Alaska 2015 - Ketchikan to Petersburg

May 9, 2014

The day was spent sightseeing around Ketchikan.  A surprise from previous visits was the $5.00 per person charge to even walk the outside grounds at Saxman Village and still not be allowed inside the longhouse, which is reserved for cruise ship passenger shows.  Completing provisioning and purchasing Alaska fishing licenses took part of the afternoon.  That evening we met up with Mike and Susie Miner (Seeker), Tucker’s and Johnson’s for dinner at the Cape Fox Lodge.

May 10, 2015

Steel Tiger and Spirit left City Floats shortly after 0800 and headed to the fuel docks.  Our preferred fuel dock was unavailable due to a fuel barge offloading fresh fuel, so we used Petromarine.  Prices were surprisingly close to those we paid in Anacortes for similar quantities.  Spirit took on 635 gallons of fuel.  By 0900 we were all underway once again under clear skies.  Heading north up Tongass Narrows, past Caamano Point, we followed the shoreline up Clarence Strait until turning in at Meyers Chuck.  By this time the clear skies had turned into rain, the public dock was full and the anchor would not set.  Since we suspected the art gallery would be closed this early in the season we agreed to continue on to Santa Anna Inlet. The Meyers Chuck dock has been transferred from the state to Wrangell Borough, which now must repair/replace the dock.  Wrangell’s intentions are to start charging for moorage July 1 at the rate of 0.20$/ft/night, which is really nominal.  The rain quit as Steel Tiger anchored first and Spirit rafted alongside.  The prawn pots were set and we enjoyed the now sunny, but breezy weather.

May 11, 2015 – Santa Anna Inlet

The morning check of Spirit's prawn pots yielded about 7 dozen large spot prawns and great quantities of squat lobsters, with Steel Tiger's pots doing about the same.  Even though there is not much meat on each squat lobster, only about the tip of your little finger, the meat is tender and sweet.  We cooked everything up and had a feast on the back deck of Steel Tiger.

Some of our Squat Lobsters

Enjoying prawns on the aft deck of Steel Tiger

May 12, 2015 – Santa Anna Inlet to Wrangell

The morning check of Spirit’s prawn pots yielded 10 dozen large spot prawns.  After processing them, both boats left Santa Anna Inlet at 0800.  Our route was through Zimovia Strait.  By 1325 the engine was off in Wrangell’s Heritage Basin where we reconnected with the Lennon’s on the Selene 53 “Tranquility”.  The balance of the day was spent touring Wrangell and looking for a new trim tab pump for the Grady White, with no success.  Larger cruise ships now come into Wrangell, like the “Seven Seas Navigator” with 450 passengers, so there were a lot of people walking around downtown.

May 13, 2015 – On to Petersburg

Slack water in Wrangell Narrows required a 0500 departure from the dock.  Under sunny skies and calm seas we had an uneventful transit of Wrangell Narrows and were tied up in Petersburg at 1030 am.  We were assigned a slip in North Harbor on the docks which were new last year.  The town is preparing for The “Little Norway Festival” or Norwegian Independence Day celebrations, which begin today and run through Monday.  Patrick searched for a replacement trim tab pump and actually found one, which was delivered to the harbormaster’s office early in the evening.

May 14, 2015 – Le Conte Glacier

After breakfast and installing the new trim tab pump, a group of 8 of us (Gill's, Johnson's, Tucker's and Jim & Christie Caldwell) headed out on a 4 hour jetboat tour of Le Conte glacier, the southernmost tidewater glacier in the US.  On the way we saw a humpback whale.  The ice was thick at the upper end of the fjord, so we were only able to get within ¾ mile of the face, but it was still spectacular.  There were a number of seals on the ice floes getting ready to calve, which should happen any day.  Returning to Petersburg we had “dinner” at one of the celebration beer gardens while some of the contests were still going on.  Most of the contests seemed to involve tossing herring into targets.  We were still a little hungry, so we hurried to Papa Bear’s Pizza before they closed at 8PM and shared a “Carnivore” pizza.

Bald Eagle on a berg - Le Conbte

Le Conte Glacier from 3/4 mile away

The ice floes we pushed through on the jet boat

Curious Seals 

Our tour group

May 15, 2015 – Parade Day

The festival continued with several blocks of the main street blocked off.  There were all kinds of food booths, arts and crafts and finally a parade followed by a “herring toss” competition, open to all.  Beer gardens were set up in several locations, there was live entertainment in the evening and everyone seemed to be having a great time in the warm sunny weather.

School children in Festive Norwegian clothes

The Viking longboat

Herring flying through the air during the herring toss

We will be in Petersburg until Sunday afternoon, then on to Juneau via Tracy or Endicott Arms, so no internet until May 21.

Farewell to Petersburg