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(reminder, click on small pictures to enlarge them) PRINCE RUPERT TO KETCHIKAN DATE: Saturday, June 1st,
2002 It was a quiet night. We slept in
until 9:00AM. We got our laundry together and took a cab to Ling Coin
Laundry in town and dropped everything off. We went for the big hearty breakfast; eggs, sausages, potatoes, toast with butter, coffee, and orange juice. It was what we really needed! We stopped at a store on the way
back and bought a marker to tag our new orange fenders or floats. We
were going to put “KNOTTY DOG” on them in big bold letters so no one
would steal them. Larry also looked in several stores for an alarm
clock. He needed one for those early mornings when we have to leave at
the crack of dawn. We found the Java Internet cafe. It was a neat
little place.
This town has a real mixture of people. We noticed lesbians, punkers, sophisticated city dressed people, Indians and mountain folk. We saw several lesbians but no male gays. I heard that gay men weren’t very well tolerated in Alaska. It was surprising to see this mix of people way up here in the middle of what I consider the wilderness. Larry noticed a barber shop across the street. He was looking pretty ragged so he walked over and got a hair cut. Apparently this was where all the Indians in town got their hair cut. The barber was Indian too. There was so much thick black Indian hair on the floor that it covered the floor wall to wall. The floor looked like it needed mowing. They don’t sweep up after each cut so it accumulates to the end of the day or I guess to when they decide it’s too much.
As we were inside, we kept close watch on Ziggy in his buggy outside. Along came a huge Indian guy. He walked up to look at Ziggy in his buggy. He was just was getting ready to pet Zig when Larry ran outside to stop the guy. He had to put the dam mussel on Zig again. (Zig doesn’t like to be approached by strangers.) The guy still wanted to pet him even though Larry kept insisting he shouldn’t. He told Larry the mussel was an “instrument of torture” and Larry told him “No Ziggy was an instrument of torture”. We found the main grocery store which was a Safeway. We bumped into the couple on MV Kluane there. They just got to Prince Rupert from Foggy Bay. They looked beat but said they were going to Ketchikan the next day.
We walked up to Cow Bay which is the area by the marina. It has a cluster of stores, cafes and restaurants. One of the shops has some nice kitchen things and some of the others have clothing, Indian crafts and local art. They are geared towards tourists. Sweet Larry said he’d go pick up the laundry so I could have time to see the Indian museum. We hailed a cab, loaded our multi-use cart in the back and we all jumped in the cab including Ziggy. Larry dropped me off at the museum and he and Ziggy went off to get the laundry. I breezed through the museum wishing I had more time. I stopped in the museum store and bought a couple books that related to our journey. The architecture and the museum displays were well done and very interesting. I walked back to the boat to help put the laundry away.
Barbara and Jerry from Kluane came by. We made our plans to cross Dixon tomorrow. We decided to leave at 6:00 AM. We had some good laughs. She said she had called customs to get clearance to go into the US tomorrow. They’re Canadian and she said she was nervous about calling. They asked her where she was coming from. She accidentally told them she was coming by boat from Prince George (rather than Prince Rupert) before she realized what she said. Prince George is about 100 miles inland. The customs official got a good laugh and said that’d be a pretty tough trip. I told her our embarrassing but funny story about Larry hailing the huge freighter “Arrow Grouse” on the main shipping channel. He was coming down on us very close and Larry wanted to make sure he saw us. Larry told him on the radio that we were on his “port starboard side” and what side would he be passing? The captain said “port starboard?’ and chuckled and wanted clarification on what side was port starboard. Barbara and I laughed so much my cheeks hurt. Larry and I went to dinner at the nearby Breakwater Pub. It’s always packed with cruisers. We saw John and his friend Bill from the sailboat “Veracity” and joined them at their table. We had some good halibut (fresh frozen of course). John is sailing the Alaska trip by himself except for this week his friend Bill joined him.
We didn’t get to bed until after 11:00 PM. I didn’t sleep well and the dinghy was banging on something which kept me awake most of the night.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 2002
We were up at 5:00 AM. I took Zig and the camera out with a cup of coffee. Zig did his business and I took a picture of the wonderful colored sunrise and of Cow Bay.
I don’t like the weather. The skies are very dark but we’re making the crossing anyway. A large fast boat named “Kindred Spirit” raced by us. Larry called him to see if he’d let us know how the seas were ahead. He said he would. 12:15 We have Mary Island on our left. We crossed Dixon just fine. I was very scared and nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. It was dark and foggy with big wide swells but not the kind that cause any problems. We kept in contact with Kluane (as we go a bit faster), briefing them on what was coming up. We had passed them the minute we got out of the crazy channel outside Prince Rupert. They are quite a ways behind us by now. “MV Thatcher” called us on the radio. He was getting in to Ketchikan early. He must have been in anchored in Bludgeon. He said it was very foggy. “MV Hapgood” that we met in Port Hardy heard us on the radio and hailed us. They were leaving Ketchikan and heading up to Misty Fjords. We might even cross paths in the fog at Belm Canal.
We’ve been watching a blip on the radar and now finally we see the boat. It’s the same boat that was in Bottleneck that left in bad weather without listening to the weather report (“Oleana”). He cut in front of us in the thick fog and then went around an island where a rocky shoal was.
Larry can’t get the boat in close for me to step off safely. I jumped after his second try but it was very dangerous. I’m not going to do that anymore. We got ourselves plugged in and took Zig up to do his thing. They have a nice grass walking area. This will work out just fine. The harbor is huge compared to anything we’ve seen for weeks. We went to the Harbor Master’s office to find out about getting a taxi or a rental car. The office girl was acting really weird and all of a sudden said she felt sick and laid down on the floor. I asked if she needed help a couple times but she said “NO” so I left. Larry went to the office a little later and checked in. We got a rental car. Yea! We were so tired we just went back to the boat and slept. We didn’t even hear the big boat that came in next to us. Apparently the fisherman who owns
our slip is out for a few days so we were told we can stay a couple days
in this slip without having to move around like a lot of the boaters say
is a common but irritating practice here. The Harbor Master said we
need to call his house though to make arrangements to pay him direct for
the power (electricity) outlet. Larry plugged in and said he’d call him later. We took a long nap since we were so exhausted. Bill from Patience stopped by the boat earlier when we were sleeping I guess and left a note. We called them on our radio and said we were too tired to do anything We went to Annabelle’s in the Gilmore Hotel for dinne later. I had halibut, fresh frozen again. Larry had salmon poached with veggies in parchment. I had to exchange plates and eat his salmon as he didn’t like it. Larry had a “forest blend berry pie” with ice cream for desert. Raven and Patience came in to Annabelle’s as we were finishing our dinner. We said hello and talked a bit. Bill said he has the same arrangement at his slip where he has to pay the owner $10 for the power use. Bill said the last time they stayed in Ketchikan, the fisherman that owned their slip came back early and they were forced to get out of the slip in 35 knot winds. The new slip they assigned them was so difficult to get in that they just left and went to Foggy Bay in a storm! Yikes! I remember the sailboat guy at Port Hardy telling us a similar story. Bill recommended going to see the totem villages and Kassan (by boat). He said his son is joining them tomorrow.
We came back to the boat and a note
was on our door that we need to “cease using the electrical immediately
and call the Harbor Master to get reassigned to another slip in the
morning!” I’m thinking to myself, Larry should’ve called that fisherman
about the electrical use before he just plugged in but we were so tired
and hungry. Alos our electrical power cord was gone! Larry called the
fisherman’s number and WOW that fisherman was mad. He came back early
and saw us in his slip, using his electricity without his permission.
Larry apologized a million times and offered to pay $7.50 a day for
power. Finally, I guess he calmed the guy down and he said we could
stay and wouldn’t have to move. He told Larry he hid our power cord in
his fishing boat where he stores the fish. He told Larry where to find
it!! Ziggy wants a blow dry since he was wet from the rain. He’s very demanding. He laid down on the bed like he was at the spa while I gave him a blow dry. We’re all dead dog tired. It’s day light savings time here. We have to re adjust. The meals were expensive compared to what we’ve been paying. Our waitress at Annabelle’s was nice. I asked her about all this rain and when or if it might let up (not knowing this is the rain capitol of the world!) She said “It rains everyday like this but when there is a day that clears you will find out why we all live here.”
DATE: Sunday, June 3rd,
2002
The Salmon Derby is going on in
town so you see a few sports fishermen around the docks. We finally see
people catching fish and cleaning them on their boats or the dock
cleaning stations. We didn’t see any fish being caught in BC at all. The fisherman finally came. His name is Ron. He looks like a big lumpy Norwegian. He had his elderly dad with him. Ron had on a big checkered woolen shirt and dad had a big grey wool jacket. What characters. Larry paid him $40 for the crummy electricity and chatted with him for a long time. They became friends. Now that he liked Larry he said we could stay as long as we want and if we needed anything or got into trouble to give him a call. “Silvertip” was his boat’s name. It filled the slip next to us. It must be about 50 feet long. It was clean as a whistle and freshly painted. There was no junk lying around on its deck like most of the fishing boats. They started their engine up and off they went for a few days, he and his dad. He gave Larry a few recommendations for nice anchorages. I cleaned out the refrigerator and
all the other cabinets to get rid of the food that I was tired of and
other stuff that I had been nursing along trying to keep it fresh.
It’s still RAINING! I almost thought the sun was going to break through for a minute but it didn’t. We haven’t seen the sun for so long.
Larry wanted to go to the marine/sporting goods shop. They had a good selection of almost everything from tourist junk to good sporting clothes, fishing and sports stuff, marine charts, hardware, books, kitchen and garden gear, etc. etc. I saw several things I wanted that would he helpful on our journey. Larry bought four more charts. We walked around town a little and it was packed with cruise ship passengers. They all were dressed in trash bags with “Carnival Cruise Ship” silk screened across them. I guess they give them to the passengers to protect them from the rain. Even though we were so tired we felt in really good shape when we saw some of the passengers. It was amazing the percentage of them that looked like they could barely walk from lack of exercise I guess. They all got a big kick out of Ziggy in his rain coat. This is a total tourist town. It could be Disneyland if you didn’t know any better. We ate at the Creek Side Café. It was nothing fancy and had no atmosphere but we could see the historical buildings of Creek Street from our table which was nice. We had a chicken sandwich on toasted sourdough with melted cheese and Thousand Island dressing. How could something so simple and plain taste so good! I guess we’ve been out on the boat too long. We were so hungry that we ordered one more sandwich to split. We saved a couple bites for Ziggy.
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! We drove around and up the hill to Cape Fox Hotel. I had imagined that it would look much more like a lodge in the woods, like something you’d find in Colorado but it was a pretty standard looking hotel. I was a bit disappointed. Nevertheless we made reservations for dinner at 6:30-7:00. We stopped and had coffee at
Moggies. We went back to the Trading Good Store. Larry wanted to get an Alaskan Flag for the boat. It’s a blue background with gold stars. Larry had seen an old couple at Shearwater wearing a sweat shirt that said “Alaska” across the front with a few stars on it. He thought each star had meant how many times they had cruised Alaska. We both didn’t realize that’s was the flag of Alaska. What goofs! We drove south of town. In the south there is Saxman Village, an Indian tourist village, with a gazillion cruise ship visitors crawling all over the place. Maybe we’ll come back early in the morning before they all arrive and see it. Back at the boat we saw that Kluane was in the harbor at the dock. I tried to hale them but no answer. Guess they were out or asleep. I took a nap. I was so exhausted that I could hardly wake up for dinner. This whole trip was catching up with me and now that we were at a safe place I could finally sleep and relax. We went to Cape Fox for dinner. It was a disappointment. It was built up as an Alaskan lodge and sounded so beautiful in the books. I had pictured it much different. It was a typical mediocre hotel restaurant. They sat us way in the back corner by a window with no view in the smoking section. We had them move us to a view table which was “no smoking”. We got a bad a waiter. We ordered the crab legs as recommended. We had heard they are the best crab legs you’ll ever eat. So we had to order it. After all it made sense to order Alaskan king crab legs in Alaska. The salad was drenched in dressing and the waiter didn’t bring water or bread even after we requested it. The dinner was slow to get there. The steak tasted like liver and the crab was room temperature and it tasted like it was precooked then reheated. I asked the waiter if the crab was fresh and he said no it’s frozen. I know a place in Seal Beach, Southern California that has better crab legs than this. It took the waiter forever to clear the table. I finally gave up and left the table to check out the lobby while Larry waited for the check. The furniture, architecture and décor were lacking what I thought a lodge in Alaska would and could be and what further turned me off was their big stuffed grizzly bear in a big plexi case in the lobby. I would’ve rather been in an authentic rustic old lodge and just had a big grilled steak or salmon off the BBQ. We checked out one of the grocery
stores (Carr’s) on the waterfront. It was huge. It did seem to have
everything you ever wanted. We went back to the boat and Patience dropped by with their son to say they may leave tomorrow if the weather is good. They said Raven is stuck here for a few days. Raven is having some engine problems and they have to wait for some parts to be shipped in. Something to do with his “joy stick”. Larry said he’d watch out for them. Larry was totally conked out. Guess my nap gave me some extra energy to get me through the evening. We listened to the weather report. Another front was heading our way. This time they said its cold front.
DATE: Monday, June 4, 2002 We got up early to get out to Saxman, the totem village, to get some pictures before the thousands of cruise ship passengers dressed in trash bags invaded the place. We got there first. It was OK. It’s getting to be, ”once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” type of experience. We picked up a couple items for Larry’s desk at the gift shop. It’s the same tourist stuff you see all over and just too touristy for me. We drove out to Totem Bight Park.
It’s about 10 miles north of Ketchikan on Tongass HWY. It was much
better. Not many people there at least at the time we arrived. I’m not
sure what happens later. You can take short walk through the forest to
see the Clan House that’s perched overlooking the channel. Several
totem poles line the green landscaped park area. We drove north about five more miles to Clover Fish Camp. It’s basically a small sports fishing camp and RV park. They had a small marina and restaurant. It wasn’t too attractive by the lower 49 standards. We decided to go down the road to Salmon Resort and check it out. Salmon Resort was at the end of the line for Tongass HWY. The road was getting more and more impassable with huge pot holes that could swallow a car. Salmon Resort was more upscale. It looked more like what I pictured an Alaskan lodge to be like. The log cabins were charming with interesting carvings on the porch posts. The lodge lobby and restaurant was warm and inviting. It was big rustic wood room with a high ceiling. The views out to the channel were beautiful. Unfortunately this place was gearing up for crowds of tourists. I’m sure it’s a major part of their economy. It had only been open 3 days because it was still early in the season. I thought it would be fun to come back for dinner but we knew it would be doubtful because we’d probably too tired to drive back all this way over this pot-holed HWY in the dark. There was a big beautiful water fall next to the lodge that was gushing out into the channel. Hey, it actually stopped raining and we could see patches of blue sky. Since the restaurant at the lodge wasn’t open yet we decided to go back down the road to the Clover Fish Camp for lunch. We drove back down the hwy and down the dirt road to the camp. The camp was actually pretty nice once you got out of the car and walked around. It was very clean and seemed well managed. The RVs had come up the passage on the ferries and were over-nighting it here until they were ready to take the next ferry leg taking them further north. I think the next stop for them is Petersburg. They have a beautiful view of the channel. I ordered a BBQ beef sandwich and Larry had a delicious halibut sandwich. They came with two small salads. I conned half my sandwich for ½ of Larry’s and went into the wash room to wash my hands and the water coming from the tap was very brownish. It looked like dirty water. I got a little concerned about that and wondered how they wash the lettuce and vegetables. I didn’t drink any of the water as it was brownish too. We headed back down the HWY and stopped at the A & P market to compare it to Carr’s market in Ketchikan. It had a better bakery that’s for sure. They had cinnamon rolls that were the size of a dinner plate. The store was smaller overall and the produce department wasn’t as good. The meat looked like it might be better at the A & P. We went back to the boat to rest. Larry is busy in the engine room checking everything out. He wanted to check the batteries. The sun is out now!! The clouds are still there but it’s clearing out. Maybe we’ll be able to see what this place looks like after all. There are three huge cruise ships in town. We went into town again to the Trading Post. We like that store. I also wanted to get a new baking sheet and two turtle neck shirts with “Alaska” stitched on the collar. We walked around and looked in some of the town other stores. They are all the typical tourist stores that you probably see in all the cruise ship stops. We had a beer in Annabelle’s bar. We really like Annabelle’s. It’s old and authentic looking. It has a huge mahogany bar from the 1800’s and you can just picture some old Klondikers hanging out in here. We went to the internet store and picked up our financial reports and emails. We stopped at the Ocean View restaurant for dinner. Its a couple blocks south of our marina. It was packed. It was a Mexican food restaurant but also served Italian. It was so good to have some Mexican food and it tasted great. The restaurant was right on the waterfront and outside the window there were at least twenty eagles perched on rocks or posts. They were just hanging around waiting to spot a fish so they could dive down and grab it for a snack. It was such entertainment watching them soaring and diving for dinner. Occasionally at our slip we have seen a resident eagle that likes to perch on the top of the tallest mast and survey the area. They are so much fun to watch. They seem to be everywhere in Ketchikan. We have been told to be careful with Ziggy because they have been known to fly down and pick up little dogs and fly off with them. We did notice that they are very interested with Ziggy when we walk him on the path. They seem to follow us and watch for an opportunity. We came back to the boat with full bellies. It’s starting to feel really cold although it’s only 50 degrees out. The inside of the boat is registering 55 degrees. Larry’s running the generator so we can get the boat warmed up. He’s also got the portable electric heater on and Ziggy is sitting as close to it as he can get without getting zinged. He must be cold too. Larry stopped over to see Raven and say “hello” to Jade who just came in. Larry told Jade about the Ocean View restaurant. It’s really a “locals” joint. Raven wanted to go out to dinner but we were so tired. I just don’t seem to have the energy that some of the other boaters have. A lot of them get together for cocktails from 5-7:30 every evening and then have dinner afterwards. I’m too tired by then to think about cooking dinner and usually not hungry after snacking on cocktail snacks. Guess I’m a party poop. Once every few days I could manage but not every night. Larry said we’ll probably go out to dinner with Jade tomorrow night.
DATE: Tuesday, June 5, 2002 We had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. We got up and headed out early again this morning to go downtown and take pictures again before the cruise ships unloaded. It’s presently not raining and seems warmer. We can see the top of Deer Mountain which I read is a rare occasion and we should be and are grateful. It looks like it’s snowing up there. We got some coffee at Moggies and walked around town taking pictures. When we got back to the boat I did a thorough cleaning of the inside. I guess I’m finally getting my energy back. We aired everything out while we had a window of good weather. Larry took the laundry to the cleaners on the south side of town. It will be ready tomorrow morning. We just noticed Raven is gone!
Maybe they had to move to another slip but we don’t see them anywhere.
We thought they were going to be here until Friday or we would’ve gone
out to dinner with them yesterday no matter how tired we were. We
thought they had to wait until Friday for a boat part. We never did
find Kluane. We guess they may have left too. I fixed tuna sandwiches for lunch. Larry fixed the ends of some of our ropes that were getting frayed. All these rustic docks are playing havoc on our lines. We went to town again and I sent a long email to everyone. Larry got a fishing license for us. I hope we catch a fish while we’re up here. It seems like something you have to do. We drove up to the trail head near the back of Cape Fox. The trail was beautiful. It leads up to the top of Deer Mountain. It’s a hike through the rain forest. There are streams and greenery like you’ve never seen. We only went up part way and decided we might come back tomorrow and hike to the look out point when we’re more prepared. It’s supposed to have a wonderful view overlooking Ketchikan. We stopped at the New York Hotel Café next to Creek Street. What a cute little place. It was built in the 1800’s when things were booming. The café has a huge wooden saloon bar and tables all around. Off in the other room is the check in desk for the very small hotel. It looks like you’re back in time. A wonderful chalk mural spans the wall of one end of the café. It’s a picture of the famous Creek Street that runs through old Ketchikan where the red-light district used to be. You can see the salmon running below the water surface and characters hidden in the windows of the buildings. It looks like a mystery novel. The colors are bright and interesting. We had the best piece of apple pie I ever had (and that includes my grandma Bessie’s). As we were eating our pie I saw John from Veracity walking down the street. Larry yelled at him and invited him over for a coffee. He had just arrived today from Foggy Bay. He said there were lots of bears there. He had just walked all the way from Bar Harbor, where we are, to town to check in with customs. That’s a long walk! We gave him a ride back. He wanted the last name of the “Hapgood”. He had told his mother that another boat up here was from Sioux City (where he’s from) and now the whole nursing home where she lives wants to know the name of the other couple. I guess he and the Hapgoods must be the talk of the nursing home back in Sioux City. It’s kind of cute how he came back to the boat to get their names. I was amazed to find out he doesn’t have radar on that boat. Last summer he sailed all the way around Vancouver Island by himself. We told him all the good places we had found around here and the restaurants that we thought were good. Hopefully we’ll catch up with him later to take him to dinner before we leave.
They were complaining a little about the “yachties” are up here. They love boating and socializing with all the boaters and they said it’s not like that up here. They really love the "Baha Aha”. She said she’s enjoying the trip but doesn’t think she’d do it again. They said when they sailed to Hawaii, the locals weren’t friendly to the boaters there. There was no place to dock the boat and you have to anchor out and its anchor upon anchor. They had to hire a diver to get their anchor free when they left. Dewey said he had a little trouble entering the channel at Prince Rupert. He said one of the markers was a little off. We experienced the same thing. They said they know several people coming up in some huge boats from the SFYC. They said they’re leaving tomorrow for Juneau and then flying home for a week.
DATE: Wednesday, June 6, 2002 Sun is out and we’re up at 7:00 AM. We saw Jade leaving about 8:00. We waved goodbye to them across the docks. She was on the deck pulling in lines and busy so I know she pulls her weight on the boat. We finished off the huge cinnamon rolls we bought at the A & P. I drove the car down to Carr’s and got some groceries. I stocked up on fresh fruit, veggies, appetizers, and milk. I couldn’t get any meat because their freezers were broken. I picked up the laundry south of town. Larry was washing the boat when I got back. When I got back I put everything away and vacuumed the boat again. We washed the inside of the windows so Larry could put Fogex on again. Larry bought some new lines and fixed them for the dinghy. We went out to lunch at the Bar Harbor Restaurant near the marina. It’s a cute little old house on silts at the docks. A lot of the boaters go there. It was a good lunch.
As I’m writing this, there is an eagle perched on top of a sailboat mast that is three slips down. He is really making a racket. Wonder what he thinks he’s saying. There are so many eagles here they’re almost becoming old hat if you can imagine that. We went to send some emails. The place we normally go to was closed so we went to the other place in town. We had 20 minutes before the place closed. There must be 30 computers in this place. The other store is the same way. This is the new thing now – email. All the passengers on the cruise ships use them when they get off the ships too. The places are packed. You just buy a plastic credit card that gives you so many minutes and swipe the car at any computer station and Walla, your connected to home! They also have several phone booths lined up in each store for people to make phone calls too (since the cells don’t work up here). Some people bring their lap tops and just plug in. What a new world we live in and it’s especially remarkable up here in the wilderness. This town pretty much closes up after 3 or 4 o’clock when the passengers file back to the cruise ships. When we got back to the boat there was a note on our boat that we had to move the boat to another slip because the owner was back. (So much for that short friendship.) So we had to drop everything and move to the next dock over. They gave us two slip options and we chose the one where we wouldn’t have to change our lines and fenders. Larry got the boat in nicely so I didn’t have a difficult time jumping on the dock. We tied up and Larry called the number on the dock this time to get permission to use the electricity. This time the guy with the number didn’t own the slip anymore and couldn’t tell us who did. Larry called the harbor master but they didn’t know either. I can’t say this place is run very well. Larry talked to one of the fishermen on the dock and he said there was no power there anyway. So screw it – we’ll just run our generator and get some heat that way. It’s not worth the bother to move again. It’s 50 degrees now and feels warmer. The sun was in and out today with a little rain but it feels like it’s getting warmer overall. It’s clearer too. We went to Ocean View again for dinner. It was easier than messing the galley up. It was really busy again. It’s by far the only place in town that’s busy at this time of the day. The food’s good, large and cheap and it’s a well run place. It’s funny because their décor is Mexican but they serve equally Mexican, Italian or Greek food. The staff works hard and is serious about what they do. I had two tacos, rice and beans. I couldn’t begin to eat it all. Larry had spaghetti with vegetables. It was so much food and really good and hearty. I had an Alaska Ale that was delicious.
The HWY here is so annoying. It’s constant traffic both ways. You can barely find an opening to cross. For a place that has one main road that’s not connected to any outside roads (because there are none), how do they have so much traffic going back and forth, back and forth? The road is only 20 miles long. What’s the deal? It’s like this all day long and night. I can’t imagine how they have enough cars in this little place to be constantly on the road and where are they going and doing? There can’t be anything much to do here or places to go. I met a lady I saw in Prince Rupert today. She had sold her house 11 years ago and now just keeps traveling in her huge modern RV. She came here on the ferry and is headed up the Inside Passage. She’s driving that thing on her own but has a group of friends that she’s traveling with. She is having a ball. The docks in Ketchikan are filled with fishing boats that never seem to go out. The only boats that do go out are the small sports fishing boats that have been hired for the day by tourists. There are some really huge sailboats here. That is surprising to me because this is not really sailing country. We’re headed for Neet’s Bay in Behm Canal tomorrow. We studied the charts and put way points in. It’s amazing looking at all these boats at the docks. Some are really junky and look abandoned and then all of a sudden someone comes out of one. I’m amazed that people can live in these boats up here year round.
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It will be ready for pick
up at 3:00 PM. We walked around town looking for a breakfast place.
Ziggy went to do his business in a vacant lot and sniffed out a
raccoon. He chased it down the block and up an alley. He was screaming
at the top of his lungs the whole chase. We finally caught him and put
the leash back on. We decided to eat in a nearby hotel coffee shop.
Larry had rigged up a clever cart to carry our laundry and fresh
groceries. It’s a real challenge at every port to lug all those things
to the docks, down the ramp and God knows how far to town and back. It’s
a fold- up dolly. He got a big blue rubber storage container and
strapped it on with an adjustable packing strap. Today it also worked
as a doggy buggy. We put Ziggy in it and parked it outside the coffee
shop while we went in to eat. We could keep an eye on him and he, most
importantly, on us through the café window. He was barely tall enough
to peek over the top. The sun was beating down on him and made him
sleepy. He could barely keep his eyes open. He kept slowly sliding
down in and falling asleep. He was trying so hard to stay awake. He
can’t stand not seeing what’s going on. He has to keep his eye on us
constantly. 
They were serving great looking waffles, muffins,
pastries, and coffee drinks. They had several computer stations
besides the big loungey “Starbucks style” chairs and sofas. We needed
to check out the Visa and check book balances. We had to leave Zig
outside again. I put his little fabric mussel on him but had to watch
him constantly as the kids were always trying to pet him and he doesn’t
like to be approached like that.
We found another internet café
called “Ziggies”. We went in and finally got our email to work and
checked our financial stuff. We got lots of email from friends that
cheered us up. It was good to hear what was going on with everyone. The
place was packed with kids and parents. They were playing video
machines and eating pizzas and having a great time. 
We got some groceries but not much
because we’ll be in Ketchikan soon and Bill from MV Patience says the
grocery stores are “great” there. It’s been something I’ve been looking
forward to on the trip. So we’ll save our next provisioning for
Ketchikan. We headed back to the boat and unloaded our groceries. It
was almost time to go pick up the laundry and we still hadn’t seen the
town yet. I was disappointed since we were leaving tomorrow.
At the dock we met a nice couple
from San Francisco, Dewey and Diane on
Back at the boat we put in our
course for tomorrow. We realized we were missing another chart, the one
for Ketchikan. Larry found John down the dock and asked if he could buy
Jon’s chart from him. John could get one at the marine store tomorrow
because he was leaving another day. We told him we’d buy him dinner in
Ketchikan for being so kind. Bill his friend said “take care of John”
when we left. It was kind of touching. He said he was more of a father
to John than a childhood friend. 
We left at 6:00 AM with Kluane
leading the way through a crazy channel short cut.
We drove around a little to see
some of the town. The area near the marina is not very interesting or
attractive. We’re too far to walk to the Old Town which looks fun. If
you stay at the other two marinas you are within walking distance but
you don’t have power and you’re near all the hustle and bustle of the
cruise ships. I think if you can get a rental car, our marina is a good
spot to be. 
It was so funny watching Larry climb up on this fishing boat and
down into the fish storage area below the deck to get his power cord.
It was hilarious. He has to pay him tomorrow. 
We all got our rain gear on,
including Ziggy, and went out to see the town. Ziggy looked adorable in
his Burberry style rain coat that Susie Bishop, my good friend so
cleverly made for him.
I bought a little cup that had their golden retriever dog logo
on it. We went to Parnassus Book Store. They have a great collection
of Alaskan books. We met Lillian the owner and very nice little old
lady.
Somehow the idea of
all these Indian places that are reconstructed for the tourists doesn’t
do much for me. It’s sort of Disneylandish with all its paved paths and
mowed lawns. It was better than Saxman Village though. We got some
photos and bought a couple books in the small shack they call a
bookstore. We walked up the road to an independent gift shop (not a
part of the park service). It was in a rugged looking log building. The
front was adorned with deer antlers and it really looked like what you’d
picture Alaska to look like in the old days. Inside there was a huge
stone fireplace with a big fire crackling and stuffed wild animals
hanging from the walls and Pendleton-type blankets hanging over tree
branch railings. It had the usual Alaskan gift shop items but it was so
much more fun here. There was a museum room with rare guns and
artifacts from the pioneering Alaska days. As we were browsing in the
museum an interesting character started talking to us and telling us
background stories about some of the items. He was the owner and he
just looked liked Alaska to me. He had a red and black woolen vest and
suspenders, big overalls and big lumber jack boots. Inside the building
he also had displayed his personal collection of old classic cars. It
was surprising to see these cars here because the hwy in Ketchikan can’t
be more than 20 miles. It’s a road that leads to nowhere and no roads
lead here. He said he was born and raised in Alaska. He showed us
pictures of his house that he built with “his bare hands”. It’s on an
island that he owns. There’s no electricity because everything is run
by solar power. I didn’t think to ask him how he gets solar in a rain
forest. He started on a story that started to get a little too radical
for us. He was criticizing the government and saying there’s no need
for oil. Supposedly”it’s all a scam made up by the government.” We
could tell this was leading in a direction we didn’t want to follow so
we said some good byes and went back to the car. It was good to get
here early so we could enjoy it because as we left we could see the
buses of tourists heading up the hwy.
We are supposed to have dinner with
Jade tonight and are meeting at Annabelle’s. We arrived first and got a
nice table in the front window. I was shocked when they walked in. She
was made up to the “T” as they say. She had makeup on that just wasn’t
makeup; it was shaded around her cheek bones like she stepped off the
fashion runway and false eyelashes and looked like she just had had her
nails done. Those nails weren’t short either, they were long and
beautiful. She had her hair pulled back and a false hair piece attached
at the back. She had a brand new outfit on that I think she just bought
in town. It was a furry fleece thing with moose, trees and bears on.
She looked unbelievable compared to all the other cruisers up here.
Dewey on the other hand looked kind of rugged next to her. Well, I
think we all probably looked rugged and worn next to her. How does she
do it? And she’s no slouch either. Apparently she holds her own on
that huge 70 sailboat. She has over 3000 miles under her belt sailing
with him. She has sailed to Hawaii with him. She is so very nice and
down to earth, a real sweet and beautiful person. He’s the Commodore of
the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and they have a home in SF
and another on the coast and that boat of theirs is no small thing. I
knew I liked her right off when she said they had been shopping and she
bought a totem pole in one of the shops and then she saw the same totem
pole in another shop for $50 less so she took it back to the original
store, returned it and bought the cheaper one at the second store. That
said it all. She wasn’t trying to put on any aires up here. She was
definitely a head turner though up in this wilderness where everyone
looks worn and ragged and are not interested in their personal
appearance.
Later in the afternoon we went to
the K mart north of town to see about getting a bigger blanket for our
bed. With Ziggy in the middle the blanket pulls up on the sides and
lets a cold draft in. We have been using the guest quarters electric
blanket as a throw to keep warm and it was great because it was
oversized and kept the drafts out. All we could find at K mart was a
King/Queen blanket for $8.95. So we bought it and for that price we
could throw it out if it didn’t do the job. We bought more trash bags
and some candy. When we get nervous on the boat it helps to have some
candy. It’s a little reward to get through difficult places. We
stopped at the A & P and got our meat. We bought a lot to freeze not
knowing what we’ll find in our journeys ahead.
I took Zig for a long walk around
the docks. I couldn’t find or see any of the boats we knew anymore.
They have all left to continue on their journey north. I took Zig
across the busy highway and found a stream and a path through the
woods.