Picture: Our neighbor in Thorne Bay Harbor, Larry and Susan, on their gorgeous boat which took them more than ten years to build. It is incredibly beautiful and very professionally done.

Prince of Wales Island (locally know as POW) is the third biggest Island in United States; the biggest is the "Big Island" of Hawaii and the next biggest is Kodiak, Alaska. The tiny city of Thorne Bay is located around the boat harbor where we docked. However, the city's jurisdiction includes the surrounding area with houses hidden amongst the tall conifers and on log pontoons on the waterways. Thorne Bay has most amenities that make up a town such as a grocery store, post office, hardware store, a bar, a restaurant and so on. The biggest establishment in the bay is the United States Forest Service complex and they have a large floating apartment block for temporary employees. We heard that most servicemen do not mix with the local people.

The marina has mostly fishing vessels except for a few permanent residents on "pleasure" yachts. One couple who live aboard a steel motor yacht spend six month each year in Thorne Bay and the other six months in Wrangell, only 40 nautical miles away. Another couple (Larry and Susan) live aboard their 50' sailing yacht in Thorne Bay for six months of the year and travel to New Zealand during the Alaskan winter, when it is summertime in New Zealand. Both couples consider themselves as residents of Thorne Bay.

Even though we were docked in Thorne Bay, we spent most of our time visiting friends at Craig on the other side of Prince of Wales Island. The island has an amazingly good road system for such a remote place.