Back "home" in Von Donop

We've been in Von Donop inlet for a week, enjoying glorious 80 degree weather with several hikes and swimming every day--not to mention two beach potlucks with live music from musician friends. It took the first three days to dry everything out and to give Millie a varnish job. To get here we traveled from Port McNeill down Johnstone Strait to an anchorage called Forward Harbour, then through the Whirlpool, Green Point, Dent and Yuculta rapids to Shoal Bay, where the weather suddenly turned to summer. This entry will wrap up the blog. We'll return home through familiar territory over the next two weeks, hoping for continued good weather, or at least nothing too severe! By the way, I'm sorry for the typos, lack of paragraph breaks and other annoying features of doing most of this writing with the iPad--a great little device for many tasks, but not so much for this! We feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity, despite the uncooperative weather. The intellectual and physical challenges and a smidgen of peril made this a true adventure, not just a vacation. I particularly enjoyed the way our experiences each day made it easy (often necessary!) to focus on NOW and not much on yesterday or tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you all in August or September.

Port McNeill, B.C.

We've made our way down the "Central Coast" of British Columbia and got to visit two new anchorages on the way: Codville Lagoon and Fury Cove. Codville has a hike to a large lake which, in the sunLight, is pink--due to The reddish sand in the area. Unfortunately, we only saw it on a very rainy day, too rainy and cold to take a swim, but we could IMAGINE how pretty it would be. We staged our second crossing of Cape Caution from Fury. We were there three days waiting for the proper winds and wave heights. One of the days it actually stopped raining long enough for us to row into the beautiful white shell beach and take a walk. We were joined by two rambunctious young dogs who delighted in stealing our possessions (an empty plastic sack and then an empty paper sack) and racing away down the beach. Their owner was with a large extended Canadian family, picnicking there for Candada Day. She told us that last year the brown lab ran off with some beach camper's socks! We plan to stay here at Port McNeill for a couple days and ferry over to the communities of Sointula and Alert Bay. The latter has a native cultural center/museum that I've been wanting to visit for years. Many of the anchorages we've visited in BC were once native settlements and we've delighted in discovering the clever fish traps and clam farms still in evidence. I am at the laundromat (of course) and later today Kurt and I will have our first shower in two weeks (!) and then explore the town and do some reprovisioning. Later this week we'll begin making our way to Desolation Sound in the hope of a few days of good varnishing and swimming weather. We'll return home near the 1st of August, a little earlier than planned, since it will be our only chance to see our daughter, Sarah. She's just moved to Lakewood Colorado (very near Denver) to manage a Sur La Table store and she'll be in Seattle that week for a company conference. I suspect our next trip will be by air --to Colorado! Kurt and I both have lots of pictures to share when we return home, sorry we can't post them here. Happy fourth of July to you all.

Heading home

We are leaving Prince Rupert, B.C. today and heading down Grenville Channel. If the rain lets up, that long slog will be relieved by lots of great scenery. We ultimately stayed in Wrangell for four days (due to--guess what--more weather delays). We enjoyed being temporary Wrangellites: taking a walk to a park with a trail through the muskeg, swimming at the community pool, a very good pizza from the bar near the marina and a movie at the community center. We had a good transit through Wrangell narrows to Meyers Chuck and the next morning we left at 4:30 for Ketchikan. We stayed one night there and then set out to cross Dixon Entrance at 3:45 a.m. We enjoyed calm weather for the first three hours or so, with the biggest challenge coming from dodging cruise ships. They are actually very courteous and a chat on the VHS lets us know what do to avoid being crushed! Unfortunately, the wind and seas built and we had to reroute to Foggy Bay. We were greeted there by a small humpback in the NARROWEST part of a rather tricky entrance; he or she must have dived under the boat to get out of our way. Taking a deep breath, we traveled on a few hundred yards where I spyed some other obstruction not on our chart--it turned out to be three deer, swimming across the channel! The trip from Foggy Bay to Prince Rupert the following day was fine. We successfully dodged all of the gilnetters and much more confidently negotiated Venn passage, the rather labyrinthine back door to Prince R, since it was our second time. Hope you are all well and getting some summer weather--we did go without long johns on our walk yesterday evening!

Wrangell redux

Here I am back at the laundry in Wrangell... After leaving Petersburg we sailed to Chapin Cove, then crossed Chatham Strait to stay in Red Bluff and Warm Springs on the east side of Baronof Island. We had planned to go on to Sitka and possibly take a ferry to Juneau, but the continuation of unseasonably bad weather (with accompanying strong winds)decided us on turning south. Also, our boating companions, who had discussed staying up here much later or even leaving their boats for the winter, unexpectedly got the "go south" bug -- and we want to continue to travel with the group as we cross the big bodies of water on the way home. Another consideration is Millie's welfare--we need to varnish and we've been unable to air out and fully dry our interior cushions. No mildew yet, but not a happy thought! We are mildly disappointed not to have gone further north, but looking forward to revisiting our favorite anchorages and exploring others we missed on the way up. While on Baranof we FINALLY saw brown bears. Our first, a skinny two or three year old, was just 100 yards away on the beach as we entered Chapin. Red Bluff had stunning alpine scenery and a bear meadow a quarter to a half mile from the anchorage area. We stayed several days, spending hours watching about six individual brownies as they went about their business. With their large humps and grazing behavior, they reminded us of buffalo. We were fascinated by the interactions between the juveniles and the older (huge)dominant bears. Several chase scenes convinced us that running from a grizzly would be futile; they are incredibly fast. Another treat was coming across sea otters, comfortably floating on their backs as we crossed Frederick and Chatham. We spent three days in Warm Springs where we were able to take a mile long walk to a lake and, of course, soak in the springs. My friend Jan and I did our soaking in the "natural" pools, literally on the edge of a waterfall. The men folk used the cedar tubs in a bathhouse set up near the dock. Jan and I, having left any semblance of personal vanity/modesty behind on this trip, wore only our bathing suits, sailing boots and jackets on our trips back and forth--a group of kayakers, in their fancy rain gear, pronounced us "tough ladies." Speaking of personal vanity, I'm having my hair cut at the Millie Salon--an overturned orange bucket on the back deck, a garbage bag cape and Mr. Kurt wielding the scissors. He does a pretty good job and in any case, I'm usually in a hat, hood, or head scarf. When we returned to Petersburg, we treated ourselves to a half day trip on a fast boat to the Le Conte glacier. As we traveled toward the glacier the bergy bits--from small to building-sized--were fantastical. Some square, others round--balancing on flat slabs of ice--and most carved into irregular shapes like modern art sculpture. Captain Ron took us as close to the glacier as he safely could. The floating ice there served as a harbor seal nursery, with several hundred moms and pups pulled out on the floes. As a bonus, we now have some bergy ice in our iceboxes! After chores today we plan to visit the museum we missed last time, and hike again up Mt. Dewey (a great viewpoint here in town).

Petersburg (Little Norway)

We are about to leave Petersburg and head toward Sitka today. This trip could be as short as four or five days or as long as two weeks, depending on weather and how long we care to linger in places like Baranof Warm Springs. Yesterday the cloud layer lifted enough for us to see some incredible mountain vistas on our way from Wrangell to Petersburg. That transit includes the 21 mile Wrangell Narrows with over 60 aids to navigation (lights, buoys, day marks) along the way; they call it Christmas Tree lane! We took a Petersburg walk in the afternoon downpour and got thoroughly drenched, but we were able to look out on Frederick Sound (where we are headed today) where we saw our first "bergy bits"--smallish chunks of iceberg that have calved off the Le Conte glacier nearby. From shore, they were glowing blue jewels floating in a sea of gray. Today we will admire, but also, dodge them. Petersburg has a large, active, fishing fleet, so we have been able to admire large quantities of working boats in the marinas. Downtown is decorated with tole painting galore and the shops feature Norwegian items. I'm off to dig eggplant and zucchini out of the bilge for a veggie lasagna tonight (I prefer Italian over Norwegian cuisine). It SOUNDS like the weather is settled enough for some cooking underway. We ate the last of our crab last night and will be keeping our eyes and ears open for new spots to crab and prawn on the way to Sitka. We have heard that the resurgence of the sea otter population (yay!) has decimated the crab population out near Sitka (too bad, but maybe things will settle out in the future). Hope you are all well and having less rain than we have.

Wrangell

We're in Wrangell, where once again, I'm at the laundromat--laundromats are usually warm and have power outlets--a good place to email and blog. Also, one of our group had all of her GOOD laundry stolen down in BC, so now we watch our belongings like hawks! When we left Ketchikan, we spent one night in a beautiful area called Dora Bay. We visited and potlucked with two residents, Darlene and Floyd, who've built a small home there. Darlene is the "net control" for the ham group in Alaska and she seems to very much enjoy meeting her hams in person--even we non-hams were welcome, as she's been tracking us too. On the way in and out we watched humpback whales feeding and engaging in some very active tail slapping. I was happy they were about a half mile off! Floyd says that sometimes he and Darlene can hear the whales breathing at night off the small reef where their cabin is located. Next we visited the community of Meyers Chuck; about 20 cabins, but only around 5 residents in the winter. Our friends, Rich and MJ, came very close to purchasing property there a few years ago. They were able to take us on trails that visiting boaters would not normally get to. The residents were repairing the dock with huge red cedar logs that had been washed up on the beach and a portable saw mill. They were also worrying about a grizzly that had been coming around recently. Speaking of bears, we've still had very few sightings. I'm eager to see some bears up close (from the boat, of course, while they do their thing on a nearby beach). Speaking of logs, two of us have wood stoves on the boats and we go "logging" on the beaches. We are burning lovely, dry, aromatic yellow and red cedar, plus hemlock and spruce--no fir up here. Before arriving in Wrangell, we stayed in a cove with great crabbing. Our friend, Jerry, got 27 crabs--nearly all legal size--in ONE pull! The limit here is three, so most recovered their freedom in short order. We're planning a swim (community pool) and a walk to see some petroglyphs today. Weather permitting, we're off to Petersburg tomorrow. After that I think we'll slowly work our way to Sitka. We need to make some itinery decisions soon, because we need to turn south early in July. We are hoping for some better weather; we've had only a few days of sun in the last two weeks. On the plus side, even when rainy, there are USUALLY some sun breaks and the temperature ranges from the low 40's to high 50's. Kurt and I are still wearing longjohns whenever we're out on the water. I'm sorry for the dearth of photos, but the internet connections are rarely robust enough to handle the upload. Kurt, of course, is taking some very good, high resolution pictures which we'll share when we return. I'll try some when I've posted this.

Alaska (and the internet) at last!

We were blessed with unseasonably good weather in our first five weeks of travel (about 500 miles); we experienced the opposite during the last two weeks (about 200 miles).  A series of gales meant holing up for days at a time in a variety of anchorages.  All had something to offer:  crab, stunning scenery, or simply protection from the wind, but we would normally have stayed only one, perhaps two (crab!) nights in each.  We were definitely feeling frustrated in the last few days before we finally crossed Dixon Entrance and entered Alaska. 

We are currently staying for a few days in Ketchikan. The north end of town (where we are moored) is laid back and very boat oriented.  There are eagles and ravens gathered in the parking lot of the local Safeway--as common as pigeons and sparrows back home.  MJ and I walked to the public swimming pool this morning for the senior swim.  Lots of local gossip, a lap pool, a warm pool and gloriously long, hot showers for a grand total of $1.50.  Later, Kurt and I rode the bus to "downtown," where the cruise ships come in and the shops cater to that crowd. My goodness, what a contrast--it felt like San Francisco, with thousands of people pointing, taking photographs, jay walking, and chattering in a wide variety of  languages.  A gallery owner told us that the day's total number from the ships was 8000 (there were five in port). 

Here's how we got to Ketchikan from our last stop in Shearwater.  We traveled ahead of another gale  through Reid passage (rock and log studded) to Rescue Bay.  Once there, the group decided to press on to another storm hole called Bottleneck. Just as we arrived at the entrance and were taking our sails down, we got hit with a 40-45 knot squall with hail.  Definitely my least favorite moment on the trip.  After a day of recovery, we traveled up Finlayson and Tolmie Channels, then Graham, Fraser and McKay  Reaches.  The scenery was stupendous: snow-topped mountains in the 1000 to 3500 foot range--often a shear drop to the channel, sometimes carved and softened by river valleys.  Most are studded with lakes and there were huge waterfalls, often yellow-hued from the cedar.  Near Butedale, on Princess Royal Island, we were privileged to see a “spirit bear”-- a rare,white variety of black bear--that had come out onto the beach. 

We stayed two nights at Hartley Bay, a small village of the GitGaat nation. Here one of our four boats (Sara & Charlie on Alli Rose) had to turn south due to complications with an elderly parent. 

For the remaining three boats, the next leg was Grenville channel-- long, narrow, beautiful and WINDY.  Jeannie was ahead of us by a couple of days, so Millie and Morningstar traveled this strech together.  There are (luckily) several places to duck out-- we stayed in two--Klewnuggit and Kumaleon. Each of those six mornings we arose shortly before 4:00 am (Kurt at about 3:15 to start the furnace), drank coffee and listened to (usually two or three times because of difficulty with radio reception) the marine weather forecast, then called one another on the radio and discussed whether to venture out.  One of those mornings we hauled anchor (a good hour of work), nosed out about two miles, found ourselves in bitter cold, driving rain, and an awful chop and turned back to our quiet and later, sunny (!) cove for another day.  It  is mind boggling how weather conditions can vary within very short distances up here.

We finally started the journey to Dixon Entrance (our next big, scary body of water) early on a Friday morning with a good weather forecast, but after we set out, Morningstar suffered an engine problem.  We towed her (very slowly) for an hour or so until her resourceful owner managed to rig up a temporary fix.  At that point, we  headed to Prince Rupert, B.C.--a largish town with good marine facilities--rather than our original destination, Dundas Island.

The fix was good, so on Saturday, we left Prince Rupert at five a.m. and headed North.  Dixon Entrance treated us pretty gently, so Kurt and I decided to press on to Ketchikan--a distance of 85 miles--about 13 hours of travel for us.  We just wanted to get somewhere, tie up and ignore the weather forecast for a few days...as you can imagine, we went to bed long before sunset that evening

Tomorrow we three couples are renting a minivan and getting out to some hikes in the surrounding area.  Our plan is to move on Wednesday if the weather permits.