Lowe Inlet to Foggy Bay and Ketchikan

A peaceful evening in Foggy Bay

Raindancer and Sea Jay in Foggy Bay

A view of Bottleneck Inlet Entrance in the rain

May 13, 2011

Underway in rain seems to be the norm these days, and today was no exception. We left Lowe Inlet at 0750 in rain and 44 degree temperatures as we headed north up the remainder of Grenville Channel. As the morning progressed, we monitored the weather broadcasts and made the decision to cross directly to Foggy Bay (in the USA), bypassing Prince Rupert. That turned out to be a good decision. We called US Customs when we got cell phone coverage and got permission to anchor in Foggy Bay prior to clearing in Ketchikan the next day. The crossing was uneventful, only 10-15 knot winds and a low 3 foot swell. Although we had one brief rain squall, the day was generally sunny, and as we approached Foggy Bay we picked up a whiff of the hickory smoke from Jim Matheson's Traeger BBQ. Sea Jay cruises faster than we do, so they arrived earlier and had dinner ready when both we and Raindancer anchored at 1845 local time, under sunny skies. There was one other boat in the bay, but lots of room.

Dinner on Sea Jay included not only the smoked chicken breasts, but also crab cocktails and fresh spot prawns that Jim had caught that morning in Lowe Inlet. Cheryl had also made a superb potato salad.

This was the longest day underway we have done, 103 nautical miles, and 630 nautical miles from Anacortes.

May 14, 2011

The next morning, May 14, we left early at 0714 for the 36 nautical mile run from Foggy Bay to Ketchikan. The wind had started to build from the North, and the combination of wind and tide abeam of Mary Island covered the boat in spray and salt. However, that soon calmed down as we continued up the channel and entered Tongass Narrows and approached Ketchikan. We decided to delay fueling until we depart Ketchikan and found a slip at City Floats, which are located between two of the cruise ship piers, right in the center of town. The good news was finding a slip. The bad news was the slip was exposed to the wind and chop coming from the north down Tongass Narrows. However, Spirit is pretty heavy and the motion was acceptable. We docked at 1145 showing 666 nautical miles on the log.

Patrick got one of the folding bikes out and rode several miles to the Napa parts store that was holding a replacement sea water washdown pump for us, ours failed in Lowe Inlet. The sun was out, the temperature climbed into the 60's and within two hours, the pump was replaced.

We met Matheson's at Annabelle's for dinner, which was excellent, then stopped at the Sourdough Bar for a nightcap before walking the two blocks back to the boat.

May 15, 2011

Sunday was a maintenance day as we woke up to two cruise ships and brilliant sunshine. We changed the main engine oil and load tested each battery in the house bank to ensure that we had solved the house battery problem. All batteries tested "good", but we found one additional loose connection that may have contributed to the erratic house battery performance.

The weather continued clear, warm and windy all day and we took a walk around downtown and played tourist for several hours before having some of our many leftovers for dinner.