Alaska 2018 Blog Post 10 - Takatz Bay to Sitka

May 25, 2018

The winds kicked up last night, but Takatz Bay is well protected, with little fetch to build up any waves.  The SE winds reflect off the hills and come back as NE winds, which gusted to 25.4 knots before quieting down the rest of the evening.  The rain arrived as predicted and we spent the day doing routine maintenance and relaxing.  One other pleasure craft seemed to have the same idea, so it was just the two boats anchored in the bay, drifting slowly around their anchors, washed down by the continual rain.

The brown bear we saw at low tide on the beach did not re-appear today.

The evening was consumed with watching a movie, “Jumanji into the Jungle”, good for some laughs.

May 26, 2018

As predicted, the winds arrived in the morning, with heavy rain and cool temperatures (low 40’s).  The peak wind gusts are forecast to be in the vicinity of 40 knots later in the day.  A good day to be in a secure anchorage.

After charging the batteries and making water, we let the genset cool somewhat and then changed oil and oil filters, also finding a loose electrical connection on the main neutral lead on the generator housing.  This connection has loosened before and needs a better locking mechanism.  There are too many wires on the same bolt.  We also cleaned the plankton and 5 micron pre-filters on the watermaker since they were getting clogged and would have caused a low inlet pressure shutdown before many more gallons were produced.

As evening approached, the winds continued to gust hard, reaching 31 knots and coming from several directions.  By 2200, the bay was calm once again as the rain returned.

May 27, 2018

Surprise, there was sun shining through the clouds in the morning, and the winds were calm,so we decided to leave and head for an anchorage somewhere in Peril Strait.  Exiting Takatz Bay, the conditions in Chatham were somewhat gruesome, winds steady at 20-25 with gusts to 32 from the SE, and 4-6 foot seas on our starboard quarter.  Fortunately, we only had to endure the rolling corkscrew motions for two hours until we turned the corner into Peril Strait.

A still morning in TakatzBay

Conditions were initially good, then the wind and seas again filled in on our stern until we turned again at Nismeni Point.  From that point on, the seas were flat.  We decided to anchor for the evening in Baby Bear Cove and after entering, found a sailboat anchored in our favorite location, with both bow and stern lies to shore blocking entrance into the most protected part of the cove.

We anchored a short distance away in 50 feet of water and launched the tender for exploration, mapping out the reef near the entrance and checking out a new possibility for anchoring in the southern portion of the bay.  The entrance to the southern arm gets down to 12 feet at half tide, but the inner cove is flat and should be good holding.  At a minus tide we probably would be trapped in the cove.

Anchorage in Baby Bear Bay

We travelled an additional 53 nautical miles today, bringing the total to 976 miles since leaving Anacortes.  We are now only 30 nautical miles from Sitka.

The rain returned late in the evening.

May 28, 2018

Overnight the wind gusted as promised, with our wind gauge registering 42.5 knots.  Our anchor was set well and we barely heard the wind.  There is no fetch in the bay, so even if the wind blows, there is no wave action.

Patrick set two crab pots in Deep Bay, just across the channel from Baby Bear Bay, about 2.5 nautical miles away.  An afternoon check showed all females, no keepers.  The 8PM check yielded 4 nice hard shell Dungeness crab.

The weather front has passed over, mostly, and the wind is now out of the north at 5-10 knots.

May 29, 2018

The morning check of the carb traps yielded 2 more hardshell crabs and a number of large soft shell crabs.  After, cooking, cleaning and freezing the haul, we pulled the anchor from the sticky black mud in Baby Bear Bay at 1145 and continued west/south in Sergius Narrows.  Exiting Kakul Narrows we headed west in Salisbury Sound and fished for several hours, with one strike and no other action.  We finally anchored in Kalinin Bay at 1630, a familiar anchorage.  We were initially the only vessel, but about 2000 another pleasure craft entered and anchored near us.

Kalinin Bay 

May 30, 2018

At 0545, getting a late start on fishing, we pulled the anchor and headed out fishing.  There was no action, even going offshore to Cape Georgiana, where we spotted several charter boats is the same location, also not catching anything.

Bears feeding and watching us leave for fishing

After 6 hours of nothing but the occasional rockfish, we headed back and re-anchored in Kalinin Bay.  In the process of anchoring we discovered the primary anchor roller fasteners had loosened and one had fallen out.  We quickly reconfigured and used the secondary Bruce anchor and then replaced the missing fasteners.  The anchor roller design is poor, and we have yet to come up with a permanent solution to the loose fasteners.  By late afternoon there were six boats anchored in the bay.

Eagle Fishing in Kalinin Bay

Evening in Kalinin Bay

As the sun set,the colors became spectacular

May 31, 2018

Another 0545 start, but we were the third boat out of the bay.  Fishing was equally fruitless, so at 0900 we headed for Sitka.  

Our only excitement were two Stellar Sea Lions swimming around our downriggers.  

Looking for a handout

Another dream gone awry near Olga Strait.

At 1200 we pulled into “A” float in the south harbor, a slip we have been in before.

Eagles waiting on the fish cleaning tables in Sitka Harbor

Our log now shows 1045 nautical miles since leaving Anacortes.

As soon as the engine cooled down, we changed the main engine oil and picked up the parts at the US Post Office to rebuild the salt water washdown pump, parts we had ordered while out in Frederick Sound 10 days earlier.