Meyers Chuck

Main Street Meyers Chuck
Miriam in front of the Gallery - Beautiful Stuff but expensive

Oh what tangled webs we weave...
This sculpture was in the woods with a metal spider on the web.



A quiet evening after the wind coming up Clarence Strait

Meyers Chuck Post Office, also the source of the cinnamon rolls!

This morning was quite a change weather-wise from yesterday. We woke up to a brisk cool SE wind, but the satellite weather indicated the trend was for light and variable winds and minimal seas in Clarence Strait, so we decided to head over to the fuel dock and then to Meyers Chuck.

We put on a total of 600 gallons of fuel, close to our original estimate, and could perhaps have squeezed on another 30 gallons. Dodging cruise ships coming down Tongass Narrows, we headed north. The winds eventually peaked in the low 20's, but the swells in Clarence Strait were building and on our port quarter, which even with stabilizers made for a substantial corkscrew motion until we passed Ship Island, where the swells were now directly astern. As we approached the entrance to Meyers Chuck, we waited for an opening between swell sets and made a hard right turn into the narrow entrance, making sure we avoided the submerged rock. We entered at near low tide into a millpond, even though windy and sloppy outside. By evening, the wind advisory had been upgraded to small craft warnings and seas to 7 feet.

Meyers Chuck has changed in the three years since we were last here. The tumbledown but photogenic Meyers Chuck Marine Service building has been torn down and several of the homes were for sale. Like many of the small settlements on our way north, Meyers Chuck is fading away as the older residents pass on and the younger people leave for jobs in the larger cities. Mail service is two days per week, there is sporadic cell phone service (there is a land line) and only about 4-5 year-round residents.

We ordered cinnamon rolls for breakfast from Cassie (one of the residents who is also the post mistress, an artist, and whatever else needs doing). She delivered them the next morning right to the boat, still warm from the oven. Just before she arrived, two more cruisers arrived, both cruising alone, who had experienced a rough night with dragging anchors in Lyman Anchorage on Prince of Wales Island. For the gentleman, it was his 14^th trip to Alaska.

The weather forecast looked favorable, so we headed out about 1100 for our next stop.