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.