22-23Aug continued: we weren't the only cruisers with Red Bluff on the brain - besides Alpenglow, a sailboat with a Chilean couple we first ran into at Elfin Cove, in Sitka and again at Warm Springs Bay, as well as a very large yacht we previously spotted at Auke Bay, Juneau, were sheltering there from a front that came through. We watched movies (the two latest James Bond films with Daniel Craig - we miss Sean Connery, but appreciate these newer films are not so tongue-in-cheek) and did boat chores; our little diesel stove kept the boat warm and the generator kept the batteries up (although the generator start battery itself has gone "tits-up", which we'll hopefully replace in Ketchikan). At one point, when it wasn't raining, Dorothy and I took Rusty in the dinghy up to the end of the cove where a good sized creek enters. Out on a mud/sand bar at low tide to give Rusty a break (from the boat) he discovered there were dead fish in the creekbed, and began pulling them onto shore where he covered them over with stones and mud (with his nose)?! Rusty has begun to notice there's a lot going on in the water - whales, sea otters, river otters, fish jumping and also schooling in shallow areas, and studies the water below him closely whenever he's out in the dinghy.

24 Aug underway down Chatham Strait and across to Port Malmesbury on the west side of Kuiu Island; lots of trolling boats in the Strait. We anchored in a small bay there - Mud Hole N56º18.57' W134º13.99' and had a great time. The afternoon weather was beautiful; Mac, Rusty and I did a little shoreline exploring and found iron and copper bits that were the remnants of some kind of early commercial operation at the end of the cove. Further on we found several areas where "humpies" - a type of salmon - were clustering close to shore, and/or at the entrances to small creeks only accessible at high tides. Rusty was thoroughly excited by all the fish at the water's edge (although I'm not sure he had any idea what to do with them?!). A lovely evening.

25 Aug Port Malmesbury to Dry Pass Anchorage in El Capitan Passage, Prince of Wales Island. We departed Mud Hole about 0700 and proceeded down the west coast of Kuiu Island; east side of Chatham Strait. The water was glassy with a one meter swell out of the SW. We could see the end of Baronoff Island (Cape Ommaney) to the west across Chatham as we headed towards Cape Decision (bottom of Kuiu I.). Again, lots of trollers doing their work, and humpback whales doing theirs. At one point a pod of whales looked to be crossing our bow, about a quarter mile ahead, so I put the gearbox in neutral to drift until they were past. We drifted quietly on the glassy water, the whales having dived, and then there were 3-4-5 whales surfacing all around us, just feet away! We just floated there until they departed, quite a show.

Out on the water, as in all the fishing ports, the commercial fisherman seem to be interested in and appreciate our Diesel Duck - during this transit, one called on the radio to ask lots of questions about the design, builder etc. I guess we got this part right.

I'm getting a little concerned about some elevated temperatures at the housing of our thrust bearing, and the BalMar (second alternator on the main engine) regulator seems to have developed some new idiosyncrasies; more items on the work list for this winter.

The El Capitan Passage is narrow and shallow at times, but well marked both on our charts and in the passage itself. I did have one moment of cognitive dissonance, in approached a series of green lateral marks where I couldn't make myself put the marks on the starboard side of the boat, even though I rationally knew these channel markers were set up South to North; actually had to bring the boat to a halt and work it out. It helped that I could actually see very shallow bottom on the starboard side of the markers - where I intuitively wanted to take the boat. Dry Pass Anchorage N56º09.63' W133º23.80' is literally a wide-spot in passage where we rafted up to Alpenglow, already anchored there - kind of like parking for the night in the middle of a road.