COMMENTS: Larry is listening to the weather report for areas from Ketchikan to Kasaan.  Sunrise to Sunset. 5:00-22:00. 

While he’s listening I’m watching two eagles that have perched on top of the tallest mast in the harbor.  They are making the funniest noises that echo throughout the harbor.  It’s a sound hard to describe, kind of like when Ziggy cries but jerky sounding. 

Our first stop today is local fuel dock down the channel.

Left fuel dock at 9:00 AM but a huge cruise ship is coming down the channel.  We had to wait at Ward Cove for two large ships to go by.  We made a last minute decision today to go to Kasaan instead of Neet’s Bay. 

We passed Prince of Wales Ferry – very cute!  Its green and beige with a red stripe at the bottom.  Then here comes the Statendam Cruise ship, black bottom, white top (Holland America). Not as fancy as some of the others.  We sure have seen a lot of cruise ships here in Ketchikan.

9:30 AM – The cruise ship & ferry have finally passed and we’re heading towards the Channel Is. marker.  The cruise ships kept Ohio Rock to their port.  We cruised in close to the totem village to get some pictures from the water.  Heading out now to the Inside Passage towards Kasaan. Clarence Straight is calm, but cloudy and overcast.

Saw huge some huge whale spouts – but no surfacing whales. 

FUEL DOCK GUY

The fuel dock guy was nice.  He helped us walk the boat down to South end of the fuel dock.  He said the hose was smaller and better for us (less pressure).  Most of the pumps have a lot of pressure to fill up the big ships quickly.  It also gave him more room on the fuel dock in case a big commercial boat came in, and also room for the fishing boats.  According to him, last year the weather was bad as he could count the nice days on 2 hands but this year except for the last 2 weeks has been pretty good. (So we’ll see how it is for us).  He said he eventually wants to move to a drier place like Oregon when his kids get bigger.  He moved here 20 years ago from Montana. He said Montana was dry and he had a hard time getting used to all the wetness up here. 

OTTER POOP

Ziggy was enamored with him and followed him down the dock to check on something on the old wooden dock.  I guess while he was down there Zig started to roll in something on the dock (turned out to be some otter poop) and the fuel guy shooshed him away to stop him from getting all messy and stinky (thank goodness).  I laughed because I could see Ziggy biting him on his rubber glove when he schooshed him away.  The fuel guy laughed and thought it was funny.

I asked where he liked to go when he had free time.  He said “Traitor’s Cove” was nice.  I don’t know where that is but we’ll look it up.

TOUGH TIMES FOR THE LOCALS

I asked why all the fishing boats were still at the docks and not out fishing.  “It is too early yet, they usually don’t start fishing until July.  The fisheries (fish farms) have been making it difficult for the fishermen.  Things have been pretty tough.  75 boats have gone out of business this year in Ketchikan alone and then now you can’t log, so the loggers are out of work too and the cruise ships are only here 3 months – so it’s getting worse” he said.

I remember Dewey, from s/v Jade, said the cruise ships have pretty much pulled out of Mid-East and Mediterranean after 9/11 and are all cruising up here now.  Maybe that’s why there are 4-5 ships and more in Ketchikan a day.  It’s really overcrowded with cruise ships unfortunately.  They just dominate the scenery and destroy the quaintness of the little towns.

KASAAN BAY

Clarence Strait was pretty calm so it was an easy crossing.  We headed into Kasaan Bay.  As we approached Kasaan, we couldn’t see the harbor until the very last minute.  We almost thought there was some mistake but once around the bend of a hill you see it.  There are several little houses (or bldgs) overlooking a nice crescent shaped bay.  The docks were in great shape with good planks on concrete blocks and very easy to tie up to.  They have a good metal ramp leading up to a cross bridge over to the road above the shoreline. 

OOPS!

We got ourselves docked, lines secured and Zig and I headed towards the ramp to go to shore.  As we got to the end of our dock we found out our dock was a free floating dock and wasn’t even connected to the other docks leading to shore.  There was about a three foot or more gap that we had to jump over to get to the docks connected to the shore.  It was fine now but if the seas got bumpy it could be dangerous trying to jump over it.  Ziggy was afraid to jump so that would mean I would have to hold him while I jumped.   A sign at our dock “transient dockage” so we assumed that’s where we were supposed to tie up to. 

There were 3 other boats in the harbor, one small red and white boat, with words across the side saying “SURVEY”.   Larry jumped across gap to the other dock and asked the people on that boat if it is OK to dock where they were.  The guy said he “didn’t know why not”.  So we untied the lines and moved over to the other docks.   Larry did a perfect job docking both times.  I could almost tippy toe from the boat to the dock, no jumping off this time.

CLEAR CUT

Once we got settled we noticed a fire on shore.  Someone was doing a burn.  It was kind of warm and inviting even though they probably were burning their garbage.  The sky is still cloudy and overcast.  It’s a beautiful setting though within a wide inlet with tall snow covered mountains at the end and green tree covered low lying hills on all other sides.  The only sad thing was that a lot of the hills were clear cut behind the harbor.  It was shocking to see actually as it was so ugly.  They completely cut everything and all that was left was just a mass of tangled rejected trees over the landscape.  Fortunately the way we were docked the boat faced away from it.  We looked out upon the cluster of quaint little cottages and the still intact forest behind them.  At the end of the crescent bay the shore extended out to a point which was covered completely in driftwood.  The inner part of the harbor has a deep beach and it’s covered with recently cut floating logs, hundreds of them, the remains of the logging clear cut, waiting to be picked up. 

There must be a 20 foot tide here because ramp is tall and the bridge is very long stretching across to the shore. I took Ziggy up ramp but had to carry him across the walking platform that seemed like it was 30 or 40 feet high off the ground.   It was scary if you looked down because the ramp is a metal open grid.   Ziggy didn’t like walking on it, kind of walking on a knife’s edge for Ziggy. 

KIDS DON’T FLOAT

At end of ramp is a little open hut (like rustic bus stop) and a child’s life jacket is hanging on the side under a sign.  The sign said something like “Kids don’t float so use one” and “Return when done”.   Below the sign was a homemade line painting of child floating dead in water.  It was gruesome I thought but maybe a child had drowned here at one time and they were making their point.

BACK STAB WALK?

There was a very rundown planked sidewalk to the right that was closed off and another to the left that looked almost new with a sign “Blackstab Lane”.  At first I thought it said “Back Stab lane”.  After that gruesome painting of the drowned child I didn’t what to expect next I guess and my mind just saw it as Back Stab.  I walked quite a ways on the planked path and followed it as it curved around the harbor.  As we neared the houses it then turned into a gravel path that came so close to the houses that I felt I was intruding so I walked up to the logging road.  Supposedly there are 1000 miles of logging roads on this island.  Can you imagine out here in the wilderness?

NOAA SURVEYORS

After Zig got a little exercise, I went back to get Larry.  As I came back to docks I met two young people that had driven in by truck.   They were friendly and wanted to see Ziggy.  I asked what they did here and they said they’re working for NOAA doing surveying to update the nautical charts.  They said they will be here this summer for two months working on it.  They have rented out the only B&B here.  The survey team has three boats, two of which are loaded with computers and other technical equipment.  They chart the depths by a sonar system that records the underwater topography and graphs it on the computer screen for them to record.   

DIRECTIONS TO THE TOTEMS

I asked about the totems and though they said they hadn’t gone to see them they knew where they were.  They said to take the boardwalk all the way through the village and then follow a path until you see sign for a café spelled KAFE but they said whatever you do, “Don’t eat there because it’s really bad”.  We were then to continue on past the B&B until we saw a little handmade sign that said “Totems” with an arrow pointing the direction to take through the forest. 

They were very young people, all in their early twenties.  The girl is from Seattle and boy is from Vancouver Island.

Zig and I headed back to the boat where I fixed some lunch and then we got our hiking shoes on and headed out to find the totems. 

KASAAN VILLAGE

Kasaan village, if you could call it that, was nothing more than a handful of houses or cottages.  They were simple rustic buildings, some in great disrepair, and others neatly groomed.  We passed a few old and no longer used (I think) outhouses covered in moss.  We saw several strange and somewhat scary big dogs eyeing us and Ziggy like we could be some tasty dinner.  Dogs up in Alaska I’ve noticed are on the big side, way big.  There was no one around except for a person or two that I caught a glimpse of as they were peeking out their windows but carefully hiding behind their curtains so as not to be seen.  We even saw one shy character looking at us from behind some bushes.  I guess we may have been intruding on their land, don’t know for sure.

We finally came to the café “KAFE” sign.  It was probably the nicest house here (and that’s not saying much).  It was decorated with old floats and debris probably washed in to shore from the ocean.  They had a surprisingly nice groomed lawn and a fenced in veggie garden with raised beds.

“DON’T EAT THERE”

We continued on past KAFE and noticed a sign that said “Temporarily closed as of May 20^th” and “Your animal poops, You Scoop”.    The house was painted an odd lavender and yellow which seemed very out of place for this strange place.  It was also part of the B&B that the survey people are staying.  I can’t imagine having to stay there for the whole summer.   Where do they eat or buy their food?  How do they cook?  Hmm.

“TO TOTEMS”

We finally found the small hand made sign “To Totems” marking a small opening in the forest just past the B&B.  You never would have guessed this was it or never would have found it if we hadn’t talked to those kids.  The entrance was impeded by a fallen log, but no problem, someone just cut a squared off wedge out of it so you could step over. 

A FAIRYLAND

Once inside the forest we found this beautifully maintained path through the most wonderful forest filled with ferns and a thick carpet of moss that covered just about everything.  It was magnificent and through the open areas you were rewarded with glimpses of the ocean and beach covered in smooth rocks and weathered grey driftwood washed in by the ocean storms.  There were wonderful streams cascading down through the forest to beach.  Each stream that the path lead to had a handmade wooden bridge built over it with hand carved railings made out of tree limbs.  It looked like a fairyland.   

Ziggy ran through the forest with glee and jumped and poked into everything.  The moss was so thick that it was like being in the most perfectly acoustically controlled quiet environment and as you walked across the mossy pads, it was so soft and scrunchy, almost like foam rubber.  The forest, thick with tall trees which covered the landscape with a green canopy and occasionally there would be an opening to allow the sun to shed a spot light onto the most beautiful natural meadows with wild flowers and meandering streams.   

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I’D EVER SEEN

It was so beautiful that we actually for a moment forgot about what brought us here and that was to see totems, when suddenly as we stopped to admire the most beautiful glimpse through a meadow we noticed these two totem poles that projected from the soil as large as the tallest trees.  They blended into the environment so naturally that you thought they had sprouted from a seed and just grew up alongside everything else, a natural creation.   I’ll never forget that sight as long as I live.  The sun shown on these magnificent poles standing so proudly amongst the landscape, yet quiet and strong, asking for no special attention, just magnificent in their quiet strength.   They weren’t by the path, but in the forest, away from this beautifully cared for path and our foot steps, to be admired from a safe distance.  It truly was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. 

THE LONG HOUSE

Though we were breath taken by the sight we continued on the path and came to what we know to recognize as their long house.  It looked authentically original and a bit worn.  The top opening, which is built open to let the smoke out from the traditional center fire inside was in disrepair but the building overall was beautiful and in good shape.  The sight chosen for the building was situated in the most prominent spot in the landscape.  It overlooked the bay and beautiful long beach.  It couldn’t have been situated more perfectly.  It was weathered to a light grey, matching the nature surrounding it and all the weathered drift wood along the shore.  Nearby in a cleared area there were more totems again nestled in the grass and forest.  There was a wonderful small whale totem and grizzly totem and others.  No one was around which was the most amazing thing beyond the beauty and serenity of this magical place.  We were able to see and enjoy this place entirely to ourselves. 

Inside the long house we found three totems inside.  There were recent remnants of a fire in the traditional spot in the center so this place is being used.  It was truly fabulous.

We walked along the beach and searched for trading beads – but no luck.  We’ve heard of people finding them still, remnants of centuries long past when white man came in their canoes with white wings.

We spent along time enjoying this special place and though it was a little like being in heaven it was time to head back. 

LITTLE HELICOPTERS

As we made our way back on this amazing path through the forest we listened to the sounds of the forest.  There are no sounds like that which we are so familiar with, that of cars, or motors or people’s voices.  You only hear the silence and life of the forest.  In fact we had to stop in our steps at one point as the sound of our clothes rubbing together and our shoes touching the path beneath us at times seemed deafeningly loud.  It was strange but true and it simply took away from the essence of everything.  Although I have to admit at one point I had to stop to listen as I thought I had heard a small motor in the distance, like helicopters.  It was hard to tell where it came from and what it was until something swooped by my head and we soon discovered it was huge mosquitoes zooming around us.  Once they found us, they followed us all the way out the forest.  They were gigantic and somehow in the unusual environment acoustically resembled mini helicopters.  It was comical and we couldn’t quite believe it.

BACK ON THE BOAT

As I’m writing this the tide has come in.  The exposed shore is gone and it’s a totally new environment.  The water is calm and clear reflecting the landscape like a mirror and a seal is playing quietly in the water on his back nearby the boat.  Each time he comes up he looks at us as if to see if we’re watching him like a kid showing off.  Ziggy sees him and does his “big shot” bark at him, flinging his head up vertically with the last of the 3 barks in a series for impact shockingly echoing across the harbor.  I wonder if he impressed this seal with his display and all that fur he managed to puff out to make him appear bigger. 

The sky towards the setting sun is showing the most intense color of deep blue between the clouds.  The clouds are separating and the snow capped mountains are appearing bigger and more impressive as the clouds reveal them.  The colors are turning pink, blue, blue grey and gold.  It’s late but the sun goes down late around here and I hate to go to bed because this time of evening is so beautiful and wonderfully quiet and the animals seem to come out at this time.  There is not a sound except for the small ripple in the water of our friendly little seal.  Everyone human is sleeping including Larry but Zig and I are enjoying this most perfect moment.   I glance over at the small cluster of cottages and buildings and see a couple dull lights glimmering threw a window or two.  Guess someone else in this strange shy village is up also.

WHAT’S LEFT?

The next day we took a little hike around the logged area and the nearby buildings.  We noticed there is a community hall with a neat Indian design painted across the entire end of the building.  We also saw a small school house.  So… there must be children here though we haven’t seen a soul. 

At the other end of the settlement are the remains of buildings left over from the cannery.  An old steam engine is propped in the weeds off to the side of the gravel road.  There is a lonely sign who I wonder who sees it now a days, in remembrance to someone who contributed so much to the cannery, dated 1914-1953.

There are a couple little log pushing tugs pushed over in a large pile of debris and weeds.  They are rusty and weathered though still sturdy looking but now looking long forgotten.  They are funny comical looking things, like a small tough toy.  There is a small little helm station compartment only big enough for just one person to stand in.   

We passed a poor dog hobbling down the pass with one missing leg.  He didn’t look well cared for and I imagine has to manage on his own.  There are no pampered pets here or frequent trips to the vet for whatever ailment.  You just survive if you can.

Once the loggers get done ravaging the country side there isn’t much left.  It looks terrible.  Usually when coming ashore I wonder about bears being nearby but what could survive here?  Where could a bear or animal hide?  The land has been savagely ripped of any shelter and the animals are gone.  Just a few hours away by boat there are eagles and other animals galore – but not here, not an animal to be seen except for this poor pitiful forgotten sad dog. 

MORE POOP!

Ziggy had to have another bath because he found some more otter poop on the docks that he rolled in.  He thinks it’s a very nice perfume I guess because he always gets a very silly smile on his face when he get’s that terrible stink on him.

After his bath, he was feeling pretty frisky and ornery.  He must have spotted the otter (that who obviously was responsible for that great smelling poop on the dock) lounging on the end of the dock because all of a sudden Zig took off down the dock like a bullet and made a sharp turn to race down the other dock and charged behind a boat.  I lost sight of him behind the boat at that point and then I heard a big splash like he had mistaken the distance and fell in to the water!  I ran down dock and turned to head down the next dock and instead of him in the water dog paddling trying to keep his head above water, I could see him still on the dock, butt up, front paws hanging over the dock, balancing, trying to keep from falling in, but still in the chase mode.  I could see the little otter off to a safe distance now but in the water with a big wide eyed surprised look.  that must have dove for his life off that dock just in the nick of time to escape this strange white speeding animal racing towards him.  He dove under the water again and popped up one more time, giving us all a long look and then off he dove, not to be seen again while we were there.  

It’s our last night here.  Such a contrast, one view is total beauty and magic of the forest and the other, the logged out area, is devastation and sadness.  I give the place one last glance soaking up the night sky as the sun finally begins to go down.  I see a dolphin breaking the perfect surface of the harbor.  He’s moving slow and gracefully, only the sound of the small puff of his breath as he surfaces is audible.  I thought I saw a dolphin in the harbor earlier in the day and told Larry but he escaped from our view until now.  He’s beautiful.  Just the two of us, in the quiet of the night and all this beauty. 

COMMENTS:  We were up at 6:30 AM which was several hours after the sun had already come up.  We heard a small skiff turn on his motor and leave early.  Otherwise the place is dead quiet.  I guess without the 10 survey people, their 2 boats, and several cars, it would be almost like a ghost town here but now it’s just a sleepy village.  The survey people start surfacing about 7:00 AM.

I took Zig out and we walked around behind the houses near the cannery on the upper road.  There’s an old saw mill there and abandoned rusting tractors, trucks and log lifts.  Zig and I went around a corner of a building and came face to face with a deer behind the saw mill.  We looked at each other for a minute.  It was strange standing there, silently only a few feet from each other staring into each others eyes.  Even Zig was mesmerized and stayed silent.  Then the deer took off running up into the scraped wilderness with no place to hide.

NOT IN OUR LIFETIME

I talked to the survey girl again.  She said there are 27 people that live here year round and 10 of them are children.  She said the logging roads don’t connect to other parts of the island so what you see is it.  She said someone here sold out to loggers and that’s why it’s clear cut.  I said, trying to be positive, “It will grow back eventually.”  She said “Not in our life time.  They did a bad job as it will all erode and will take much longer to regenerate.” 

We talked about what it must be like to live up here year round and then she said there’s an 80 year old woman that lives in a rustic old log cabin on a little island nearby.  She has lived there all her life and refuses to leave. 

They said they haven’t been able to catch one fish since they’ve been here but said the crabbing and shrimping are good.

TIME TO GO

As we were getting ready to leave some huge wakes made by a small ferry just about knocked me off the dock.  I had just untied the lines and only had a center tie when the waves splashed over the docks and everything was rocking and rolling like an unstable roller coaster.  I wonder if that ferry captain has any idea what his wakes do to this peaceful setting at the docks when he goes by.  Everyone scrambles to recover from his passing.

NOAA SURVEYORS

So we took off on this unusually flat water with the sun shining and a cool temperature of 49 degrees blowing briskly across our faces.  The sun was shining though so it was OK and made it even seem a little warm.    Ziggy and I sat on bow together all the way out the channel.  The surveyors sped by in their red and white computer filled boat and waved to us.  We watched as they raced ahead and then turned towards the rocky wave splashed shore, and followed its shoreline, in and out, following every curvature and sharp turn perfectly recording the depth and all the irregularities.  I can sure appreciate their service and hard work to update our charts as their work looks very dangerous and quite tedious

At the tip of Kasaan Channel, we round the corner not going through passage between the rocky islets, leaving that challenge to the surveyors.  The place was crawling with sea lions who had managed to climb up on the rugged rocks to rest, chat and sun themselves in this unusually sunny day.

Clarence Channel was flat and the sky cloudless today with absolutely no wind that we can detect.  We decide to by pass the little village of Myers Chuck today as the weather is so great.  We’ll take advantage and instead get further along on our journey.  We’re planning to head to Santa Anita Cove to drop our anchor tonight.  Myers Chuck is supposed to be a cute little village but we’ll stop there on our way south again in several weeks. 

I didn’t keep track of our travels on the paper charts today.  Our cruise today was simple, no fog or rain and it warmed up to a high of 55 degrees so Ziggy and I just sat out on the bow of the boat and watched the world go by.  We saw sea lions, ducks, birds, dolphins, and lots of small whales.  It was fantastic!

We glanced through an opening to Myers Chuck as we passed by.  It looked like a cute place so I want to make sure we stop there on the way back. 

SANTA ANITA INLET

We anchored easily in Santa Anita Inlet.  It reminds me a lot of Bottleneck anchorage.  When we arrived there were two other US boats.  They were enjoying the good weather too, just exploring the anchorage floating around on their dinghies and kayaks.  I was surprised to see that both of the boats had dogs!!  That’s the first we’ve seen since we’ve come this far north.  The people are very friendly and immediately came by to say “hello”.  One couple was from Vancouver and the other people were from Telluride, CO.  They had their dog riding with them in their kayak.  She paddles the kayak to a rocky ledge along the shore and the dog jumps off and then runs along shore and follows her.  He gets a little exercise and then she pulls in close to shore again and he jumps back on. It’s so cute!  I think Ziggy could easily do that.  I wish I had a kayak too.

One of the women said she emailed home that “the weather has been so wet and terrible that she could make do with 3 kinds of clothes: clean, dirty and rubber and they’re all wet”.   That’s pretty funny though very true.

Later the man from Vancouver came by and warned us about a big grizzly that’s been spotted on shore – “so watch out for Ziggy!” he said.

I cleaned the boat up a little and took a nap.  Larry tried to fish but again no luck.  We have no knack for fishing so we put a crab trap out.  We’ll see what happens.

COMMENTS: We’re up early again at 6:00 AM.  It’s hard to sleep when the sun comes up at 4:30 AM.  Last night I kept incorporating the sound of the nearby waterfall into my dreams unconsciously.  First I was dreaming the sprinklers at home were left on and were flooding the yard then I dreamed I was at my friend’s house, but the design was all different and modern like a Frank Lloyd Wright house with a big Japanese style waterfall running through it.  Crazy, wonder what it means. 

As I drink my morning coffee I watch the guy from Telluride row his dog ashore.  The dog looks like a reddish colored sheep dog.  It’s a beautiful serene anchorage here.  The tide has recessed giving the shore a hugeness that can’t easily be described as the scale of everything is so enormous up here in Alaska.  The skiff is breaking the perfect mirror like water creating repetitive patterns.  It’s quiet and peaceful.  I watch as he walks his dog ashore and plays Frisbee with him for a long time.  It’s hard for dogs to get their normal exercise when cruising on boats up here.  I bet his dog is really enjoying the fun.  The only glitch to this peaceful picture is that the guy is packing a rifle on his back and is constantly checking the woods watching for the grizzly.  He never goes to shore without it.  I’m not sure he needs it for protection as the bears seem to keep to themselves but I guess you never know.  One thing for sure is those people love their dog.  You can tell by all the attention they give it. 

The other couple in the anchorage are dog lovers too.  The guy is constantly in his skiff with his golden retriever motoring here and there.  I assume he’s checking his shrimp or crab traps.  Everywhere he goes the dog goes with him.  All of us at anchor have crab traps out.  That seems to be the big activity of the day.  Several times a day, everyone goes and checks their traps.  Nothing much else to do really.  Some are picking up their catch and others are putting more bait in and dropping the traps for another catch.  

THE JOYS OF CRABBING

Larry brought the trap back this time he checked it to show me what he caught.  He had two huge sun fish inside and one crab.  The bait was still uneaten.  Ziggy is riding on the side of the dinghy because there’s not enough room for him with the big crab trap.  Larry is so funny trying to get the crab out and save it while trying to get the huge grey monstrous sun fish out.  He doesn’t have his protective gloves on so I get his gloves and throw them to him.  In the mean time the crab bites him and in a jerk reaction throws it on the seat.  Larry stands up in the dinghy now shaking the trap trying to get those sun fish out and Zig is calmly sitting on side watching the whole seen.  Larry’s trying very hard to shake the sun fish out but not shake out the bait.  The crab now is upside down on the seat behind Larry and snapping his claws in the air at Larry’s rear which is just barely out of reach.  Larry finally manages to get the sunfish out but now can’t sit because the crab is on the seat still snapping at him, so he manages to run the dinghy standing up holding the crab trap in one hand, the wheel to steer the dinghy in the other, Zig sitting on side and the snapping crab on the seat. 

He motors alongside the swim step to the boat and manages to pull up our plastic bucket with holes punched in it to store crabs.  It’s heavy as the water slowly drains out through the holes, and still he is balancing this whole scene. Finally the water drains out and then he wrestles with the lid and finally gets it off.  He grabs the snapping crab and tosses him in with the other two he caught last night, but only after he manages to measure it with our yellow plastic measurer which he has to get his glasses out to see if it is big enough and then I throw some new meat to him because during this whole process the old bait has fallen out.  He rebaits the trap and off he and Zig go to a new location over by the stream.  That’s where everyone is putting their traps now, so they must know something we don’t know.  We’ll try that area too.  Can’t say the whole task of crabbing is easy or even much fun but it sure is funny to watch.  Larry comes back to get his rubber boots now so he can take Zig ashore.  The tide is out so he has a good sandy landing and wants to take advantage of it.  I watch again as they head to shore and as he nears the shore I can see him swatting mosquitoes with his hat.  Lots of work this boating.

ANOTHER TRY AT FISHING

We packed up our gear and decided to try out some fishing before lunch.   We admit we don’t know a thing about fishing but what the heck it would be fun to be like the rest of the people up here and catch a nice fresh fish for dinner.  We don’t have much hope but thought it would be fun to try.

WEIRD FISH?

So we all three pile into the dinghy and putted out the anchorage.  We had luck right away, sooner than we expected or wanted and caught a small fish.  It caught us totally by surprise.  When we pulled it up it was the weirdest looking fish we’d ever seen.  It was brownish and very flat like a oval shaped pancake and had two weird eyeballs on one side!  Now, Larry is from Iowa and didn’t eat fish before he met me, so he didn’t have the foggiest clue as to what it was and now seeing a fish in the flesh I’m sure had thoughts of never eating fish again.  I thought it was some weird mutation of a fish.  We surely didn’t know what it was and certainly didn’t want any part of this strange looking alien so quickly decided the best thing would be to release it right away, hoping it would survive and let it go it’s own way.  I’m not sure if it survived because it kind of swam down slow and lopsided but maybe that was because it was so mutated?  Poor thing. (Later of course we identified it on our trusty plastic Alaskan fish card that we had thrown away a nice tasty halibut! Rats!)

LET’S GET SERIOUS

Larry decided he’d better go back to the boat and get the fish net we bought in Friday Harbor and a bucket to put whatever we caught in it.  When I saw the net I broke out laughing.  I asked him what he thought he was going to catch with that.  It was only 10” in diameter and he looked like he was going gold fish hunting and the bucket, just a small household bucket that you would normally store bait in.  That’s when I knew we were in trouble.  What the heck does he think we’re going to catch up here in Alaska of all places where everything is big, really BIG?  Never the less, we rebaited up the fishing line with one of those goofy fluorescent wiggly things that the guy in Lund, BC said would be a sure thing to catch a salmon and off we headed out the cove again. 

Oh well, we laughed about it and said we’ve got to learn somehow and puttered out the cove again.  I think mostly we just wanted the adventure of it, just to see what it was like to putter around in Alaska, in a cove far away from everything, in the big wild country.  We were really just enjoying motoring close by the steep shore and seeing if we could see into the forest.  Maybe we’ll see some bears or other wildlife.  We were so naïve to this whole Alaska thing but were having a good time.  It was fun just enjoying the scenery. 

MOTHER GRIZZLY AND HER TWO CUBS

Well, naïve or not, we hit the jackpot! As we passed a small grassy patch along the shore, there to our amazement, was a mama grizzly with her 2 cubs!  Plain as day right in front of us.  We didn’t go too close as we know the bears will get very possessive when they have cubs around so we watched from a good distance.  It didn’t last long as mama bear soon sensed we were there and once she caught sight of us, growled and reared up and then scooted here cubs into the forest out of sight.  We could hear her low growl warning us away.  Wow, we just couldn’t believe it!

WHALES!

We continued out the cove and in just a few minutes after seeing the bears we were amazingly rewarded with the sight of a whale nearby splashing and blowing.  At first I didn’t know what it was because it was so loud and large.  The size is especially enhanced when you are in a mere little rubber dinghy and this thing is way bigger than that.  It was a little frightening at first but exhilarating.  I was a little afraid and didn’t want Larry to get too close for fear they might dive down and swim over and tip us over.  All those images from those Moby Dick movies were flashing through my mind (you just can’t help yourself having grown up in Southern California near Hollywood.)   

BULGING EYED ROCK FISH

Suddenly, in the midst of all the whale activity, we caught another fish!  What a time to catch a fish but what are you gonna do?  It was like so much to see and do all at the same time.  Larry reeled it in quickly and right away we figured it was too small to keep (now thinking anything up here has got to be big).  It again, was a weird looking fish, all reddish and great bulging ugly eyes.  By the time we got the hook out it was dead and no way to send it on its merry way.  We felt very bad about it.  We don’t like killing anything and for no purpose it really was laying heavy on us.  Poor fish, even though it had those weird eyes.  (Later, of course we realized after identifying it on the trusty card, it was a good eating rock fish and now know that their eyes bulge out when pulled up from the deep from the water pressure.)  Oh well, this isn’t going the way we imagined nor fun but we continue on. 

MORE WHALES!

We poked the dinghy out into the main channel and this time saw and heard several large whales.  First it was the blows (you know like in Moby Dick “Thar she blows”?  Exactly like that.)  The first blow was very close to us so we cautiously proceeded and then there was a huge blow and down the channel one came completely out of the water and flopped down with a gigantic splash!  He was huge!  It was exhilarating but also terrifying is again the only way I can describe it.  These animals are huge, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen.  We could hear him talk or communicate, you know those whale sounds!!  I just couldn’t believe it.  We tried to get some closer pictures but I was afraid because they were so huge and so close.

We watched in awe and amazement for awhile until they were out of sight as they made their way down the channel.   This place is filled with wild life!  We are having the time of our lives.

SEA CUCUMBER WITH STICKERS?

We caught one more thing before we decided to head back to the boat.  Again it was something that we thought was a really weird looking thing.  It was a big sea cucumber, really gross looking thing.  It had hard stickers all over it and very slimy looking.  Larry and I both argued with each about who was going to take it off the hook.  I absolutely refused to touch it so Larry had to manage.  I must say, that that was the final straw, we officially decided end to our fishing adventures, well at least until we gave it one more try up near Sitka several weeks later. 

ROAR OF A GRIZZLY, AND THE LITTLE BEARDED OTTER, AND THE HUNGRY EAGLES

We headed back into our inlet to our anchorage and we heard another low roar emanating from the forest which we are sure it was a grizzly, maybe that grouchy mama bear.  You just know when you hear it, there’s no mistaking what it is.  We also puttered nearby a little sea otter.  He’s so cute and looks like a little bearded man floating on his back in the water.  Two eagles zoomed over head several times and seemed to followed our dinghy back into the cove.  I had suspicions they were eyeing Zig, wondering if he was too big to grasp in their talons and fly home for dinner.  We were going as fast as the dinghy would go on plane and they were right with us all the way.

We slowed down and motored up close to a stream that was emptying out into the inlet.  We looked hard in through the woods and could see the steep mountain rise sharply behind where the stream originated from a wonderful waterfall.  Afraid to go in to the forest because of the bears so we were satisfied to walk along the shore.

RUSTY AND ROTTING RUINS OF DAYS GONE BY

There are some remnants of what we think may have been from a gold mining sight nearby.  Several pieces of old rusted machinery is all that’s left.  We also saw tree poles in the water, rotting away.  May have been left from a make shift pier or an ancient fish lure.  It looked much like the ones we saw in Lowe Inlet on the BC Coast. 

The weather is still warm but it’s starting to sprinkle.  The barometer has been going up and down.  It’s now at 1020 at 6:00 PM.  The sun doesn’t go down until 11:00 PM and it comes up at 4:00 AM so it’s hard to get any real sleep.  We also have an amazing 20 foot tide in here.

OUR FRIENDS ROLL IN

About 5:00 PM MV/Kluane and their friend MV/Pilgrim pulled in to the anchorage from Ketchikan.  Another sailboat came in called Ghoster.  We chatted a little on the radio with Kluane to see what each other have been doing and say “hello”.  They’re planning to go all the way to Elfin Cove!  Good for them!

They’re having dinner with their friends tonight eating fish that they caught today.  Guess they had better luck than us.  We were too embarrassed to tell them of our fishing adventure and failures.  It sounds like we’re all leaving the anchorage tomorrow heading for a new place to explore.  Oh, and we also had a little 20 foot (at the most) Bay liner come in early today and anchor right next to us.  Kluane had a tough time getting hooked but after three tries got a good bite.

WHERE’D THAT CRAB POT GO?

Forgot to mention the crab pot episode that happened today.  Larry left early to check the crab pot before we went fishing.  He soon came back and said it was gone.  Where could it be?  We thought a boat that had come in the night before and left early had taken it.  It was an odd thing to think that someone would do but was the only thing we could think had happened.  Now we had no crab pot and with our sad skills at fishing, we needed it.  I suggested hailing him on the radio.  Maybe he thought it was his and mistakenly took it.  We could at least ask him.  So foolishly we did.  They said they didn’t see it. 

Several hours later though we are embarrassed to say the crab pot showed up.  Of course it turned out to be that big 20 foot tide that we forgot to consider when laying out enough line.  When the tide came in it completely covered over the trap for several hours until it went out again and Voila, there it was plain as day.  Guess we’ve got a whole lot to learn up here in Alaska.  We’re feel much like a couple of city slickers I guess and feeling pretty sheepish about now.

Surprisingly, I got really sun burnt on my while we were out on the dinghy yesterday.  I’m still suffering today with a swollen face.  Who would’ve ever thunk that you could get sun burned up here for Pete’s sake?

Larry’s back, again, from checking that crab trap.  No crab but the bait is gone and the door was wide open.  Larry says, “Something big got in there and it’s gone!”  Oh well, that’s another one we’ll leave to our imagination.

Well that evening another grizzly came out to graze on some nice green grass along the shore near all the anchored boats.  It was an awesome sight as we all sat on the back of our boats, having some wine and silently watching this amazing powerful creature.  We’ve seen so much in this wonderful anchorage, really more than anyone would ever believe if we told them and more than we would ever expect.  How lucky we’ve been and if that wasn’t enough we saw just one more little interesting creature, a little flying squirrel just before dusk, flying from one tall tree to another.  Amazing. Wow, what a place! 

Larry hailed Kluane on the radio one more time before nightfall.  They were joking with us about up here it’s the same scenery as what we could see far south where at least the sun shines all the time.  All these monotonous green hills and trees and mountains. (Of course, we’re joking as it’s so beautiful and all the wonderful wildlife.)   Jerry (a Canadian of course) said “you Americans paid the Russians way too much for this wasteland of Alaska.  Larry joked back that it looks exactly like where we came from except with out sun.  We were all kidding of course because this IS a wonderful place and were glad that we could all share it together.

COMMENTS:

Kluane and Pilgrim left before us.  They said they are heading to Johnson Cove (haven’t figured out where that is yet but will check it on our charts later) and then they are heading on to Petersburg.   We’ll probably bump into them somewhere along the way.  Everyone pretty much makes the big loop first time up here so the likely hood we’ll wee them again is good.

TIME TO GO

We left at 8:30 AM.  I started the engines, electronics and brought the anchor up to the old yellow mark and Larry finished it from there.  We had a bit of a scary moment.  The anchor bunched up on top and Larry had to let it out.  The thing went crazy and kept dropping in water until it hit ground.  Larry went below and straightened chain out and we repeated procedure with no problems.  We think maybe we didn’t flake the chain enough.  We’ll do more flaking of chain next time. 

“LITTLE FART BOAT”

We were glad to leave the little boat that came in an anchored late next to us.  We nicknamed it the little “fart” boat because he didn’t have any chain, only rope for the anchor line, and thus was swinging all over the place nearly side swiping us several times and when he ran his generator it put out stinky smoke, therefore the name “little fart boat”.  He still had his anchor light on when we left (only about 5 hours after sunrise).  They never said “hello or goodbye” like the rest of the boaters.  The man only came out of his boat once and that was to set the anchor.  She only came out once to look at the shore with the binoculars for a second. 

WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE WITH BRANCHES!

As we headed out the cove, I saw what I thought was a dead head in the water.  It was floating across the cove in front of our path.  It looked like it had a root base to it with several short limbs sticking up out of the water.  I told Larry to watch out for it.  It was moving pretty quickly so there must be a strong current up ahead.  There was no way of knowing how big it was under the water and how it stretched out so we had better steer clear in the narrow path out of the inlet. 

As we slowly got closer it turned out to be a deer with antlers swimming across the cove in front of us.  Amazing.  We watched the poor frightened thing as we gained on him.  He finally got to the other side and struggled up the rocky slippery steep side of the shore and disappeared into the forest.

FROSTY BAY

We headed out Seward Passage.  We checked Frosty Bay out for a possible future anchorage on the way back south.  It looked nice but what could be better than Santa Anita Cove?  Frosty Bay is definitely not as protected.  It looks like there is a little cabin there and lots of green areas to walk around on.   There weren’t masses of seals on the entry rocks as the cruising guide says. 

CHART WRONG?

We think the chart is wrong at N. Point of Deer Island.  The rocks come out much further and are so narrow at times that they look like a huge log (Called Kuakan Pt).  Be careful there.

ZIMORIA STRAIT

Came through Zimoria Straight with no problem.  I searched the shore to see where years ago the Indians moved the shoreline rocks to make room for their canoes to land but didn’t see the area until we were out of the strait on North Side next to the house with the turquoise fence.  We passed an old deserted building marked on chart as deserted village.  You cruise by and look at the old homestead and wondered about the people that lived there and how hard it must have been.

As you come out of Strait at Turn Island you can clearly see more areas where the rocks were moved aside to make a nice flat area for “canoe ramps”.  The shores there were covered in shells (middens).  You can clearly see one of these landing patches on one island and another one on the main shore.  Those definitely are left over from Indian settlements.

As we come up Zimovia Strait we see Kluane and Pilgrim ahead.  Larry remembered they are going to St. John Harbor on Zrembo Island.

There was a submerged rock, actually two that we avoided in center channel. 

WRANGELL

We head into Wrangell our destination for the next few days and hailed the harbor master who gave us instructions to “just raft up where ever you can”.  We saw a small 40 foot Nordhavn and weren’t sure if it was Hapgood or not.  We didn’t think rafting up to them would be an easy as their sides are tall and it would be hard to climb on and off their boat from ours to get to the dock.  So we selected another boat similar in style and size to ours, a trawler.    We had never rafted up to anyone before so this again would be another new experience.  It didn’t look like anyone was on the boat so we’ll have to manage this totally on our own.

I had to put plenty of fenders out to protect both our boats.  When we got close enough to their boat I couldn’t see anything to tie to on their boat so I had to actually jump on to their boat.  They had 2 kayaks tied along the gangway that I had to stumble over and then had to move a big heavy bucket of homemade wire that was in the way.  I must say I truly think that they had purposely put all this stuff there to discourage anyone from rafting next to them.  No kidding! After lots of bruises and tripping and cussing I finally got tied up not without experiencing a lot of stress! 

Most of the boats here at the docks are fishing boats waiting until next weekend when they can officially start commercial fishing.  The boat we tied up to was called MV/Up Spirits II.  We met the owners later when they returned.  Their names were Chris and Jane from Vancouver, BC, both with English accents again.

I immediately took Zig for walk because we had been anchored for 2 days in a bear haven so he needed some exercise and a chance to get off the boat for awhile.  That’s hard for an inquisitive full of energy Jack Russell to stay confined like he’s had to do but he does a great job.  We headed down the main dock and what a bunch of characters are in this place!  This must be the real Alaska!  I checked out the Nordhavn and it was Hapgood who we had met early on at the start of our trip.  They were gone. 

WHAT A DUMP?

My 1^st impression of Wrangell was as ole Betty Davis used to put it so precisely: “What a dump!”  First impressions are that it’s just a bunch of junky buildings – nothing quaint or notably architectural or even historical.  There were no restaurants that I could see right off the bat or if there was one, I wouldn’t even think of eating in it.  The city docks looked nice but exposed out on the outer harbor.

Larry and I took a walk to see if we could find a place to get a cup of coffee.  By the time we got to the only place in town that you could get a cup of coffee, they were closed of course.  The harbor master office recommended only 2 places to eat: Zak’s or the Siskine Inn.  The Inn might be OK.  The City Market, the local grocery store, seemed fine and I did notice another grocery that looked only OK.  There was a hardware and marine store, a sporting goods and clothing store, and a few other stores that didn’t mean much or look very interesting.  That’s it – but actually looking back on it that was a lot compared to what we came across up the BC Coast.

We came back to the boat after our walk said “hello” to Hapgood and introduced Jane and Chris (the Canadians that we rafted to) to them.  We saw the Canadians in the grocery store and they walked all the way back to boat with us.

Hapgood invited us for drinks later and when we got there they had invited the Canadians too.  The Canadians brought their wine in a coke bottle, home made I guess.

We had a good time but left early as I was really tired.  Hapgood had taken a glacier tour that day and said we all should take it as it was spectacular.  They said they saw baby seals on ice bergs and the weather was good with no rain.

The Canadians wanted to know if we wanted to go on the glacier tour tomorrow with them.  We said we’d let them know in morning.  I was totally exhausted and just wanted to hit the sack

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