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This being our 15th cruising trip, you would have thought we’d have at least heard of the Ketchikan Blueberry Festival (its 50th), if not attended it. It is held on the first Saturday in August.  As an excuse, I offer up that at the end of the season, our time in Ketchikan is focused on getting in and getting out ASAP.  This year, with nice weather forecast, we hung around for the Blueberry Festival. It turns out it is a kind of a street fair with several streets closed off to traffic and and booths selling crafts, art and food.  Despite the presence of passengers from three cruise ships (actually a modest number by Ketchikan standards), the event seemed very community focused.  If we are in Ketchikan on the first weekend in August in the future, we’ll definitely try to attend.

We did leave Ketchikan on Tuesday, August 5. We stopped on the way out of town and fueled up.  It turned out the fuel price in Ketchikan was about 50¢/gallon cheaper than the price in Washington, so we took on about 750 gallons to take us south and possibly back north next Spring. We anchored the night in Sitklan Passage Cove which is conveniently located for crossing Dixon Entrance and entering Canadian waters.

The next day, August 6, we headed into Prince Rupert staying at the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club (PRRYC) marina.  We had an usual event at the Safeway grocery store where Marcia did shopping for produce we couldn’t bring in from the USA and I waited outside with Drake.  The store was quite busy and it was taking Marcia more time than I and Drake wanted it to.  Drake was very good at making eye contact with people going in and out of the store and responding enthusiastically when the eye contact was reciprocated.  Later, I was a confused and flummoxed when a customer came out from the store and said “Here, a man in the store asked me to give this to you to buy a toy for the dog,” and then handed me $3.50.  There had been a pan handler outside the store’s entrance earlier but he probably left when he saw his competition, a cute and friendly dog.

We left at first light the next morning, but not before a quick walk to the Tim Horton’s for some morning treats and cheese tea biscuits for later.  We put in a full day and did the entire length of Grenville Channel before anchoring the night in Hawk Bay on Fin Island.

One of the reasons for putting in a long day was so that we fish the early bite off at Turtle Point on the NW corner of Gil Island.  We joined a couple of sport fishing boats also working the area.  Marcia caught and released a couple of pink salmon but never even got a hit she thought was a silver or king salmon. We returned to Hawk Bay for a second night.

Rather than try fishing the area further, the next day we elected to continue our southbound journey and headed towards Bottleneck Inlet in Finlayson Channel.  Initially conditions weren’t too bad even though the winds were 15-20 knots but later in the day they edged up a notch to 20-25 knots and we had pretty choppy head seas. The protection offered by Bottleneck Inlet was a welcome relief for ourselves and the three other boats with which we shared the anchorage.

The next morning, we had light rain and poor visibility but the winds weren’t too bad initially.  We elected to exit Finlayson Channel into Milbanke Sound and Seaforth Channel rather than cutting off at Jackson Passage and using Mathieson Channel / Perceval Narrows into Seaforth.  Unfortunately the seas were building and we were hit by 3-foot short period seas on our starboard beam as we approached Ivory Island which caused us to roll unpleasantly.  It was about five or six miles of that so we decided to put our stabilizing fish in the water to dampen the rolling.  We continued through Seaforth Channel to Gunboat Passage and anchored in Forit Bay that night.

Next morning we fished near Rattenbury Point at the NW corner of King Island in Fisher Channel.  Nothing but a few pink bites for our efforts.  We headed south in Fisher Channel, dropped a couple of test prawn pots in the entrance to Evans Inlet then explored the head of Evans Inlet for an anchoring site.  We found a couple spots that were doable but they were deep (75′ to 90′) and exposed to westerly wind and chop.  We decided to go with the known quantity of Codville Lagoon for the night’s anchorage.

The next day, we headed back north up Fisher Channel and fished the west side of the channel along the shoreline of Denny Island about a mile south of Gun Boat Passage.  Again, only a few bites from pink salmon. From here we headed back to Evans Inlet and retrieved the prawn pots we dropped there. More disappointment, when we pulled empty pots.  Since we were pretty close to Codville Lagoon, we dropped the two prawn pots in a popular prawn site. By this time, we were getting close to the afternoon salmon bite so we crossed Fisher Channel, entered Lama Passage and fished (with no luck) the SE corner of Denny Island from just west of White Point to about a mile north of Start Point.  We finished this meandering by returning to Codville Lagoon and anchoring at its north end.

We were getting a bit tired of fishing with no catching so with a very early start on August 13, we first retrieved our two prawn pots with several dozen (yay!) mostly small (boo!) prawns and headed up to Ocean Falls.  Even though we arrived before 10 AM, the notorious Ocean Falls winds were blowing us off the dock.  Fortunately, there were other boaters on the dock who got our lines secured and the boat tied to the dock.  Later that day, fellow Queen City Yacht Club members, Ann and Craig Wilbour on Shot-8, tied up on the other side of the dock from us.

We ended up spending 4 nights at Ocean Falls. There are not many shoreside services but the road running from the top of the dam behind the town to the community of Martin Valley gives you a chance to stetch your legs a bit.  The docks are in good repair, the power ample (the power plant at the dam is less than a half mile away) and the water is clean.  We did have rain (heavy at times) for about 2-1/2 days and some gusty wind a few times but it was more pleasant than spinning around on an anchor and not being able to leave your boat.

Finally, on August 17, continued south into Fitz Hugh Sound. Our destination for the night was Bitter End Cove at the far southeast corner of Fish Egg Inlet.  On the way in, we dropped three prawn pots. It was a quiet night by ourselves.

The next morning we headed out and started fishing the shores of Addenbroke Island north of the lighthouse.  There were other boats from the local fishing lodges fishing as well.  The action seemed to be mostly pinks but near slack current, Marcia hooked and we landed a King salmon, our first salmon of the season. We called it quits for salmon fishing and headed back into Fish Egg Inlet to check our prawn pots.  Unfortunately two of the three pots had octopus in them.  The octopus enjoy the easy pickings of the prawns already in the pot and deter anymore prawns from entering the pot.  While we did harvest a decent number of prawns, we elected not to reset the prawns as we judged the possibility of continued octopus predation as high. The two octopus returned to the water to hunt again and we headed back to Bitter End Cove for the night.

On the morning of August 19, we again headed out to Addenbroke Island hoping for a repeat of our prior day’s success.  Again the action was disappointing until near slack current when Marcia hooked and we landed a coho salmon.  At this point we felt that Drake needed some shore time so we crossed Fitz Hugh Sound and entered Kwakshua Channel towards Pruth Bay.  We anchored near the head of the bay with good access to the docks of Hakai Institute.  They are kind enough to allow public access to their docks for transiting on their trails over to the broad sandy beaches on the ocean side of Calvert Island.  The beaches are considered the finest beaches along the inside passage and provide welcome relief from confines of the boat.  We spent two nights anchored in Pruth Bay and went to shore five times.

After one last beach visit on the morning of August 21, we stored our dinghy back on our boat deck and exit into Hakai Passage and made our way to the NE corner of Hecate Island where we fished along the shore of Hecate Island outside the entrance to Goldstream Harbour.  Marcia caught another coho salmon before we called it a day.  We went into Goldstream Harbour where Marcia cleaned her salmon and we had lunch.  Afterwards we proceeded to Safety Cove along east shore of Calvert Island to anchor for the night.

Since fishing was slow, we decided to take advantage of the fine conditions (light winds, low seas) and head south around Cape Caution on August 22.  Depending on your route, you have 30 – 40 miles in which you are exposed to ocean conditions.  If ocean conditions are good, the route is no big deal.  If conditions are bad, you could die or fear your imminent demise.  In between are various degrees of unpleasantness that depend on your tolerance or misfortune.  We always try to stack the odds towards “no big deal” by choosing benign conditions.  While we had fog most of the way, we only had modest rolling waves out of the WNW and did not put our stabilizers in the water.  Our speed was good and we arrived in Port McNeill about 10 hours after departing Safety Cove.
  
Leg Statistics – 18 Days, 569 Miles, 107.2 Engine Hours

This being our 15th cruising trip, you would have thought we’d have at least heard of the Ketchikan Blueberry Festival (its 50th), if not attended it. It is held on the first Saturday in August.  As an excuse, I offer up that at the end of the season, our time in Ketchikan is focused on getting in and getting out ASAP.  This year, with nice weather forecast, we hung around for the Blueberry Festival. It turns out it is a kind of a street fair with several streets closed off to traffic and and booths selling crafts, art and food.  Despite the presence of passengers from three cruise ships (actually a modest number by Ketchikan standards), the event seemed very community focused.  If we are in Ketchikan on the first weekend in August in the future, we’ll definitely try to attend.

We did leave Ketchikan on Tuesday, August 5. We stopped on the way out of town and fueled up.  It turned out the fuel price in Ketchikan was about 50¢/gallon cheaper than the price in Washington, so we took on about 750 gallons to take us south and possibly back north next Spring. We anchored the night in Sitklan Passage Cove which is conveniently located for crossing Dixon Entrance and entering Canadian waters.

The next day, August 6, we headed into Prince Rupert staying at the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club (PRRYC) marina.  We had an usual event at the Safeway grocery store where Marcia did shopping for produce we couldn’t bring in from the USA and I waited outside with Drake.  The store was quite busy and it was taking Marcia more time than I and Drake wanted it to.  Drake was very good at making eye contact with people going in and out of the store and responding enthusiastically when the eye contact was reciprocated.  Later, I was a confused and flummoxed when a customer came out from the store and said “Here, a man in the store asked me to give this to you to buy a toy for the dog,” and then handed me $3.50.  There had been a pan handler outside the store’s entrance earlier but he probably left when he saw his competition, a cute and friendly dog.

We left at first light the next morning, but not before a quick walk to the Tim Horton’s for some morning treats and cheese tea biscuits for later.  We put in a full day and did the entire length of Grenville Channel before anchoring the night in Hawk Bay on Fin Island.

One of the reasons for putting in a long day was so that we fish the early bite off at Turtle Point on the NW corner of Gil Island.  We joined a couple of sport fishing boats also working the area.  Marcia caught and released a couple of pink salmon but never even got a hit she thought was a silver or king salmon. We returned to Hawk Bay for a second night.

Rather than try fishing the area further, the next day we elected to continue our southbound journey and headed towards Bottleneck Inlet in Finlayson Channel.  Initially conditions weren’t too bad even though the winds were 15-20 knots but later in the day they edged up a notch to 20-25 knots and we had pretty choppy head seas. The protection offered by Bottleneck Inlet was a welcome relief for ourselves and the three other boats with which we shared the anchorage.

The next morning, we had light rain and poor visibility but the winds weren’t too bad initially.  We elected to exit Finlayson Channel into Milbanke Sound and Seaforth Channel rather than cutting off at Jackson Passage and using Mathieson Channel / Perceval Narrows into Seaforth.  Unfortunately the seas were building and we were hit by 3-foot short period seas on our starboard beam as we approached Ivory Island which caused us to roll unpleasantly.  It was about five or six miles of that so we decided to put our stabilizing fish in the water to dampen the rolling.  We continued through Seaforth Channel to Gunboat Passage and anchored in Forit Bay that night.

Next morning we fished near Rattenbury Point at the NW corner of King Island in Fisher Channel.  Nothing but a few pink bites for our efforts.  We headed south in Fisher Channel, dropped a couple of test prawn pots in the entrance to Evans Inlet then explored the head of Evans Inlet for an anchoring site.  We found a couple spots that were doable but they were deep (75′ to 90′) and exposed to westerly wind and chop.  We decided to go with the known quantity of Codville Lagoon for the night’s anchorage.

The next day, we headed back north up Fisher Channel and fished the west side of the channel along the shoreline of Denny Island about a mile south of Gun Boat Passage.  Again, only a few bites from pink salmon. From here we headed back to Evans Inlet and retrieved the prawn pots we dropped there. More disappointment, when we pulled empty pots.  Since we were pretty close to Codville Lagoon, we dropped the two prawn pots in a popular prawn site. By this time, we were getting close to the afternoon salmon bite so we crossed Fisher Channel, entered Lama Passage and fished (with no luck) the SE corner of Denny Island from just west of White Point to about a mile north of Start Point.  We finished this meandering by returning to Codville Lagoon and anchoring at its north end.

We were getting a bit tired of fishing with no catching so with a very early start on August 13, we first retrieved our two prawn pots with several dozen (yay!) mostly small (boo!) prawns and headed up to Ocean Falls.  Even though we arrived before 10 AM, the notorious Ocean Falls winds were blowing us off the dock.  Fortunately, there were other boaters on the dock who got our lines secured and the boat tied to the dock.  Later that day, fellow Queen City Yacht Club members, Ann and Craig Wilbour on Shot-8, tied up on the other side of the dock from us.

We ended up spending 4 nights at Ocean Falls. There are not many shoreside services but the road running from the top of the dam behind the town to the community of Martin Valley gives you a chance to stetch your legs a bit.  The docks are in good repair, the power ample (the power plant at the dam is less than a half mile away) and the water is clean.  We did have rain (heavy at times) for about 2-1/2 days and some gusty wind a few times but it was more pleasant than spinning around on an anchor and not being able to leave your boat.

Finally, on August 17, continued south into Fitz Hugh Sound. Our destination for the night was Bitter End Cove at the far southeast corner of Fish Egg Inlet.  On the way in, we dropped three prawn pots. It was a quiet night by ourselves.

The next morning we headed out and started fishing the shores of Addenbroke Island north of the lighthouse.  There were other boats from the local fishing lodges fishing as well.  The action seemed to be mostly pinks but near slack current, Marcia hooked and we landed a King salmon, our first salmon of the season. We called it quits for salmon fishing and headed back into Fish Egg Inlet to check our prawn pots.  Unfortunately two of the three pots had octopus in them.  The octopus enjoy the easy pickings of the prawns already in the pot and deter anymore prawns from entering the pot.  While we did harvest a decent number of prawns, we elected not to reset the prawns as we judged the possibility of continued octopus predation as high. The two octopus returned to the water to hunt again and we headed back to Bitter End Cove for the night.

On the morning of August 19, we again headed out to Addenbroke Island hoping for a repeat of our prior day’s success.  Again the action was disappointing until near slack current when Marcia hooked and we landed a coho salmon.  At this point we felt that Drake needed some shore time so we crossed Fitz Hugh Sound and entered Kwakshua Channel towards Pruth Bay.  We anchored near the head of the bay with good access to the docks of Hakai Institute.  They are kind enough to allow public access to their docks for transiting on their trails over to the broad sandy beaches on the ocean side of Calvert Island.  The beaches are considered the finest beaches along the inside passage and provide welcome relief from confines of the boat.  We spent two nights anchored in Pruth Bay and went to shore five times.

After one last beach visit on the morning of August 21, we stored our dinghy back on our boat deck and exit into Hakai Passage and made our way to the NE corner of Hecate Island where we fished along the shore of Hecate Island outside the entrance to Goldstream Harbour.  Marcia caught another coho salmon before we called it a day.  We went into Goldstream Harbour where Marcia cleaned her salmon and we had lunch.  Afterwards we proceeded to Safety Cove along east shore of Calvert Island to anchor for the night.

Since fishing was slow, we decided to take advantage of the fine conditions (light winds, low seas) and head south around Cape Caution on August 22.  Depending on your route, you have 30 – 40 miles in which you are exposed to ocean conditions.  If ocean conditions are good, the route is no big deal.  If conditions are bad, you could die or fear your imminent demise.  In between are various degrees of unpleasantness that depend on your tolerance or misfortune.  We always try to stack the odds towards “no big deal” by choosing benign conditions.  While we had fog most of the way, we only had modest rolling waves out of the WNW and did not put our stabilizers in the water.  Our speed was good and we arrived in Port McNeill about 10 hours after departing Safety Cove.
  
Leg Statistics – 18 Days, 569 Miles, 107.2 Engine Hours

As mentioned in the previous blog post, reprovisioning was a major purpose stopping in Juneau.  While the stores are 4 or miles away from the harbor, Juneau has a pretty good bus system on which to ride.  In previous years we’d rent a car for a day to do our shopping but, because of having competition from cruise ship passengers, it became expensive ($200/day), even for a “rent-a-wreck” service, and require reservations weeks in advance.  For Costco, we take the bus to get to the store (or at least within walking distance) and then a ride share service to get ourselves and our Costco-size groceries back to the harbor.  For the Fred Meyer store, the bus stop right  is right next to the store and carrying the groceries (mostly produce) in shopping bags is fine.

When we arrived at the Statter Harbor in Auke Bay, the purse seine boats had been out fishing.  But their opening had closed and many seine boats returned to the harbor.  Since moorage was tight, on our last night at the dock we allowed a seine boat to raft to us.  Fortunately they were leaving early in the morning to head out for the next opening.  So, shortly after 5 am on Wednesday, July 16 we headed southbound in Stephens Passage.  The currents and wind were generally favorable so were able to get to Hobart Bay, a distance of 78 miles.  We dropped prawn pots in the outer bay before going into the protected cove where we anchored the night.

The next day, after pulling prawn pots (okay, but not as good as we hoped), we headed to Pybus Bay at the SE end of Admiralty Island, where we dropped the prawn pots.  We anchored in the cove created between the San Juan Islands, east of Pybus Bay. Marcia put down a “meat hook” to see if she could entice a fish to bite. In the early evening, we noticed the rod pointing downward and after some effort we had a 34″ halibut on board.  We had a fright when we heard snuffling and realized that some sea lions from acolony on the island south of the nearby West Brothers Island were cruising by. Marcia quickly got the halibut on the cleaning table and fileted it.

Following that success, the next morning we were hopeful as we pulled the prawn pots set the previous day.  Hopes were dashed by the poor results we had.  We decided to brighten our day by heading to Honeydew Cove and its excellent dog play beach. 

At this point, we decided to head back to Sitka to spend a few days with the forecasted good weather.  Sitka is a lovely town and our earlier visit stop had been hampered by rain.  We left early the next day, Saturday, July 19, headed up Chatham Strait, turned NW at Peril Strait then timed the evening slack at Sergius Narrows.  We anchored the night in Schulze Cove, just south of the narrows.

We arrived back to Sitka in the sun the next morning, and immediately took Drake to the nearby dog park. We also walked to the Harbor Mountain Brewery for our lunch of pizza and a salad.  The flowers in the meadows through which the trail runs were in full bloom. The next day our friends David and Mary Kay from the Diesel Duck, Shearwater, returned to Sitka and they came over for appetizers in the evening. For our last day in Sitka, we got our ice cream fix from milk shakes at the classic-style fountain in the Harry Race Pharmacy.  We also picked up a fourth prawn pot at the LFS Marine Supply store.

We left Sitka the morning of July 23, retracing our route from a few days before. The stretch down Chatham Strait to the entrance of Takatz Bay (our anchorage for the night) was a real grind as we had head winds and an adverse current all of the way.

The next day had us heading further south to Gut Bay.  We dropped prawn pots in our usual spot and anchored in the south cove.  The winds coming from offshore traveling over the mountains of Baranof Island found their way into the anchorage until the late evening.

The next morning, July 25, we hauled up a mediocre numbers of prawns in our pots, decided not to reset and headed over to Honey Dew Cove. Once again, Drake applauded our decision when he got a couple of play sessions on the gravel beaches there.

From Honey Dew we timed our entrance to go into Wrangell Narrows on the dying flood current.  Shortly before the southern terminus of the Narrows, we pulled off and anchored on the SW side of Keene Island.  It was a new anchorage for us and came recommended by David Cohn on Shearwater.

The following morning we exited Wrangell Narrows, and made our way down Zimovia Strait along the west shore of Wrangell Island.  A gill net opening was scheduled to start at noon and we managed to get south of the area before the gill netters started to string their nets across the channel.  We dropped prawn pots before we headed into Thom’s Place for the night. The weather was sunny but it also came with afternoon sea breezes that stayed a steady 15 knots until the sun began to set.

The next morning’s prawn harvest was pretty good but we were in our “homeward bound” mode and so headed south to Santa Anna Inlet.  Prawn pots were dropped in Sunny Bay and on the south side of Deer Island before we anchored for the night.  Clouds had moved in so the afternoon sea breezes were absent.

We retrieved a disappointing number of prawns from the four pots we had set the day before, but being hopeful, we dropped two pots in Vixen Inlet.  After the pots were down, we anchored nearby in a somewhat exposed open bight.  Despite some early evening winds, the weather was kind to us and conditions were good overnight. 

With a very early start and retrieval of the prawn pots (a “so-so” haul), we headed down Clarence Strait to Ketchikan.  We arrived in Bar Harbor about 11:30 AM on Wednesday July 30.

Leg Statistics – 15 Days, 586 miles, 100.1 Engine Hours

As mentioned in the previous blog post, reprovisioning was a major purpose stopping in Juneau.  While the stores are 4 or miles away from the harbor, Juneau has a pretty good bus system on which to ride.  In previous years we’d rent a car for a day to do our shopping but, because of having competition from cruise ship passengers, it became expensive ($200/day), even for a “rent-a-wreck” service, and require reservations weeks in advance.  For Costco, we take the bus to get to the store (or at least within walking distance) and then a ride share service to get ourselves and our Costco-size groceries back to the harbor.  For the Fred Meyer store, the bus stop right  is right next to the store and carrying the groceries (mostly produce) in shopping bags is fine.

When we arrived at the Statter Harbor in Auke Bay, the purse seine boats had been out fishing.  But their opening had closed and many seine boats returned to the harbor.  Since moorage was tight, on our last night at the dock we allowed a seine boat to raft to us.  Fortunately they were leaving early in the morning to head out for the next opening.  So, shortly after 5 am on Wednesday, July 16 we headed southbound in Stephens Passage.  The currents and wind were generally favorable so were able to get to Hobart Bay, a distance of 78 miles.  We dropped prawn pots in the outer bay before going into the protected cove where we anchored the night.

The next day, after pulling prawn pots (okay, but not as good as we hoped), we headed to Pybus Bay at the SE end of Admiralty Island, where we dropped the prawn pots.  We anchored in the cove created between the San Juan Islands, east of Pybus Bay. Marcia put down a “meat hook” to see if she could entice a fish to bite. In the early evening, we noticed the rod pointing downward and after some effort we had a 34″ halibut on board.  We had a fright when we heard snuffling and realized that some sea lions from acolony on the island south of the nearby West Brothers Island were cruising by. Marcia quickly got the halibut on the cleaning table and fileted it.

Following that success, the next morning we were hopeful as we pulled the prawn pots set the previous day.  Hopes were dashed by the poor results we had.  We decided to brighten our day by heading to Honeydew Cove and its excellent dog play beach. 

At this point, we decided to head back to Sitka to spend a few days with the forecasted good weather.  Sitka is a lovely town and our earlier visit stop had been hampered by rain.  We left early the next day, Saturday, July 19, headed up Chatham Strait, turned NW at Peril Strait then timed the evening slack at Sergius Narrows.  We anchored the night in Schulze Cove, just south of the narrows.

We arrived back to Sitka in the sun the next morning, and immediately took Drake to the nearby dog park. We also walked to the Harbor Mountain Brewery for our lunch of pizza and a salad.  The flowers in the meadows through which the trail runs were in full bloom. The next day our friends David and Mary Kay from the Diesel Duck, Shearwater, returned to Sitka and they came over for appetizers in the evening. For our last day in Sitka, we got our ice cream fix from milk shakes at the classic-style fountain in the Harry Race Pharmacy.  We also picked up a fourth prawn pot at the LFS Marine Supply store.

We left Sitka the morning of July 23, retracing our route from a few days before. The stretch down Chatham Strait to the entrance of Takatz Bay (our anchorage for the night) was a real grind as we had head winds and an adverse current all of the way.

The next day had us heading further south to Gut Bay.  We dropped prawn pots in our usual spot and anchored in the south cove.  The winds coming from offshore traveling over the mountains of Baranof Island found their way into the anchorage until the late evening.

The next morning, July 25, we hauled up a mediocre numbers of prawns in our pots, decided not to reset and headed over to Honey Dew Cove. Once again, Drake applauded our decision when he got a couple of play sessions on the gravel beaches there.

From Honey Dew we timed our entrance to go into Wrangell Narrows on the dying flood current.  Shortly before the southern terminus of the Narrows, we pulled off and anchored on the SW side of Keene Island.  It was a new anchorage for us and came recommended by David Cohn on Shearwater.

The following morning we exited Wrangell Narrows, and made our way down Zimovia Strait along the west shore of Wrangell Island.  A gill net opening was scheduled to start at noon and we managed to get south of the area before the gill netters started to string their nets across the channel.  We dropped prawn pots before we headed into Thom’s Place for the night. The weather was sunny but it also came with afternoon sea breezes that stayed a steady 15 knots until the sun began to set.

The next morning’s prawn harvest was pretty good but we were in our “homeward bound” mode and so headed south to Santa Anna Inlet.  Prawn pots were dropped in Sunny Bay and on the south side of Deer Island before we anchored for the night.  Clouds had moved in so the afternoon sea breezes were absent.

We retrieved a disappointing number of prawns from the four pots we had set the day before, but being hopeful, we dropped two pots in Vixen Inlet.  After the pots were down, we anchored nearby in a somewhat exposed open bight.  Despite some early evening winds, the weather was kind to us and conditions were good overnight. 

With a very early start and retrieval of the prawn pots (a “so-so” haul), we headed down Clarence Strait to Ketchikan.  We arrived in Bar Harbor about 11:30 AM on Wednesday July 30.

Leg Statistics – 15 Days, 586 miles, 100.1 Engine Hours

The early summer weather in SE Alaska has been a real disappointment.  Even SE AK residents are apologizing for the weather rather than dismissing us lower 48ers as “weather wimps”.  Fortunately, despite the weather, we got all our chores don…

The early summer weather in SE Alaska has been a real disappointment.  Even SE AK residents are apologizing for the weather rather than dismissing us lower 48ers as “weather wimps”.  Fortunately, despite the weather, we got all our chores don…

After four days in Petersburg, we headed out on June 14 with plans to rendezvous with John & Kathleen (MV Laysan, sistership to Alpenglow) in four days at Tracy Arm Cove.  Until then, we were going to hit some anchorages we had never stayed in…

After four days in Petersburg, we headed out on June 14 with plans to rendezvous with John & Kathleen (MV Laysan, sistership to Alpenglow) in four days at Tracy Arm Cove.  Until then, we were going to hit some anchorages we had never stayed in…

After the grind getting to Ketchikan, there was unanimous agreement to spend four nights at the dock. We had no big projects but we’ve gotten pretty good at letting little tasks expand to fill the time available for them.

One daily task was playing with Drake since it had been two weeks since he got to go to ashore at all. The most convenient place we’ve found near the Bar Harbor Marina where we were moored is a lovely neighborhood park about 3/4 mile away. We’d also take Drake on walks with us when we went shopping.  At the local hardware and outdoors equipment store, Drake comes in with us and gets to meet people and often gets a treat.  He has learned that people standing behind counters (pretty much any counter) often have biscuits that they’ll give him if he stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws and muzzle as high as he can on the counter.

One trip Drake was excluded from was a bus ride to Saxman about 4 miles SE of the marina. The motivation was to visit the Three Bears Alaska store we’ve seen from the boat as we come into Ketchikan along Tongass Narrows.  It is a warehouse style store like Costco and actually does carry quite a number of Kirkland brand (Costco’s house brand) products.  It even sells bona fide Costco rotisserie chickens (but at Alaskan prices).  We had already provisioned at the two grocery stores near the marina so we didn’t actually buy anything.  While in Saxman, we visited the lovely totem park lovely totem park there.

On Wednesday,June 4, we got an early start in order to maximize the northbound flood current and calm conditions in Clarence Strait. After about 30 miles we headed east into Ernest Sound. As we neared our anchorage for the night, Santa Anna Inlet, we dropped prawn pots in locations that had been productive in the past. 

The next morning we pulled the pots but we were a bit underwhelmed with the catch.  The commercial prawn season started on May 15 and only recently ended.  That may have decreased our catch or it could have been the prawns were simply somewhere else.  We dropped our pots outside Thoms Place, our anchorage for the night.

The next day, when the prawn pots were pulled, we were pleasantly surprised. We considered resetting in the same location and spending another night at Thoms Place but decided not to be greedy and moved on to another nearby anchorage.  Once again, we dropped our prawn pots before heading into our anchorage for the night in Fools Inlet.

The next morning’s pot pull was the biggest disappointment so far with blanks in all three pots.  Even though Fools Inlet has produced good results in the past, we accept that sometimes the “prawn gods” do not reward our efforts. We put away our prawn gear and headed to Berg Bay.  Two other boats were anchored there but we found room near the head of the bay.  We spent two nights at Berg Bay and actually had the whole bay to ourselves the second night when the other two boats left as did the group that was staying at the USFS cabin on shore at the head of the bay. Drake got a brief play session in Berg Bay when we went to shore and played in the clearing in front of the cabin.

We chose our last anchorage before heading into Petersburg, Roosevelt Harbor, especially for Drake.  In Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island the USFS has a dock connected to shore.  The ramp had been damaged in a storm during the winter of 2022-23 but we were pretty confident the ramp had been repaired sometime in late 2023 or early 2024.  As we approached the harbor we could see the new ramp connecting to the floating dock but it was only after we were anchored that we saw that the connection from the top of the ramp to shore had been severed by a tree dropping across the elevated section, presumably during the last winter.  Fortunately, there is reasonable beach access so we dropped the dinghy and provided Drake with two ball play sessions.

After our last play session on shore, we retrieved the dinghy on board and on June 10, we departed Roosevelt Harbor, transited Wrangell Narrows and docked at the South Harbor in Petersburg.  We were fortunate to get a slip next to our friends John & Kathleen Douglas, who own Laysan, a sistership to our Alpenglow.

John & Kathleen lease a slip in Petersburg and, while they return to their home in Hawaii at the end of the cruising season, Laysan spends its winter in Petersburg.  John had some residual tasks to complete to get everything shipshape for the season so we had a front row seat to his very efficient replacement of the radar dome and mast mounted wind sensor on Laysan.  In the evening we gather on one of our boats for pū-pū (i.e., appetizers), and catch up on things and make plans for the cruising season.

Our plans from here are to leave on Saturday, June 14, and try some new (to us) anchorages then meet up with the Douglas’s in a few days. They are waiting for guests to arrive and will leave a couple of days after us. We will part ways with the Douglas’s when we head towards Sitka while the Douglas’s drop their guests off in Juneau.

After the grind getting to Ketchikan, there was unanimous agreement to spend four nights at the dock. We had no big projects but we’ve gotten pretty good at letting little tasks expand to fill the time available for them.

One daily task was playing with Drake since it had been two weeks since he got to go to ashore at all. The most convenient place we’ve found near the Bar Harbor Marina where we were moored is a lovely neighborhood park about 3/4 mile away. We’d also take Drake on walks with us when we went shopping.  At the local hardware and outdoors equipment store, Drake comes in with us and gets to meet people and often gets a treat.  He has learned that people standing behind counters (pretty much any counter) often have biscuits that they’ll give him if he stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws and muzzle as high as he can on the counter.

One trip Drake was excluded from was a bus ride to Saxman about 4 miles SE of the marina. The motivation was to visit the Three Bears Alaska store we’ve seen from the boat as we come into Ketchikan along Tongass Narrows.  It is a warehouse style store like Costco and actually does carry quite a number of Kirkland brand (Costco’s house brand) products.  It even sells bona fide Costco rotisserie chickens (but at Alaskan prices).  We had already provisioned at the two grocery stores near the marina so we didn’t actually buy anything.  While in Saxman, we visited the lovely totem park lovely totem park there.

On Wednesday,June 4, we got an early start in order to maximize the northbound flood current and calm conditions in Clarence Strait. After about 30 miles we headed east into Ernest Sound. As we neared our anchorage for the night, Santa Anna Inlet, we dropped prawn pots in locations that had been productive in the past. 

The next morning we pulled the pots but we were a bit underwhelmed with the catch.  The commercial prawn season started on May 15 and only recently ended.  That may have decreased our catch or it could have been the prawns were simply somewhere else.  We dropped our pots outside Thoms Place, our anchorage for the night.

The next day, when the prawn pots were pulled, we were pleasantly surprised. We considered resetting in the same location and spending another night at Thoms Place but decided not to be greedy and moved on to another nearby anchorage.  Once again, we dropped our prawn pots before heading into our anchorage for the night in Fools Inlet.

The next morning’s pot pull was the biggest disappointment so far with blanks in all three pots.  Even though Fools Inlet has produced good results in the past, we accept that sometimes the “prawn gods” do not reward our efforts. We put away our prawn gear and headed to Berg Bay.  Two other boats were anchored there but we found room near the head of the bay.  We spent two nights at Berg Bay and actually had the whole bay to ourselves the second night when the other two boats left as did the group that was staying at the USFS cabin on shore at the head of the bay. Drake got a brief play session in Berg Bay when we went to shore and played in the clearing in front of the cabin.

We chose our last anchorage before heading into Petersburg, Roosevelt Harbor, especially for Drake.  In Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island the USFS has a dock connected to shore.  The ramp had been damaged in a storm during the winter of 2022-23 but we were pretty confident the ramp had been repaired sometime in late 2023 or early 2024.  As we approached the harbor we could see the new ramp connecting to the floating dock but it was only after we were anchored that we saw that the connection from the top of the ramp to shore had been severed by a tree dropping across the elevated section, presumably during the last winter.  Fortunately, there is reasonable beach access so we dropped the dinghy and provided Drake with two ball play sessions.

After our last play session on shore, we retrieved the dinghy on board and on June 10, we departed Roosevelt Harbor, transited Wrangell Narrows and docked at the South Harbor in Petersburg.  We were fortunate to get a slip next to our friends John & Kathleen Douglas, who own Laysan, a sistership to our Alpenglow.

John & Kathleen lease a slip in Petersburg and, while they return to their home in Hawaii at the end of the cruising season, Laysan spends its winter in Petersburg.  John had some residual tasks to complete to get everything shipshape for the season so we had a front row seat to his very efficient replacement of the radar dome and mast mounted wind sensor on Laysan.  In the evening we gather on one of our boats for pū-pū (i.e., appetizers), and catch up on things and make plans for the cruising season.

Our plans from here are to leave on Saturday, June 14, and try some new (to us) anchorages then meet up with the Douglas’s in a few days. They are waiting for guests to arrive and will leave a couple of days after us. We will part ways with the Douglas’s when we head towards Sitka while the Douglas’s drop their guests off in Juneau.