Meyers Chuck to Ketchikan - 5 ½ hours

We left Meyers Chuck at 9:30 AM. It’s cloudy, but it isn’t raining at least. The trip down Clarence Straight was wonderful compared to what little we saw of it yesterday. The waves are only 1-2 feet and the wind is 20 knots on the bow. There weren’t many boats in Tongass Narrows either. We headed straight for Petro Marine to fill up. We took 110 gallons at $ 2.41 per gallon. We decided to try a new marina this time. There are three main ones for Ketchikan and we usually stay at Bar Harbor. It is about 1 ½ miles from downtown. However, the Safeway is closer to Bar Harbor than to the other marinas. We are staying at City Front. It is actually that. We just go up the ramp to the tourist area/great shopping. We didn’t need to do any big shopping because we will be crossing the border into Canada in a few days.

Wrangell to Meyers Chuck - 8 hours, 57 miles

We expected some rough water today so we left at 6 AM. It is raining and gloomy too. The water was pretty good (less than 1 foot chop) in Zimovia Straight but as soon as we entered Clarence Straight the water proved to be as the weather report said. Up to 25 mph winds with seas about 4 feet. It was uncomfortable and nerve-wracking. Merlin always gets “needy” when we are underway. I was at the helm and had Merlin sitting on the helm seat and I stood in front of him for awhile. Merlin decided to change position as we were hit with a wave and the poor guy wound up on his backside on the floor with his feet in the air and his eyes like saucers. Of course I grabbed him to make sure he was OK. I was feeling guilty too and Fred is standing there laughing! Merlin was unharmed and stayed in my arms for the duration. We were so happy to pull into Meyers Chuck. The high waves stopped at the entrance. Fred had a bit of a time keeping us off the rocks. There was plenty of room on the dock and we tied up without incident. It was raining so hard that we never left the boat.

Wrangell

Well, the sailboat left at 6 AM this morning because they are on a timeline and can’t wait any longer. We could handle the seas but we don’t want to. We’ll get out of here tomorrow am. It is rainy and depressing so we are staying in.

Wrangell

We have spoken with our new friends on NEXUS (30’ sailboat) about heading out of here in the morning. All is well until the 4 PM weather report. The winds are at 25 knots and the seas are 5 feet in Clarence Passage (our final destination for the day). Maybe we should find a slip and move here. I wrenched my back (while dusting no less). I am alternating between ice packs and the TENS unit. Boring…
http://arthritis.about.com/od/assistivedevicesgadgets/g/tensunit.htm

I was stir crazy so we went out to pizza tonight at the Marine Bar & Hungry Beaver. We’ve never been in before because it just looks like a bar from the outside. But inside it looks more like a sports bar pizza joint.

Wrangell

Today is day 14 of Fred’s finger injury. I have the supplies to remove his stitches but the finger looks very tender, even though it is healing well (no infection, etc). We decided it’s Fred’s turn to go to the local hospital.

Wrangell, Anan Bear Observatory

It is raining so we wore our rain boots and brought our raingear. We want to be able to sit outside on the deck and watch the bears. We get the knock on the boat to get on the Alaska Vistas boat at about 8:30 AM. We then head out of the harbour and around to a dock facing the channel for boarding. First thing everyone does is head up the dock to get a latte. We then boarded and found out that there were only five of us a boat which held over ten. I got to sit up in front with the driver. This is one of those smallish aluminum jet boats that have a draft of two feet at idle and 4 inches when it is up on a plane. The trip to Anan took about an hour. We stopped when I saw the puff from a whale but he never showed himself again. At Anan there is no dock, we just have to pull up close to the muddy shore and get off the boat from a ladder which comes down from the bow. It is close to low tide so that apparently makes this more difficult. We are very glad of the boots. There is one outhouse here and one by the observatory. Both are exposed to possible bear visits so one never goes off alone. We first has a small talk from a ranger about the area and what we are about to see. We are allowed to bring almost anything with us in our backpacks but NO FOOD. Water bottle was OK. By this time we are expecting to see a bear around every corner and hanging from the trees. Unfortunately this was not to be. After a moderately strenuous walk to the observatory through spectacular rainforest, the decks above Anan Creek emerge. We didn’t see a bear at all for about 30 minutes. Then we saw a black, furry head sticking out from between two boulders in the creek. The water is madly rushing here and looks to be a milky, caramel color. It is hard to see any salmon in the water but we see one jumping frequently. Eventually we saw a total of three black bears and no brown bears. We got home from there about 2 PM. I went for a walk to the end of town and saw some children selling stones at tables that they set up by the ferry terminal. They stones all held a piece of raw garnet. Following is information about the garnets from the local paper;
"Why the Garnet Stands? -- In the streets of Wrangell, you sometimes encounter kids selling garnets the way children other places sell lemonade. The gems come from the Garnet Ledge, near the mouth of the Stikine River, a mine that is still productive recreationally 130 years after its discovery. A visit to the mine isn't worth the effort for most travelers, but the story is interesting. The ledge was mined commercially from 1907 to 1936 by the first all-woman corporation in the nation, a group of investors from Minneapolis. Its current ownership is unusual, too: A 1962 deed gave the mine to all the children of Wrangell, which is interpreted to mean that only children have the right to remove the stones. You can get a water taxi out there, but take a Wrangell child along if you intend to take garnets. Of course, it's easier simply to buy garnets from a kid at a card table in the street." http://www.wrangell.com/visitors/attractions/sightseeing/garnet/index.html

Wrangell

We are really excited. We are in Wrangell, AK and will be going to the Anan Bear Observatory tomorrow. Hope we get some great photos. We expect to be in Ketchikan by the end of the week. We are going with Alaska Vistas tour group. They dock their jet boats over in Reliance Harbour near us. Fred walked over when they came back this afternoon and told them we are scheduled for the trip tomorrow and could we get on the boat here instead of walking all the way through town (about 1 mile) in the rain. They said sure no problem and would even come knock on the hull at the right time. Hope we get some great photos. We expect to be in Ketchikan by the end of the week.

Petersburg to Wrangell - 7 hours, 43 miles

We tried to time leaving Petersburg with the tides because as we leave to harbour, we are immediately in Wrangell Narrows. As with all the other “narrows” we have encountered, current is a big issue. For about an hour we have a wonderful 3-5 knot push. However, once we reached the mid-point of the narrows, the current changed and we had to push against 1-2 knots for most of the way south. We are again struck by how few vessels we are seeing. Once we reached Sumner Straight the water was smooth as glass and there was enough fog to create a “white-out”. This part of the trip was actually quite boring. We again were in Reliance Harbor in Wrangell. There are only three other boats on the dock.

Petersburg

Poor Fred wasn’t able to do some of the maintenance chores he like to do because of his injured finger. I won’t be able to take the stitches out for another week. I have been having some trouble hearing recently and we are sure it is just a wax in the ear thing. It isn’t getting any better. A really well kept gill netter came in and docked next to us. The name of the boat was Norsemen and he had a good haul of pink salmon. They were beautiful. As he was handing them down from his boat to a friend with a wheelbarrow I leaned over the rail and held my arms out. I told him just one would be fine. We all laughed… Later this afternoon he calls Fred over and hands him two beautiful salmon fillets. Unfortunately I hadn’t baked recently and we had no goodies to give him in exchange (although he didn’t ask for anything).

Fanshaw Bay to Petersburg - 5 ¾ hours, 40.5 miles

We woke up to flat seas and no wind. However, we had heavy fog too. It was time to pull anchor and head to Petersburg. We were in and out of zero visibility several times in Frederick Sound. The water was like glass and the radar worked beautifully. Fortunately we only saw a few other boaters and/or fishermen. We requested to be placed in the South Harbor this time. It is newer and has nicer docks that the North Harbor. We were surprised that the harbor was almost empty. I know that the fishing fleet is out now but there are not many pleasure boats either.

Fanshaw Bay

We are stuck, no; we have chosen to stick here one more day. The weather is still awful and the winds have already reached 46 mph. Not sure what the gusts are. We are warm and dry and the anchor is well set. It is noisy, however. Merlin seems oblivious and wants to go out on the deck to play. I’m not sure how he would stand up to the winds and the rain coming sideways.

Fanshaw Bay

We planned on spending at least today here. The storm is going strong. We had winds up to 40 mph. 1 As those of you who have been aboard know, we are warm and dry and very comfortable.

Tracy Arm Cove to Fanshaw Bay - 5 ¾ hours, 41 miles

We traveled down Stephens Passage today. We had about two foot chop but we were going the same direction so it wasn’t too bad at all. We tucked into Cleveland Passage in Fanshaw Bay, just inside of Whitney Island. It appeared to be better situated for the prevailing winds than where we anchored last time (7/13). The weather reports that high winds and rain are expected by tonight. We are about 36 miles from our next port, Petersburg so we are staying here.

Juneau to Tracy Arm Cove - 7 hours, 46 miles

Our first stop after we cleared the breakwater was to head over to the fuel dock, just across Gastineau Channel. We filled up with 335 gallons at approximately $2.40/gallon (including tax). Fred is doing quite well with nine functioning fingers. You know, we are getting tired of going back and forth to the same places. We are heading again to Tracy Arm Cove for the night. I know we have a lot of time left before we need to return home, it is a little sad to make the turn south for the season instead of continuing north.

Juneau

Plans were made to be changed. We are definitely leaving Dodge, I mean Juneau tomorrow. Fred decided we needed to treat ourselves to dinner at the Hangar on the Wharf.

Juneau

The pain didn't really kick in until today. Fred really feels miserable. However, the meds work well, even if they put him to sleep. Our plan now is to try and get out of here on Thursday.

Juneau

All our guests are gone and all we have left is dirty laundry and sweet memories. All of you that joined us are missed. Well, we were hoping to get out of Juneau by tomorrow. Life gets complicated. This morning Fred was on the upper deck working on the davit. It slipped and sliced into Fred's left middle finger. He wasn't doing well, so I went out on knocked on boat hulls (boats don’t have doorbells) nearby to see if there was a man who could help us. Janet on “Artic Explorer” (49' DeFever) grabbed her car keys and away we went to Bartlett Hospital in Juneau. (I made her some brownies) Fred was taken in very quickly. The MD numbed Fred's finger and explored. They took him off to x-ray on the gurney. He pretty much separated the finger tissue from his nail bed and broke off part of the bone at the tip. A PA (physician's assistant) came in to sew him up. I lost count of the stitches after 20. They put on a huge, padded dressing and gave him a prescription for an antibiotic and pain med. We took a cab home and Fred took a pain pill & tried to relax. Now all he has to do is keep the hand elevated and the dressing dry. Sure glad this happened in the USA instead of Canada. I don't thing our insurance would have covered it there.

Juneau

Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 9
Our travel with Jason and Kelli was the same as with Ann & Heather. We had a lovely time and it was nice getting to know Kelli better.

Juneau

We are very excited about the arrival of our next guests, Jason and his girlfriend, Kelli Nelson. We have only met Kelli once before so this will be interesting. We both liked her very much from a lunch we had together at home (in California) at Alice’s on skyline Boulevard.