Friday, August 30, 2013

Petersburg to Misty Fjords Wilderness before Leaving Alaska

Wednesday, August 2 toTuesday, August 27, 2013,  Petersburg to Walker Cove in Misty Fjords National Wilderness

Ginny and I have been happily married for 50 years , have 2 sons and 6 grandchildren. We have been avid boaters since the mid 1970's. We have sailed in various parts of the world making 'bareboat' charter trips in the Washington and Canadian San Juans and Gulf Islands, Maine,the British Virgins, South Pacific's Moorea and Tuamoto's and New Zealand. We owned and raced a J-24, Laser, and cruised a Newport 30 before buying a long range trawler in 2003 and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest and the 'Inside Passage' of British Columbia to SE Alaska for the last 10 years. After first owning a 2000 Selene 47, and 2002 Selene 50 (both named 'Ina Marie', we now, in the 'bell lap' of our boating days, own, operate and thoroughly enjoy 'Ginny C' , our 2007 Selene 42.






 It is hard to believe it has been a week since leaving Petersburg on August 21.  We spent 2 nights in Petersburg, a fascinating town of 3,000 people with a huge Norwegian Heritage totally dedicated to and dependent on the fishing industry, a 60 billion dollar economy.  The town is a beehive of activity with 3 huge processing plants and 3 harbors full of commercial fishing vessels-- all kinds.. big seiners, trawlers and gill netters.  I have never seen more hard working people working hard, day and night at their trade.  Our two nights here are spent getting a small taste of this bustling culture and hot bed of activity.  The local museum was fascinating.  Every one is super friendly and will go out of their way to help anyone, even strangers like us!! 

We love the ‘can do’ attitude we see everywhere including the gal in the convenience store who picked up my left cell phone and made 5 or 6 calls on it to my contacts until she found out who I was, what boat I was on, what harbor i was in, called the harbor master swing shift guy who came and got me and at 9 at night to tell me where my phone was and then took me in a skiff to 2 blocks from the store where I left it.  Would either accept a tip???  NO WAY!!!!

What Petersburg does not have is restaurants!!!  Ask anyone in town where to eat out and it is Ingas or the local pizza parlor!! The best place in town is open until 8 pm, Inga’s Galley, an outdoor Cart Kitchen on Wheels, a place with picnic tables outside and a tent with heaters for those who do not want to eat in the rain.  We ate here one night and it was ‘OK’.  Why? Who knows?  My theory is this town is so full of people who work hard long hours 7 days a week that the last thing they want to do at the end of the day is to eat out somewhere.

Petersburg is at the north end of Wrangell Narrows a 17 km channel going south toward Wrangell and Ketchikan.  It has lots of current and tons of Commercial Traffic al all kinds, ferries, tugs towing log rafts and huge barges.

We left Petersburg on Wednesday, August, 21st at about 10:30 am to time the currents in Wrangell   Narrows bound for Wrangell with 5 knots of current pushing us 11 knots down Wrangell Narrows for about an hour until we got 4 knots on our nose the next hour and then finally a favorable current again the last 4 miles.  We met two big ferries and waited for tugs towing log rafts and big barges at key navigation ‘wide places in the road’ along the way.  We timed it wrong, leaving about 2hours too early.

August 22, 2013... Spending Thursday enjoying Wrangell


We arrived in Wrangell, 41 miles from Petersburg late, about 5pm, tied up in the rain, and ate and went to bed.  It was raining hard so no desire to walk into town this late in the day.  This town of about 1,700 is equally friendly, helpful and hard working, but much more ‘quiet’ in terms of activity.  With less to see and do here we spent most of the day between our two nights here, getting caught up on laundry, re-provisioning dairy and produce, and at the local library taking advantage of internet to catch up on emails, etc.  We capped off the day with a great dinner at the Stikine River Inn, where we met Joe Kennan and his guests on ‘Bella Jean’, a beautiful sailboat which had also been on our dock in Petersburg.  Joe was a fascinating friendly guy who lives in San Francisco and is a very active racer and member of the St.Francis Yacht Club.  Turns out he was part of an Americas Cup syndicate competing for a place in the 2000 Americas Cup Races in Auckland, New Zealand when we were there.  We learned from his guests, not him , that he was the founder of Atari.

On Friday, August 23 It was off to anchor in magnificent Santa Anna Inlet, a 36 km run through Zomovia Straights and Zimovia Narrows, a bit challenging and fun.  The weather was calm and beautiful.  We arrived early afternoon and I set prawn traps, crab traps and fished for halibut.  No luck on the crab and halibut but our prawn traps brought us 154 prawns.

On Saturday, and Sunday, August  23 & 24, Getting Stuck in Meyers Chuck.


We woke up to beautiful clear skies and dead flat calm waters for our relatively short 22nm cruise down Seward Passage into Meyers Chuck.  As soon as we turned south into Clarence Straight the weather hit us with 3 to 4 foot seas with a nasty chop for the last 4 miles.  Meyers Chuck is really not a town but is a settlement of private homes and cabins in a storm proof little cove with a tiny tricky entrance and a 300 foot state float/dock. We luckily found room at the dock between a couple of small fishing trawlers. We met a number of its really friendly residents as we explored and hiked the trail that connected its homes, most of which were very modest summer cabins, heated with wood stoves and with water storage cisterns.

The plan was to leave here early on the Sunday, 25th for a 21 mile run down Clarence Straights, round the corner at Cammano Point and run another 26 miles up Behm Canal into Yes Bay, before cruising past Bell Island into Misty Fjords‘ Wilderness the next day.  

But the weather changed all that.--- our first weather hold for the trip was about to happen!!  Though disappointed to face the delay, it could not have happened, from a safety standpoint, at a better more protected place than quaint and bomb proof Meyers Chuck.  Weather for Sunday the 25th, was predicted ‘Gale Force’ in Hecate Straights and Dixon Entrance and 30 knot winds and 5-6 foot seas and ‘small craft warnings’ for Clarence Straights until Monday afternoon.  So, Sunday we remained tied to the docks in Meyers Chuck, a day to plan, read and ‘relax’ waiting for the weather front to weaken and move on through, hopefully sooner than midday on Monday.
We do not think it actually ever got that bad as far as we could tell from where we sat, so well protected, but we waited the day out anyway.

Monday, August 26th, 2013 Out into Clarence Straights, around Camano Point into Behm Canal and On to Yes Bay

Whatever weather there was fully cleared out overnight and we woke up to ‘revised’ predictions removing all warnings for Clarence Straights early Monday morning.  We have a long 49 mile day to Yes bay so we left as soon as we heard the change.  We had  smooth seas all the way.  We are hoping to hook up with Martin Pihl on his 46’ Hatteras, “Trofus II” and his guests near Bell Island today or tomorrow.  I worked closely with Martin nearly 50 years ago doing labor work from ’69 to ’74 for Ketchikan Pulp and Thorne Bay Logging.  Unfortunately, our radio calls bring no response.  Our day’s weather delay in Meyers Chuck has thrown us out of sinc, we guess.  Nevertheless, we spend a beautiful quiet evening anchored in a lovely cove just beyond Yes Bay Fishing Lodge.  It was nostalgic to see it again after so many years.

Tuesday, August 27,2013: In Majestic Walker Cove in Misty Fjord Wilderness.


We left Yes Bay at 8am and cruised easterly passing by abandoned Bell Island Hot Springs, through Behm Narrows and then south down Behm Canal into this spectacular fjord arriving about 3pm. More nostalgia for today and the next couple of days as I complete this circumnavigation of Revillagegedio Island experienced twice more than forty years ago during my working days in Ketchikan.
 [We finally make contact with Trofus II about noon as they exit Rudyerd Bay, our planned destination for tomorrow.  Yes, they are a day ahead of us because of our weather delay.  Martin’s guests from Anchorage have to be back in Ketchikan tomorrow for their flight back to Anchorage so we will not have the chance to spend a day cruising with them as hoped.]

 Luckily, The cove’s only anchor buoy is open for us.  Because of depths, places to anchor in here are few if any. We launch the tender and take a dinghy cruise to the head of the fjord hoping to see bear but no such luck.  We are dwarfed by 4-6,000 foot shear granite cliffs rising directly out of the sea everywhere we look.  We are but an almost microscopic speck in the context of the scope of the immensity of our surroundings.  It is hard to describe the feelings it brings upon us.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013 In Even More Majestic Rudyerd Bay of Misty Fjords Wilderness


Not a cloud in the sky today as we head out of Walker about 7 am and down Behm Canal and into the three arms of Rudyerd Bay.  We have no weather info and very limited radio contact but today we have company.  We see only one other pleasure boat,  a 34 foot sailboat being single handed by a young man from Seattle.  But Rudyerd’s unbelievable beauty brings 3 hi speed jet excursion boats full of cruise ship passengers out of Ketchikan and the sky is buzzing like bees with float plane tours doing the same.  They are landing in numerous places letting their passengers climb out on their pontoons for photo ops of the 3-5000 cliff mountains going straight into 800 to 1,000 feet of water.  Few if any anchoring places here except at the head of the arms where the mountains open up  to mile wide valleys with streams and marshes flowing into them.  Everybody is on bear and wolf and moose watch.  Nostalga is here again as Ginny and I stop for lunch in the calm end of Rudyerd’s north arm.  We spent a night here watching bears in the river valley meadows in 1972 over 40 years ago.

Along the way we ask a passenger on a float plane pontoon to take our picture and email it.  Several kindly snap us, put our email in their IPhones and we reciprocate.
I call two excursion boat captains and they kindly acknowledge my requests for weather info they had access to before leaving Ketchikan earlier in the day.

By 2pm we are on the only bouy in Rudyerd’s famous ‘Punchbowl Cove’ to enjoy the rest of the warm cloudless afternoon kayaking , watching a large Black Bear and gazing in awe as the sheer granite cliffs constantly change as the sun gradually leaves us to the absolute stillness of the night.  We wake up in the middle of the night and go outside to see stars in the heavens with sharpness and clarity as we have never seen them before.  Whatever the moon phase it is darkened behind the towering cliffs which literally frame the heavens in all directions.

Thursday, August 29, 2013 Destination is Foggy Bay, Ending up


We are up at 6 to enjoy mostly clear skies again and are off the bouy at 7am for our planned 7 hour 44nm run to foggy bay where we will stage to cross Dixon Entrance on Friday.  But our plans change as the day down Behm Canal into Reviligegedio Chanel transpires.  About 2.5 hours into the trip after passing famous Eddystone Rock and transiting Princess Bay we again pick up weather forecasts on the VHF.  Both Canda and US weather stations forecast Dixon becoming nasty by late tonight or tomorrow morning.

With this important info we decide to run an extra 30 miles today and get it behind us.  Dixon is almost dead calm as we enter and we have a good current push and have it behind us with the anchor down in bomb proof Brundidge inlet on Dundas Island, BC.
arriving about 5:40pm

[We are lucky to get a small opening of cell service and call Canada Customs to get permission to anchor there even though we can’t clear customs until we get to Prince Rupert.]

So Dixon Entrance is behind us after a long 65 mile 9 hour day on the water.  As we cross the Alaska border and cruise into BC waters just after 4:35 pm, I give several long blasts on the horn to officially say ‘goodbye’ to Alaska as we bring closure to this fantastic leg of our summer cruise.  A scotch and soda cooled with another hunk of some of the 15,000 year old ice tops off the day before Ginny prepares a great fajita dinner enjoyed with some good red wine. Pooped, we are in bed falling asleep with our books on our faces by 9pm!!!

Friday, August 30, 2013, at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club


With Dixon behind us but weather changing we are up early to tackle the 33 mile run down Chatham Sound into Prince Rupert.  We want to get there before the predicted 20 to 30mph winds build over the area in the afternoon.  They are predictied to pass through by Saturday AM leaving several calm days behind them to come over the ‘Labor Day’ weekend through midweek.

Well rested, we awake at 6am and listen to the 4am weather update.  Winds and sea state are ‘right’ at the ‘right' bouys and lighthouses we will pass so it is 'anchors away' by 7am and on to Prince Rupert down Chatham Sound, through tricky Venn Passage and  on into the docks here at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club in ‘Cow Bay’ by noon.  Seas were very good with only about a 2 foot chop for an hour plus a bit.  Made ten whale sitings along the way but none very close by.  Tonight we will dine at the Cow Bay Cafe and head south in the morning..  No time probably to post our pictures since Wrangell so stay tuned . They will come hopefully by Port McNeil about a week or more away.