Nothing but pictures

I went for a walk to soak in the hot tub with a cup of coffee.  What a thoroughly civilized way to start a day that is.

That’s the view from the bathtub – I’ve had worse views (from worse bathtubs).  This one has unlimited hot water that is constantly refreshing itself.

These cabins appear to have suffered an earthquake or avalanche or maybe an extremely high tide event.

I dunno much more about plants than I do about birds but these are kind of pretty.

  Its a very gray day but the water has settled down.  And as usual for winter cruising, we’re all alone.

The gray view back to the community – the bathtubs are in the little building on the extreme right, waterfall on the extreme left.

A nasty day avoided

Our goal is to avoid bad weather – often we succeed.  Not always mind you but often.  Today is one of the successes.

When I woke up (late) this morning Gray Hawk was bumping against the dock.  Deep in Warm Springs Bay at Baranof Hot Springs you wouldn’t expect to feel anything no matter what is happening outside so that’s a sign of how agitated Chatham Strait must have been early this morning.  NOAA weather said 8 feet which is pretty significant for inside waters.  So I’m really glad we’re not out there.

The last couple of days my pictures all look black and white.  That’s not the camera – its just been that kind of weather.

That’s the local waterfall that apparently once generated hydroelectricity for this little community.  There’s only about a dozen cabins left here now and some of them look like they went through an earthquake.  Just about where that waterfall emerges from the bush there’s a hotsprings with a couple of natural pools.  We tramped up the sometimes muddy, sometime rocky, sometimes boardwalk trail to the hotsprings yesterday as soon as we arrived but I doubt we’ll go back.  Its a really pretty spot with a great view of the falls but its a serious hike and neither of us is much of a hiker.  Plus they pipe the water down to the dock and they have a couple of horse troughs set up so you can soak in the trough with a half assed view of the bay.  I’m more into hot water and convenience than I am into hiking and scenery.

Yesterday we fought currents all day from Portage Bay to here.  I wanted to get here before that weather bomb hit because this looked like such a good place to sit it out and it is, but yesterday was frustratingly long.  Balancing tidal cycles and weather is the essence of trip planning on a slow boat like ours.  The tides rule but the weather can trump them.  Tides rule because they control our access to some of the bays and inlets.  The tidal range can be 20 feet on some cycles so an entrance that has 12 feet at high might be six feet above the water with ragged rock at low.  The big tides also generate big currents and because the cycle is slightly more than 24 hours long, the current times are a moving target.

In general we’d like to leave a dock or anchorage early in the morning and tie up early in the afternoon.  That’s the most convenient and it also (usually) guarantees the best water because the ocean often calms down at night and gets itself whipped up into a frenzy during the day.  However, the currents may be better for a 3:00 AM departure or maybe a 2:00 PM departure.  The 3:00 AM may not be practical because of tides or simply because its the middle of the bloody night and we don’t want to get up at that time.  2:00 PM may mean that we’d be arriving at our next destination at midnight so that’s out too. Its dangerous running in the dark because we can’t see debris on the ocean – and in some areas there can be a lot of logging debris to dodge.

Yesterday the weather trumped the tides so we fought the flood current all the way down Frederick Sound until we got to the southern tip of Admiralty Island.  Sometimes it was costing us over 2 knots which is significant when we’re only making 6 knots.  By the time we got to the tip of Admiralty Island the tide had changed so then we got to fight the ebb current again as we headed north to Baranof. 

When we leave this bay we run into the situation where the same tide in the same channel will run both directions.  Baranof Island, which we’re on right now, is exposed to the Gulf of Alaska.  We’re on the east side so we’re sheltered from the Gulf by the island.  The tide floods in around both ends of the island which means that Chatham Channel on the east side of Baranof gets a flood current that flows south at the north end of the island and the same flood current flows north at the south end of the island.  Somewhere in the middle they cancel each other out.  That just adds another level of complexity to trip planning.  The same situation applied at Wrangell Narrows where we managed to time our arrival so that we got the maximum benefit of the flood from the south end and then fought a dying flood as we went by Petersburg.  If we had been a bit more precise in our timing we could have flooded in from the south, hit slack at the midpoint and ebbed out past Petersburg.  But that would have put us well past dark when we arrived at our anchorage that night.

Oh-Fuck Ducks

Neither one of us is much of a birder although The Warden is getting better at identifying some of them and she keeps talking about getting a bird book.  I think that bird watching is a sign that you are approaching death so I avoid it at all cost. 

There’s a few birds that we do recognize though.  Canada geese of course and the omnipresent shit hawks.  We’ve seen a lot of bald eagles and the occasional golden eagle.  And then there’s the Oh-Fuck ducks.  I’m sure they have a more official name but that one works for us. 

They’re usually swimming in pairs and when we approach they first start swimming rapidly away from us.  All the while they are frantically looking alternately over each shoulder and you can almost hear them saying “Oh Fuck, Oh Fuck, Oh Fuck”.  Then they abruptly dive.

This morning we’re out on glassy calm water with a forecast of rising winds.  We’d like to get to Baranof Hot Springs before the wind gets up too much and then we’ll hole up there for a couple of nights until this system blows over. 

Chuck introduced me to BuoyWeather and it is well worth the substantial annual subscription.  The Coast Guards in Canada and the US broadcast continuous marine weather statements but today one of the local towers is down so we are having trouble hearing the Coast Guard broadcasts.  For some reason though we have internet access – a feeble signal but enough to check the weather (and post this web posting – maybe)  That big splotch in the Gulf of Alaska is what is about to cause us trouble but so far today we haven’t seen any of it.

South of 57

This afternoon we were briefly north of 57 but when we turned into Portage Bay for the night we ended up anchored far enough south to put us back south of 57.  We had a long day today.

Yesterday we got a 6:00 AM start out of Ketchikan.  When we left the dock I thought we were going to go up Clarence Strait to Sumner Strait, back south in Sumner Strait to Cape Decision and finally north up Chatham Strait.  I didn’t particularly like that plan because Cape Decision is exposed to the Pacific Ocean but I couldn’t see any other easy way of getting expeditiously to Glacier Bay.  Somewhere along the route between Ketchikan and Meyers Chuck it occurred to me that we could go the other way in Sumner Strait and get to Wrangell Narrows.  Up until that point I had been trying to get to Wrangell Narrows by going through Wrangell.  Apparently I was mistaken.

The problem with getting to Wrangell Narrows through Wrangell was that I couldn’t find an acceptable anchorage at the right distance from the Narrows in order to get to through the Narrows at the right stage of the current.  Wrangell Narrows floods from both ends so the preferred transit is to time your arrival so that you can ride the flood to roughly the midpoint and then get ebbed out. 

By the time we got up toward the north end of Clarence Strait the wind had got up and we were getting beat up a bit so we ducked into Coffman Cove for the night.  Coffman Cove is a tiny community but they have a great dock, a little general store, a post office and a library.  When I went looking for wifi at the library I had a hard time actually finding the library because it is skilfully disguised as a pizza parlour.  After a wif weather check we entertained some fellow travellers with homemade wine and got to bed early.

We got another early start this morning and racked up over 80 miles today.  Tonight we’re deep at the south end of a little bay on the north side of Kupreanof Island.  We were just about at the bay when we finally saw some damnwhales.  I was scanning the horizon when I saw a humpback breaching about half a mile ahead of us.  He kept feeding on and off the shore and finally passed us about a hundred yards away.  So we’re no longer skunked in the whale department, although we obviously hope this wasn’t our only sighting.

The weather forecast for the next couple of days sucks big time so we’ll likely stay here until it smartens up.  As it turns out we have a feeble cell signal here deep in the bay so I’ should be able to check the weather regularly. 

We made it

We’re in Alaska.  We didn’t die.  We didn’t even make the news.  Its hard to believe we’re finally here.

We left our cozy little anchorage in Brundige Inlet just after first light this morning and were outside the inlet by the time it was fully light.  Then we turned left and headed out across Dixon Entrance.  After all the anticipation and all the worry it was totally anticlimactic.  It was pissing rain by the time we got outside the inlet.  We had some low southerly rollers early on but by about two hours into the crossing it was starting to get flat and by late morning it was glassy calm.  Other than the damnrain it couldn’t have been nicer.

We saw two other cruising boats – the same two that spent one night in Lowe Inlet as well as a few fishing boats.  Mostly we just saw grey skies, fog and rain.  Fortunately the radar is working well. 

When we got closer to Ketchikan it started to seriously piss rain on us.  I could barely see the next set of markers as we worked our way up Tongass Channel.  Before it started raining hard I could see what looking like a couple of apartment buildings at the head of the channel.  No doubt what they were – I was surprised that they were out this early but obviously they were cruise boats.  Floating casinos like the Costa Concordia.  Dangerous at any speed.  I was carefully staying well clear of the ugly things for fear one of them would tip over and squish us.  Then it announced that it was leaving town so we had to skedaddle across the channel to get out of its stupid way.

They didn’t tip over while we were watching them but we didn’t watch for very long either.

We got tied up at Bar Harbor and then waited for the Customs doofus to show up.  He had some cruising permit to fill out for us – something we’d never seen before.  And he didn’t have any clue about a clearance number – something that Customs in Washington is big on.  You’d think when its a Federal Agency that they’d try to do things the same way everywhere but apparently not. 

Once we got all our paperwork up to date we went on a shopping run to Safeway.  We always try to cross the border with as little fresh produce as possible although I don’t think the guy today cared one way or the other.  He told us to eat our meals onboard ‘because of agriculture.”  Given that Ketchikan gets over 160 inches of annual rainfall I think its a safe bet that we’ll be eating indoors at least until we leave here.  One of our guidebooks said that Safeway was happy to have us bring their carts back to the dock as long as we parked them with the dock carts so we cheerfully headed out of the parking lot with a full cart.  As soon as the front wheels left the lot they locked up solid.  (I always thought that was bullshit when the sign said they would do that but it turns out it isn’t)  Fortunately a nice man in an SUV took pity on us and drove us back to the dock.

Now that we’re actually in Alaska we think its prudent to start making a trip plan for our time here.  We thought maybe they would have a visitor centre in town but no such luck.  The big attraction for boaters up here is Glacier Bay.  Its such a big attraction that the National Parks Service has a very complicated permit process in place.  You have to apply for a permit less than 60 days before you plan to enter the bay and they have to mail the permit to you.  So clearly that wasn’t going to work.  But today we discovered that – if we get there before the end of May – we can just do whatever the hell we want.  So that’s our immediate plan – head north relatively quickly and get into Glacier Bay before the end of May.  We’re kind of used to heading north so that shouldn’t be hard to do. 

First we’ll need to get some fuel though.  We’re still working off the fuel we bought from Covich Williams in Seattle but I’ve been a little worried.  Evidently we had enough to get here but I had more or less stopped checking the levels in the tanks because they were staring to scare me.  Tonight I noticed that we are riding pretty high – light fuel and low water will do that I guess.

Alaska is right over there

Its been a long old grind up the island, around Cape Caution and finally up the coast to Prince Rupert but tonight we can almost see Alaska.  Its right over there, behind the fog bank.

It was pretty foggy in Prince Rupert when I got up and it got worse before it got better.  We probably had less than 200 yards visibility when we finally got untied around 9:30.  We’d have been away earlier but we had the small matter of 4 cases of wine to deal with before we could leave.  We left Cow Bay with a serious overload of wine and this morning we were still carrying way more than we wanted to enter Alaska with.  More importantly, we had way more wine onboard than we wanted to try getting back into Canada with.  I doubt that the Americans will give a damn what we’re carrying but the bloody Canuck Customs are another matter altogether.  They’d happily charge us duty and tax on wine we made ourselves if we tried to bring it back into the country.

Once we got the wine safely stashed in the Prince Rupert Yacht Club’s storeroom we snuck out into the channel, feeling our way through the fog with both radars running.  By the time we got to the west end of the bay it was starting to lift.  When we went by this old ferry dock we had probably 10 miles visibility and it never got any worse that than all day but there was always a little fog somewhere on the horizon.

Shortly after we passed this abandoned ferry landing Marilyn spotted two wolves on the shore.  I was kind of occupied winding our way through some seriously skinny water so I didn’t bother even trying to take their picture. 

Tonight we’re anchored at the head of the little inlet on the north side of Dundas Island, just to the east of the skinny arrow in the picture below.  Off to the west the next solid ground is Japan or Russia.

That big area of white water at the lower left of the image is known as Dixon Entrance.  Its the last gate we need to pass in order to get to Alaska and, weather permitting, it will be behind us by tomorrow night.

One last night at the dock

This morning we moved the rest of the way north into Prince Rupert.  I’ve heard about the Prince Rupert grain terminals for as long as I can remember so it was pretty cool to cruise past them today.  And you literally go right by them.  The channel is so narrow as you go by the terminal that it felt like we were under the spout.  There was a coal ship just finishing up loading at Ridley and a grain ship that was just starting to load at the grain terminal.  We could see the grain dust flying from 3 or 4 miles away so we knew they were loading long before we got close enough to really see anything.

The container terminal was pretty impressive too.  There were no ships loading there but they were lining containers up like they were getting ready to load something.  There’s ocean going vessels parked all over the place up here too – thank you very much CN & CP for not getting the grain in position. 

Tonight we’re tied up to the inside of the breakwater at Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club.  They’re very pleasant but a little bit overly proud of their facility so we’ll only spend one night enjoying their $71 per night hospitality.  We made a quick grocery run to replenish a bit of fresh fruit but we didn’t want to get carried away because we like to cross the US border with as little in the fridge as possible.  Tomorrow afternoon we’ll move a little closer to the US border to an anchorage on Dundas Island.  Assuming the weather forecast stays good, we’ll make the crossing at Dixon Entrance on Thursday.

I found a chandler here and bought some guidebooks for Alaska.  I don’t know what I was thinking coming this far on an Alaskan adventure without any guidebooks to tell us where to go.  It worked out well though because there was a bookstore on main street going out of business and they had one of the Hemingway – Douglass guides on half price.  They’re normally $70 so half price is good.  I had to pay full price for the 2nd one at the Chandlery but I’d have paid full price for 2 books if I hadn’t found the discounted one at the bookstore.  I think I’ll walk back up there in the morning and check out her used books.