Alaska 2014 - Ketchikan to Petersburg

May 31, 2014

Today we played tourist in Ketchikan.  Walking from Bar Harbor to downtown, Miriam and I window shopped and observed how quiet the town was with only one cruise ship docked.  The jewelry stores were mostly empty and the souvenir stores had few shoppers.  The “Disney Wonder” was on the last stop before returning to Vancouver to start the cycle all over again and we think people were tired of shopping.

We had hoped to get fish & chips and have them with something to drink at Fat Stan’s, where we had gone before.  However, Fat Stan’s now has a pizza and burger menu and you can no longer have the Alaska Seafood House deliver your order to Fat Stan’s.  We decided to head back to Spirit and stopped instead at a place called “Alava’s”, recommended by locals we talked to and had delicious fish & chips with generous servings for less money than the tourist places downtown.

June 1, 2014

The weather report sounded marginal, with small craft warnings, but we thought we could be far enough up Clarence Strait towards Wrangell that we would not be affected too much.  After refueling, taking on 635 gallons of diesel fuel, we left Ketchikan at 0830 and headed north up Tongass Narrows for Clarence Strait.  In past trips we have taken on between 600 and 615 gallons at the same point in the trip, so the fuel penalty of towing the tender is not too bad.  The weather was fine for the first 12 miles, until we approached Caamano Point at the tip of  the Cleveland Peninsula, and then it took a turn for the worse.  The winds started blowing a steady 25 knots, with gusts to 34 knots.  The seas were steep and we had continuous spray over Spirit, with no end in sight.  Passing by Meyers Chuck we could see into the harbor and also on AIS that the docks were full, so we continued on rather than attempting the narrow entrance in the wind and what would have been steep beam seas.  We elected to head up Ernest Sound, through Seward Passage to Santa Anna Inlet.  When we arrived at 1630, after a 57 mile day we found only one other boat anchored.  The wind was blowing straight into the inlet, gusting to 22 knots, but the bottom has very good holding and lots of room, so Spirit was anchored securely in 65 feet of water.

Patrick set two prawn pots and by 2030 that evening we had 4 dozen nice spot prawns, so a third pot was set out.

June 2, 2014

The wind was consistently 10-15 knots all night, with even a small rain shower.  The morning check of the pots, at 0600 yielded 8 dozen more large spot prawns, which were processed and frozen before our departure at 0900 under partly sunny skies.  Our route took us up Seward Passage, past Frosty Bay and into Zimovia Straits, where we intended to take advantage of the flood current.  However, this time of year the flow of water out of the Stikine River and the north wind overpowered the flood current and instead of a 1.5 knot boost we experienced a 1.5 knot adverse current.  Nonetheless, we arrived at Heritage Harbor, our preferred moorage in Wrangell at 1430 after a 36 nautical mile run, docking in a brief rain shower.  Spirit has now travelled 789 nautical miles since Anacortes on May 15.

Some spot prawns from Santa Anna Inlet

Heritage Harbor is about one mile from the main town, an easy run in the Grady White tender.  Arriving at Reliance Floats in the main harbor, we checked in and then headed to “Summer Floats” closer to downtown Wrangell.  The combination of winds and tidal chop made “Summer Floats” untenable for our boat, so we headed back to Heritage Harbor and walked into town for supplies.  Since our last visit the street paving project has been completed, which was a pleasant surprise.  Rather than walk back, and since we had not planned dinner yet, we stopped at the Stikine Inn for dinner and a free courtesy ride back to Heritage Harbor.  The food and drink at the Stikine Inn was as good as we remembered, and hope it continues if the Inn is sold (it is for sale).

June 3, 2014

We have some broken rod holders on the Grady White, and replacements are non-existent up here, but PVC pipe will work just fine.  A walk into town to the True Value Hardware was successful, with 4 pieces cut from a longer length.  Patrick returned from the store and Spirit was underway at 0950 for Petersburg.  Although we had overcast skies, we had no rain during the transit of Wrangell Narrows.  The rain started just as we pulled the Grady White alongside for the approach to the dock in an adverse current now running at 4 knots.  Naturally, the rain now arrived in earnest, continuing a pattern for the last few days.  We docked at the new “North” floats, only in operation for two weeks and after registering, had a nice visit with one of Miriam’s childhood friends, Marj Oines.  We may stay here for two days since we really have a relaxed schedule to get to Sitka.