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DATE: July 13, 2002 Saturday not
Friday DESTINATION: Appelton Cove LEAVING SITKA AND FOR THE FIRST TIME RETRACING THE SAME PATH The Barometer is dropping, 1014. We left Sitka at 5:15 AM so we will hit Peril Strait at the right time. 5:35 AM: Passed the green marker outside the harbor. It's cloudy, calm and quiet out. 5:45 AM: Passed Old Sitka Rocks. Can see a lot of homes on shore. Some are quite nice. Passing ferry dock. Ferry is waiting. 6:00 AM: Passed Big Favanski Island. This sure is the land of abandoned buildings and boats as we pass many derelict wrecks and empty buildings. All through Alaska, things are just left when they no longer are useful, or maybe too when the going get’s too tough. 6:15 AM: Entering Olga Strait. By now three small sports fishermen have sped by caring not a bit about their wake. They are in such a hurry. What's the dam hurry? We pass the first marker and I notice on chart a sunken ship just after the marker. The berry bushes are almost ready to turn. They are everywhere, we actually saw some girls in Sitka gathering some berries on the highway. I bought a book so I could identify the berries as there are so many different kinds and also which are poison. (Are there any that are poisonous?) 6:30 AM: Passing the other 3 markers mid channel and notice another grave marker on shore. 6:45 AM: Coming out of Olga Strait. CONCENTRATE ON THE MARKERS Entering Neva Strait so must keep greens on left. Keep the red on the rock to the right and line the two 2 stripes up on the range marker. The currents are a little crazy here so it's a bit of a challenge to keep the stripes lined up. Larry does a good job. I watch through the binoculars and tell him which way to turn to keep the range markers lined up. SCARED BY A WHALE Saw another whale at the entrance to Neva Strait. It was right by some guy in a skiff who was fishing. He sped out of the area as fast as he could. He must have been about 20-30 feet from the whale. Made us laugh. UH, OH, THE HOLDING TANK IS BLINKING A RED LIGHT! The holding thank is full with red light blinking. We’ve never had that full before. We forgot to pump it before Sitka. Now when we pump it the lights won’t go out. That's a worry. The water is flat now and reflecting the sky and landscape like a mirror. The seagulls are flying low over the water and dipping into it with their beaks into hoping to scoop up a morsel. Little salmon are jumping out of water. The sky is scattered with clumpy, misty clouds hanging here and there. The edges of the shores are covered in moss covered rocks. The waterway is surrounded by low lying hills. The seagulls seem to lead the way just ahead of the bow hoping maybe the sound of the boat or the parting wake will startle some fish to jump. We’re out of beautiful Neva Strait now. Larry fixes the forward head to pump straight out since we can’t get the holding tank to empty. Now the toilet won’t pump the water out. Oh geez, now we’re in trouble. Passed a midden area in Neva Strait. GRAFFITI EVEN UP HERE 8:00 AM: We're coming around Salisbury Sound mow with the great Pacific to our starboard. We see people’s graffiti on some rocks to the right just before Point Kakul and as we head into Kakul Narrows. Saw another whale again at the entrance. Several fishing skiffs in the area. Someone on radio announces he’ll be going through Serius Narrows in 5 minutes and any opposing traffic is to notify him on Ch 16. Passed a small cruise vessel called Mist Cove out of Juneau. They went through 1st – nice boat. They were the ones calling on the radio. It looks like she's about 100 foot long or probably more like 150 feet long (Larry says). We missed slack current by 35 minutes and had a 2 knot current with us. It was an easy passing. I think Larry was nervous though as his palms were sweating as he rested one of the dash. It left a wet imprint. 8:30 AM: Passed Liehoi Shoal. Barometer dropping a bit 1013.5. SO LONG LITTLE SEAL We're passing Deep Bay again where my poor little seal is. Wonder if he still has that pink lure stuck in his lip. Sad. Passed Poison Cove and Dead Man’s Reach and into Peril Strait on our way to Appelton Anchorage.
We see a pod of killer whales come right by the boat in Peril Strait. Large ones and small ones. We could’ve had some great pictures but for this dam camera. (*#@%!!) APPLETON ANCHORAGE Entrance to Appelton is very narrow with a lot of submerged rocks and shoals. Have to be careful and enter properly though it looks big and wide open. Two other trawlers are anchored here. They are people traveling in two sailboats that we have seen along the way. They come out of their cabins and wave. We anchored no problem. It’s raining. Had to take Ziggy in. This is a logging area here. Much of hills have been logged but its all growing back and provides a variety landscape to look at for a change. We walked on top of a large graded area where they dump the logs ready to load for transport. There is a rock ramp that is submerged when tide comes in. Ziggy finds something stinky and rolls in it. Dam. We have to take him back to boat and bathe him. We have peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sleep for the rest of the afternoon since it’s such a yucky day. Had a great sleep. Needed it.
We motored over to the other shore of the anchorage and took a walk along the shore there. There's several streams there emptying into the anchorage. It's a beautiful place. There is a small cabin near by but didn’t go any closer. I gathered some wild flowers and made a bouquet for the boat. There are lots of sandy beaches here and valleys. Larry fixed the toilet so the stuff would go straight out now. We’ll have to have the tank pumped when we get to Petersburg to see if it will fix what's wrong. At least we can use the toilets now without worry.
DATE: July 14, 2002 DESTINATION: Baraonof Hot Springs SOMETHING DIFFERENT BESIDES BEAR SMELLS Next morning we took Ziggy to other side of cove where we have been watching some people on a boat from Wrangell take their little Jack Russell. Thought it fun for Ziggy to have some dog smells to investigate for a change instead of bear smells.
The hugeness of this area is mind boggling. The shore looked small or normal sized from the boat but once ashore we felt like ants. Larry decided to go back and get the camera. We thought we should try to capture the largeness and beauty of this place on camera. The shores are made of some sort of crushed green slate. There are shells and mussels everywhere. The wind is blowing through the trees and it sounds so strange. We've never seen such variety of vegetation since we've been up here. The sea weed is a dark red brown and ranges in colors to orange and the moss is bright green and then the shores this strange green slate. There was a narrow peninsula of land (like a sand spit) between the mainland shore and a small island off the anchorage and we walked it from one end to the other. LEAVING APPELTON We left Appelton about 9:00 AM and the weather is fine. Four other boats left anchorage too, probably headed for Sitka to meet the straits at a certain time. We come out into Peril Strait. It's flat, dead calm. The sky is filled with these huge beautiful dark clouds in the sky that look like they are ready to burst but no rain yet. What a beautiful stretch. We are surrounded by these magnificent looking mountains on all sides. There is some snow in the distance but they are mostly green. We see a lot of logging in the area but it has grown in so beautifully creating a variation in color on the landscape. You can see the logging roads winding through the hillside. It makes you want to hike the area. MMM, BOAT SMELLS LIKE GINGER BREAD It's sad not being able to spend more time at some of these places, to hike and enjoy but we have to keep going to the next stop. It's getting near the end of the season and must keep moving. We pass some beautiful valleys with a few old buildings where the loggers have made camp. Very picturesque. Made some ginger bread while generator is on. The boat smells delicious like ginger bread. Leaving Peril Strait now and heading into Chatham Sound. Again, same as when we came through heading to Sitka, Chatham Strait is silvery blue and calm. Different from the rest. Even though we don't see any other cruisers like us in these big empty expanses you don’t feel lonely because there are a lot of work boats on Chatham. We see lots of seiners busy doing their netting. First time we’ve seen so many out there. SO MUCH FOR THE WEATHER REPORTS Larry says “Another day of 4 foot seas and 20 knot winds”, making fun of the weather report since everything is totally flat and calm. You can never get an accurate weather report as it covers such a big area. Although, I say, the weather report said “late afternoon” – that’s why he "likes to be somewhere @ 2:00 PM before the afternoon winds and seas pick" up he says with a Cheshire cat smile. I wonder if we’ll see a bunch of whales again in Chatham like last time. It’s very wide almost 8-9 miles wide in certain spots and 1800 ft deep. We do see a huge hump back right near the seiners. Poor thing you wonder how they can survive with all the competition. BIG BLACK BEAR ON SHORE 11:00 AM: Midway past Catherine Island. We see a trawler pull into a rocky cove. I couldn't believe he would go in there and then saw what he was doing. They were watching a huge black bear on the shore and I guess he felt like they were getting too close because he stood up on his rears and I think roared at them. That cruiser seemed like he was taking some chances going so close to the rocky shore.
We watched the seiners pull in their nets. There were so many and it was so crowded that we thought it must be a stressful job and stiff competition for a place. We saw one net coming in but looked like it was mostly full of sea weed. (It was near Kelp Bay so what’d you expect? We chuckle.) They must be trying to catch salmon. We see “Viking spirit’ out there from Petersburg. We see several boats that we have seen along our travels. What's that they say? It’s a small world after all. Several large fish buyers are hanging about one at each big gathering of seiners. We saw one seiner from Seattle leaving with his flags flying showing he has a full tank of fish. A seaplane lands in the water by a fish buyer boat and picked someone up and left and then flew over all the boats.
Larry tried to pump the holding tank again and it worked. Hooray! We got it down to almost empty now. We can’t get empty light to come on though. We’re really happy about that – now Larry will put some enzymes in to see if they will break up whatever has been causing us the trouble. Later we get the green empty light to come on so we can change our toilet from dump out now to go in tank and not outside. Whew! The mountains are becoming even more dramatic now with snow on top, steep stone faces and large waterfalls. Beautiful! Ooops, Larry almost ran over a seiners net. Stopped just in time. We were on our way to get a closer look at this beautiful waterfall and got distracted I guess. Passing Takats Bay. It's a huge bowl of mountains, and all snow capped. We can see one huge avalanche slide. Amazing sight.
BARONOF HOT SPRINGS We head into Baraonof Hot Springs. There are two beautiful anchorages and a public dock with a few cottages nearby. At the end of the inlet is this fantastic powerful waterfall! We’re lucky today because there is room for us on the dock!
So we pull up and dock next to these nice smooth wooden docks (no splinters or sand). A lady in a sailboat helps with the lines and tells us with authority that we should move down to make room for other people. We nick named her the self appointed “harbormaster” because as more people arrived she acted like she owned the docks. She lives in Sitka she said but I'd say it looks like she’s been here forever as she has plants growing everywhere on her boat and crap all over her boat. There's no way she could travel with that mess. She even had some of it on the docks, like trash cans and other permanent fixtures. YAPPY DOG Another trawler called “Pelican Point” is here at the docks (I remember seeing them in the Inian Islands by Elfin Cove). He looks like he's Amish with this strange beard and his wife looks like she hasn’t cut or colored her hair in far too many months. They have the yappiest dog I ever heard. He barks at everything and nothing, it doesn't matter what, as he doesn't need an excuse. He is just is non stop bark. Yikes!
"CALEDONIA" Another big boat that we saw at Sitka, called the “Caledonia”, is here. It's a stupid looking boat, too tall for its size, probably because it has a ridiculous hot tub on the top. It has so many flags on it that it looks like a used car lot. I watch from inside as about 10 people unload from it and head on up to dock and hiking path to the natural hot springs. We see the people from Wrangell that have the Jack Russell. They come into the harbor but too late to get a space to dock so go to one of the nearby anchorages. We get our swimsuits on and head on up the boardwalk to try out these famous hot springs we've heard so much about. We pass some of the little cottages by the docks. It’s a cute little place, very clean and the cottages are a lot nicer and newer than Tenakee Springs but this place certainly doesn't have to funky fun culture of the little town of Tenakee. PATH TO THE SPRINGS We stopped in the little "general store". There's not much in there, mostly candy, crackers and stuff like that. They did have a computer though to do your email if you wanted. We headed on up the boardwalk. It's very nice, new and sturdy. It takes you into a wonderful forest, different from anyplace we’ve been before. It almost looks like we're in a tropical forest. The wood planked path is built up high over the rough lush terrain below. A lot of streams and pools are under the board walk. After awhile you arrive at a fork in the path. You have a choice of a more rustic trail to the left which is just planks set in the dirt or the raised path. The more rustic one goes to the hot springs. It's a little difficult walking as there are big tree roots to climb over and lots of mud, so it's slippery but you continue on since you know there's going to be the reward of the hot steaming baths at the end.
We get to the hot springs and all the
people from "Caledonia" are in the water. They are a loud bunch and their
goofy guide has brought a shot gun "to protect them from the bears", he
says. I’m sure only for effect. They've been drinking are already loud
and boisterous and have no intention of making room for others. The
Wrangell people are off to the side kind of waiting for their turn to get
in and I can see they give up and head back. We finally give up too and
decided to hike up to the lake on the other path at the fork in the road.
We'll come back later when they've gone. We hate to have to redo this
darn difficult unpleasant hike.
We're glad we decided to take the other path because we were rewarded by the most beautiful lake. The wooden planked path took us up a big hill and ended at one of the most beautiful places I think I’ve ever seen. Here was a small lake and it was heaven on earth. The colors were surreal, so many different shades of aqua and greens and the water was glass flat. The lush snow sprinkled mountains with their contrasting stone faces shot straight up on all sides. The air was misty and surreal. The shore of the small lake was cover in small pebbles, just perfect for those salmon eggs. A few skiffs were resting upside down on the shoreline, probably owned by the locals. There was a large log perched on a knoll nearby used solely to sit out and gaze on the beautiful place and just contemplate I'm sure. What a paradise! Ziggy immediately went swimming in
the cold water and we threw a few sticks for him to retrieve. Right
nearby a stream emptied out from the lake which I'm sure became part of
that powerful waterfall that empties into the harbor near the docks.
We went back down the trail to see if the people from the "Caledonia" were gone so some of the rest of us could enjoy the hot springs. Nope, still there, drinking beer and acting obnoxious in the middle of the day. MOVE OVER, LARRY'S COMING IN We decided it was now or never with these idiots so Larry just went right down, took off his outer clothes down to his swim suit and crowded in. At least a couple of them moved over to make room but not the rifle bearer though, he stayed in position. King of the jungle I guess he thought he was. He sure was a loud mouth. He started talking to Larry and the booze was talking. He said they charter the Caledonia for $25-30,000 a week and it’s booked every week this year and the following year. He said they are thinking about taking it to Mexico in winter. It holds 10 people.
I have to say the skinny trees didn't provide much privacy. Went back to the boat and showered to get the sulfur smell off. Made dinner of halibut cheeks baked with a spinach, feta, olive, garlic lemon topping. I never had halibut cheeks before but everyone said they were so good. I don't think I like them as they are too stringy and tough.
RUNNING THEIR BLASTED GENERATOR NON STOP That darn "Pelican Point" has been
running their blasted generator the entire time we've been here. It's so
terribly loud. I hate having to listen it and think I’d be happier at the
anchorage nearby so I wouldn't have to listen to it and the loud charter
group. DATE: July 15, 2002, Monday DESTINATION: Stay at Baronof Hot Springs SEINERS COMING IN ONE AFTER ANOTHER Woke up in the middle of the night. I saw that a seiner came in and rafted to one of the seiner boats that were at the docks. I guess later in the night four more seiners came in and rafted up next to each other one by one. We never heard them. Another anchored in the bay. Woke up to one of the seiners turning their seiner skiff motor on. He had it running for about an hour and a half making a horrible racket and puffing out this crappy exhaust. It gave me a splitting head ache. One of the fishermen on another boat yelled something at me. I yelled back that I can’t hear a thing with "that thing running" and asked when is he going to turn it off? He said he didn’t know why he had it running so long and did turn it off. He came over later and talked to us. He said he remember why he has his skiff running. He said it was because he has to tow his boat out and has to warm the skiff up. He said he was supposed to leave at 8:00 AM and it was 8:30 now and he still wasn’t gone. We decided to take Ziggy for his walk
and headed up the ramp. The place is actually very clean and well kept
compared to Tenakee and other places. We walked out the boardwalk again
and up the THE NEW INFLATABLE KAYAK We decided to get the inflatable kayak out and blow it up. Larry blew it up and set it over the side. I got down on the swim step and paddled around the harbor for the first time in the kayak. After getting the hang of it I paddle back and got Ziggy. I put him on the bow and we paddled over in front of the waterfall and by the island across the harbor. I think I’m going to like this kayak very much. It lets me run around without any noise and I can see and hear things up close. FISHING, A TOUGH BUSINESS We got to talking with some of the
fisherman that came in last night about the fishing business. Some of the
boats work for Icicle Fisheries which is big company (they are the ones
that fly the red fish flag) and there are others that are independent.
This one guy we talked most to was out of Seattle. He said they haven’t
caught much. They had two pulls but didn’t pull in much only about have
much only about 18,000 lbs of salmon. They off loaded it all to the fish
buyers that hang around. The bigger boats are the processing boats. He
said that was a horrible job as you work down in a crowded hole with about
6 people and the bosses stand up above and yell at you to work faster.
I can tell Larry is really enjoying this place and wants to stay here longer. He likes to sit on the dock and talk with the dock people. He bribes me into staying another day saying we could portage the Kayak to the lake and I could kayak there. THE BRIBE WORKED So the bribe worked and we packed up a couple salami sandwiches, orange juice, trail mix and couple small candy bars and off we go with the lunch, kayak, camera, binoculars and back pack up the wooden planked path. Everybody on the dock says be careful of the current up there as it can sweep you right down to the waterfall. It’s quite a hike with all the gear but not undoable. I hiked up in my rubber boots this time.
ASLEEP ON SHORE Poor Larry has been waiting on the small beach for me and by now the mosquitoes have discovered him. He said he was swatting them left and right. What a guy and he carried half the kayak up here too. We had brought the two way radios and were able to communicate this way though out of sight of each other. When I came around the corner and could see he had fallen asleep leaning up against a log on the shore line and nearby some kids from one of the fishing boat were playing on the shore. They were just having fun hiking around the mountain and seeing the scenery. A different kind of people than where we come from. They enjoy nature and the simple things and don't have to have gimmicks to entertain themselves. We ate out lunch and packed our gear and headed back. It was worth the stay.
We got back to the boat and turned the generator on to charge up the batteries. More and more seiners have been coming in. They raft up next to each other at the docks. So now in front there were four rafted to each other and behind us the same thing. They didn't try to raft up to us so we looked very odd. Many of them, who didn't find a place to raft, anchored in the harbor. None of them asked to raft with us. They stick to themselves. Seem like a good bunch of people. Many of these boats have families on them, and others have teenagers that are working on the boats. Many are girls. Don’t know if they are all family. All the fishermen say it’s too tough now and you can't make enough money to afford to hire a crew so they bring the family members to help. It’s too bad it's so hard to make a living as they work very hard. We take a little rest and try to take a nap but we are awakened by the fishermen behind us yelling at each other. Apparently they are having a contest to see who can climb the block and tackle the fastest and they are all cheering when someone reaches the top. We read and have some tea and Larry spends a lot of time talking on the dock with the people. We let one guy try out my new kayak as he's so interested in it. He’s very nice. Has an old wooden GB 32 called “Tokeen”. He said he used to work for the forest service. Very nice guy.
Made dinner, I'm calling this Baranof Goulash. Use Knorr’s goulash mix and follow directions but add red pepper. When done add a can of stewed tomatoes, and can of flat green beans, and ½ of a small can of tomato paste. Boil some tube pasta and mixed all together. It was great! Made spinach salad with apple and green onion. Yum, it was good! FISHING LODGE NEARBY I took kayak out again with Ziggy.
We stuck close to the shore as the fishing boats were coming and going and
we're not used to handling the wakes yet with the kayak. We paddled back
to see the other buildings that we passed coming in before you get to the
inner most harbor. There’s a cute little fishing lodge there. There are
several little one room single cabins with porches, all stuck in the
woods, each with a different name. Board walks connect the cabins through
the woods to the lodge which is a cute 2 story house. Outside they had
these big iron smokers and BBQ’s. There was smoke billowing out of them.
I saw the chef come out in his whites to check what he had cooking. There
was a big golden lab that spotted us right away and barked at us. There
was a wooden deck out front under a gazebo type tent. A couple guys
(guests) were sitting there having drinks and enjoying the scenery. There
was another long boardwalk that went out to a little shack building where
they had a couple of fish cleaning tables and other equipment and 3 young
men dressed in wet suspender pants were cleaning the fish, probably the
sports fisherman’s catch of the day. The little dock had a couple sports
fishing skiffs tied up to it. They yelled to us and waved some greeting
about Ziggy and were all smiles. It was a beautiful little place. So
picturesque.
We then paddled across the inlet to see the other side. Again, we had to be careful with all the wakes created by the fishermen coming in and out of the inlet. We got to the other side and hug close to the rocky shore. Sure is a different kind of rock here, much like granite but all cut in severe wedges and look like thick wedges laying on top of each other but strait cut. Lot of beautiful ash and fir trees. The landscape is gorgeous full of moss, ferns, and other plants that I can’t identify. PICNIC IN THE WOODS We saw the forest service guy and his
wife with two locals coming across in their skiff. They wave and go into
a side inlet that is only open when the tide is up. I decide to follow
them. It’s like a Disney ride. Narrow and winding and beautiful with
large boulders visible underneath through the crystal clear water. We
arrive inside which opens to an area like a lake with mountains soaring
straight up. There's a little flat area where the people beached their
skiff and unpacked what looked like their picnic gear. I take the kayak near the shoreline and all I have to do is touch the bow to a big rock and Ziggy would get off and run around and took a poop and then get back on. We’d explore different shores this way. I felt pretty safe from the bears with the other people nearby. Pretty soon we came back out and back across the inlet to boat. All the rafted boaters were looking at Ziggy. I think they wished they could have a dog that did what Ziggy did. I think he must look cute on the kayak from their expressions and how it makes them wave to us.
One of the fishermen asked Larry if we could move our boat up a bit so that they could maybe get another boat in. It didn’t look like there was much room to accomplish that so we suggested that they raft up to us instead. They were surprised we would I guess. But it didn’t take long before a boat came in to raft next to us. They were so very careful about rafting up to us, overly careful not to scratch or mess our boat up. He even gave us some cooked shrimp in appreciation. Such a really nice guy, out of Bellingham, Washington. He told us that he probably won’t be doing this anymore. He said it used to be fun, but there’s no fun in it anymore. It's sad. He had some really nice young kids working with him, all very polite and grateful to be able to raft with us. BIG PARTY
DATE July 16, 2002, Tuesday: DESTINATION: Red Bluff COMMENTS: 9:30-9:45 AM: ALCHEMIST Sadly it was time to leave Baronof Warm Springs. The “Alchemist”, the fishing boat rafted to us, had to turn his generator on at 7:30 but he was considerate and asked last night what time we got up. Larry said 7-7:30. When he saw Larry was up and in the salon this morning (at 7:30) he looked over and gave a signal to Larry “Is it OK?” Guess they can’t have their coffee until they turn the generator on. Larry nodded “Yes”. They were so nice and considerate, courteous and so concerned and careful about not scratching the boat. You should see how careful they were when they walked over our boat to get to the docks. They literally tip toed. Sweet guys. WARM SPRINGS GINGER PANCAKES I got up and made what today I'm calling Warm Springs Ginger Pancakes (watered down batter and added left over ginger bread cake crumbled). I don't know why I'm giving everything a stupid name now. They were thin like Swedish pancakes and we put butter and powdered sugar on top because we couldn’t find the maple syrup. They were really delicious. It rained all night and still is raining. The barometer dropped to 1010 & temp is 52, very damp and cold feeling. We took Zig out. He thought he was in charge of walk now that he was becoming familiar with the place. He immediately started leading us up the boardwalk. We let him lead the way to humor him but it was raining so bad we stopped under the shelter of a tree branch to get out of the rain. Then he tried to lead us down the boardwalk to stream but we went other way. Yesterday when we were coming down path with kayak we stopped at general store and didn't tell him as he lead the way. He didn’t notice at first and kept going down to the boat ramp. When we came out Zig didn’t know where we were. He finally saw us & came running down the ramp as fast as he could and I had to pick him up. He was so worried – and once he was safe, he scolded us with his barking blaming us I think for losing him. We noticed a large skiff coming in with about 10 people in it. They were coming from the large cruise boat that came in late yesterday and had to anchor out in other cove. It was so silly because there was this overly gay guy trying leading them trying to act like some silly Indian guide with walking stick with feathers on the end. They looked ridiculous. Every few yards the guide would stop and tell them stories. We wonder if the tour was put on by one of the Indian Corporations. ZIGGY LIKES THE FISHING BOATS We got back to boat and Ziggy was running around the dock and decided to jump into Alchemists skiff. I ran outside to get him out worried that he was going to do some damage to their nets and equipment. They were all laughing at him. Zig completely ignored me and then decided to jump aboard their big ship. The Captain stuck his head out his window and with a big smile, he laughed saying not to worry as the dogs go on the nets and then the nets go over board so Ziggy could go there if he wanted. NEW HOT TUBS IN THE MAKING We had been noticing a new structure that they were building on the board walk. We didn't know what it was. It looked like some kind of covered porch divided in three. Apparently the locals are going to put tubs in there and fill them with the water from the hot springs so older people can soak in the spring water and not have to climb the difficult path to the springs. They had a Sitka Building Permit stapled on the structure if you can imagine. FISHERMEN PULLED US OUT OF THE DOCKS Larry let the captain know that we’d like to leave in an hour or so. Captain said the currents are kind of strong so it would be better to wait until current was less (but that would be around 5:00 PM). Larry said no, we’ve got to go (as we sure don't want to be cruising late). So when we left, Larry asked the captain of he could pull us out with his skiff. So, I took all lines off and Larry threw stern line to skiff. I kept bow on until the skiff pulled us out and then I quickly took the bow line off. They pulled us right out. I wished him a good fishing season as he hung his head and elbow out the window. Great guys! Sorry to be saying goodbye. We also said goodbye to Pelican Point and their yappy dog. The fog is thick and raining steady. I was sopping wet putting the lines and fenders away, including the orange ball fenders. I came in and hung all the wet stuff in guest shower. It's flat but foggy in Chatham Strait. Baronof was a fun stop. (The water at the dock is not potable, but the boats were taking it on anyway and saying it’s OK. There's no trash dump off or electric. They have internet but we couldn't connect with our server. Small grocery but no refrigerated foods or fresh produce. Small coffee bar.) “Alchemist” had a video game on their plotter screen that they were playing during their stay. It was some game of skill trying to drive down a wild highway as they crashed into cars and trucks and road barriers. It struck me so funny that what they would have that on their computer screen up here. It said he put it on to keep the teenagers interested. OH, PATIENCE We heard Coast Guard on Chanel 16 reprimanding “Patience” for talking on channel 16 and told them in the future to switch to appropriate channel. We laughed and thought they must have forgotten they were on 16 as we know they don't do that. They were out of range because all we could hear was the Coast Guard. How embarrassing.
The waters now are very choppy with confused mixed waves and we can feel large swells coming in through from the Pacific. Skies are dark with a heavy flat layer of clouds. It looks ominous. A heavy thick fog comes in and we are relying on instruments to find entry to the channel heading into our next anchorage. We see Safari Quest coming out through the foggy mist. Good thing we didn't head in a few minutes earlier. We go in, and it's very foggy but we can just barely see where we’re going. We pass several waterfalls but can’t really see them clearly because of fog and rain. We finally get far into the anchorage and try to anchor. It takes us three times to get the anchor to hook. BEARS, BEARS, BEARS We heat up some of that left over Baraonof Goulash for lunch and have some tea and take a nap. We read most of the afternoon because it’s so rainy and foggy. When it finally breaks I take Ziggy out to go to the bathroom on the Kayak. He does a quick job on shore and we paddle around to see what there’s to see in this place. Suddenly we see a mother grizzly and her baby on the shore eating grass. I can't believe it! We watch them from close range on the kayak for about an hour. They watch us too and continue munching on the grass. We are so close that I can hear them munching the grass. Every once on awhile I’d paddle to get back a little and she would raise up on her hind legs and look to see what was going on and finally at one point they both ran into the forest and watched us behind the brush. After a few minutes when they thought it was safe, they came out again and ate some more grass. I finally left them there munching away. Larry finally came in dinghy to see why we were gone so long but when they heard him they ran away then. Larry never did see them. We linked the dinghy with the kayak by rope and rode around looking like that for awhile looking at the beauty scenery here. This place reminds me of what Yosemite must have looked like in the old days. Huge valley with green meadows and steep rising mountains with trees growing on the vertical surfaces and then rocky tops covered with snow, beautiful misty clouds hanging around and changing by the minute. The landscape is filled with wild flowers, moss, violets, fur trees, rocks covered with different colors of moss from yellow, to orange, lime green, to deep green. Spectacular. This is by far the most scenic place we've been yet.
DATE: July 17, 2002 Wednesday
Got up and it was raining heavily.
We had some cereal. I took Ziggy out on the kayak. No more bears but saw
some arctic terns and other birds and seals lounging on the rocks that are
exposed during low tide. We came back and listened to the weather report
and it sounded like it would be rough in Chatham Strait and Frederick
Sound so we decided to stay another night. No sense in making an
uncomfortable pounding crossing. Rained heavy all morning and no one in
the anchorage stirred. Finished Alaska book and started on John Straleys,
The Woman Who Married a Bear.
EXPLORING THE AREA It finally stopped raining so we got our gear on and went out for a ride in the dinghy. We checked out the tidelands and then went out the channel to see the large waterfall and then back to the cannery ruins. The waterfall is pretty tremendous and you can motor right up to it. We stopped at a stream and green meadow patch mid way up the channel so Zig could run around. Two streams join at the base of the mountain, coming straight down the steep rock cliff. It looks beautiful inside the forest but can’t go in because I'm worried about the bears. Mosquitoes are getting bad. They are little tiny ones.
Took another dinghy ride later in the
afternoon to the tidelands and saw a bear there also. I think it was a
brown bear this time. He was lying on the shore and at first I thought he
was dying or wounded but I think he was just lazy and sleeping. He sure
looked ratty looking thought. He looked like he was shedding his fur for
new fur and looked grayish, old and grouchy. We were in about a foot of
water and it was a flat area. He could’ve come after us if he wanted. We
had our engines up and were paddling to be quiet. He slowly got up and
meandered over to the grassland where he sat down and ate grass and
decided finally to just totally ignore us.
That evening I took Ziggy out again
for his last outing in the kayak for the evening. I had trouble getting
him to a dry place. Everything that was in the open was like marsh land
and the poor dog couldn't go to the bathroom without the water up to his
belly. So I paddled over to a little land extension that was like its own
island. It was very small and isolated and I didn’t have to worry about
bears. We didn’t notice it before because a sailboat was anchored in
front and we couldn't see it. Here is was able to run around and be
safe.
We have to get up early tomorrow morning. I'll take him over there in the morning again before we head out for either Portage Bay or Petersburg. The landscape at the little island was beautiful. Spruce trees with moss and stuff growing on it. Black rocks with lime green thick moss. Little dwarf dog woods and interesting black daisies. It was a paradise of plants and moss and trees. Absolutely stunning.
DATE: July 18, 2002 DESTINATION: Petersburg
Got up at the crack of dawn, well that’s not true, because the crack of dawn is about 3 AM in the morning. We actually woke up about 5:30 AM, looked out the window and it was pitch white! We couldn’t see a thing. I told Larry we had to get up if I have to take Ziggy out and get back so we can leave by 6:30. So we got up and had some coffee. He said we don’t have to leave so early if the weather is too foggy. I said it would be calm on Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound if it's foggy though. So we decided to stick with the schedule.
It was a little worrisome as it was
really, really foggy. I stood out on the bow to watch for anything that
Larry might not be able to see from the pilot house as we slowly
maneuvered out. We move slowly past other boats still sleeping and the
only light was their anchor lights fuzzy and halo like in the fog. We
wove in and out the squirrelly channel, passing the dark fuzzy images of
trees and mounds as we passed in the fog. Just as we left the narrow
inlet and headed out into the open of Chatham Strait, “Spirit of 98” was
coming in. 8:00 AM: Can now see tip of Kiui Island.
BEAUTIFUL SCENERY 9:30 AM: Everything is white out and flat except for a uniform repetitive ripple across the water. We can see off to our right some mysterious looking islands that come straight up in little puffs. Near the entrance to Kake is another Indian village. We can see for miles but it is nothing but a landscape of white emptiness. Little creatures stick their heads up in the quietness and peek at us as we go by and then as we pass they dip down into the deep quiet disappearing like they never were there. Patches of kelp here and there and occasionally harboring a hidden log. Little birds just floating in the middle of no where looking like dark black dots in the expanse with pointed short beaks. They dive down and for long moments, seems like minutes never to be seen again until a distance away they bob up again like a submerged float freed from its latches to rush to the surface. Ahead I see a grey mass at Point Mac
Cartney. To the left is Admiralty Island. It's swallowed in thick cumulus clouds with strange misty streaks at the base. Some birds flutter ahead going to no where leaving patterns across the water and their flapping wings reflecting on the silver flatness. We hear garbles on the radio. Sounds like nothing but meaningless jargon, like words from outer space. The fog has come again so quickly. Turnabout Island that was visible a moment ago is now covered in a thick white blanket with only a nub showing. Our SBYC burgee is starting to wave. It's our first sign that the wind is picking up. The radar screen is blank with a 3 mile radius. Not a boat to be seen for hours now.
12:55 PM: Made a frittata for lunch. Added spinach and cheddar, different from recipe, but Larry liked it. Used dried parsley rather than fresh. Where you gonna get fresh? Took a nap. Skies are breaking up now. Big cumulous clouds appearing with blue skies peeking through. Passing Portage Bay. Decided not to pull in there since weather is so perfect, we'll just head on all the way to Petersburg. Landscape here is not as interesting as Baronof. There's lots of logging here, ugly and so much of the same monotonous green trees. No more of the big majestic mountains. Ziggy is getting anxious. He must not have done as thorough of a job on that little island at our morning's anchorage as I had thought. Just a little longer Ziggy.
We see a huge glacier to our left. Clouds amazingly broke up in one spot projecting a spotlight of sun right on glacier. Wow! We can see many large ice bergs in the distance. They must be huge up close because everything here is so deceptive as far as size. We always are amazed to find how much bigger everything is than it looks. As we were entering the channel to Petersburg harbor we passed a Kady Krogen style boat. He called us on the radio, as "GB trawler entering Petersburg Channel". I answered back and he wanted to tell us our boat "looked magnificent on the water", his words. He said it was by far the best GB he has ever seen. Wow, what a nice thing to say. We were shocked but certainly flattered.
We got almost the same slip as we had the last time. About 3 slots down. The docks are all empty this time though as all the seiners are out. I had some trouble doing the lines because there a bunch junk on the dock, ie: lines and fenders tied to the dock, boat steps and other machinery. I was tripping over everything. We had about a 2 knot current coming into the dock but everything was fine. Larry had to buy a hose at the hardware store because the water outlet is so far away from our slip and he really wanted to wash the salt off the boat. You don’t often have a chance to wash the boat in Alaska because water is hard to find. We got the bikes out and rode to the
hardware store and then checked in with the harbor master. We went to
dinner at Alaskafe and said hello to the owner. The people in this town
are so nice. Had a delicious dinner of fresh halibut with some pasta on
the side. She has a nice collection of Alaska history books and local
artwork on the walls. I appreciate all her special touches to the food
that she prepares. She’ll have one slice of pear on the side with one
parsley leaf. Or add a sprig of something on your soup or add a couple
warmed walnuts on your salad. She has such a little place but does a nice
job and you really appreciate it after being up here for so long.
We saw several eagles perched on top of masts. It's good to be back to some place civilized again. There are lots of Spanish cannery workers in town this time. Many wear bandanas on their heads and everyone clomps around in big rubber boots and wears thick rubber gloves on their hands. It’s a whole new scenario this visit. Wish we had time to go out and see tent city. |
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*#@%!!
It's lightly raining now so we took
Zig to shore again. This is such a beautiful area and the logging roads
allowed us to take a walk. I was a little nervous about bears so we
didn’t venture too far. 
SEINERS AT WORK
PUMPED
THE TANK!
The seiners are everywhere like a
bunch of mosquitoes. There seas now are no longer calm. They are
building and seem to be about 3 feet now and rougher. 
SELF-APPOINTED HARBORMASTER OR SO
SHE THOUGHT 
I tie the lines and Larry is talking
with everybody that seems to come out of their boats to talk. It's a good
thing he has me to finish this docking job, I think to myself. Ziggy is
acting crazy as usual is running all over the docks (so glad to be on hard
ground again I guess). I think they are both so happy to be on hard
ground for a change that they can't help visiting with everyone. I go
inside and make lunch. 
RIFLE FOR PROTECTION?
The pool felt great though I thought
it smelled a bit like the sewer. Larry told me later that it was sulfur
that I was smelled not sewer. I felt much better after hearing that.
Pretty soon, along come a couple that were pretty old and not on the
skinny side. I don’t know how they made it up that difficult trail or
even how they were able to get into the springs which the sides were rocky
and slippery and a bit treacherous. If you make a slip, the rapids wash
right by you. It was really a wonderful experience thought, amazing as
I've never experience a natural hot springs like that. It would’ve been a
much better experience without the rowdy charter group who by the way they
never did leave to make room for any new comers. Some people that came
and left would take cover behind some trees change their clothes. 
A big fishing boat came in and docked.
short trail to the water fall. You can walk right out to the
waterfall with the spray and everything. We got a little wet from the
spray. The view from there is very nice looking up the channel. As we
were coming back the seiner with the noisy skiff was leaving, thank
goodness! It really seems unnatural to have to listen to the noise of
loud motors and to smell exhaust in a beautiful pristine place like this.
They gut, clean and freeze the fish and then the fish are dropped off to a
freighter that is standing nearby and then they’re gone. Most of the
fishermen catch the fish and sell to the fish buyers rather than use their
fuel and the 10 hours of time to get back to the canneries. He said he
was thinking about buying a bigger boat and going up to Sand (something)
near Dutch Harbor and catch cod. He said you can make 10-12,000 dollars a
week there working hard but that is the coldest windiest place there is.
He said "It is artic cold and you feel it to your bones." He said the
population is about 800 people that live there full time and they are
friendly and welcome you and soon everyone you know everyone and they know
you. He said he drives a big rig in the winter throughout all 48 states.
When we got there Zig and I hopped
into the kayak and off we went to see this beautiful little lake. It was
beautiful. A couple arctic terns were following us around and talking to
us. I tried to find the forest ranger's cabin but couldn’t. After awhile
I was getting pretty tired and we were a pretty good distance from where
we took off and out of view and distance of Larry so decided I’d better
get back. The wind picked up and it was bit of a struggle to get back.
Zig and I stopped at a small islet in the center of the lake along the way
and I let Ziggy off to run around. I figured this was a contained area
where no bears were so safe for him to run around. He caught on right
away as he jumped off onto shore. He likes to investigate and run
around. Soon thought he comes right back and gently and quickly gets on
the kayak. He is so smart and understanding of this kayak thing, he
amazes me. This kayak is made for him and me. 
MORE SEINERS, FILLING THE PLACE UP
BARANOF GOULASH
They immediately
began were gathering wood to make a camp fire. I asked if they were having
a picnic and they said yes. It looked like so much fun to have a picnic
her. Another guy was here kayaking. I said hello. He said he was with
one of the fishing boats and taking pictures. All the fishermen we've met
are really nice looking clean cut kids and guys. I'm very impressed with
them. They make our life in Southern California seem really frivolous and
silly. 
NICE FISHERMEN
This harbor has been completely taken
over now by the fishermen and their boats. It's really interesting now.
The young kids on the boats are all up at a covered deck on the hill
BBQ'ing. It's like on big public barbeque party of fishermen. They’ve
got music going and you can hear it all over the harbor. Others are
gathered together sitting on the back their boats talking and BBQ'ing
there too. It’s really cute to see them all. They are all coming and
going in their seiner skiffs going to rafted boats and visiting other
friends that are anchored out. Some of them are on the docks drinking
wine and talking and the noisy dog keeps barking. There's a mix of music
playing from many different boats. One boat put his on the loudspeaker
and had funny noises going on it like a chicken crowing. It really a
fascinating thing to see. These are fun people and somehow I enjoyed them
more than the cruisers like us.
FOGGY APPROACH TO RED BLUFF
As the afternoon or early evening
progresses many boats come in to anchor for the night. There's a sailboat
from Georgetown, CT., a boat like our old first boat from Santa Barbara, a
fishing boat and two other fairly big boats, one call Jamal, and the other
Eagle something from Naples FL. The Glacier Bay small cruise ship came in
a few minutes ago and hung out by the waterfall and then left. I wonder
if they are anchoring or cruising for the night. We had a great dinner.
This dinner we're going to call it Red Bluff Fresh Shrimp Pasta or better
yet, Alchemist Shrimp Pasta (since he gave us the fresh shrimp). (2 c
chopped tomatoes, capers, kalamata olives, chopped green onions, feta
cheese, shrimp, fresh baby spinach, dried basil, olive oil, hot chilies,
red wine vinegar. Parmesan on top and tube pasta. Mmm, yum).
WEATHER REPORT A BIT GRIM, WE'LL
STAY PUT
We road the dinghy up to the cannery
ruins. All that's left are a bunch of rusting equipment and some wood
pilings left to rot. As we came close to shore we were startled by a mass
of salmon at the entrance to the stream. They were gathered there and
were so crowded you just couldn’t believe it. We looked around and picked
up shells that looked like little Chinese hats. Across the channel were
more steep mountain and waterfalls. This place is truly beautiful. 
CRACK OF DAWN
Zig and I got in the kayak and
paddled across the anchorage in the cold wet damp fog. Ziggy was on the
bow like a watch guard, perched as far forward as gravity would allow,
every muscle tense and trembling with excitement and strain. Actually
was really neat to be out in the quietness and still of the early
morning. No one was up and it was special. Ziggy seemed to know right
what to do when the nose of the kayak touched the rocky surface of the
little island. I took him to the same island we discovered last night and
he hustle up the top and behind for his privacy and then after a long
enough moment came back and got back on the kayak. We paddled back to the
boat and prepared to leave. 
REALLY, REALLY FOGGY
We waved as we went by and they came out of the pilot house to
wave back. Chatham Straight was very foggy but visibility was OK. Waters
very calm.
Just saw a huge silver salmon jump
clear out of the water. The clouds are like a shear curtain across the
water concealing the land mass we know is just behind. One island looks
like it is wrapped in thin gauze. You can see trails in the flat water,
trails of wind against flat windlass areas, and currents beginning to
swirl the water as slack begins to disappear.
HUGE GLACIERS FLOATING IN THE
DISTANCE
BACK IN PETERSBURG