June 25-27
The rains returned, along with much cooler temperatures, as
we cleaned and reorganized the boat in anticipation of Jon and Susanne
Liljegren’s arrival on Thursday. On
Tuesday we were invited to dinner on Wild Blue prepared by one of Alex Benson’s
three college classmates who are in town fishing with Alex. We started with a salmon gumbo, then shrimp
salad and finished off with barbequed duck breasts, all delicious!
June 28, 2012
Jon and Susanne arrived on schedule in the rain, but we
headed into town for sightseeing and then final provisioning before going to a
farewell to Sitka dinner at the Channel Club.
We planned on fishing in the morning, so everyone went to bed early.
June 29, 2012
Getting underway at 0720 we headed out into Sitka Sound and
by 0930 Jon had caught his first Alaskan king salmon, but then the bite
disappeared and we reluctantly pulled in the lines and headed north to Sergius
Narrows, timing our arrival for low slack water to take advantage of the push
from the flood current. Aside from
persistent rain showers, the seas and wind were calm. Continuing through Peril Strait we finally
stopped for the night at Saook Bay where we anchored Spirit in 100 feet of
water.
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| Jon's First King Salmon |
While anchoring we discovered the chain lockers drains had
become plugged, probably from the mud washing off the chain in Kalinin
Bay. We had assumed the drains on the
bowsprit drained directly overboard, but discovered they just went to the
bottom of the chain lockers so even when washing off the mud before reaching
the windlass, washed the mud into the chain locker anyway. Access to the drains proved impractical
without different tools, so Patrick and Jon bailed out the lockers with a
plastic bowl taped to the end of a boathook. A permanent solution will have to wait until
fall.
We almost had the bay to ourselves; only one other sailing
vessel and 40 commercial crab pots across the end of the bay joined us. Jon and Patrick set two crab pots and two
prawn traps in the rainy and cool evening.
Dinner was fresh king salmon from the morning’s catch
accompanied by brown rice and a Greek style salad.
June 30, 2012
Sunlight streaming in the stateroom windows woke us up, but
by the time coffee was made the sun had disappeared, replaced by the liquid
variety we have had all week. The crab
pots yielded only two large Dungeness crab and the prawn pots were empty. Getting underway at 0915 we continued east in
Peril Strait and turned south into Chatham Strait where we visited Kasnyku
Falss for photos and then trolled unsuccessfully for salmon before heading into
Warm Springs Bay. The docks were full,
so we anchored in one of the south coves in 90 feet of water. The bottom was hard a getting the anchor to
set was hard. Jon and Susanne headed
into the dock in the tender and walked up to Baranof Hot Springs and Baranof
Lake. The hot springs were full of
people in all stages of dress and un-dress.
Electing to not join in, they headed back down the muddy trail and returned
to Spirit in what was now drenching rain.
While they were gone Patrick and Miriam remained on Spirit
and smoked some salmon for dinner appetizers.
Dinner was excellent American “Kobe” style beef ribeye steaks brought to
Sitka by Jon and Susanne that came from the “Head to Tail” butcher shop in the
Pike Place Market. The grilled steak was
followed by fresh Dungeness crab and wedge salads. We dined alfresco on the flybridge with the
rear flaps open even though there was light rain but with the sun trying to
break through. After dinner we tendered
over to “Blue Heron” from Gig Harbor who had arrived and anchored close
by. We had crossed paths with Blue Heron
several times so far this trip, and also in 2007.
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| Dining on fresh crab on the fly bridge |
July 1, 2012
The sun tried to break thru, but was beaten by light rain in
the morning as we headed out for Tracy Arm at 0620. There were lots of humpback whales and some
sea otters as we turned into Frederick Sound.
Turning north into Stephens passage the marine life disappeared and we
were not even greeted by the usual pods of Dall Porpoises. Our only company was Blue Heron, headed to
Endicott Arm.
Entering Tracy Arm at 1530 we headed up in nearly ice free
conditions for the first ten miles, and reached Sawyer Island at 1800, where we
headed towards South Sawyer Glacier, getting to within 2 miles before we ran
out of time to get back to No Name Cove before dark. The views were spectacular and there was the
least floating ice we have ever seen.
North Sawyer glacier had retreated out of sight compared to our trip in
2010 and is no longer a tidewater glacier.
We stopped and picked up some fresh glacial ice for drinks when we
returned to the anchorage.
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| Humpback Whales in Chatham Strait |
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| South Sawyer Glacier |
We anchored in the cove at 2120 in calm conditions, joining
5 other vessels, including three sailboats flying French flags. Later, just before dark Blue Heron also
arrived, having been in Endicott Arm.
July 2, 2012
We raised the anchor at 0645 to take advantage of low slack
water (a -1.7 foot tide) at the entrance to Tracy Arm.
 |
| Final farewell to Tracy Arm 2012 |
Heading south under partly sunny skies and light northerly
winds we saw one whale where we usually see dozens. Then we got closer to Five Fingers Islands
and stopped the boat to watch several whales feeding. The rest of the journey was uneventful under
partly sunny skies, no wind and calm seas.
We docked at Petersburg at 1710 under partly cloudy skies
and had pizza at Papa Bear’s on the main street.
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