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!

Photo Gallery

Our Boat - In Ketchikan, at the "Bar Harbor" marina

A nice hat - When Brian and Molly came from Seattle, they brought this silly hat for Shadow. She tolerates it nicely in this picture.

Starting Up - We got this new engine just before the trip. Here, Brian is giving it the first pulls it's ever had.

Meyer's Chuck - A beautiful little spot north of Ketchikan a ways.

Life is good

Sunset Dinghy Ride - Not much to complain about.

Meyer's chuck - Here you can see our boat. The sun was so hot we drew the shades. We're loving the warm weather, we had heard it can rain a lot in Alaska but so far it's been quite beautiful for the most part.

Got Mail? - This post office delivers once a week.

Orcas - On the way to the Anan Creek bear observatory, we saw a pod just a couple hundred feet from the side of our boat.

Girls - Laura and Molly on the Anan Creek trail. This leads to a bear observatory platform where you can often see bears fishing in the stream below.

Bear - Although we were early to the bear observatory (they don't expect you to see much before July 5th due to low salmon count), we did see a black bear at close range from the platform.

Meandering Boardwalk - Another view of the trail to Anan Creek's bear observatory.

Pulling Pots - Brian and Molly pulled up several crab at Berg Bay, where we spent our last night before Wrangell. We had crab fritattas for breakfast the next morning.