Sorry about the lack of recent blogs; no connectivity much of the time and just lazy I guess. Anyway, since Petersburg we’ve been to Juneau, out to Glacier Bay National Park with Hong Kong Aussies Heather & Warren; down to Elfin Cove then back to Juneau; south to the Tracy Arm Glacier with old work-mate Roger, his lady Karen and her niece Kiya; through Peril Strait and Sergius Narrows and down to Sitka… whew!

We’re out at the end of dock #9 in Eliason Harbor, dwarfed by the Motor/Yacht Seven J’s (110 foot, $7M) across the float from us on the end-tie. Right now it’s just Dorothy, me and the boys – Rusty and Rascal. Tomorrow morning our daughter Kate arrives for a week – Yeah! – and we’ll either do some puttering around Sitka, or weather permitting, run up the outside to Elfin Cove again.

While in Juneau, both times, we stayed at Douglas Harbor (across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau proper, and way down the other end from Auke Harbor where we’ve stayed previously). There’s just a short stretch of transient dock at Douglas, so getting in there is no sure thing, but we like it better – it’s quiet and there’s a great mile-long sandy beach, just the other side of the breakwater, which is huge at low tide, for walking / running the dogs.

Cruising is about so much more than the boats, the scenery and the places; it’s about the great people you meet:

Brian and Mimi are mid-career docs who gave up private practice and university teaching positions back east to work for the Indian Health Service in Juneau. They live on their boat, have a bush / float plane, “do it all” without benefit of specialists and seem to be loving it.

Dan and Callie on M/V Restless – Dan is retired career Coast Guard and Callie desperately wants a home in Sebastopol; Dan I think, wants a Diesel Duck! (or at least a John Deere)

Larry and Yvonne on M/V Northern Ranger – great northern BC folks, retired from logging and cattle ranching. Larry and I had a great time trading stories and insults; a lovely crab dinner, and he made me drink all that beer!

Albert off that beautiful sailboat in Elfin Cove, USN retired Jack B from Douglas, Boston Jack off F/V Delores K, Tim from the fuel dock who lived in Lake County (still has all his teeth!) and San Francisco, CA who wants to make movies; Rob and crew off F/V Valient out of Westport (Rob was kind enough to give me a detailed run-down on the coastal ports south of Juan de Fuca), and there were the two couples on the float at Baronoff Warm Springs with whom we had an impromptu Class of '67 reunion!

In Glacier Bay, we saw sea otters and Stellar sea lions, and (maybe) some mountain goats way up on Gloom Point. Tracy Arm was full of bergie bits up at the far end in the approach to the Sawyer Glacier, but we picked our way through, leaving only a little bit of anti-fouling paint on the floating ice. The face of Sawyer was as active this year as last – 5-story tall sections of blue glacier ice breaking free and collapsing into the water.

We had a short visit with our old class-mate Shirley at the Coho Bar & Grill in Elfin Cover and were happy for her, to see that all three of her daughters and two of her grandkids were with her. We’ll see more of her later in the summer, and maybe get to do some painting as well – Oh Boy!

We’ve had some difficulty with the freezer temp and had a fellow come aboard in Juneau. Following his efforts things seemed to be back to normal, but after about two weeks, we again saw the temp come up and found another guy in Sitka. Charlie came out on Saturday, we had a fun visit (and he worked on the freezer compressor); things again seem to be going well, but it will take time to tell.

While sitting at anchor with Warren & Heather in Swanson Harbor on a beautiful evening, we listened as a sailboat out of Hoonah declared a Mayday and sank within just a few minutes; a whale had surfaced underneath the boat striking the keel and tearing the hull. Another boat came to their assistance and pulled the two occupants from the water.

We’ve had dolphin on the bow, Rusty excitedly yipping in a high-pitched manner, I haven’t heard before. The dolphin would roll on the side and eye-ball him; I wonder if they were talking back in a higher register than my ears can hear?

Some boats / people we know only from hearing them check-in on the SSB / ham radio net each morning and/or by conversations on the VHF radio: Abyssinia, Rusty on Whale Song, Darlene who runs the Great Northern Boaters Net and more

This seems to be our season for writers: Steve & Elsie on Osprey (Elsie has written two books, one on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, the other on cruising Southeast Alaska), while Steve used to teach at SMA where Dorothy and I took classes; (another Steve) and Rolynn on Intrepid (retired school principals out of Seattle; Rolynn has just had published a ‘bodice-ripper’ set in the Inside Passage and just today Dot spotted Huntress at the dock (the owners have published a cookbook which is a recent favorite of Dots).

99 % of folks are friendly and/or helpful… and then there’s that one dickhead (you know who you are): Elfin Cove has the one float, quite busy all summer with as many fish boats as pleasure boats. The float was full-up when we got in, fishboats rafted up 3 deep on both sides, a couple of small sailboats which we could not risk rafting to (even if they were willing) and a big motor cruiser in the key position at the front port side of the float. We’ve been in that same spot and had fishboats and cruisers alike rafted to us – it’s part of the deal; it’s part of the fun. This guy had his dinghy tied to the outboard side of his boat (making it impossible to raft up) and when we asked about rafting he said “Oh but I’m leaving first thing in the morning” (yeah, so…?) and “I don’t know where else to put my dinghy…” (how about in the 8-10’ feet of clear dock behind your boat, j***-off). Eventually one of the (3 deep stacked) fishboats left and #2 kindly allowed us to come alongside. In the course of the afternoon / evening, four more boats came into the cove, hovered next to the fellow on the motor cruiser, then left…

We're havin' fun; back to you soon.