Goodbye Alaska

It's hard to believe that yesterday we officially left Alaska.  We have been so surrounded by wildlife, wild weather at times and unbelievable beauty.  I hope eventually the photos will do some justice to all we have seen.  We had virtually no success crabbing in Alaska until two anchorages ago we thought, let's try one more time.  BJ went out after 3 hours as it looked like he did not have enough line out and so he pulled up the trap and lo and behold we had a harvest!!  One fell out as he was trying to get the crab trap in the boat and so we counted 11 crab, all male, which is almost unheard of.  So we left Alaska with a good crabbing memory.  It's nice to be somewhere for a day where we can get good internet connection and I can upload a few photos.

Get the water boiling!!!



The Best And The Worst

Well, I'm sitting at McDonalds and using their free wifi but still am only able to get one photo uploaded.  The picture is a few days ago as we traveled down the west coast of Prince of Wales Island.  The anchorage is called Hole In The Wall, appropriately named as it was best to venture in and out at half or full tide.  One of those hold your breath entries.  You may be asking, why would we venture into such a place and the answer is that the next anchorage is a ways away and we figured, it's mentioned in the guide books so others have done it.  Once having made it through the entrance we entered a nice sized bay.  Anyway, all was fine except I laid awake during a windy night worrying about a tree blowing down over the entrance and us not having our chain saw.   I'm trying to learn that each day creates enough stuff to think about without inventing other problems. 

Through day 39 of this journey we have had good weather which for me does not mean sunshine or warmth, it means no winds.  Then day 40 started to change things and our trip around the southern tip of Prince of Wales a few days ago tested our boat and our nerves.  I have heard of people having trouble with tide rips but I have never seen them so big.  As things crashed around inside the boat, BJ hung on to the wheel and I just hung on.   We eventually made it to a safe anchorage but the next day presented similar challenges and we decided enough is enough and we headed to Ketchikan to wait out the gale.   Yesterday, the 4th of July, tested every boat's mooring lines with incredible winds and it was a huge comfort to not be out there somewhere anchored.  I think there are supposed to be fireworks tonight as they were canceled for last night.  The forecast is improving and we hope to be leaving Ketchikan tomorrow, take a slight detour to see some fjords and if we have sufficiently light winds we will try to head south this weekend.  I wish I could be able to blog more often as we have had some amazing times here and have been blessed thus far with a good performing boat.

Sitka

We arrived Sitka yesterday.  I wish I could post some photos but the internet connection is so poor that I am unable.  All throughout Alaska we have had very poor connections for internet and I have been surprised by this, especially when we are in a marina like now.  So it's disappointing not to be able to share some photos. I am glad I am keeping a journal the old fashioned way so I can keep track of where we are when we took photos.  We have had some amazing experiences especially after leaving Juneau.  We were able to get into Glacier Bay on short notice as it requires a reservation and they only allow 25 boats in at a time.   It keeps the anchorages very private.   We had a close encounter with a whale that came up from behind our boat when we were in the middle of a group of whales feeding.    We saw it coming and because we had turned off the engine we could not get out of the way and the next thing we knew he surfaced right off our stern, coming up and blowing through his blow hole and as our hearts stopped beating he went right under our boat as we waited for the crash.  BJ hollered, "hold on" which I do not recall but I stood there trying to take a picture..dumb, dumb.   Anyway, I am having enough adventure to last the rest of my life and will be quite content to sit in the rocking chair on a quiet porch for many of my remaining years as I relive in my mind all the things I have seen and done!!  :-)

A Huge Help

For all you campers out there, this is nothing new but several years ago another boating friend put us on to these "bunsen burners" as I call them.  What a helpful addition to the boat when we want to cook crab, soup, rice...well, just about anything that requires heat.   When we are at anchor we would have to start the generator for me to use the stove and this little burner is just the most versatile thing.  I can put it out on the aft deck to let the steam rise out there if I want and after boating season is over we even take it home to have in case the power goes out...which is known to happen all too frequently.

The second most helpful thing is having GPS softwear on our laptop.  BJ has always had a GPS and radar monitor at the helm but I have never been able to view it very well and so for this trip we got a back up installed on the computer and what a help it has been.  We both can be looking at the electronic charts and can agree or disagree about where we are.   It is incredibly reassuring for me not to have to wonder where we are or keep asking.  In waters that are all new to us it has been the best addition.  My laptop computer screen light went out about a month before we left on this journey.  I complained at the time for a computer only 3 years old but oh how grateful I am it didn't happen on this trip.  Yes, timing is everything.

Petersburg On Mitkof Island

We are in the little community of Petersburg today sitting among the fisherman again.   As you can see from the photo below not all boats have tender loving care!  The one in the photo has moss growing all over it!  Some of the boats you truly wonder how they float.  There are over 800 commercial fisherman here in a town of about 3500.  Since it's Sunday, not much is open but we did walk around to get a feel for the town and it has a rich Norwegian heritage so I feel right at home!   The founder, Peter Buschmann, built the first cannery and sawmill here in the late 1880s.   If he winds aren't too strong tomorrow we will head off again into the hinterlands and probably won't have internet again until Juneau. 

 Many of the houses and stores have this wonderful rosemaling and Norwegian flags are everywhere. 

Alaska!

Well, here we are and I don't even know where to start.  After 13 days we arrived in Ketchikan on June 1 and today we are in Wrangell.  I have just finished doing 2 hours of laundry and BJ is doing some minor boat work.  After 16 days on the boat I am starting to adjust to these waters...they are so HUGE.  If this is called the Inside Passage then don't put me on the outside.   The channels are just so vast.  We have the smaller passages also which are beautiful and we are grateful for two GPS systems so we can both agree we are in the correct area.    Very important!!  The photo below could have a good fish tale but you all know we are not fisherman so today we found a couple of young ladies selling salmon off the dock so we purchased this 10 lb. beauty and BJ fileted it and I had enough room in our freezer for the wonderful meat and also all the scraps which we can use for crab bait.   We have been using cat food for bait and have had crab twice but I think the salmon scraps will work much better.   Today was only our second full day of rain, not bad for this area...actually when it rains it usually means the seas are calmer so I don't complain!  We try to head out early in the morning from wherever we are to our next destination as it's usually calmer...are you realizing I'm a bit obscessed with that word??...the afternoons usually bring on the winds and then we (I) like to be already anchored or tied up some where.   We will be in glacier country in a few more days and I'm not too sure how I will like the little bergs floating around us...I try not to think too far ahead.    Fisherman are around us everywhere in every manner of boat.  It seems common practice to take the smallest runabout and put the largest outboard possible on it.    But, as I said the channels are large and you can't wait all day to get across especially if your livelihood depends on it.  Internet connections are sketchy...like today, sometimes we can get connections at marinas but I am not able to update regularly.   

A Lovely Birthday Day

At the top of the landing at the marina we are at today was this wonderful tree with a bald eagle perched at the top just checking out everyone.  We have seen a lot of eagles up close.   We have had much sun today and warmer temps so it's been a lovely day for the "old" man.  Tonight we are having dinner at a little restaurant and pub here at the marina to help the "boy" celebrate.    BJ has enjoyed all his emails of congratulations so it's been a good day.