08/17/2009, Ketchikan, AK
It's raining, although nothing like the SW monsoon we'd be experiencing if we were still in HK or PI this time of year. I spoke about the rain with a local fellow at the totem park here in Ketchikan this morning; he explained that it rains so much in Ketchikan that they measure it in feet rather than inches, and that they don't bother to count the days of rain per year, but rather the days without rain per year (40 last year). I don't know if all this was accurate, but it made for a good conversation.
We got into Ketchikan last evening; the harbor crew were very helpful, and put us into a slip strait in off the narrows, easy-peasy; even caught our lines for us. An entirely different situation to coming to the slip in Petersburg... but that's Craig Campbell's story to tell (or not) and I'm not going to steal his thunder... err maybe that should be splash! rather than thunder. We accidently timed our entry to the Tongass Narrows (the body of water where Ketchikan is located) well, in that 3 gigantic cruise ships came out of the Narrows just ahead of our entry. It would have been a bit tense meeting one of them in the tightest portions.
We may stay a couple of days, depends on the weather and what there is to see, then down to British Columbia, and continuing south towards Seattle.
Photo is from the boat harbor at Wrangell...
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Comments [4]
in yesterday's blog (above) I mentioned a local guy telling me that they count days of sunshine here rather than days of rain, and I wondered if he was exagerating? well, I was in line at Safeway just now and the clerk and a customer got into a conversation about how she'd had yesterday (rain) off, but had to work today (sun), then mentioned that in the summer of ?? when they only had 14 days sun, she had 10 of them off... so it turns out that he wasn't pulling my leg.
http://pajk.arh.noaa.gov/brochures.php
The summer weather brochure points out that Ketchikan is the wettest station (actually neck & neck with Yakutat) they report and that August is the wettest summer month.
how's david ellis? hope everything is fine
15 August, Saturday, Santa Anna Inlet 55º 59.166'N, 131º 37.015'W (off Seward Passage) AK
0700 we left Wrangell after 3 days. One evening and most of one day was spent fixing a plumbing problem -- successful after 3 trips to the Wrangell hardware store and much cursing. Last evening we had pizza and beer (Alaskan Amber, to which Craig I have become quite addicted since first sampling it upon our arrival in Dutch Harbor last month) with the folks off the N55 I mentioned in yesterday's blog; nice folks and an interesting visit.
We arrived in Anan Bay 56º 11.09'N, 131º 53.54'W late morning, dropped the dinghy and mounted the outboard engine. I took Craig and Anne into shore to meet the ranger and walk to the Bear Observatory. Dorothy, Rusty and I hung out on DE, watched an N62 which anchored for awhile in Anan, and had some chili and cornbread while waiting our turn with the bears (the anchorage requires someone to stay aboard, and Rusty was not allowed ashore in that area, so we visited the bears, in pairs...).
After picking up Anne and Craig, Dorothy and I went to shore for our bear visit. First the Forest Service Ranger gave us a briefing which included all kinds of interesting things to do while walking the half mile trail out to the observatory, to let the bears know we were there, and what to do if we met one on the trail. "If he comes towards you, don't run! but talk to him sharply, like a dog: "stop bear, come no further!" (Shit, maybe I should've brought a shotgun?!) I asked if an air-horn would work, and the ranger said - no shit now - "well that used to work, but they've gotten so used the air horns it doesn't work anymore"...Yikes!
Anyway, we started out the trail, and met several groups coming back from the observatory; no one seemed to be wounded or grieving a mauled loved one - that was encouraging. Never-the-less, I sang "teddy bear's picnic" all the way out the trail and back... just to be sure the bears knew I was cool.
All kidding aside the bear observatory is very cool, a platform overlooking a narrow point in a stream where pink salmon are leaping against the current and is a choke-point where the bears and dip in with claw or snout and get a fish. Or should I say fish, after fish, after fish. Alaska seems to be full of messy eaters - first that stellar sea lion in Bartlett Cove, Glacier Bay and now these guys. Anyway, Dorothy and I spent several hours watching four black bears fish, eat and shit. We didn't see any brown bears (grizzlies) at this location, although you may remember we saw one the morning we awoke in in Graves Harbor, after crossing the Gulf of Alaska.
In conversation with one of the Forest Service Rangers, she mentioned her home was in Minnesota and I asked if she lived anywhere near Lake Woebegone, to which she replied, quite earnestly "no I live up next to the Canadian border..." I guess you had to be there...
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Sounds like you are enjoying the Inside Passage!
DE is center of photo along the outside the the long floating dock...
Wrangell's got a fairly rough history - great museum by the way - and is still a bit rough today; but I like the place. Lots of interesting boats and interesting boat people. Besides the many fish boats, both large and small; there are a variety of cruisers in sailboats, trawlers and even canoes. Yesterday a Nordhavn 55 came in, which has come from Florida, through the Panama Canal, out to Hawaii and back here to Alaska and this morning a Nordhavn 46 came in. I don't know it's history, but the home port is listed as Newfoundland. We're out of here tomorrow morning 15 Aug. We have permits for Anan Bay, where the US Forest Service has a Bear & Wildlife Observatory. The literature on the place says one can bring their own weapons with them for protection?!
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