Sitka Reprise

The view from Goddard Hot Springs
A rare day in Sitka with Mt. Edgecumbe visible

Two young deer swimming in Hayward Strait


Some of our Dungeness Crab


Celebrating 38 years of marriage in Baby Bear Cove on June 10, 2010

June 14, 2010 - Tenakee Springs

We woke up to sunshine, calm winds and glassy seas in Tenakee Springs. We did not want to waste the day, and the same held true for the other transient boats as we all got underway within a few minutes of each other. We headed over the Kadashan Bay where the crab pots were set and were disappointed to only find a few legal crabs and one flounder. The sunny weather gradually disappeared as we set our course south in Chatham Strait and turned west into Peril Strait (again) and we were in rain by the time we headed down Deadman Reach. The porpoise and whales all flirted with us, but the whales never really got very close. We motored into Deep Bay and set the pots before anchoring. The commercial crabbers were staging their pots for the opening of the season on June 15, but only one was actually in the bay, as well as one large power yacht. We checked the pots at dusk and had 4 more large crabs in just 3 hours.

June 15, 2010 - Deep Bay

At 0700, the crab pots had only one good sized legal crab as we made hasty preparations to transit Sergius Narrows at low slack water. Exiting Deep Bay we had to wait along with several other pleasure craft for two Alaska Ferries, Columbia and Taku, to transit the Narrows, but it was only a few minutes. The rain and low clouds at times reduced the visibility to less than ½ mile. We were still having holding tank pump out problems, so before heading into Sitka harbor we nosed out into Sitka Sound into the swells that were still present and bounced things around enough to break free whatever clog we had. We arrived in Sitka before noon, which left plenty of time for our guests to do last minute shopping while Patrick and Miriam shelled crab and made crab cakes for an appetizer before dinner.

Our farewell dinner with Bob, Dianne, Sarah and Jim was at the Channel Club, with another great meal. The red king crab was especially good.

June 16, 2010 - Sitka

Our guests departed shortly before noon after helping clean the boat and doing some last minute shopping. The rest of the day we did loads of laundry, walked into town and began the maintenance tasks such as changing the oil in the genset and cleaning the watermaker filters.

Our log now shows 1793 nautical miles.