Just to catch you up a bit on the last days of the passage (in case you're not on FaceBook -- DavidEllis Nagle Boat -- where we're able to post quick updates and photos more easily, but usually not in as much detail):

3 March, Monday
After crossing Portland Inlet, the run up to Ketchikan was a piece of cake. Some sun, some quiet water in the lee of small islands, some wind and freezing spray which left ice on the starboard side of pilot house and rails for the next two days (and made it impossible to rinse off in Ketchikan) but actually anti-climatic after the adventures of the past 11-12 days.

4-5 March, Tuesday & Wednesday
Ketchikan Harbor assigned us an easy (to get in & out of) slip in Bar Harbor. We did a little shopping for boat parts (of course); had a visit with Mark who was crew on Shearwater (with David C) for the Honolulu to Seattle passage; Dennis dove into rebuilding parts of the fuel transfer system, including changing out the Gulf Coast filter for the Racor 1000 I've been carrying around.

We got out of Ketchikan Wednesday morning after some finishing up on jobs and shopping, sailing up Tongass Narrows in blue skies. Some NE winds in various openings, but nothing fierce. We'd thought to make Santa Anna our last anchorage before Wrangell, but it's open to the NE so we moved on intending to try Tomas' Place, but on the way there, getting dark, we tried a small bay on the NE corner of Etolin Is and it was perfect. Definitely a place to come back to, with some good kayaking coves north of there. On the beach used by the dogs, there we're bear tracks and a den under a tree just uphill from the beach. Fortunately we did not see Mr. Bear. I understand from several sources that the bears are restless this winter as, at this end of North America, the winter has actually been milder than usual.

6 March, Thursday
A beautiful morning, clear and cold; I actually like this better than much of the summer weather we've experienced in Southeast. We came up the west side of Wrangell Island, transited Zamovia Narrows and tied up on the long dock in Reliance Harbor, Wrangell just about noon.

Seattle to Wrangell 2014:
13 days (of various lengths, including one overnight) running, one full day off in Ketchikan
131 engine hours
258 gallons fuel (according to the FlowScan, not including some genset time and the diesel heater running continuously since Port McNeil. Still running continuously, by the way, the new part, which sits over the combustion chamber, we purchased from Dickinson has made all the difference in performance. What a difference from the 2011 winter run Ben!)

Next: a discussion of living "On-The-Hard"