Juneau

We are sad to see Heather & Ann getting ready to leave. Fred made us some awesome chocolate chip pancakes (waffle maker & mix from William Sonoma). We exchange hugs and kisses and they are gone at 10:30 by taxi to the airport at Auke Bay. Taxi’s are quite expensive here so we didn’t go with them. Now it is time to do laundry and restock the larder for the arrival of our next guests.

Juneau

This is Ann & Heather’s last full day in Juneau (and with us). Today we got up and ready to leave the boat by 11am. Fred stayed on the boat (“been there/done that”). Heather, Ann and I went down to the Mt Robert’s Tram first since the mountain was clear as a bell and not a cloud hovering over it. So we bought our tickets ($27/each!) and headed up. We went and saw the Eagle they have in captivity up there. It’s the same one I saw last time up there. It was shot by someone with a BB gun 3 years ago, and is now blind in one eye. It can never live on its own again, so it is being taken care of. We were taking pictures of the view down to the cruise ship docks and town, when one young woman in her 20’s asked if we would like a pic of all 3 of us, which we did. We ended up chatting with her and her friend a while who were both crew on one of the Princess Cruise ships below. Both work in the child care/activity programs. And one wants to be a nurse, so that gave me and her something to chat about for a few. That same woman just spent a year in Amsterdam, now the season on a ship, then Italy for a year starting in Sept, then a year in Africa for a year after that to help medical personal over there. Talk about ambition. Anyway, we saw what there was to see, did the gift shop thing, and headed back down. It was probably 2:30pm at this point and we hadn’t had lunch, so we were hungry. We ended up at the ‘Twisted Fish Company’ near the cruise ship docks. Everything was excellent! After eating we bought our round trip shuttle tickets to Mendenhall Glacier ($7/each way). The sky was amazingly blue and really warm (low 80’s) The glacier was as beautiful as I remember, only a lot more crowded with people. We only stayed half an hour, and then headed back to town for some last minute shopping. We ended back up at ‘The Hangar on the Wharf’ for our dinner reservations. Heather & Ann treated us again to dinner. The fish (halibut) & chips are excellent. Really very nice of them. Heather & Ann packed all of their stuff up once we got back. And now Heather is up at 11:30pm, alone, burning the rest of all of our photos and videos to CDs to take home with them.

Tracy Arm Cove to Juneau - 6 ½ hours, 46 miles

Ann saw Dall porpoises in the bow wake, Heather & I were sleeping. They did get to see a couple more whales blowing and swimming by in the distance. Ann & Heather spent their last hours cruising by sitting on the bow in the cold watching the water, jumping salmon, waves, cruise ships, and the many fishing boats that speckle the coast. There are spots of blue sky here and there, so hopefully the weather is mild when we get into town later this afternoon. We arrived back to Juneau around 2pm. We just freshened up and went into town. After docking, we headed straight for the cruise ship doc to check out city/glacier tour info. But think we are just going to take the shuttle back and forth to Mendenhall in the morning ($7/each way). We just went shopping for today. When in this one large superstore of a souvenir shop (was kind of like the Hilo Hattie’s of Juneau, for those familiar with Hilo Hattie’s), they had several TVs on in the store playing various things. But one as on a news station playing Palin footage with the headlines “The Countdown” and “The Goodbye Girl”. I was fully aware that she was officially leaving office as of yesterday, but being out at sea for the last 6 days, it slipped my mind. So I thought it interesting that we were in Juneau at the time she left office (even if she was technically in Fairbanks). From talking to some people up here from cabbies to store employees to seeing some funny mockery of her on a store display (I have pics), I get the jist that she wasn’t well supported up here. Our cab driver this morning even said that every house surrounding the Governor’s Mansion had Obama signed displayed. There aren’t many restaurants in the shopping district. We picked out a hole in the wall Mexican place called ‘El Sombrero’ for dinner, since the touristy saloon we wanted to eat at was a mad house. It was decent. Outside of a store was a newspaper stand, with the Juneau Empire (I think it’s called) with a pic of Palin and the headline “It’s Official”. Heather picked up a copy to save. We then walked back to the boat, after a quick detour to the local grocery store for some ice cream to bring back for dessert.

Ford’s Terror to Dawes Glacier toTracy Arm Cove - 8 hour, 47 miles

Fog delayed our departure. It was ethereal seeing the sailboat in the mist. It was as if it was floating in the air. Eventually we headed off on our 3 hour ride to Dawes Glacier, in the sun. We made our way to within ½ a mile of Dawes Glacier which is further than last time. There was a dense ice field up ahead which made our stopping point very specific. We turned the boat off and just sat there for a while to take in the view and take the obligatory million photos. It was great the weather was so nice. Heather played ball with Merlin on the bow. On the way back Heather spotted Dall porpoises. In the channel next to Sumdum Glacier, Fred spotted a whale’s back and tail going into the water right in that area. The rest of us didn’t see it, so we put the boat in idle and went on the lookout. We ended up seeing its back and spout a few more times before we continued on our way back to the cove for the night. This is our guests last night anchoring out before heading back to Juneau. So Heather & Ann wanted to take the kayaks out one last time. We put them in the water, and Heather tipped hers enough while getting in, to allow some water in. We watched ‘The Reader’ after dinner which I thought was good.

Inside Ford’s Terror to Outside Ford’s Terror - 1 hour, 4.3 miles

We woke up this morning to sunshine… amazing. We watched eagles fly around as we had breakfast. By mid-day the sun started to go away, but still warmer here at 63 degrees than it has been. We decided to take the dinghy down and go over to this gorgeous waterfall we saw on the way in. We are on the downswing of the trip. Today we will play around in here, then pass Ford’s Terror narrows between 4-5pm at slack high tide, then weather depending, go kayaking on the other side by the waterfalls. There was a sailboat in the bay when we exited Ford’s Terror and it looked like they were debating entering Ford’s Terror because of the way they were going around the bay. Heather and Ann went kayaking outside the narrows to check out some icebergs and waterfalls. We saw a seal or 2 that kept popping up all over. The couple from the sailboat (Sylvia & Rolf) came over by dinghy to ask about the narrows and what was inside Ford’s Terror. They are from Switzerland and originally sailed from Europe, across the Atlantic and made their way to Hawaii, Canada and Alaska. Now they leave their boat here, and fly home every winter to work. They were telling the story about entering Alaska one time, and the humorous hassle with customs. And they said “Well I guess Canada is pretty lenient about people growing pot, and apparently they smuggle it on Swiss sailboats.” They were joking and it was pretty funny. The also told of their 19 day trip last year from New Zealand to the South Pacific. Interesting stuff. We are anchored right next to a waterfall so we are listening to that this evening.

Tracy Arm Cove to Ford’s Terror, inside - 6 hours, 27 miles

We left a bit later today because be had to be at Ford’s Terror rapids at slack high tide, which was around 4:15pm. We don’t dare go through at low water slack, although it has been done. The visibility is almost 0 as we leave Tracy Arm to cross the bar. We are using the GPS and radar to determine our course. The tide is rising here in Holkam Bay and we encounter very turbulent water as we near the bar. Fred has to hand steer as we face approximately 5 knots of current against us as we leave. We managed 1.5 knots SOG (speed over ground) at 1800 RPM. Not very convenient. We could not even see the red & green buoys marking the channel. Heather & Ann sat on the bow on iceberg watch duty. It was hard to spot them up ahead as our visibility remained very poor. The weather was so depressing I made some chocolate chip cookies for the crew. We had an hour to kill outside the Ford’s Terror narrows before high tide, so we took that time to anchor by the waterfall. So around 4:15pm at high tide we could finally get through Ford’s Terror rapids. The water was smooth as glass. It was beautiful and pretty foggy, but we were just getting misted on and not rained on. The fjords here are awesome, even in the rain. The rock walls on one side were 5,200’ and on the other 5,700’. Amazing. And as we came into our cove past another dozen waterfalls, we ended up in a punchbowl of fog. There is a waterfall at one end of the cove, near where we anchor, that is pretty loud. Reminds me of the sound you enjoy in Hawaii of the waves crashing as you go to sleep. So we sit here and watch the fog roll in and out. Sometimes you can see the shore, and sometimes we’re in complete whiteness. Dinner tonight is crab linguini. About a pound of fresh crab we just got last week with some onion, butter and spices over linguini. Spells pretty good from where I sit…. OK, well it was delicious, but… Heather seemed to be the only one of the 4 of us that became ill. She was SO sick the rest of the night. Not fun, and could not fall asleep until very late because of it.

Tracy Arm Cove to Tracy Arm and back - 9 hours, 48 miles

We are heading into Tracy Arm today to see if we could make it as far as the N. and S. Sawyer Glaciers. Two years ago when we was here, I think we made it half way, or maybe ¾ of the way there but ran into an ice field and decided to turn around before damaging their boat. Today the icebergs were broken up pretty well and we made it almost all the way to the base of S. Sawyer Glacier. Heather & Ann sat on the bow in their Coleman rain suits and was bundled up pretty good. We passed probably 50 waterfalls from the tiny to the amazing. We ended up seeing the N. Sawyer Glacier in the distance to the left first. But it was barricaded by an ice field and huge icebergs that our boat could not penetrate. As S. Sawyer became visible around the corner, it was awe inspiring. It was several hundred feet tall and the brightest blue. It was awesome. We turned off the boat just to look at it and take some pictures. Then we headed back the other direction (another 3-4 hours back) stopping to get up close to a few waterfalls along the way. We finally returned to the anchorage at 6:50 PM. We were all tired but didn’t want to go to bed. Fred went to bed to read and crash early and Ann, Heather & I watched ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. I was bored.

Taku Harbor to Tracy Arm Cove - 4 ½ hours, 30 miles

It was definitely low tide as the pilings were raised far out of the water showing their barnacles. We headed out around 9am to a small craft advisory (we’re larger than a small craft), so it was a bit rough. Heather & Ann sat on the bow for quite a while in the rainy and freezing 39 degree weather. Luckily as we approached the cove, the rain stopped. Sumdum Glacier was easily seen. There were many icebergs at the entrance to the Tracy Arm bar. We had to go check out two of them. One was the size of a two story house. We then anchored inside the cove around 1:30pm. We took the dinghy out to get up close and personal with about three icebergs, which were quite awesome. Then some quiet time for everyone as we just look out at the beautiful large snow capped mountains, and watched the fog roll in. We also watched two large yachts (both 55’-65’) come into the harbor later in the evening. The larger of the two was named ‘Twilight’.

Juneau to Taku Harbor 20 miles 4 hours

We started up the engines at 9:15 AM to head out. We cruised past Juneau and 5 cruise ships are in dock this morning. I think this almost doubles the population of Juneau. Ann & Heather sat on the bow for most of the trip in the 36 degree weather. They bundled up and looked quite silly. Once we got here, we saw spots of sun but still very overcast for the most part. As we sat here chatting we saw an iceberg float into the bay we were in. That is pretty unusual since we are a bit North of the glaciers, and we weren’t expecting to see any icebergs until tomorrow. We put the dinghy down and went over to it to take photos and touch it. It was Ann’s first iceberg encounter. We then BBQ’d fresh salmon they we were given by a local fisherman the other day. Hopefully we catch some whales and icebergs along the way.

Juneau

We are so excited. Heather (our daughter) and Ann (my sister) are arriving today. The boat is almost spotless and we are ready. The weather is pretty funky (overcast) so we thing we will head right out tomorrow and let them have a day of exploring Juneau at the end of the trip. They finally arrived around 4 PM with backpacks and huge duffel bags. Not sure how this will all fit, but we will make it work. Their stateroom has very little storage space except for a hanging locker. They also have to decide who has to climb the ladder to the upper bunk. The upper bunk is a single mattress and the lower one is a double. Fred will just have to accept the fact that there will be some stuff lying about. Things will not be as tidy as normal for the next week. We are all very excited about seeing each other after three months. They came bearing gifts. Fred got chocolate from Trader Joes and I got two more seasons of Grey’s anatomy. I hate to say it but I am addicted.

Juneau

We are running around trying to get the boat ready for guests. We figure Merlin needs to be in tip-top shape so we made an appointment with a dog groomer for 9:00 AM. She is about 10 miles away so we took a cab both ways. However, Merlin has nice clipped toenails and a trim to keep him from getting his hair matted behind his ears. Fred was out visiting with the fellows on the small (~ 27 foot) sport fishing boat next to us and found out that they are all Coast Guard. Very nice young men. Well, they came back from fishing this afternoon and said, “you want some crab?” We said heck yea and gave them a bucket. We gave them some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies in trade. We had no idea that they put five large crabs, all cleaned and ready for cooking. Looks like we have fresh crab for our company now.

Anchorages

There is a new link in the right side bar called Anchorages, under the Aquila heading. This links to a map that Jason is keeping up to date of every stop on the trip.

Petersburg to Fanshaw Bay 6 hours 36 miles

We got up and walked into town for a latte before leaving Petersburg. With the sun just so, this working harbor is quite beautiful. The seiners are lining up to drop off their catch at the cannery. Most of the fishing boats are maintained beautifully. We think that many of these boats were built in the 30’s or 40’s. We have that tidal push with us again as we leave Petersburg. We got up to 9.7 kts for awhile! We left Wrangell Narrows into Frederick Sound. This is an enormous waterway that is 4-5 miles across. The water is completely flat. It is sunny but there is a haze which makes differentiating the horizon difficult. It is all one whitish blur. We are looking for whales. It is said that this a common feeding ground for both humpback whales and orcas. Not a whale to be found. As we made the turn into Fanshaw Bay we finally saw some humpbacks. There must be at least ten of them. They are on three sides of us. Fred turned off the engine and we just watched and listened to them blow. They make a huffing sound that carries a long distance. It was very magical. After we anchored we took the dinghy to shore for a walk. Merlin got filthy. He went into the water trying to reach shells then he would run as fast as he could in the sand. I guess he must be getting used to being thrust into the tub for a shower as soon as we get back to Aquila. His long fur holds sand like a sponge. Maybe we should let him swim back to the boat, then I would only have to rinse off the salt water… We rolled in a beam sea all evening & night. We must be more aware of the weather when we anchor here.

Wrangell to Petersburg

6 hours 43.4 miles
We can’t get enough of these clear sunny days. It is so different from last year when we had about 90% rainy days. Our trip through Sumner Straight was uneventful. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales. We entered Wrangell Narrows on a rising tide because that will give us a push. This 20 mile long channel is well marked with red (keep red marker to starboard) and green (keep buoy to the port) buoys the mark the channel. In 2007 we had to share this narrow channel with many fishing and cruising boats. This year we are only seeing small speed boats (mostly fishermen). There at least two fishing camps here in the narrows. This made our transit fun because we just went down the middle with a huge safety margin. We were going to request berthage at the South Harbor in Petersburg because it is new. However we decided to take whatever the Harbormaster dished out. We were assigned a slip in the North Harbor. We got in but it was not a landing that Capt. Phred was proud of. The rule of thumb is “any landing you can walk away from is a good one” applies here. This harbor is mostly used by the fishing fleet. There are very few cruising boats here. It actually reminds us of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. However, it is the closest harbor to town. After we settled in the captain took a nap and Merlin and I went for a walk. Most of the stores were open on a Sunday. Merlin behaved very well in the stores (he can go anywhere except restaurants and food stores) until I was looking at some souvenirs and I turned around and he was playing with a stuffed toy he took out of a bin. Thank goodness he did no harm and I didn’t have to pay for it.

Wrangell

We decided to stay here longer because the weather is beautiful and Fred wants to work on the teak. It is a constant process to keep it looking good. Well, sure enough our fisherman friend saw us and told us to bring a bucket to his boat and he would give us some salmon. This was too good to pass up. When Fred asked him what we could give him (money, etc) he said just a beer for him and a soda for his companion. I was baking bread so I told him to come by around 5 PM and I would have a nice fresh loaf of bread for him. Well, he gave us three whole fillets and 2 ½ crabs that had already been cleaned. I made my own brine to cook the crabs in since I didn’t want to use water from a marina. In the afternoon Fred took a nap after working so hard on the teak and I sat in the cockpit picking the crab. I used the vacuum sealer to Store the crab and most of the salmon. We had a piece for dinner and it was wonderful.

Wrangell

There is a great hardware/chandlery store here. Fred went and bought a new electric heating element and voila, we have hot water again. One of the fishermen, Steve, noticed that our hailing port is San Francisco and stopped to chat. Apparently he grew up in Niles, near San Jose. He was glad to see folks from the Bay Area so he said if we were still here tomorrow he would stop by and give us some salmon. We told him that it wasn’t necessary but he insisted. OK, we’ll see if we are still here.

Meyers Chuck to Wrangell

8 hours 56.1 miles
In prior years the Reliance Harbor was so full that boats had to raft up to 4 boats to get on the dock. Wrangell built a new harbor and most of the fishing boats are over there now. We expected the harbor to be full but there were only 4 boats on the dock. We were met on the dock by the Harbormaster. He helped us tie up and attach to power. They only have 20 amp power but that is enough for us. We wandered in town and just had a relaxed day. The end of the day was not as good. I had a cold shower. Considering how hot the day was this was not all bad, however, our hot water heater failed me.

Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck

4 ½ hours 37 miles
We had a bumpy ride up Clarence Straight. The wind was about 15 mph and we had whitecaps and about 2 foot chop. We were grateful to turn into Meyers chuck. It is a wonderful little harbor and village. There are about 15-20 homes around the harbor. There was no room on the dock so we had to anchor out. We couldn’t believe it, the !@#$ anchor chain got tangled up again. Poor Fred had to climb up to the chain locker and play with dirty, muddy chain. Fred didn’t feel like leaving the boat but he took Merlin & I over to the dock so we could go for a walk. Thank goodness that the weather has been dry. This place could be a real mud pit. Merlin had a great time on the trails and on their little beach. They have a little art gallery that carried some lovely quilts and other hand made trinkets. Good thing I left my wallet on the boat.

Ketchikan

I talked Fred into going into downtown. We took a cab to town because we would be doing a lot of walking once there. We left Merlin on the boat because he can’t go into all the shops. I always like Creek Street and looking at the Alaskan “stuff”. We found a little coffee kiosk and got our lattes. We walked down by the cruise ship dock and watched the Statendam get ready to leave and then watched how they cast off for departure. Apparently they were waiting for two more people before leaving. A young couple was escorted to the ship to the hooting and heckling of passengers leaning over the rails. We then had an early dinner at Annabelle’s and walked back to the boat.

Ray Anchorage to Ketchikan

7 hours 31.4 miles
Thank goodness we put the flopper-stoppers down yesterday. When we pulled them up we started to rock & roll. This anchorage is definitely a “fair weather” location. We have a peaceful cruise into Ketchikan. We called up US customs and said we would be getting fuel before we went to the marina. They said that was fine, the customs officer would meet us at the fuel dock. Apparently every boat that enters the US must be checked personally. Our first stop is Petro Marine. The customs officer checked our paper work and we were free to enter Alaska. We couldn’t believe it, the diesel was only $2.35/gallon. We took 222 gallons. Tongass Narrows is a very busy place. There are small fishing boats and float planes buzzing around like mosquitoes. There are five cruise ships here today. There are only four cruise ship docks so one is anchored out and tendering the passengers in to town. Bar Harbor Marina is 1 ½ miles from downtown. The wind is whistling here and we are given a down wind slip. Fred had to work very hard to get us into the slip. Our docking hook had its first use. Fortunately the marina is not full and there were no witnesses to our fiasco.

Prince Rupert to Ray Anchorage, Duke Is.

9 hours 63.1 miles - United States again
This is a long day of travel in uncomfortable seas. First we leave Prince Rupert via Venn Passage. It is a very circuitous route, but well marked with buoys to keep us off the rocks. Chatham Sound
was rough with 4 foot seas. As we entered Dixon entrance we not only had seas up to 6 feet but fog as well. We are open to the ocean here and there are ocean swells are very uncomfortable. Really miserable. We are quite safe but Fred had to hand steer frequently. By the time we reached Ray Anchorage we were both exhausted. We picked this place because we are in good position to enter Ketchikan tomorrow. Ray Anchorage is open to Revillagigedo Channel but tucked into the island. It seemed just fine but we put our flopper-stoppers down just in case.

Prince Rupert

We didn’t expect any acknowledgment of the July 4th holiday here in Canada. We were surprised to see a huge American flag in the pub at the top of the dock. A sailboat in the marina placed flags on his forestay and backstay.

Kumealon to Prince Rupert (PRR&YC)

4½ hours 34.8 miles
We had severe fog today. It is nerve racking to have such limited visibility. It didn’t lift until we entered Prince Rupert Harbour. We had a reservation at the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club. This is a very fancy name for a small marina. It is the closest to Cow Bay. There is power and unlimited water but the docks are not in good repair. Merlin loves it when we are on shore. Cow Bay has a good hardware store and a small chandlery. It also has cute shops. Fred took Merlin back to the boat as I wandered. I found many vacancies. I guess the bad economy has hit here too. We didn’t see a cruise ship come in while we were here.

Coghlan Anchorage to Kumealon Island Anchorage, Grenville Channel

7 ½ hours 46.9 miles
The weather is beautiful (we can’t believe how beautiful the weather has been). Our passage down the Grenville Channel was very uneventful. There was very little traffic. We usually stay in a well protected anchorage about half way down the channel. Since the weather was cooperating, we kept going to Kumealon Anchorage. This place is lovely. There really is only room for 2-3 boats. We were alone and tucked in a cove. We could see the channel from the anchorage but we were protected from the wind.

Khutze Inlet to Coghlan Anchorage

6.5 hours 41.5 miles
Well, we don’t know where the crabs are but we know where they aren’t. So far we have only pulled up 2 crabs all summer. We are seriously heading north now. Coughlan Anchorage is just south of Grenville Channel. This anchorage is crescent shaped, behind a large island. We are lucky that the sun is out and the wind is only about 5 mph. I think we will have a calm night.