Traveling with friends again

We waited in Pavlof for friends, Suzie and Roger on s/v Boru, who we met last year in BC. We spent a total of 5 nights in Pavlof, a new-favorite anchorage. We saw another sow with twin cubs and several individual bears. One day as I kayaked up towards the falls, watching the schools of pinks, I looked up to see a bear on the bank very close by. He was headed toward the falls and was also interested in the pinks. Pinks are also known as Humpbacks and are unbelievably thick in SE Alaskan waters this time of year. They school up by the hudreds at the mouths of streams getting ready to spawn, and because they're there so are the bears.
We had wind one night that kept me up on anchor watch. With Boru rafted to us we had more weight on our anchor and also more responsibility. Of course, our big Bruce anchor held us fast as usual. It was the first night of anchor watch, but that's not surprising since we have been tied to docks so much.
We met Ron and Becky on Conquest at Swanson Harbor earlier and again in Pavlof. They introduced us to beach asparagus and brought us some that they had made into a salad or salsa. mmmmm
Boru needed fuel and needed to see the interesting little village of Tenakee Springs, so we returned. By the time we arrived, the fuel dock was closed, and we were surprised to find that they have very limited hours. Didn't stop Suzie. She called someone and talked him into opening the fuel dock for a sale of about 20 gallons of gas. I think she could talk a brown bear out of a salmon he'd just caught.
On our way into Tenakee, we saw the yacht Le Grande Bleau, one of the world's largest. She is over 300 feet long and has a sailboat with 4 spreaders and a power boat that must be 40 feet long carried topside. She is owned by a Russian billionaire and, according to one of our magazines, was previously owned by Paul Allen's brother.

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Chichakof and Baranof

We left Tenakee on calm water on July 13th and made the short trip up to Pavlof where we anchored. Much to our chagrin we have spent 44 nights tied to docks and 2 nights on a buoy since we entered Alaska 52 days ago. This is not our usual M/O, but gen set problems, weather, and Alaska's free state docks have limited our time on the anchor chain.
But finally we were swinging on our own hook in Pavlof. Sherry on Augenblick had told us via radio that it was a delightful place with bear sightings and halibut catching. Sure enough, Bob went out in the dinghy and caught his 2 halibut easily, both chickens. A pod of Orca's came very close to him while he was fishing, but they were intent on their own fishing as their tall black fins sliced through the water nearby. These are the first Killer Whales we've seen in Alaska on this trip.
While we were eating dinner, I heard a change in the sound of the generator. Upon checking the exhaust we found only steam exiting. When we checked the filter we found it filled with jellyfish parts and pieces. These are the lion mane jellyfish that can sting, so we extracted the slimy mess being careful not to touch it with bare hands.
After a couple of boats left we moved in closer to be more protected in case the wind blew.
We saw a doe and fawn on shore and later a single doe. Bob caught his limit of 2 halibut again. One was a 3 ft 21 lber. Just a poind over chicken-size.
We were seeing lots of wildlife on the shore. To our surprise we saw two men walking on the far shore with no vessel in sight. We surmised that they were from the sailing vessel (umiak maybe) that we had seen pass by late last night.
Later we saw a grizzly sow (brown bear) with twin, black cubs walking in the same place where we had seen the men earlier. These mamas with cubs are very dangerous and should always be avoided, but we had to get them recorded on video so we can bore you all with it later. We dinghied in for a closer look. The sow got very nervous when she saw us and soon hustled her babes off into the woods.
The other wildlife brought their vessel into the bay and anchored for the night on the far shore. They made us nervous, too.

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Gen Set problems

Our gen set started steaming while at the dock in Elfin Cove. After checking the through hull, Bob found some mussel shells blocking the opening. After getting that cleaned out, the generator continued to steam and got worse. The dock experts determined that we needed a new impeller, and we didn't have one.
We traveled to Pelican to visit with friends, see a place we hadn't seen before and get plugged into power in order to keep our batteries charged and our freezer frozen. We had to take a spot that no one else wanted and we soon found at why. Wilth the wind blowing and no breakwater, we were soon having an uncomfortabe, bouncy ride. When another boat left at 4:30 the next morning, we quickly moved into their more desireable spot.
6-30 Back to Elfin Cove where nasty weather kept us at the dock an extra day. The big swells also kept most of the air traffic away.
On our way back to Hoonah, we almost ran over a group of humpback whales in Icy Strait. Actualy got so close after the engine was in neutral that we had to back away. We have video with these gentle giants right under our bow. They were bellowing like elephants in heat; pretty scary!
Back to Hoonah where we paid $50 for a month's moorage. That was much cheaper than the $19 daily rate. We even got the best spot in the harbor, the outside slip with great views and no bouncing in the will-protected harbor.
After having a lot of rainy weather, we were glad the sun came out for the 4th of July parade and all the Native village activities.
Rain or shine, Bob spent lots of time out in the dinghy fishing and catchng salmon. Finally got our impeller on the 9th. Jerry or Jericho came down and gave Bob a hand installing it and reassembling the gen set. These units are so compact that they have to be disassembled in order to fix even simple things like replacing an impeller.
We had a pot luck with Ernie and Aileen and his new friends on Telos. We were glad that bad weather had brought them back to Hoonah instead of down the outside to Sitkah as they had planned.
7-11 We left the dock ahead of DX and Telos, but they soon caught us and arrived in Tenakee at least an hour ahead of us. Found the docks clogged with seine boats. Lots of activity, lots of noise. We got to see the crew of Christian S, a seine boat out of Everett, again. Captain Ross even sent over a bottle of wine to us. In 2003 Bob had fixed his Nobeltec Software for him. Thats the electronic navigation software that recreational boaters as well as most fishermen use.

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Icy Strait to Cross Sound

We traveled from Hoonah to Flynn Cove in hopes of catching a halibut. Did get a banty rooster and a chicken. When anchoring, we didn't go deep into the bay due to a lack of detail on the chart. After 6 boats came in and anchored inside of us, we felt pretty foolish stuck out in the middle.
6-23 On the way to Elfin Cove, we kept cutting back rpm's in order to arrive at South Inian Pass when our computer told us it would be slack water. Turns out the computer seems to be about an hour off; now we remember that a friend had mentioned that a couple of years ago. Our speed got down to 3.3 knots as we chugged against the current that was supposed to be slack. Elfin Cove is a delightful, little, busy village. There are 8 charter fishing businesses there, a post office, bar/cafe, museum, fuel dock, gift shops, salmon smokery etc. Approximately 200 people are in residence in the summer, but the billage is much quieter in the winter with only 8-12 folks. There is an inner as well as an outer harbor with free Alaska state docks. We chose the outer harbor where we could see all the activity; float planes coming and going, charters bringing in the daily catch of salmon and big halibut (200+ lbs). We also got a beautiful view, in clear weather, of the Fairweather Mts and th!
e glacier beneath them.
We enjoyed being at the dock with Silver Star and Whatever again. One day we all went fishing in the dinghies. After not catching any salmon, Jerry (Silver Star) rigged up for halibut with a spreader and salmon belly. Down to the bottom it went and immediately caught a big fish - a 35 lb white king salmon!

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Icy Strait

After leaving Auke Bay early to avoid the morning dock count (if you get counted, you have to pay for that day even though you are paid up for the nights you have stayed-and they bill you) we headed around Pt Retreat and on to Funter Bay. We were the only boat except for a couple of local boats. Most people think that the only public dock is on the south side, but we found out in 03 that both are state docks. We were visited by a group of land otters searching for tasty morsels under the dock. Mac had a great time trying to spot them through the cracks in the dock as they chomped, growled and splashed.
Bob trolled for salmon, caught a King that we promptly canned. Then he caught a halibut on his trolling gear.
6/17-18 Swanson Harbor at the entrance to Icy Strait has two detached docks. We took the outside of one across the dock from a young couple from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. They left for Hoonah, but soon the docks were filled with Juneau-ites. The weather was hot and the horseflies were thick enough to keep us inside the boat behind screens most of the time. The second day the west wind came up and blew 30. Now we know why the people from Juneau choose the inside of the dock!
6-19 On the way to Hoonah we stopped at a halibut hill just off Sisters Islands. Caught two more halibut to add to the freezer in just a few minutes. We found Silver Star and Whatever at the dock. Had a good time visiting with them. We all took the shuttle out to Cannery Pt to see the cannery that has been renovated for a tourist attraction. It is only open two days a week for two cruise ships. We enjoyed the museum and the gift shops at the very well-done facility. We enjoyed talking to a couple from England who were on the cruise ship. Trying to understand the queen's language was a bit difficult though.
6-22 When leaving Hoonah, we were excited to see our first view of bubble feeding by a large group of humpback whales. This is an interesting feeding method they use. They all dive at nearly the same time and then make a column of bubbles that rises to the surface. This column confuses and traps small fish which the whales then catch in their open mouths as they all come to the surface at the same time. As you can imagine, it is quite a sight and a real treat to see. Some of the people being transported from the cruise ship to the cannery dock got a close-up look as the whales surfaced right by them.

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Cruising

We stopped at the Argo halibut hill at Five Fingers, but no luck this time. We did find room at the dock in Hobart Bay, Entrance Island.
6-12 We had quite a Dahl Porpoise show just south of Tracy Arm entrance. They just kept racing toward us as some got tired, others took up the game. Always a thrill to see them move effortlessly across our bow. Of course we are only traveling about 7 miles an hour, but it's still amazing to see.
Only one other boat at the dock at Taku Harbor and they moor at Anchor Cove, our marina in Anacortes! We had not met them before though. The dock was pretty well filled up overnight. It is scheduled for complete renovation in a few days and will not be available for some time.
6-13 Auke Bay, north of Juneau, actually had room at their all-transient docks. In fact we docked at one spot, but had to move to another in order to get power. When we called the harbor office, she immediately told us that we had two big boxes waiting for us. This was our old computer that Teri had sent to replace our crashed one that we had sent to her. After we set up the computer, we found that it wouldn't even recognize our navigation CD, so we still didn't have a backup. Nobeltec has discontinued that version, so they were unable to send us another disk...unless we sent them $350 for an upgrade.

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More cruising notes

6-6-05 We traveled with Destiny in good weather to Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island where we found a small, sturdy dock. We took the front face of the dock and Destiny rafted to us. The shallow water and a morning low tide had them concerned, so they moved off the dock to anchor out. The Nordic Lady came in later and rafted to us. The captain raises hazelnuts in Oregon and we were pleased to get a sample of his crop. Gail and I took a walk on shore while Nick and Bob went fishing in the dinghy.
The next day, we had to plan for current in Wrangell Narrows, a narrow passage that leads to Petersburg. We anchored in halibut fishing ground just to the west of the entrance while we waited for a favorable current. Bob caught only a crab, but Nick caught a nice chicken halibut, small but the best eating.
As we entered the Narrows a huge tug and container laden barge was just behind us. We decided that it would be better to let him go first rather than have him pass us in a narrow spot. We traversed the 21 mile passage without meeting or being passed by any other large vessels. Almost all north- and south-bound traffic uses this route; ferries, tugs, large yachts, but not cruise ships. There are over 60 navigational aids and are quite a sight at night, or so I've been told. We don't cruise at night! The green and red lights give it the nickname "Christmas Tree Lane."
We stayed in Petersburg in nice weather for 2 nights then moved on to Portage Bay where we tied to the forest service buoy and stayed 2 nights in rain.

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Still catching up

The marine weather forecast, our counselor for travel decisions, told of wind warnings for several days, so we pulled away from the dock with some trepidation. We headed south and east to get into more protected waters. We had good conditions for awhile, but then we started to see very wide white cappy water ahead. Soon Clarence Strait was us to its old tricks. We were in 6-8 foot breaking seas; rougher seas than we ever want to see again. Of course our boat handled it all better than we did. After turning into Ernest Sound, we had a following sea that gave us a much smoother ride. At least the sealife seemed to be enjoying the rough conditions. We saw a humpback whale breach clear out of the roughest water. We also had bow chasing porpoise with us for a time. A huge Stellar sea lion also poked his nose up to take a look at us. We had a nice, quiet, well-deserved anchorage in Santa Ana. The next day we traveled up Zimovia Stait in a brisk wind but fairly smooth seas. In the !
beautiful Anita Bay we enjoyed the same view of the mountains that we had seen in Burnett.
The "Long Ranger" was already in the anchorage and we were delighted to see Destiny enter a short time later. We dinghied over to catch up on each other's adventures. We also dinghied over to Long Ranger just to say hello. They insisted we come aboard their beautiful boat and share some freshly caught crab. We learned that their new-looking boat had about 30,000 miles on it.
The next morning we spotted a doe with twin fawns along the shoreline, but still no bear.

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