We had no significant boat chores to perform in Sitka so we did lots of walking around the town and on the nearby trails. We did meet up with our friends Dan and Marsha and toured their new (to them) Selene 53, Turnagain. Their previous boat was a troller on which they fished for salmon, often near Sitka or in Chatham Strait. Drake was excited to meet their standard-sized bernadoodle, Meaka. They played once or twice in the dog park near the Eliason Harbor marina.

We pulled out Sunday, June 30, after four days in Sitka. Since on the way to Sitka we enjoyed our walk to Lake Eva, but not the slog across the tidal flat, I noted that the high tide for July 1 was in the morning and would be covering the muddy tidal flat. The plan was to anchor in the same location in Hanus Bay as we had a week earlier and do the hike in the morning before proceeding to our next anchorage. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.

Peril Strait often gets snotty in southerly winds coming up Chatham Strait which pass through the low divide between Catherine Island and Baranof Island. It was a steady 15-20 kts head wind with steep 3-foot seas. While it was a bit better near the shore, we decided not to get beat up at anchor by the wind. We ended up anchoring in an open bight on the north shore of Catherine Island about 3 or 4 miles further. The small cruise ship Liseron was already there which gave us some confidence it would work.

The next day was calmer, and we proceeded to Takatz Bay on the east shore of Baranof Island where we anchored for two nights. Because of its size, Takatz Bay often gets charter mega-yachts with their attendant vessels. Later, kayaks were launched from the one we sharing the anchorage, adding another layer to the “turducken” nature of their crusing.

From Takatz Bay we traveled across Chatham Strait into Fredrick Sound and anchored in Honey Dew Cove at the north end of Kuiu Island for two nights. While there, we had a couple of furry animals roaming the beach, one more fearsome than the other.

After Takatz Bay we continued east further into Fredrick Sound. We were in “fishing” mode so we dropped prawn pots in a few areas and the hook for halibut. The halibut were elusive but we did manage to pull up some prawns as well as an octopus (which we released) in our pots.

When we left Fredrick Sound we cruised on by Petersburg and instead stopped in Wrangell. We stayed for 3 nights to give Drake some extra shore time and make up for the 13 nights at anchor since Sitka. While there, we crossed paths with our first boat, the Selene 36 Dragontail, now named Dancing Bear.

From Fredrick Sound, we spent 3 nights in the Ernest Sound area doing a little more prawning, two nights on the dock at Meyers Chuck and finally arrived in Ketchikan on July 21.

Our return to Ketchikan is about a  week earlier than normal as we have a yard date in Port Townsend on August 19 for a haulout. Mostly it is for maintenance but with a boat, the list often gets longer by the time your get there.

We spent 3 nights in Juneau and tried to make it as productive as possible. We did cross paths and caught up on our travels with fellow Queen City Yacht Club members, Wanda and Rico on Wanderer and Lynn and Dave on Willawaw. They arrived in Auke Bay from the south having stayed in Taku Harbor the night before, while we came from the north.

In past years, we have rented a car for a day to run our errands but have now decided that we can get by with riding our bikes, taking the bus or using a Lyft/Uber. The Lyft/Uber drivers are very accustomed to taking people from the Juneau Costco to the harbor at Auke Bay.

During the summer, the Statter Harbor at Auke Bay is very busy with locals coming and going, whale watching tour boats, commercial fishing boats and transient recreational boats such as we are. Another very noticeable presence are the mega yachts. It is common to see 2 or 3 tied to the breakwater dock at Statter Harbor with another anchored out in the deeper section of the bay. Most mega yachts abound with glamour and luxury in their appearance.

On this visit there was a yacht that stood out for its purposeful look. The vessel,180’ Power Play, is in the category of a “support vessel”. Its purpose is to carry the necessary accessories to a larger mega yacht, such as a large (e.g., 50’) tender, jet-skis, or helipad that might interfere with the appearance of the owners primary mega yacht. A little searching on the internet revealed that Power Play was built for Jan Koum, a co-founder of the company WhatsApp (later purchased by Facebook for a reported $19 billion). Sadly, the vessel supported by Power Play, the 241’ Mogambo was not present (its AIS position was in the San Franciso Bay area) at the time.

We departed Juneau on Wednesday, June 19 and headed back towards Chatham Channel. We anchored again in Cedar Cove in Freshwater Bay near the more popular Pavlof Harbor. We dropped our three prawn pots in Freshwater Bay as we went in. This time we were alone in the anchorage.

The weather deteriorated overnight and, while the anchorage was calm and protected, as soon as we poked our nose into Freshwater Bay, we had 2-3’ foot seas. It was a challenge to retrieve our gear, but Marcia’s sharp vision spotted all three pots bobbing up and down in the waves. All our efforts were wasted as we had zero prawns. We won’t be trying there again anytime soon.

We had arranged to meet up with our friends John & Kathleen on Laysan in Takatz Bay. They were coming north up Chatham Channel from Gut Bay and had the wind and seas on their stern making for a relatively comfortable ride. We slogged south down Chatham Channel in 15-20 knot winds and 3’ head seas. We breathed a great sigh of relief when we arrived at the protected entrance channel to Takatz Bay.

We joined John & Kathleen for a paddle in our kayaks to the head of the bay at high tide (at low tide it is a large mud flat). There was a brown bear feeding on sedge grass at the shore’s edge who was not bothered by folks watching him from a respectful distance.

That evening we were invited with John & Kathleen to dinner on the vessel You Dear, belonging to Peter & Gail who are John & Kathleen’s “neighbors” in Petersburg. Peter & Gail were buddy boating with their friends Doug & Karen owners of Peregrine. The meal was seafood recently caught by Peter, Gail, Doug & Karen.

After our second night in Takatz Bay, Alpenglow and Laysan both departed. The wind and seas had calmed down considerably from the day we had arrived. When we departed, John & Kathleen continued north up Chatham Channel with the goal of Hoonah where a haul out was scheduled two days later. We continued south towards Gut Bay.

During our two nights in Gut Bay, we dropped prawn pots which yielded satisfactory results. The salmon fishing, however, was not successful. We decided to return to Sitka for another visit.

Along the way we stopped in Hanus Bay and took our kayaks to shore to access the USFS trail to Lake Eva. The hike was fine, but our timing was poor because we landed on a following tide and had to drag our kayaks a long way across a muddy shoreline and even further after our hike. Not wanting a muddy dog, we carried Drake across the muddy parts of the beach.

After one last night at anchor in the outer cover to DeGroff Bay, we returned to Sitka the morning of Wednesday, June 26.