy water is a real challenge.
If a line does not come off the back of the boat you've spotted, then you have to figure out if the net is on the spool (in which case you're safe), or if the net is off the spool (which means this might be a drift net, where the net comes completely separate from the boat, and you have to look for two buoys nearby with a net between them).
Given that we couldn't see these guys until we were right on top of them, pretty much the only tool we had for getting through this was radar. By now, I was getting to be an expert on navigating by radar, and we came through it pretty well -- I would spot something on radar, and Laura would then look for the Buoys in the fog using the binoculars. After about an hour of this, we seemed to leave both the fog and fishing boats about the same time.
We were finally heading south in smooth, clear water.
Well, Laura's away in Minnesota at a Creative Memories Conference, and we're trying to find a way to head south so that she can meet us there, but there seem to be no good ways to get her into Prince Rupert or northern BC without chartering a private float plane, which is too expensive. So, we've decided to wait in Ketchikan and fish.
Molly and Brian each caught a nice salmon, and we've been having a good time eating salmon while she's gone. We now consider ourselves fishermen -- beginners, but at least we know sort of what we're doing!
We got tired of Ketchikan and left to explore a nearby anchorage called the Blank Islands. These were two small islands which were not connected to shore, and not big enough to support a population of Bears. A sandy beach made it easy to land our dinghy.
We took the dog ashore -- she retrieved sticks from the water for hours and got lots of excercise. Later, we had a bonfire on the beach. This was one of the kids' favorite days so far.
We got back to Ketchikan on the 5th in time for Laura to meet us, coming back from her conference.
This nice lady with the green pointed hat was visiting Meyer's Chuck from nearby Ketchikan, but she fit right in. You can tell Alaska residents, by the way, because most of them wear Xtra-Tuffs and Grundens whether it's rain or shine.
Meyer's Chuck is a beautiful little community about halfway between Wrangell and Ketchikan. It is in a well-protected bay with a float, a post office, and a community of about 30 or 40 homes inhabited by hearty individualists.
Moorage is free, no rules -- stay as long as you want. Everyone makes their own electricity. The water comes from a neighboring lake, and is piped to all the houses. There is a post office, which is open on tuesday mornings. This is a true community, where people support each other.
Every morning at 7:30 a woman comes down with a red package of sticky buns to sell to the boats on the dock. Boats come from all around to get sticky buns from the sticky bun lady at Meyer's chuck. Molly wanted to stay an extra day just to get another batch of the sticky buns.
While we were enjoying our stay in Meyer's chuck, the weather forecast was turning ugly -- a storm was blowing in and crossing Clarence Straight to Ketchikan was not something we were looking forward to. We needed to get Laura to Ketchikan by tuesday because she had a flight back to Seattle, and then to Minnesota for a conference.
By asking around, we found that Cassie, who was the town's only licensed postal worker, was also the travel agent who arranged float planes. She scheduled a plane to come pick up Laura and take her directly to the Ketchikan Airport, so that Garth and the kids could stay and wait until the storm blew over.
When Tuesday arrived, the storm had grown strong enough that the float planes weren't flying either. So, Laura missed her flight out anyway. We ended up visiting the post office that morning, and Cassie let the kids cancel their own postcards.
While we were at the post office, we got invited to a potluck on the beach tuesday evening. It started pouring rain about an hour before the potluck, and we were debating whether to go, but decided to go anyway. It was great -- the whole community turned out.
Wednesday came around and the weather still hadn't improved that much. The float planes weren't expecting to be able to get in until noon at the earliest, which might have been too late for Laura to get her last-chance flight. We weren't excited about going down Clarence Strait, and we weren't excited about Laura missing her last chance to fly to her conference, either.
In the end, we decided to head down on our big boat, and ride out the seas. Things got uncomfortable as we were tossed and rolled by the 4-6 foot seas, but the seas subsided as we neared Ketchikan and in the end the only real problem was that our metal coffee thermos flew out of the coffeemaker and all over the counter during one big roll. We had a bit of a challenge docking in Ketchikan in the high winds, but after 2 attempts we got there in time for Laura to make her flight.
Once Laura was off, Garth and the kids vegged out and watched a DVD's in the rain, relaxing and enjoying not being underway in rough windy weather. There are no pictures of the rough water, sorry. We were a bit preoccupied.
While in Wrangell, we explored the beach to see Petroglyphs that had been carved long before the white man ever came. These were clearly visible on the rocks directly on the beach. It’s unclear (at least to us) how old these are, but they were carved by the Tlingit Natives many hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years ago.
According to the description from wrangell’s tourism bureau, .. “There is no way to discern the true intent or motivation of the artists. Based on what we know from the archaeological record and cultural ethnographies, petroglyphs may be a form of writing, a method of communication, or a way to record events. There are a variety of possible interpretations: to commemorate victories in war; to document the transfer of wealth or territory in settlement of a feud; important potlatches; shamanistic exploits; or simply the work of visiting Tsimshian or of the Tlingit themselves. They may have a magic- religious significance, using petroglyphs as a ritual device to assure success of the hunt and to increase the supply of game. On the other hand, they may simply have no meaning beyond their artistic conception.”
Fresh off harried navigation of the ice in Tracy Arm, it seemed appropriate to let someone else drive for a while. Passing south through Petersburg, we ended up at Wrangell, where we chartered a Jet- boat to take us up the Stikine River. The Stikine is one of the fastest-flowing rivers in the world, and extends for 130 miles north of Wrangell, Alaska well into Canada.
On our trip, we visited a number of beaches, got to view (and even stand on) the Wilderness Glacier, Molly picked a wildflower bouquet, and Brian explored tracks on the beaches. We turned around when we reached the Alaska/Canada border on the Stikine. It’s odd that as you go from US into Canada, and then continue northeast, you get back to Canada! The governments of the US and Canda cooperate to shave a line directly down the mountain near the river, and across the river and up a mountain on the other side. In one of the attached pictures you can see the mountain and the shaved line that marks the border.
On the way back, our driver executed what are called “Hamilton Turns”, which are so-named because Mr. Hamilton (who created Hamilton Jet drives) found that Jet-boats can do a Rockford-style 360-degree turn very quickly when the jet drives are thrown into reverse at full speed and the helm is put hard over. Our kids loved them -- again! again!. I was kind of tired of them by the 3rd turn -- spinning around in a full circle in a boat isn’t something I look forward to more than once.
Tracy Arm is one of the most beautiful places we've seen, with it's magnificent blue ice formations. It lies on Stephens passage south of Juneau and north of Petersburg. We passed by it on our way up to Juneau becuase we wanted to meet some friends and had to keep a schedule, but we backtracked a bit on our way down in order to see what we'd missed, and we're glad we did.
I'm glad we went to Glacier Bay first, or I would have been much more concerned navigating in ice. Now, I almost felt competent at it. Tracy arm is even thicker ice than any we'd seen in Glacier Bay. It's still scary, watching like a hawk for every little baseball-sized chunk (which usually hides a basketball-sized chunk below water).
We spent the night of the 20th and 21st at the un-named Cove at the head of Tracy Arm, and the day of the 21st journeying in to see Sawyer Glacier.
There are actually two Sawyer Glaciers -- North Sawyer and South Sawyer, and by looking at the ice flow you can generally see which one you can get closer to. We chose South Sawyer, and were able to get within about 2/3 of a mile of the face of the glacier. See the photos of the radar image to get an idea about how much ice was around us!
Generally the technique is to go VERY SLOWLY (like 1 kt or so) when you're in the thick ice, so if you do hit something (which you will), you won't damage your boat (much). Many of these ice chunks are volkswagen sized or larger, and they weigh a ton (more, actually).
Check out the last photo of the partly-rolled-over iceberg, it gives an idea of how much ice lies below some of the bergs!
We had no sun, but not much rain either, which is a welcome change!
Baranof Warm Springs is a beautiful little place on the eastern shore of Baranof Island. It is famous for its natural warm springs which are piped down to some baths (troughs?) near the top of the marina float.
The ride to Baranof was good as the seas got calmer as the day went on, a welcome change from the noisy windy night at Pavlov.
When we arrived, we got the front spot at the float at the head of the bay. There was a giant waterfall, a few houses, and a dock. We came into the dock although Laura didn't think there was enough space. It ended up being plenty of room.
We went for a hike to see the bath house, the houses, and the waterfall. The houses were all connected by a wooden boardwalk. We hiked up the hill a ways and found a hot springs pool next to the top of the waterfall. A little farther on the trail and we came to a beautiful lake. Shadow went for a swim to wash the mud off her legs.
Molly, Garth, and Laura all took baths in the tubs at the top of the dock. The next morning, Molly and Laura took another one. The water smelled like sulfur but the didn't stick with you upon leaving the tub.
Hoonah is a small fishing-centric town just south of Glacier Bay. It is often used as a stopover either going to or from Glacier Bay. Although fishing is the main activity now, Hoonah has a small touristy area just outside of town including a historical cannery that has been converted to a museum, complete with the longest zipline ride in north america. Cruise ships are the main customers of the "touristy" area, and the locals grumble about it, since it doesn't really reflect the community of Hoonah. In spite of this, being a fan of the ziplines at whistler, bc, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to ride the longest zipline in north america.
We tried to go to the dock at the cannery, but were turned away by the cruise ship personnel. The dock is an international dock and unauthorized people can't land there. We got the phone number to call and went back to the marina. Since the zip line is a private cruise ship attraction, it is very difficult for anyone else to get on. The lady told us to call back at 2:30 to see if there was space at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Molly was trying to figure out how to gain a few pounds. The minimum weight requirement for the zip line is 90 pounds. With lots of clothes on, Molly is about 3 pounds too light. She has a big piece of pizza for lunch, and looks at fishing weights at the tackle store to put in her pockets. We call and find out there is space for us. Mom remembers she has ankle weights so Molly takes those to wear. A girl from a fishing boat on the dock, gave us a ride to the cannery. Molly puts on the ankle weights in the parking lot and has trouble walking normally. We go inside to buy our tickets. Mom and Molly go into the bathroom and decide to strap the ankle weights around her waist instead. We go out to be weighed and Molly barely makes it! We ride up to the top of the mountain on a bus which gives us a little history about the town of Hoonah. We arrive at the top where there is a big metal structure with gates. We are asked to go last since we are not on the cruise ship and it will be leaving soon. Finally it is our turn and we load into the harness seats. There are 6 of us going at once. 3,2,1 and the metal doors flew open and we all fell out into the trees. The trip up on the bus took 45 minutes, and it took 45 seconds to go down. The drop was more than 1300 vertical feet and we traveled at speeds of more than 60 mph. After a few seconds to get used to the feeling, we enjoyed the view above the tree tops. At the end, there was a huge spring to stop us. When Molly hit it, her feet almost swung up to touch it. We got a ride back to the marina from on of the staff in the parking lot.
The next morning we hired a wonderful fishing guide (We hired Chris and Agatha Erickson) to teach us how to salmon fish. This is something we've never taken the time to learn. We meet at the fishing boat "Icy Lady" at 8 AM for a fishing trip. They taught us the proper tackle to use and how to thread a herring onto a hook. Molly caught the only fish - about an 18 pound Chum salmon. We trolled in 2 different spots, but the fish just weren't biting. We spent the afternoon buying everything at the tackle shop! (Now that we are excited about fishing) We also made a trip for supplies at Ace hardware and the grocery store. We had a yummy meal of Molly's salmon for dinner!
The next morning, Garth, Molly and Brian got up early to go fishing. Molly got a big fish on the line, but instead of reeling it in, it stole everything except for the pole and the line! They could see it swimming around in the water with the tackle floating beside it. They tried to catch it with the net, but it got away. A few hours later, we were back at the tackle shop buying more gear to replace what was lost. Mom did a few loads of laundry, then we were ready to leave.
The next few days we spent a few hours south to Pavlov Harbor. We anchored there with one other boat. There is a beautiful water fall and we saw a few Grizzly Bears on the shore. We went on a Whaler trip to check out the bay, waterfall, and bear watch. We wanted to get closer to a Grizzly (Kitty) to take a picture. We didn't find any bears, and it was a little choppy in the Whaler. We were going to go to Tenakee Springs in the Whaler, but it was too rough.
Back at the bay, we tried our luck at fishing but didn't catch anything, even though there were salmon jumping all over the place. We saw a big Kitty on shore and Brian and Molly and mom went for a closer look in the Whaler. It did not seem too concerned that we were close by in the boat watching it.
On friday, we spent another night at anchor, waking up often listening to the anchor chain dragging across the rocks. We had plans to leave to Tenakee Springs, but the wind was picking up. As the wind got worse, the dogs got more nervous. Brian and dad go to look at something in the pilot house and see one of the bow cushions fly off into the water. Brian jumped quickly into the Whaler and chased after the cushion. When he picked it up out of the water, the wind caught it and shot it back into the water again. Once again, he picked it up and the wind whipped it out of his hands. The third time, he kept the cushion very low, and brought it back safely. Meanwhile, dad noticed that the new bimini canvas was coming off. The wind gusts, now about 35-40 knots will rip the canvas off the top. Mom and dad were holding it, trying to get it zipped back on when another cushion flew off the top. Again, Brian chased that in the Whaler and recovered it.
Once Brian returned, he helped mom and dad hold the bimini so we could take it down and cover it with the boot. We then took Shadow on a leash out to the bow to do her business. It was 1 PM and she had been too scared to go outside to pee. The weather slowly died down through out the day. There were many board games played and mom worked on her scrapbook. We decide to stay here more night and leave in the morning when the straights are calmer. About 8PM, the wind begins to howl again...... but the next morning it had calmed down enough that we decided we could move south.
Our first ever experience up close with glaciers and it was impressive. We docked in Bartlett Cove just before 11 in time for the orientation. We checked in and watched the video which explained how to follow the rules in the park. We left Bartlett Cove and headed toward Reid Inlet and Reid glacier. On the way we called the Leon's boat to see where they were. They called and said they were near Reid Inlet but coming towards us to go to another bay to fish. We passed them and waved at everyone.
We woke up the next morning and had a leisurely breakfast and watched a James Bond Movie. As we were sitting there, Brian said, "Look there's a whale next to the boat." Mom said, " those ripples in the water aren't big enough to be a whale." Then the whale came up about 10 feet from the boat and mom said, "Oh my god!" Then Molly started screaming. We ran outside and watched it surface and blow a few times, then it it disappeared under the water.
We pulled up our anchor and headed towards Tarr Inlet to see Margerie Glacier. As we started up the bay, there were small chunks of ice in the water that we were trying to avoid. The pieces got bigger and bigger and we couldn't avoid everything but avoided the larger pieces as we couldn't tell how much ice was below the water. We got about 1/3 of a mile from the glacier and watched for awhile as it calved a few times. After one large piece fell off, we were waiting to see if a wave would come to the boat. We noticed that Shadow was shaking a lot. She must have sensed something happening. We left the inlet, but it took us about an hour to get out as we avoided the ice. Shadow had to be sedated to get her to calm down.
We also stopped at Lamplugh Glacier on the way back. We got about 1/4 mile from it. It had a large cave in the bottom of it near the water. Inside the cave, we could see water shooting out of it at a high rate of speed. Garth said it was a subglacial aqua duct????? We returned to Reid Inlet and anchored much closer to the glacier.
On the next morning (the 12th) we took the zodiac to shore. We found a place to land on the beach that was not too rocky. Most places were too shallow for us to get close enough to get out. We walked a ways and touched the glacier. From shore the glacier was much more unstable. There were rivers of water coming out from beneath the glacier. We were not sure if the water was going under us on the beach, or around somewhere where we couldn't see it. We found a huge chunk of ice on the beach that was as big as the kids.
After our shore excursion, we traveled to North Sandy Cove in the afternoon. From there, we traveled in the Whaler to South Marble Island to see the birds and sea lions. There is a Steller Sea Lion population lives on 2 small rocks near South Marble Island. They sounded like they were burping and farting. Brian called it farping. We moved around to the other side of the rocks to get a different view. The wind must have been coming towards us because the smell was awful. We had to get out of there fast. Brian and Molly named the 2 giant light colored sea lions Big Mac and Super Size! Back at North Sandy Cove, we had the bay to ourselves for our final night.
Note This is the third of three blog entries I've posted today. I've had horrible Internet access until Juneau, so I'm just getting around to posting the ones about Petersburg and Wrangell. If you haven't seen those, look further down the main blog page (blog entries are in reverse time order). Be sure to check out the link to more pictures for each of them!
Juneau, being the capital of Alaska, is quite a bit more metropolitan than Petersburg or Wrangell, but it seems very spread out. There is a Wal-mart here, a Costco, and the most gigantic Fred Meyer store I've ever seen, but all of them are a taxi-ride from each other. It also doesn't have a main downtown touristy area like Ketchikan did. Like Ketchikan, there are up to four cruise ships here at any given time.
Our friends from our neighborhood (the Backous family) joined us for a couple days up here, and we also visited with the Leons, who are also our neighbors (they are here cruising on their own boat). Brian and Molly were very glad to have some friends aboard. It rained pretty much the ENTIRE time they were here. At first, they thought they'd go for a ride in our Boston Whaler, but after coming back totally soaked, they mostly stayed in the big boat, slept, played games, and read books.
Now that we've been in Juneau a few days, we're starting to see that our experience with the sunny days down by Ketchikan was indeed not the normal. It's been raining a LOT. Really a LOT. Sheets of rain for hours at a time. Rain pretty much everyday for most of everyday.
We're heading out toward Glacier Bay tomorrow, hoping that we can get in. In spite of our attempts to acquire permits to get in, we only were granted a one-day permit which doesn't do much good, as we'd only get part-way in before having to turn around, so we're hoping that a last-minute fax will grant us one of the 48-hour advance notice permits, allowing us to stay in on the 10th through the 12th. If we get that, we'll likely not post to the blog until the 13th or 14th at earliest -- as we're not likely to have any Internet access until a few days after Glacier Bay.
It only took us one day to go from Wrangell to Petersburg. Leaving Wrangell, we headed up Wrangell Narrows, which is an amazing curvy little channel that gets quite narrow in places, but is well marked by dozens and dozens of buoys and lights. I've heard it has more buoys per mile than any other place in the US, and I'd believe it.
Immediately after Wrangell narrows lies Petersburg, which is not a touristy place at all. Pretty much everything about Petersburg had to do with fishing, fish processing, fish canning, fishing supplies, etc. We felt a bit out of place in the marina, being surrounded by commercial fish boats everywhere. Its pretty much the opposite of downtown Ketchikan, which was very tourist-focused.
We attended the 4th of July celebration at Petersburg, including a parade, a log rolling contest, and a nice fireworks show.
The sunny weather seems to have gone and we are mostly experiencing overcast days with occasional rain now.
Laura and the kids flew in to Ketchikan on the 28th of June. They brought some wonderful weather with them -- sunny and 75+ degrees in this usually rainy and overcast city. We spent the next couple days shopping and making trips to the hardware store to get parts to replace the head faucets. We took the whaler downtown to visit the famous Tongass Trading Company store to get Garth and Brian rain boots.
The next day we spent in Meyer's Chuck, staying at the public float. Behind us was a couple and a 6 year old on a sailboat who were on a trip to New Zealand. They were one month into a trip that would take them 2 years and 3 months.
We traveled north on July 1st and decided to stop at Anan Bay bear observatory. On the way, we saw a pod of Orca whales playing near the shore. We anchored in Anan Bay and took our dinghy to shore. We talked to the ranger who said the salmon were not running quite yet so there had not been too many bear sightings yet. We hiked up the half mile boardwalk singing silly songs so we wouldn't startle a bear. Once we arrived at the observatory, the ranger told us they had seen a bear a few minutes ago but it had been pretty quiet. Just then we saw a bear about 50 feet away come out of the bushes. It stayed out looking around for a few minutes and checking out the river, but didn't climb down the hill. Then, it vanished into the woods again.
Back at the big boat, we continued our trip to Berg Bay where we anchored for the night. We put out 2 crab pots and cooked some dinner. About 9:30 we decided to go check the pots since it is light until about 11. Our first pot had 7 crab which was great, but as we stopped to get them we were attacked by a giant swarm of no-see-ums. They were in our mouths and swarming around Garth's head. We zoomed off to the next pot where we found 5 more crabs. We kept 10 all together. Back at the boat, we cooked crab and watched James Bond. We didn't realize how many bugs had gotten into the boat until we were getting ready for bed and only a few lights were on. Garth got out the bug zapper and must have zapped 400 bugs before we went to bed.
Our first job this morning was to vacuum up all the dead bugs from last night. They were all over the pilot house table. We still had swarms of live bugs stuck in the front window. We sucked those up in the mini vacuum and dumped them overboard. We went out to retrieve the crab pots and discovered we had lost one. We are not sure if it was taken, run over, or if we set it on a shelf and it fell into deeper water.
We made our way to Wrangell where we docked at the guest dock. We were surround but lots of fishing boats and activity. We ate at Zack's Cafe and tried to go swimming at the public pool, but it was closed. The next day, as we were about to leave, Brian drove Molly and Laura in the Whaler over to the City Dock near an old fashioned Ferry with a paddle wheel. At the top of the dock there were a few locals selling items. Molly wanted to see if there was someone selling Garnets. There is a Garnet mine near Wrangell that was given to the Boy Scouts and children of Wrangell about 45 years ago. We bought Molly a garnet from a 12 year old girl who learned how to mine garnets when she was 6. Mom bought 2 wine corks made from blood wood and palm wood. Dad left the dock while we were in town and we raced out in the Whaler to catch him. It started raining pretty hard on the way. We were glad to get out of the rain and onto the big boat!
And in only five days! Mike Johnson, Mike Mraz and I took turns driving (although Mike Johnson spent the most time at the helm). We arrived wednesday morning.
The trip was beautiful. Pretty much nothing to complain about as far as weather went -- we only got a bit of rain and most of the seas were calm. The crossing of Dixon Entrance was the roughest, with a 1 meter swell from the ocean on our beam, causing a bit of uncomfortable roll, but that only lasted about 1/2 hour.
The two mikes flew out yesterday (thursday) and my family joins me tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing all of them. It's been a week now!
I'm expecting to leave the dock within an hour for our trip to alaska!
Due to various delays and complications I've not had time to really put an entry in the blog until now. Not that I'm ready yet, I still have to finish putting a few things away. I've been working all night to get the boat ready to go (mostly putting away all the stuff that Laura and I brought over the last few days).
It is absolutely unbelievable how much stuff we brought onto the boat. Food, toys, electronics, spare parts, even a Wii Fit. I seriously question how it all fits, but after a herculean effort, I found places for most of it.
I'm expecting Mike Mraz at any moment, and then we'll both be heading toward Friday Harbor to pick up Mike Johnson. I'm hoping Mraz will be fresh and ready to drive so I can catch up on sleep :).
I'll try to post some pictures when I get to our next stop, if we have internet access. For now, you can see our progress by clicking here!
Enjoy -- more content and features are coming to this blog soon. I'll be updating it every few days throughout the trip.