SYC Members Sail North to Alaska
SYC Home
| <<
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
|8
| 9
|10
|11
| 12
| >>
| eMail Bob & Tracie
|
|
It’s been one week since we left Sitka and we have been traveling pretty fast. We have had long days on the water and only staying one night before heading off again early the next morning (5:30). The goal was make Sergius Narrows at slack tide. Salisbury Sound was calm so we had easy crossing. 
Our first stop was Appleton Cove, inside Peril Straits. The shoreline was loaded with crab pots, placed by commercial crabbers. We thought it would be a good place to put our pots in the water but we were skunked again. Many boats came in throughout the afternoon making this a popular anchorage. The next day we left Peril Straits and went south down Chatham Strait. We were attempting to stay at Baranof Warm Springs but due to the dock being rafted 3 deep with fishing vessels we were forced to continue another 35 miles south to Red Bluff Bay. We were all disappointed to have to miss the warm springs but Red Bluff was a beautiful stop and we stayed 2 nights with the cascading waterfalls as a backdrop. We placed several crab and shrimp pots hoping to augment our dinner menu. While placing one of the shrimp pots we noticed a large number of salmon jumping near a stream. Thinking this would be a great place to fish we returned with our fishing gear. Apparently when the salmon are waiting to head up the stream to spawn they are no longer interested in bait. We would have had better luck waiting for a salmon to jump in the boat.
.Leaving Red Bluff we headed across Chatham Strait into Frederick Sound and anchored in Portage Bay. A large open anchorage but protected from the wind. This stretch of waters is notorious for high winds and large seas. Luckily we made the passage under light winds and 2-3 ft chop. We got an early start passing Petersburg, heading south thru Wrangel Narrows without stopping. The timing was perfect to make the current slack always moving with a following current. We continued across Sumner Straits into St Johns Bay and got anchored just ahead of a rainsquall. So far we have not stayed twice at any port or anchorage. The following day we passed through Snow Passage into Clarence Straits. This is a large body of waters and seas can build quickly. The wind picked up making our arrival into Meyers Chuck the worst part of the entire past few days. Meyers Chuck is the first port that we have repeated during our trip. First time we had to anchor but this time we found space at the public dock. Talking with a local fisherman who has lived there since 1949 he said that Wrangel Port was taking over the upkeep and in the future it would cost to stay at the docks. Many of the locals have been using this free dock space as their permanent moorage yearlong.
  We arrived in Ketchikan yesterday afternoon. Now we have clean clothes and fresh vegetables and will leave tomorrow after paying our moorage and getting some fuel. Fuel prices here are $2.16/gallon, Moonraker added 250 gallons on our first visit and now we will add 300 gallons making a total of 550gallons of diesel used so far on this trip to Alaska. I have added 300 hours of engine time and changed the oil every 100hrs. All ports here in Alaska have places to deposit your used oil and garbage. We will leave Alaska and arrive in Canada in two days if all continues to go well. The wine supply is getting low and now we have to check back into Canadian waters. All is working OK and we have kept warm and dry. Love Tracie and Bob
|