Ketchikan to Prince Rupert

New Eddystone Rock, outside the entrance to Punchbowl Cove

Monday, May 25^th, 2009:

Before leaving Petersburg, we helped this gill-netter load his new net...

Calculating the timing for travel is important, especially in the big waters of the Alaskan coast. We are traveling south through the famous Wrangell Narrows, but that empties into Sumner Strait, feeding off the Pacific. You never want to enter that strait with opposing winds and tides, so the calculations. We estimate that we will arrive at 3:00PM, just at the high tide. That means an ebb flow, which is west in Sumner, will follow. The forecast is for easterly winds, so that is good…we’ll see.

We said goodbye to Lee & Diane...

It worked out perfectly, with our anchorage at St. John’s Harbor near the “big water”. We were close to shore, but in 40 feet of water, and I launched one crab pot. The next morning, we readied and headed to Wrangell. That took about 3 hours and the marina had dock space. This is a quaint little town, full of characters. The first person we met was Knut from near Seattle. He is a commercial fisherman by trade, but now retired and fishing every day for “fun”. His wife, Gerry, is a Bartlett from Cullman! The world is very small.

Then Wednesday morning, we went out for a run toward a new harbor built in Wrangell since our visit there last year. As we left the dock, there were two large fishing trawlers on the grid, at low tide. They use that to work below the water line as a free “haul-out”, and when the tide floods, they are launched again. The new harbor is huge, and only about a mile from town. We went into a shop we saw last year and talked to the owner for a hour before heading back via the grocery store. We re-stocked as much as we could think of, and I spent the rest of the afternoon removing the stern-thruster motor from inside the boat. The factory had suggested that the shear-pin between the motor and the drive would be the first one to break, and it can be replaced from within the boat. So after about 2 hours of work, I removed it, and the shear-pin was intact. That means that the “failed” pin is the one from the shaft to the propeller. That takes a haul-out to fix. Oh, well. I called Kurt Dillworth at Tomco Marine (builders of our boat) and we talked about many things relating to the boat, newer design changes, etc. Meanwhile, we had to get the line out of the thruster propeller....

A local diver, Bob Z. did the job...and he pulled this out...

The big AT Rendezvous is Sept 25^th at the factory, and we will see him there.

Our course further south is the “eastern passage” around Wrangell Island, a route we did not take last year. It passes by Anan, the famous bear viewing area during the summer. It is only open when the salmon are running, and we’ve never seen that spectacle. We would need an early departure in order to avoid an ebb tide current against us, so we hoped to get away by 7:00. Of course when you are planning on an early start, you wake up too early (we were underway at 5:00!!). I had calculated the currents such that they would provide a “push” the entire way, but they didn’t. Not sure why. We wanted to get to one of our favorite spots last year, Meyer’s Chuck, and the day was beautiful. Enroute we were greeted by Dall Porpoises, numbering 10 or so….I got a terrific video of them surfing our bow wake. When I went below, I could hear their noises thru our hull in the bow.

We arrived at 12:00 noon and met a few people at the dock.

Rain had started, so we just ate and read after walking around the village. The next morning the winds were calm, so we decided to take advantage and move toward Misty Fjords, the circumference around the Island that Ketchikan is on. This is a National Monument and is one of the most famous of the Inside Passage. The route is about 100 miles, and we would arrive in Ketchikan to meet Niki and Bud Culver on June 2^nd. But the “sticky bun lady” must be waited for at the dock. She brings them to the dock at 7:30 every morning, so we waited and they were really good!

The 44 miles to the next anchorage was in the beginning of the Misty Fjord, a spot called Snail Point. Don’t you love the names? I dropped two crab pots before cocktails. We could hear the anchor chain dragging across the stone bottom, so I got out the anchor bridle, and it solved the noise issue completely. The bridle places a nylon line between the chain and the boat, thus removing any transmitted sounds. It also drops the contact point to below the water line, reducing the amount of scope necessary (or improving your anchorage for any given scope). We got up early to begin the journey to Punchbowl Cove, one of the most photographed areas in Alasaka.

What a day to travel….sun and warm weather. I’ve mentioned the issue of waves created by opposing tide and wind, and we were in choppy seas with waves around 1 to 2 feet. We were heading southeast with the winds in our face out of the SE. We had an ebb tide with us, opposing the wind. The slack after the ebb was calculated to be at 12 noon, so we watched to see what the flood (with the wind) would do to the waves… and at almost exactly 12 noon, the water became as smooth as glass! Christy said that we have no more excuses for rough weather…we simply will wait until the winds and tides cooperate.

Our arrival into Punchbowl was truly magnificent. Clear, no boats in the cove, calm weather, and the granite wall vertical to 3,000 feet forming the north border. It is breathtaking to see, and the pictures cannot reveal the majesty of it. We tied to a mooring buoy (much easier than anchoring) and settled in. The next morning, there was not a cloud in the sky! We decided to stay another day here, and after pancakes, we launched the kayaks for the first time. What fun! We spent over 2 hours along the shores and taking pictures. The boat looked so good in the sparkling sunshine, that I couldn’t resist taking more. We sunbathed on the deck, read, and then kayaked again. What a day. We have loaded and secured the kayaks for the trip to Ketchikan in the morning…Christy can’t wait to see her brother on June 4^th there. We spent two night at Punchbowl Cove and the only people we saw was a couple who arrived to camp out on shore. I kayaked to meet them, and they are on a 3 week vacation, with a ferry that drops them off at certain locations for a few days at a time with provisions and gear. It’ll be hard to top the past 2 days, as the temp was 70 today, and cloudless! There is a trail at the head of the cove, slippery and steep, but terrific but not maintained...

Saturday, June 06, 2009

We are ending 5 days spent in wonderful Ketchikan, AK. After Punchbowl, we found a slip in the northern part, but walked to the “downtown” marina and met Garry Morfit. He has an older trawler, but well equipped. He was sitting on the dock working on his lines when we walked up. We asked how he got that slip, and he said by luck, but it’s “first come, first served”. He offered to call us at the other marina if anything opened up. The next morning (Tuesday the 2^nd) at 7:00 am, he called and we jumped into high-gear! We got the slip across the dock from him, and that began a great friendship. He heads a mission called Project Healing Waters. He invites to his boat wounded soldiers from the Iraq conflict, takes them out as crew to enjoy the Alaskan experience. He has 160 soldier-days scheduled already for this summer. I watched a DVD of them catching a 110 lb Halibut, pulling crab traps, etc. and having a ball. All of this on his nickel! He became another mentor to us, and we spent hours together talking about boats, boating issues, fishing, anchoring, fixin’ things, etc.

I worked on a few splices to "bridle" the crab pots...

Paula Wiesel owns the Arctic Bar in Ketchikan. She was the spirit last year at the bake auction benefit, and we looked forward to seeing her again. She was as lively as ever, and we met her in the bar every day. She invited Christy and me to dinner at the Salmon Falls resort. What a setting, with a huge old lodge overlooking the Behm Canal of Misty Fjords. We had a great meal and enjoyed spending more time with Paula and her boyfriend, Randy. Randy’s father is 83 and still one of the most productive fishermen in the area.

Niki and Bud Culver arrived on a cruise boat on Thursday, June 4^th. We got to spend the day hanging out and hiking part of Deer Mountain Trail. We sat out on the fly-bridge talking for hours and Christy was in heaven seeing her brother all day. I finally got around to adding 150 ft of rope line to my 200 ft of anchor chain. There are times when you may need that length, but it also gives you a way to get rid of a fouled anchor (cutting rope is easier than chain!). After splicing the line to the chain and securing the bitter end, I played it out and practiced getting the line from the windlass to the capsan (other side). That proved more difficult than I imagined, and after many agonizing small injuries and blisters, I had it all figured out. Once I had the chain off under load, and couldn’t get it back on. Christy suggested using the “come-a-long” that I bought a week ago, and it worked great. She is a genius, and she lets me know often.

Garry suggested that we head out on Friday the 5^th toward Weasel Cove about 30 miles away. Since this was almost our route to Prince Rupert (planned for Saturday the 6^th) we jumped at the chance. He caught a nice King Salmon on the way, and then we put out our “pots”. After social hour, we went to pull them, and one of mine was stuffed with huge Dungeness Crabs! What a feast. We went to our boat to cook them, and Garry cleaned his Salmon. It is now in our ‘fridge waiting on our next meal, because the crabs were more than we could eat. We each ate about 3 lbs of crab and collapsed. Christy and I planned an early start this morning, so we got up at 5:30, but it took us ‘till 7:00 to get things stowed, the dinghy secure to the upper deck, and get underway. This could be our last day in Alaska until next year. We are underway heading toward the Dixon Crossing. I spoke with a Nordic Tug we passed (Oleander) and he crossed with good weather yesterday, so we will keep our fingers crossed.

We departed late, after working on the gen-set intake….it had overheated late on Friday, so I cleaned the intake and sea-strainer of weed, and we left at noon. It was a long and bumpy ride toward Prince Rupert. After 5 hours, we were nearing the mid-point of Dixon with another 3 hours to go. We decided to rest in the protected inlet called Brundidge Inlet. That is in Canada, but the remainder of the cruise would take another 3 hours, and seemed too much. The sun was shinning, and we recovered from the crossing with a book on the bow... You can spend a single night prior to clearing customs either north bound to clear in Ketchikan, or south bound to clear in Prince Rupert. We’ll get an early start tomorrow (Sunday, June 07, 2009) and clear customs at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club near mid-town.

Video of the Dall Porpoises