Ketchikan to Wrangell

May 15-18, 2016

After arriving in Ketchikan on May 15 we spent the remainder of the day cleaning some of the salt from Spirit and laying out our plans for the next few days.  The rain intensified as the day progressed.  As a celebration for a smooth crossing of Dixon Entrance we went to the new Bar Harbor Restaurant in a drenching downpour.  Even with a taxi it was wet.

On Monday Patrick went to the post office and picked up the parts we had shipped in, including the new Tecma toilet seat which had failed.  The main navigation computer had also failed in heavy seas in Johnstone Strait and we had been using a laptop as a stopgap.  We had a mixture of sun and showers as the weather front began to move onshore.

 

Midday we met the crew of Seaducktress at the Cape Fox Lodge for lunch and found that the funicular to the lodge was broken, so we had to hike up “married man’s trail” from Creek Street to the lodge to enjoy the views of downtown Ketchikan and Thomas Basin.  Patrick found a new power supply at a local computer store and by the end of the day we were back in business.

Hiking up Married Man Trail to Cape Fox Lodge

The trail has 150 vertical steps plus gravel paths

The view from the dining room was worth the hike

Salmon Sculpture alongside Ketchikan Creek

The weather continued to deteriorate and the predicted gale began on Tuesday, with cold temperatures, wind and rain.  Even the eagles looked bedraggled as they fought over food on the boat launch ramp close to our slip.  That evening we shared dinner on board “Misty One”, a custom Rayburn that also moors at Anacortes Marina.

The bedraggled eagles fighting over a fish

Wednesday was just as bad from a weather standpoint, so we stayed in Ketchikan and hoped the weather would clear, although a few boats were arriving from Prince Rupert and asking for slip assignments.

May 19, 2016

The rain had stopped and the wind had shifted to the northwest, so at 0715 we cast off the lines and said goodbye to Ketchikan until we are headed south across Dixon Entrance later in the summer.  Proceeding north up Tongass Narrows we had hopes of a smooth day in Clarence Strait and that was the case until we got to Ship Island, south of Meyers Chuck.  Then the flood tide combined with NW winds to 30 knots created conditions just like Johnstone Strait.  There were short, very steep seas and Spirit put the anchors on the bow pulpit underwater on several occasions.  We slowed down to keep from pounding to avoid a repeat computer failure.  Once again, even though the rain of the past few days had washed off the salt, in in a few minutes we were covered once again.  Passing Meyers Chuck we could see that the dock was full so we continued past Misery Island (well named), since the seas were the roughest right off of the island, and then turned into Ernest Sound.  The wind continued to blow for another few miles, but now on the beam, and the seas gradually calmed.  Once past the tip of Deer Island, the wind and waves both disappeared and we had a flat calm approach into Santa Anna Inlet.

The view out of a placid Santa Anna Inlet

Remains of mining machinery in Santa Anna Inlet

Spirit was the only boat in the inlet, so we anchored at the head of the inlet in 50 feet of water at 1435.  Patrick and Miriam got the prawn pots ready and by 1530 three pots were set at our favorite site near the opening to the inlet.

We spend a peaceful night at anchor trying to watch a movie, but either the movie was boring or we were actually too tired, so at 2100 we turned out the lights after watching a nearly full moon rise over the trees.

Bald Eagle

Full Moon rising over Santa Anna Inlet

May 20, 2016

With no particular schedule, Patrick checked the prawn pots sometime after 0800 and brought back our limit of spot prawns plus a number of squat lobsters.  After cooking all of them, we pulled the anchor at 0925 and headed up Seward Passage, past Thoms Place and into Zimovia Strait.  Regardless of the tide, the current seems to always run towards Clarence Strait down Seward Passage.

Some of our spot prawns

Entering Zimovia Strait we saw something in the water and it turned out to be two deer out for a mid-day swim.  As we passed by they turned around and headed back to shore.  It is not the first time we have seen this behavior.

Deer in Zimovia Strait out for a swim

Approaching Wrangell from Zimovia Strait

By 1435 we were moored at Wrangell’s Heritage Basin, having covered 90 miles since leaving Ketchikan.  That evening we shared the spot prawns with Pat & Rick Lennon on the Selene 53 “Tranquility” along with another apple pie baked by Miriam.

A ridge of high pressure is predicted to build over the Gulf of Alaska over the next few days, so we should continue to have clear but somewhat windy weather.