Tuesday, May 24
We decided to spend a second night in Shearwater Marina. We’d hoped to wash the boat since it is literally caked with salt and to enjoy an Internet connection. According to the lady at the grocery store, the marina suffered a devastating storm early this spring which tore up the docks. They lost water and power to the docks and they haven’t yet been repaired. We were able to get an Internet connection but it was $10 per computer! Jan did get the first installment on the Alaska trip blog posted and had some email communications. We had not realized how hard it would be for us to be away from Internet access for so many days. Not only do we miss the communications connections, but also a random question will arise that we cannot answer. The immediate solution is to Google the problem, but, of course, we cannot.
We did get the dinghy down and to take a look at Shearwater’s sister community, Bella Bella, just across the channel. It looks like a tough life up here. Obviously the winters are severe and the economy is at the subsistence level. We did see a couple of fishing resort places and the locals say that salmon and halibut fishing are good in these waters. There are even two airports near Shearwater! If this were your destination, flying here would be the way to come.
Wednesday, May 25
We departed at 0800 with a destination of Kynoch Inlet. We cruised through Fjordland Recreation Area. Beautiful, stunning, breath-taking! Not only were the peaks around us beautiful but also we saw waterfalls everywhere. If we’d had a bright, sunny day, this would have been stupendous.
We arrived in Khutze Inlet about 7 PM and saw a black bear on shore, just as we entered. We watched a bald eagle watch us from his perch in a tree on shore. Smokey the Boat Cat stayed in side! Jan has heard too many stories about small pets being carried off by bald eagles!
These channels we’ve been cruising through are amazingly deep – as much as 1500 feet. Anchoring can be a bit of an issue, but in this little inlet, we anchored just off sand spit in about 40 feet of water. Sweet! We had a quiet, restful night on anchor…much better than our last anchorage in Baresides Bay!
May 26
We were off again this next morning at 0800…early for us! We decided to take a detour to Kitamet Bay and MK Marina. Our two info books both made this place sound like an interesting little spot and we were still interested in washing the boat. We had a bouncy ride as we entered Kitamat Channel…broke a second glass in the cupboard. One of Chuck’s scotch glasses…rats!
We got to the marina about 1530 and were glad to dock. It was quite a unique place. Their “breakwater” was a string of logs! We parked on the outside of the guest dock, so there wasn’t much between the bouncy waves and us.
It was a short walk into the town of Kitamet Village, a First Nations village. The larger town was about 4 miles down the road. On the other side of the bay is a large ALCOA aluminum plant, which must be the primary employer in the area. We saw a huge ship moored at their dock…unloading or unloading, we couldn’t tell.
Kitamet Village showed evidence of lots of government support. The houses looked fairly new and had lovely new siding. In spite of a drizzle, we walked to a restaurant that had great seafood and ringside seats for eagle watching!
May 27
After the rock and roll ride we had going north through Kitamet Channel yesterday, we decided to blast off early and dodge the afternoon winds blowing through Douglas Channel as we headed south to Grenville Channel. We had a beautiful passage all the way down and were once again entertained with innumerable waterfalls along both shores. We arrived at the south end of Grenville Channel about 1200. This big channel, called “the trench”, is the major route to Alaska for the cruise ships. We’re expecting to see lots of them as we approach Ketchikan.
Grenville Channel proved to be another quiet, lovely cruise. We saw high peaks and many waterfalls all around us. We did not see a single cruise ship but did see a tug with a tow. Our AIS info told us he was headed for Sitka…quite a ways away…and the barges looked to be carrying construction stuff complete with a crew trailer and a boat! I think that captain earns his money!
Our destination for this night was Baker Inlet, an inlet off Grenville Channel. Originally we thought we would anchor at Lowe Inlet, but our early start resulted in the decision to go a little farther. We were glad we did! Although the entrance into the inlet, Watts Narrows, was a VERY narrow channel and had a couple of doglegs we made good use of our navigation equipment and had no trouble!
About five miles up the channel, we found a lovely little cove and anchored in about 40 feet of water. We were basically in a bowl, surround by mountains and waterfalls. It was warm enough to sit outside for awhile and enjoy the scenery. The only wildlife we saw were a couple of Canadian geese grazing on shore, but we were greeted by four harbor seals sitting on a big log as we entered the cove.
The next morning we were up at 0500 to catch calm water as we exited through Watts Narrows into Grenville Channel. Yep, it’s plenty light up here at 0500! The anchor was up at 0515 and by that time it had become VERY foggy in this little inlet. Once again, the value of good navigation equipment, plus radar, paid off. We had less than 1/8 mile visibility in some places! We had seen only one other boat anchored in the inlet when we came in, so we were fairly certain we would not meet anyone, but always good to err on the side of caution! By the time we reached the narrows at the mouth of the inlet, it was clearing nicely so we had no problems.
The rest of the trip north up Grenville Channel was fairly uneventful and we arrived at Prince Rupert about 1000. On the way in we passed a facility that loads grain on ships. The interesting thing was they were loading coal! We wondered how they could effectively clean the silos, elevators, etc., etc., when it came time to load grain!
Prince Rupert Rowers and Yacht Club was another lovely place to tie up. The easy accessibility to power, water, and Internet service always impresses us! We took a walk around the city and could have easily stocked up on groceries at the nearby Safeway. This is the first city where we’ve seen lots of totem poles, and it is evident that they celebrate their First Nations heritage. They also obviously cater to the cruise ships that pull in. There was a large area near the harbor that looked quaint, well tended, and expensive…obviously stalking tourist dollars. We had dinner at cute little place called Smile’s Seafood Café and would definitely go there again…quaint and delicious!
May 29
Jerry and Chuck have become thoroughly convinced that early departures are the way to go, especially when we know we’ve got a big body of water to traverse. Today our destination is Ketchikan and we cruise across Dixon Entrance. This area is totally exposed to Pacific Ocean influences and can be quite a challenge to cross. In all of our boating classes and conversations, everyone has warned us to evaluate seas and weather closely before attempting the crossing. So the alarm went off at 0500 and we were pulling out of our slip at 0515!
We took the “shortcut” through Venn Passage in the dawn and needed to watch carefully since the channel was narrow and the depth was shallow. Once again, keeping one eye on the instruments and one eye outside did the trick!
We had a smooth crossing of Dixon Entrance. Early in the trip we saw 2 foot swells hitting the boat on the port forward quarter. That was kind of a drag! Once we turned north the water smoothed out and the wind stayed calm.
We arrived in Ketchikan 9.5 hours later, and were quite pleased at are speediness. As we approached Ketchikan we could see four cruise ships tied up at the docks. There are slips for four ships and it looks like they are full all the time! Once we arrived we went for a walk to explore and stocked up on groceries at the Safeway Store, just a couple of blocks away.
May 30, Memorial Day
We stayed a second day in Ketchikan to do laundry and see a little more of the city. We walked down to the cruise ship docks, probably a couple of miles or so from where we are. It was interesting to see the city get cleaner, fancier, and much more touristy as we came close to those docks!
There is a Nordic Tug very similar to ours parked a couple of slips over from us. Jerry struck up a conversation with this guy and we found out that he is quite a fisherman and had been out squid fishing the night before. He caught 40 squid and was busy cleaning them as we watched. It was quite a process and made me thankful that fishing for squid isn’t on our list!
May 31
This morning broke bright and sunny and we decided to cruise up Behm Canal for a couple of days. We’ll return to Ketchikan on Friday and change oil in the boat. Chuck flies out early on Saturday and the airport is just across Tongass Narrows from the marina we’ll be in.
One of the nice things about having three of us on the boat is that it frees Jan up to be the cook…a job she enjoys. Since Jerry and Chuck and the pilotage well under control, Jan made a batch of peanut butter cookies while we cruised down the fairways. Although Cosmo Place’s oven is small and takes a while to heat up, it does a great job with cookies! Jan has made a batch of bread while cruising, too. Making sour dough starter is another one of her plans, but so far she’s been unsuccessful. The idea of capturing “wild yeast” is an intriguing one, though!
We arrived in Punch Bowl Cove on Behm Channel about 1730 and immediately knew we’d made a good decision. What a gorgeous place! We grabbed the only mooring ball in the cove and settled in for a delightful evening. The dinner menu included contributions from everyone…Jerry’s grilled tuna, Chuck’s wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, and Jan’s garlic-cheese mashed potatoes. We finished the evening off with a rousing game of Hearts. Jan went down in flames after a near miss of getting all the points and trouncing the guys!
June 1, 2011
There’s nothing like sleeping on a rocking boat in a quiet cove. We had a wonderfully restful night and weren’t up and moving until 0800! Since we didn’t have to be anywhere, we sipped our coffee, read our books, watch for eagles, and generally had a peaceful morning. Our neighbors in the cove on the elegant old Blanchard cruiser stopped by to show us their empty shrimp pots! Sea Wolf was out of Seattle and we swapped vital stats. They were just as curious about us as we were about them. It seems they’ve come to Alaska to cruise for the summer as well. I suspect we will see them again.
We did manage to get the dinghy down by 1100 or so for a cruise to the beach at the head of the cove. Our goal was to take the trail to the falls and the lake above the cove. One of our resources said the trail could be a bit o muddy scramble but well worth the effort! Unfortunately, the trail proved to be a mess of fallen logs, so we didn’t even get to the falls. The US Forest Service maintains the trail but had not been in here yet this year to clear the fallen trees. It was quite pretty though and gave us the chance to see what the forest looked like. The photos won’t do it justice! The impact of lots and lots and lots of rain resulted in an amazing amount of vegetation and decay.
June 2
Although we’d thoroughly enjoyed Punch Bowl Cove, we decided to explore the Misty Fiords a little more. We cruised up the other arm of Rudyerd Inlet and were treated to more amazing views of water falls, mountains covered with pine trees, and lots of float planes landing and taking off. The floatplane dock in Ketchikan is just next door to the cruise ship docks and these planes do a land office business when the tourists pull in!
We headed north down Behm Canal and hooked a right at the next inlet up…Walker Cove. All along the way, both in the main channel and in the inlet, we saw some amazing waterfalls. The tops of the mountains around us (3500 feet or so, according to my map) are still snow covered. We couldn’t imagine what this would all look like in January or February!
After some exploring, we found a lovely inlet in which to anchor for the night. Once we were settled, Jerry got out his fishing tackle and tried his luck. He caught 3 halibut!!! The biggest was probably a little larger than his had! He let them go, of course, but it was still fun and we can say we’ve caught halibut!
June 3
The plan today was to return to Ketchikan, do some work on the boat, and get Chuck ready to depart tomorrow. We were up at 0500 (again!) because we were a little worked about wind in Behm Canal. We actually pulled away from our anchorage at 0513! I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!! We had a bit of a choppy ride until we got in to Tongass Narrows, where Ketchikan is located. We got moored, got the oil changed, and had lunch on the table by 1330. Pretty good!
Sorry there are no photos this time. I’ve certainly got lots I could share with you. However, Internet access is still an issue. I’m actually posting this sitting in a McDonald’s in Ketchikan, which has a Wi-Fi! I hope next time I’ll have a more robust Internet access so can show you some photos.
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