farewells and welcomes!
05 July 2019 | Ketchikan
Jo Winter | Sunshine
When MIkey and Jamie left us from Petersburg, we had a peaceful catching up day, a convenient laundrette soon sorted out our acres of washing, and a small grocery store had all we needed for our two day trip on to Ketchikan.
Brother Wind was scrubbed from top to bottom, our water pump had sprung a leak so Giles dug out a spare which was duly fitted, and solved not only the water pressure trying to build all the time but also the bilge pump running, both of which had been a source of concern. The sun continued to shine and shorts were still the order of the day when we left Petersburg to retrace our route down the Wrangall Narrows, as before the key to it is to leave a couple of hours before HW so that at the mid point when you reach the tidal gate the tide begins to fall and you carry it all the way, at some stages we had 3 knots of fair tide.
Because the tidal window is the same for everybody, it also follows that the next section is not necessarily ideal, but tides looked significantly less if we went east about past Zarembo Island. The small amount of adverse tide was countered by enough wind to hold the genoa to help us on our way.
As we turned around the island, into a head wind in Stikine Channel, tidal predictions lived up to their dubious reputation of being a work of fiction, and progress slowed until we were clear of Chichagof Pass, and were pleased an hour or so later to get to a long deep bay called Quiet Harbour.
We were not too pleased to see a small motor boat anchored in the prime spot, and feared everywhere else might be too deep for us, but all was well, and soon we were anchored up and ready for our glass of wine in the sunshine.
However around the corner of the bay appeared a small tinny bearing a smiling American called Neil, he had just caught a King Salmon, the prize fish in these parts. He gave us lots of fishing advice, perhaps we could catch a fish after all, and then went off to fillet his salmon and kindly brought us a large piece for our dinner, while he came on board and joined us for a drink.
This seemed the closest we were going to get to catching a fish, it certainly could not have been fresher!
The following evening and forty miles on down the Clarence Strait, we spotted an AIS signal in a possible overnight bay, and found it was friends on Wings ‘n Strings, so we diverted in to Meyers Chuck, a delightfully pretty bay surrounded by rocks, and with a public jetty and walkway ashore to the few houses there, included a tiny art gallery.
It was lovely to catch up with Roger and Jane, but as we all had an early start next morning we didn’t stay up too late!
We were glad we had taken Roger’s tidal advice for the next day as rather surprisingly we had fair tide all the way to Ketchikan, and were duly allocated a berth in Bar Harbour, walking distance from the airport ferry.
Flora and Dan were not due to arrive until the evening so we set off to walk to Safeways where you can get a free shuttle into town. Ketchikan is a big cruise ship destination, and people must enjoy the stop, as they are all moored in the downtown area of town rather than miles out. The town is touristy, but pretty particularly the old red light district of Creek Street, and although totem poles don’t really do it for me their collection of old totem poles and a proper explanation of them was really excellent.
We were only just back to Brother Wind, when Flora and Dan arrived, an hour earlier than expected, great excitement!
Independence Day , loomed, and we thought it would be a good finale for Alaska, so we planned a trip to the highly acclaimed and for yachts off the beaten track Misty Fjord, where the cliffs are compared to Yosemite, and then return to Ketchikan for 4th July. Dan was determined to sail, and there was just about enough wind for us to goose wing gently up the Behm Canal towards Rudyerd Bay. The sun was somewhere up there, but cloudy, and at least the cloud was high, so the decision was made to carry on to the spectacular Punchbowl Cove, which on the chart showed one mooring buoy, if it didn’t exist, which was more than likely we would have to retrace out steps to find a shallower alternative.
It was a good choice, because not only could we see to the top of the 3,000 foot cliffs, but there was also a mooring buoy for us to pick up, and we had this spectacular spot all to ourselves, sharing only with jumping salmon, that we didn’t catch and a few seals.
Next morning it was a grey day and the cloud was low on the hills, the towering cliffs around us soared into the cloud, but we chugged for 10 miles up the spectacular fjord, which grew progressively narrower and more dramatic, until the passage was only a couple of boat’s lengths wide. As the fjord narrowed the cloud appeared to be squeezed higher up the cliffs so here at least we could see to the top, the sheer rock face was indented by the countless waterfalls that would run off it in the rain, but the bare granite had been shattered in places and separated from the main cliffs presumably forced apart by ice. Sooner or later great sides of the mountains would slide into the water thousands of feet below.
Today our peace was periodically shattered by sea planes buzzing in, although they could not experience the very narrow throat that we went through, when our chart plotter showed us on the land. In the final basin of the fjord two adjacent valleys went off at a tangent, and we looked carefully for bears. But in truth the intermittent roar of the float planes would have scared any self respecting wild life away. The wide shoal area almost caught us out as our depth plummeted to 3 metres, giving Dan a bit of a shock!
We retraced our track, more or less, and headed back down the long fjord and out into the Behm Canal. The wind was against us and it was cold again, so we were relieved to find a rocky bay with another single buoy for us to tie to. We were even more delighted to see a black bear grazing on the grass in front of a small hut. Flora and Dan’s first bear!
Today we were woken early by sunshine, and set off promptly to cover the 20 miles back to Ketchikan, and see what 4th July has to offer, meanwhile spotting a whale as we went.
So far Independence Day has given us a long parade, lots of free sweets and a couple of flags, -Canadian for some reason, and free hot dogs, then plastic duck racing down the creek, and a lumberjack competition, which was quite fun.
Because it gets dark so late fireworks are not until 11 tonight, but a rival lot are going off now in the daylight, a bit of a waste. However the very best thing about Independence Day has been no ‘God Save America’ and no Donald Trump mentions, so we are among friends.
Tomorrow we make tracks for Canada!