Hoonah to Petersburg and Wrangell via Port Alexander, Alaska

Canoe, Hoonah, AK

Hoonah is in many respects a typical native village. There is a lot of poverty, evidenced by poorly maintained housing with a lot of junk lying about, mixed in with attractive homes that would fit into any suburban American town. Jean walked Schooner through a gauntlet of threatening dogs, feeling a bit insecure, and then a man came out of his ramshackle house and gave her a couple pounds of fresh halibut for dinner.

High School Totem Pole, Hoonah, AK

We talked quite a bit with the woman serving as the harbormaster. She is from Hoonah, but went back to Maryland to go to college. She has just returned to help care for her mother, and is slated to be the new harbormaster. The most recent harbormaster, who replaced an excellent man, has been a disaster. He got his job because of his family connections, but has been running the harbor into the ground. The city solved the problem by upgrading the requirements for harbormaster – a bachelor’s degree is now required, so he no longer qualifies for the position, and has been demoted to assistant. Small town politics are the same everywhere, I suppose.

Monday, July 28 it rained all day, and we stayed in Hoonah, doing typical harbor chores. There were many tourists walking about, though there isn’t all that much to see or do in downtown Hoonah. Several years ago, the town purchased the defunct cannery a mile north of town, and turned it into a cruise ship destination. Those who don’t choose to go off whale watching, fishing or kayaking can take a bus downtown and see a real Alaskan village. It certainly presents a contrast to the experience they get in places like Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. We had an excellent late lunch at a fish place in town, and had to make do with wine and cheese for dinner.

Orthodox Church, Hoonah, AK

We spent Tuesday in Hoonah as well. It was supposed to rain all day, but it was dry with occasional sunshine. We did some boat repairs, and then walked out to the tourist cannery. It was better than we had anticipated. They have a pretty good museum about Alaskan fishing and cannery history, and a line of machines showing how canneries work. There are three restaurants, lots of shops selling pretty nice stuff, a longhouse with native dancing, a gravel beach where folks can fish or picnic, and the world’s longest zipline. Yes – 5300 feet long with a vertical drop of 1300 feet. We watched people coming in to an impressive crash landing that involved a lot of springs. Today they were actually starting in a cloud, and came out into the clear air about one third of the way down. I was tempted to give it a try until I discovered that it cost $140 - not that tempted. The day ended in a rush, as we dashed out to the fuel dock to fill up before it closed, and dashed over to the library to get an internet connection before it closed. While in the library there was a huge rain storm – a thunderstorm without any thunder or lightning; those are pretty rare up here – the days don’t get hot enough.

Freshwater Bay, Chichigof Is, AK

Wednesday was a fairly long day, as we went 36 nautical miles to Pavlof Harbor. This is in Freshwater Bay on the east side of Chichagof Island. The day was dry and partly sunny, and we had the wind on our nose all day. There were numerous whales around, and I was startled by one when Jean was down below. I was watching the shore when something moved in my peripheral vision; turning my head, there was a whale 150 feet away headed directly at us, and rather than hit us, he threw his tail up in the air and sounded.

There were very few boats of any sort all day, but when we arrived at Pavlof Harbor, it was a busy place. There were a few anchored boats, and one huge “Un-Cruise” ship. We have encountered a number of these. They carry maybe 150 passengers, and go to unusual places for cruise ships. Well, the bay was filled with people in kayaks and paddle boards, small motorized boats ferrying people up the creek to watch bears catch salmon, all the while running the loud engines on the ship, to produce electricity and hot water (and exhaust fumes) for all these folks. Then float planes began landing, taxiing up the creek to watch the bears. It was a madhouse. We were here last year at the same time, and there was none of this. Apparently the tourist industry has discovered that this is a reliable spot to see brown bears fishing, and now it’s a zoo.

We hadn’t come here to see bears (we’ve seen enough bears, thank you). We were here because it is the only anchorage within a reasonable distance from Hoonah. So, we anchored away from the crowd and the bears. I went ashore with Schooner on a very nice pebbled beach, and went for a long walk down to the other end of the beach. Well, who should appear on the beach, but a brown bear looking for something to eat as a change from salmon.  So he pokes around our dinghy, investigates my life jacket, and continues foraging down the beach toward us. Well, the forest behind the beach is an impenetrable rain forest, except for the trails made by the bears – so that wasn’t an attractive option. I called Schooner, and made sure he stayed close to me (note to self: bring a piece of rope to tie up the dog), and waited to see what developed. Well, fortunately, after a while, the bear heads up a creek into the woods, so I take the safety latch off my can of bear spray, and Schooner and I start to slink back along the beach.

In the meantime, my loyal spouse was busy. In fact, she was the one who first saw the bear, and shouted to alert me of the situation. She then got a fellow from a neighboring boat to come pick up Schooner and me in his dinghy. He took us past the bear, back to our dinghy, and Schooner and I made a hasty retreat off the beach, feeling like the Brits at Dunkirk. It will be nice to get back down south, where the wildlife is less likely to kill you.

Doorway, Tenakee Springs, AK

Thursday morning Schooner got his walk on the beach without any bear interference, and we took off south for the small town of Tenakee Springs. It was a short trip on a beautiful, warm and sunny day. We had been here last year, so the approach and docking was much more straightforward. This is another area with no large scale chart, and there is literally no information on the chart about the town or the harbor. There are rocks and reefs close by, and last year it was very tense coming in here, having to figure it out as we came in.

Porch, Tenakee Springs, AK

We arrived to a rather strange situation. There was a clear opening for us at the transient dock, but there was a large crowd there, with a man gesticulating at us. Eventually we turned on the radio to find out what the ruckus was about, and even then it was not very clear. So we just went in and tied up. It turned out that a very aggressive man was trying to bully everyone on the dock to move their boats all around to make room for his giant 100-foot megayacht. He had tied up in someone else’s reserved spot, and was afraid the owner of the spot would return and force him to leave. This is a tiny place, and getting a boat that large onto the transient dock is not something any reasonable person would expect.

It was clear that everyone was pretty uncomfortable with the situation, and I put an end to it, telling him that we were tied up, and weren’t going to move; owning a large yacht provided no extra privileges. A couple on a sailboat from Juneau was especially upset, since the people this man was bullying had recently arrived from France via New Zealand, and they were embarrassed for the impression of Alaska these sailors were receiving.

Tenakee Springs, AK

In fact, we quickly began to feel rather amateurish, when it turned out that, of the five transient sailboats docked here, we are the only ones who have not sailed across the Pacific and back. They were all very pleasant folks, and we enjoyed chatting with them after the nasty guy had left in a huff. Later on in the afternoon, the fellow on the neighboring boat went over and talked with the fellow on the big boat, and in the end, he came over, apologized for his behavior, and gave a nice bottle of wine to the French family. When we expressed admiration for the neighbor’s conflict resolution skills, he allowed as how he had learned it all at work – he is a recently retired first grade teacher.

Tenakee Springs, AK

We took advantage of the warm sun and walked all the way through town, out to the end of the road, looking at the interesting homes and businesses, and chatting with a few residents. I talked about Tenakee Springs quite a bit last year, so I won’t repeat that. It still is an appealing place that we enjoyed a lot. Returning to the boat, Schooner received a much-needed bath, and we relaxed in the sunny cockpit. Alaska is looking a lot better today.

Friday, August 1 was another warm, sunny day. We began the day by walking downtown for breakfast at the Part Time Bakery. This is a wonderful small bakery/restaurant/art gallery/bookstore/community center. We talked at some length with Susan, the mother of Darius, the owner/chef. It has been a tough year for them, as tourism is down, and fishing is not good. The purse seiners are not here this year, since the fish haven’t arrived in adequate numbers. Also, an increasing number of summer residents are getting old, and not coming like they used to. On the other hand, a few young families moved in, so there are now enough students to keep the school open. I certainly hope they survive – it would be a major loss to the town if they don’t.

Rotated Reflection, Ell Cove, AK

We got a late start south; sunshine, light wind and many miles to go. We saw quite a few whales throughout the day. Notable sightings included a group of eight who were probably bubble feeding (too far away to tell for sure), a close-up view of a mother and calf, diving in perfect unison, and a male orca with an enormous dorsal fin.

It was a beautiful, clear day. At one point, looking behind us, we couldn’t figure out what we were seeing way off on the horizon. Looking at the charts, we eventually realized that it was the glacier-covered mountaintops on the east shore of Lynn Canal, 100 miles away!

It was a long day, and I cooked dinner on the way to our anchorage in Ell Cove, on the east coast of Baranof Island. This is a very small, completely protected granite nook. We also stayed here last year, and this is the site of the beautiful sand beach where we had our frightening bear and cub encounter. We stayed away from that beach, but did notice that there were no visible bears, but 20 eagles hanging out looking for salmon. A notable event of the day was using our sun shower. We had filled it with non-potable water at the dock in Tenakee Springs, and today was sunny enough to warm it up. That doesn’t happen very often.

Kasnyku Falls, Baranof Is, AK

Saturday was another sunny day, and we sailed south to Red Bluff Bay on Baranof Island. After a short while, we entered a thick fog bank, and slowly sailed along downwind in light air, watching our radar screen for other boats, and to chart our progress by watching the shape of the land we couldn’t see. There were no other boats. The fog finally burned off around noon.

The cruising guide book which everyone up here uses, touts Red Bluff Bay as perhaps the most spectacular spot in Southeast Alaska. We were here last year, and not surprisingly, it was crowded, with five other boats anchored at the head of the fjord. We were pleasantly surprised this year to find that we had the entire place to ourselves. Somewhat surprisingly, last year we were also here on August 2^nd.

Waterfalls, Red Bluff Bay, AK

In addition to the absence of other boats, there was also an absence of jumping salmon, and an absence of bears, both of which were abundant last year. There was one sea lion foraging for the few salmon that returned this year. We sat in the sunny cockpit, had beer and popcorn, and enjoyed the wonderful scenery and solitude.

Sunday we awoke to another sunny day, but just as we were about to leave, fog began blowing into the basin. This was being drawn into the fjord by the warming of the mountains in the sunshine. The entrance to the fjord is miles away, and there is no VHF weather radio reception here, so this was our only information about the conditions out in Chatham Strait. We were anchored behind a little point, out of the fog, so we delayed our departure, reading in the warm sun.

Rover, Red Bluff Bay, AK

When the fog dissipated, we raised anchor and headed out. Unfortunately, the fog was still there as we neared the fjord entrance, and it was very thick, with maybe 100 feet of visibility. The entrance is a somewhat circuitous course through a group of islands, but we were able to make it through using our radar. The strait was completely socked in, so we headed south, keeping track of our location with the radar. One unseen large boat passed us a mile to the east, but otherwise we were alone.

Fog At Entrance of Gut Bay, AK

We set a gps waypoint for the entrance to Gut Bay, and found the narrow slot of an entrance with the radar. The cliffs became visible only at the last minute, and there were half a dozen sea otters there to welcome us. We slowly eased through the slot, and the fog was gone, the sun was out, and we were in another flooded Yosemite Valley, with glaciers, high granite cliffs and waterfalls.

Granite Cliff, Gut Bay, AK

Gut Bay is not often visited, as the somewhat dubious chart was made in 1897, and following your chart plotter will apparently put you up on the shore. We checked out two possible anchorages; both in areas marked “unsurveyed.” The first was on the shore side of the five-fathom line on the chart, but we couldn’t find any water less than 85 feet. At the second, we found a delightful anchorage in a small inlet. We anchored in 30 feet in a place the chart showed as dry at low tide. In fact it showed this drying flat back when the water was nearly 100 feet deep. Don’t know where all this extra water came from – perhaps there have been earthquakes in the last 120 years. Our guidebook talks about this anchorage, and provides a waypoint that, if followed, would put us a quarter mile up a granite cliff. This is a good example of the advantage of looking where you’re going, rather than relying on your electronics.

Schooner, Gut Bay, AK

We rowed up to the head of the inlet, and hiked a small ways up along the creek into a large, scenic flat. There are jumping salmon here, and signs of bears, so we were not completely relaxed about the hike, but it was pretty open country, so we were unlikely to surprise a bear. Nevertheless, we were relieved to be safely back in the boat.

The weather forecast we heard out in the strait predicted strong southerly winds tomorrow, so we decided to stay in here for a day. There were some wind gusts and rain overnight, but nothing very dramatic.

Meadow, Gut Bay, AK

Well we stayed here to avoid some bad weather, and the day was sunny and warm, with no wind. Maybe it was windy out in Chatham Strait – who knows? We did household chores, walked the dog, read, watched a movie, and generally had a relaxing, low key day in a gorgeous location.

Mt Ada, Chatham Strait, AK

Deep Cove, Baranof Island, AK

Tuesday, August 5 we raised anchor with some difficulty, as it was firmly implanted. When it surfaced, it had a large block of turf stuck to it, such as I have never before seen. It looked like a spade full of a grassy meadow. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good anchorage 120 years ago?   We left scenic Gut Bay, and sailed south down Chatham Strait to Little Port Walter, on the east coast of Baranof Island.  The wind was from the south, force 3 and 4, and we tacked down the strait. We dipped in to look at Patterson Bay and Mist Cove. Patterson Bay is a stunning fjord, with vertical sides rising to glacier-covered mountains. Mist Cove is named for its waterfall. From a distance it looks as if there is a forest fire in a small valley, with smoke rising up and spreading horizontally with the wind. However, it is not smoke, but rather mist from a large waterfall, that fills the small valley and rises up above it. We eventually anchored in Little Port Walter – a completely landlocked small harbor. It is the site of a NOAA fisheries biological field station, and there are buildings, docks, fish pens, and people involved with that. We’ll try to wangle a tour tomorrow to see what they do here.

Patterson Bay, Baranof Island, AK

Well, the tour never happened. I took Schooner for a long walk, and just as we were ready to row over and visit the station, it began to rain. I know, real Alaskans wouldn’t be deterred by rain, but we’re only Oregonians, and we have our limits. By the time the rain stopped, we were running too late, and had to leave. We later were told that Little Port Walter gets more rain than almost anywhere else in Southeast Alaska.

Mist Cove, Baranof Is, AK

Once again we had wind from the south, and spent our time tacking down Chatham Strait. Our goal was the town of Port Alexander, on the southern tip of Baranof Island. The entrance was an intimidating slot through the kelp, with rocks on all sides, and the swell from the ocean surging in, but we made it in alright. We got a spot at the town dock; the only pleasure boat among a host of salmon trollers. We followed the example set by the boats there, and squeezed tightly up to our neighbor. Another troller squeezed in on the other end of us, and another rafted up to him, and we don’t know how we’re going to get out of here in the morning. Hopefully someone else will leave first.

Jeanie, Port Alexander, AK, Aug 2014

The day was turning out sunny and warm, and we took a pleasant walk around town. This involved walking the length of the boardwalk and back. This is another Alaskan town built along a boardwalk, with no streets. The town’s population is apparently in decline, along with the fishing, but it seemed to be in pretty good shape to us. Most of the homes were occupied and well maintained, there are still enough kids to keep the school open, there is a post office, and the community center was open. The major omission seems to be any businesses. There is no place to buy anything, except one art gallery that will open if you call them (there is a free local phone in a booth at the dock). Everyone brings all of their food and supplies with them, or has them delivered by mail or freight. There is a boat that brings mail and freight from Sitka one or two days a week.

Port Alexander, AK

We spent quite a long time visiting with a couple who were working on their house, and learned a lot about the town. A few examples: An obnoxious wealthy man from Houston bought up some land, and forced the town to relocate the boardwalk off of his waterfront property. He’s probably a survivalist. The brown bears are getting to be more of a problem, breaking into houses and tearing them up. One fellow, when he left, boarded up the windows, and put screws through his door with the points facing out. The bear solved this by pulling the boards off the side of his house, knocking out the wall, and strolling in. This Sunday is the Troller Closure Open Golf Tournament. Trolling is closed for a few days, to allow salmon to escape and breed. The fishermen celebrate the time off with a two-day golf tournament. Since there is no open, flat land, the course is laid out on the tidal flats at low tide. You carry a piece of carpet on which you place your ball, so you can hit it. As the day progresses, the fairways begin to shrink, but you can still hit it off a piece of floating carpet. The tournament takes two days, because the course goes underwater before anyone can finish.

We also met a man struggling to move a gorgeous, massive wood and bronze ship’s wheel from his house. It was six feet in diameter, and was one of eight used as backup steering on the battleship Maryland. If the bridge steering was incapacitated, they would have 16 sailors – 2 per wheel – steer the battleship by hand. That was an unlikely find.

Back at the dock, the returned fishermen gathered to talk about their day – where they went, what they caught, why fish were here rather than there, etc. It seems to be a friendly and close group. There is a big storm predicted to arrive this weekend, so we are a bit anxious to head back north. Southern Chatham Strait is essentially part of the Pacific Ocean, and not a good place to be in a storm. The weather prediction for Thursday is southeast wind 15 knots with showers. This is perfect, as we can sail northeast across to Tebenkof Bay on Kuiu Island on a beam reach – it should be an easy day to head back.

Well, Thursday morning at the dock, the wind is blowing from the north. This has to be some sort of local anomaly, as southeast winds are predicted all over Southeast Alaska. It’s bound to be different once we get out there. It also is raining, but that must be one of those showers, and it should stop soon. Such is the trouble we get into when we start to believe the weather forecasters. Of course, we get out there, and the reality is that it is blowing hard from the north, and we’re pounding into closely spaced 3-5 foot seas. It is also pouring rain, and no, it never stops. What a thoroughly miserable day. If we hadn’t listened to the weather, we would have looked around, thought about it, and decided to stay in Port Alexander.

Jeanie & Schooner, Gedney Harbor, AK

We really can’t maintain a course to make it to Tebenkof Bay on one tack, so we change plans, and scoot into Gedney Harbor on Kuiu Island. We are welcomed by a sea otter, and it is calm, flat and deserted, but still raining. It is a great relief to be out of the nasty weather in the Strait, and we settle into our boat, filled with wet clothing hanging from all possible locations. Gedney Harbor is well protected, but not a very interesting place; there is no good place to go for a walk, and it is visually a bit boring.

Friday morning we decided to move a few miles farther north, before the predicted storm arrives. We traveled two hours to Explorer Basin in Tebenkof Bay. It was dry, with no wind, and only a large lazy swell coming in off of the ocean behind us. There were the usual sea otters, and many humpback whales sporting about, including a group of eight hunting together, and one that surfaced remarkably close to us. We have a different view of nearby whales after talking with a man in Hoonah.

We were admiring a sailboat on the dock there, and talking with the owner. He related that the boat was only a couple of years old, and had replaced their old boat. He and his wife were drifting about in the water off Hoonah, eating dinner and watching humpbacks bubble feed. The whales then disappeared, and several minutes later one surfaced directly under their boat – it sank in a matter of minutes. They managed to get off a mayday call, and don their life jackets before the boat went down. After a short while, a chest of clothing popped to the surface, and they could cling to it until a fisherman friend rescued them.

Fido, Explorer Basin, Kuiu Is, AK

We arrived at Explorer Basin, and worked our way into the extreme southeast corner, in order to have the best protection from the predicted southeast winds. This cove also has the advantages of being very attractive, with many small forested islands, and a long distance view to the north, and an extensive shoreline ideal for walking with Schooner. In addition, there are no brown bears here! We found black bear droppings on shore (and some partially eaten salmon), but black bears are much easier to live with than grizzlies.

Shelf Fungus, Explorer Basin, Kuiu Is, AK

It rained all Friday night, and all day Saturday. We are well protected from the wind, so we spent a relaxing day on the boat. I baked muffins for breakfast, and bread for dinner. In the interim we had a cozy fire going to help keep things warm and dry. The bad news is the predicted behavior of this storm. The front has snuggled right up against the coast, and is expected to sit right there for a few days, until it finally dissipates. It looks like we will certainly be here again tomorrow, and Monday is uncertain at this point. The rain has been coming down hard all day.

Bunchberry, Explorer Basin, Kuiu Is, AK

Well, it rained hard all night, and all day Sunday. An 8-inch high bucket left out on the deck has filled with rain water and overflowed. Winds out in the strait are 30 knots, but it is peaceful here in our anchorage; fire in the stove, brownies in the oven. Not much happened – pretty low key existence at the moment. There have been fishing boats anchored within sight the last few nights, and it is somewhat comforting to see an anchor light burning, and know that we’re not out here all alone.

Monday, August 11 the wind forecast is good, and the rain is only intermittent, so we’re off to Bay of Pillars, a bit farther north on Kuiu Island. Squeezing out of Explorer Basin, we encountered a whale squeezing in – fortunately we both fit. There were quite a few whales about today. There was a nasty squall as we rounded Point Ellis. We decided to cut inside the reef to get out of the big swell in the strait, and it turned out to be a lot tighter than we had expected, with some of the critical rocks under water at high tide. Always good to keep our epinephrine production systems in tune.

Fog, Bay of Pillars, AK

The best anchorage in Bay of Pillars is occupied by a floating fishing lodge – that was a huge surprise and disappointment. We continued down into the farthest southeast cove, and anchored for the night. There are a lot of sea otters in here. Going ashore with Schooner was a bit of a challenge due to the muddy shorelines found at the extreme low tides we are having with the full moon.

Kuiu Is, Chatham Strait, AK

Tuesday morning, there was a black bear foraging for breakfast on the shore, but he was on the other side of the cove. A sea otter was being cute near the boat. The day was mostly sunny, with the mountains and glaciers of Baranof Island visible across Chatham Strait. There was a pretty big swell coming in from the south, so we carefully picked our way through a lot of islands and rocks to keep somewhat sheltered. We passed by Rowan Bay, declining to go in. Our guide says “the entrance to Rowan Bay has an irregular bottom with many surprises.” That might possibly be a good description of our grandson Rowan, but doesn’t sound inviting as an anchorage. There were several dozen sea otters around, which I’m sure Rowan would enjoy.

Honeydew Cove, Kuiu Is, AK

We finally were forced out into the strait, where there was a 4-5 foot sea running behind us. It was a bit oceanic, and required constant attention to the steering, but we made good time north, enjoying the stunning scenery. By the time we reached Frederick Sound, the seas were considerably diminished, and we headed into Honeydew Cove on the southwest entrance to Keku Strait. You may recall that earlier this summer we had found this cove occupied by a large sport fishing ship. We were delighted to find it empty this time, and settled in.

Arch, Honeydew Cove, AK

It was warm and sunny, so we opened up the boat to dry it out, and put some cushions on deck to bake in the sun. It is a wonderful place to explore, with beaches, streams, hidden coves, caves, an arch and a grotto. And, since it is on Kuiu Island, there are only black bears, who were in evidence, but not too worrisome.

Pinnacle Rock, Honeydew Cove, AK

Wednesday morning there was a light rain falling, and we decided to stay in Honeydew Cove for another day. We were able to get out and explore without getting too wet, and back in the boat we fired up the wood heater, and also baked some bread with the last of our flour. It has been two weeks since we were last able to buy food, and we are dipping into some of our emergency stores; for example we opened a can of butter today. Actually, we need to eat a lot of this stuff, as it is getting old. It is easy to load up the boat with emergency food that never gets eaten.

Cliff Ferns, Honeydew Cove, AK

Grotto, Honeydew Cove, AK

Thursday morning was also raining, but we needed to get moving, so we went over to Kake. Working our way through the reefs and islands of Keku Strait in the rain and mist was a challenge. At one point I became disoriented, and there were rocks in the wrong places. When reality no longer looks like the chart, you have a strong clue that you are not where you think you are. Fortunately, Jean maintained a calm head and figured it out for us.

Kake, AK

Primarily we went to Kake to buy diesel fuel. We calculate that we have enough to make it to Petersburg, but cutting it that close would cause unnecessary anxiety. Also, the bottom of a fuel tank can contain various unpleasant contaminants that we’d rather not suck up into the engine. We are very meticulous about our fuel, and heaven knows the tank has gotten a good shaking in the past week, so it is probably alright, but just the same, we’ll feel more comfortable with a full tank.

At the fuel dock we met a man and his son from Houston. It turns out that the father was born in Ashland, OR, and the son grew up in Highlands, NJ, close to where I grew up. Pretty small world sometimes. They were here fishing, and gave us a nice halibut fillet they had caught yesterday.

The only disadvantage to buying things in Kake is the prices. This is an isolated native village of 500, with few commercial businesses. We bought diesel fuel, a few groceries and paid for our moorage, and as we left, calculated that we had averaged $10/hr for the time we were there, including our time spent sleeping. Of course we did get several pounds of halibut for free. The village marina is 2 ½ miles out of town, so we didn’t make it downtown  - we walked one mile to the grocery/hardware/general store along a road with no shoulders – that was enough.

The only thing of note in town apparently, is the tallest totem pole in Alaska, and people we met allowed as how it wasn’t worth the walk – it’s tall, but has little else to recommend it.

The storm forecast for Friday sort of fizzled, so we took off. We don’t want to stay in Kake. It did rain a fair amount, but the winds and seas were not an issue. We put on our Mustang suits, traded watches, so one of us was always down below warming up, and made it ok. The rain is definitely getting us down this year, and we are so done with Alaska at this point. Last year was a record for dry and warm, this year is the opposite. I spent some idle time the other day reading our log, and making a spreadsheet of the weather the past two summers. I could give you all sorts of statistics, but the bottom line is that it has been a lot wetter this year. There have been more days with rain, and fewer days with sun, but I think the major difference, as far as our attitudes, has been the sequences. Last year we had one stretch when it rained four days in a row. This year we have had rainy stretches of four, five, six and seven days. As of today, it has rained nine of the last ten days. Since we basically live outdoors, that gets old.

Portage Bay, Kupreanof Is, AK

We spent Friday night in Portage Bay on the north shore of Kupreanof Island. It has a narrow, shallow entrance, with a lot of current, but there was no problem getting in near high tide. The remarkable thing was the incredibly strong outflow current, once we were inside. Anchoring was a bit exciting, as the current swept us backward. The tide was still coming up, so why was the current going out so rapidly? The only explanation we could hazard is that some large rivers flow into the head of this bay, which is miles away from here. The heavy rain must have the rivers running full. Rowing the dinghy ashore with Schooner was a problem in vector physics.

Rover, Portage Bay, Kupreanof Is, AK

Taking Schooner ashore was an easy task, as there was a dock. I think this is the first time in two years that we have been able to row to a dock from our anchored boat. The dock was built by the Forest Service, which manages virtually all of Southeast Alaska as the Tongass National Forest. This is an old log dump, where logs were dumped into the water, so they could be assembled into log booms that could be towed to the mill. There is a network of logging roads that lead out from here, and the Forest Service maintains this dock as an access to these roads. They keep a truck parked here, and a tank of gasoline with a hand pump. Other people also use this dock, primarily for hunting. They bring a junker 4x4 over on a barge, and park it. When they want to go hunting, they come over on a boat, start up the car, and off they go. When it no longer starts, they abandon it, which is a big problem for the Forest Service. There were six cars here, most of which looked like they still run.

After we got anchored, the weather improved a bit. It became what the English call a “bright” day, and just before sunset, the sun actually shone for a bit. The surrounding mountains were still covered in clouds, however, and wisps of fog were forming on the water.

Patterson Glacier, Frederick Sound, AK

Saturday, August 16, we awoke to fog, and had a leisurely start, waiting for it to burn off. It mostly did, and we had only one short stretch of fog to deal with later in the morning. It then cleared up to become a mostly sunny day. Alaska is so much better in the sunshine! Yesterday we were complaining about what a terrible place this is, and today we’re watching the jagged mountains draped with glaciers slowly pass by, while the sunlight sparkles on the water. It seems like a completely different place.

Boat traffic continued to increase as we approached Petersburg, and by mid-afternoon we were tied to the dock downtown. A couple who had sailed here from New Zealand liked our boat, and came over to say hello. A man from Hawaii on a smallish powerboat stopped to chat about sailboats. The man on the boat next door came out with his tiny dog. The dock is a very sociable place when the sun shines. Of course it’s supposed to start raining tonight, and rain all day tomorrow, but we’ll enjoy it while it’s here.

It’s exciting to be back in Petersburg. We can take showers, buy groceries, run the dehumidifier, do laundry, go to the library, go out to eat, walk the dog without rowing ashore, etc. Our plan is to stay here in Petersburg for a few days, until the bad weather passes, and then head directly to Wrangell. We’ll take about a week to clean up the boat, and get it ready for winter. On the 27^th we’re taking the Alaskan Ferry to Prince Rupert, BC, and then the BC ferry to Port Hardy, on Vancouver Island. We’ll then drive home to Nanaimo, and spend about a month there. So, this is basically the end of our summer sailing trip. Hope you enjoyed reading some of it, and we look forward to seeing you in person again soon.