Merlin's Gremlins Banished?

Morning clouds looking east

On Father’s Day we crossed the huge Chatham Strait to head down the narrow Peril Strait on the way to Sitka. In spite of its name, pretty Peril Strait did not give us any problems, and we saw more humpback whales. Our anchorage that evening was Appleton Cove where we were able to share a Park Service buoy with Xanadu. We put out the crab pot (caught a star fish) and had fun watching a grizzly on the beach.

The next day we only traveled four hours to our next anchorage—Baby Bear Bay. No bears in sight although I rang my bear bell constantly after seeing fresh bear poop on the beach when walking Katie. We set the crab pot again but only came up with more starfish the next morning. Lots of sun, and we had a very pretty and calm ride to Sitka. We did have to time our trip to go through a VERY narrow area called Sergius Narrows at slack tide. A ferry had called everyone on the radio to let us know they were coming up behind us. Fortunately, they passed us in a wider spot. It was fun waving to the passengers on the ferry.

Susan and Katie kayaking

Sitka is now our favorite Southeast Alaska town.There is lots of history here with 22 historic sites, including a National Historic Park in the middle of the city. The city was occupied by the Tlingits, the Russians, and then, of course, us after our purchase of Alaska in 1867. It’s a well-cared-for town and the views of the numerous islands in Sitka Sound and Mt. Edgecumbe (a Mt. Fuji look-alike) are outstanding. The marina where we are staying is filled with big fishing boats, and there is lots of activity on the docks as they come and go.

Rod worked on getting a new part for our broken generator while Roxie and I did laundry and grocery shopping. He was finally able to locate the part in Florida, and they sent it on an overnight shipment (big bucks!). We couldn’t imagine that it would really arrive that quickly, so John and Roxie moved on for a while, and we waited for the part. We had fun exploring Sitka and celebrating our 44^th wedding anniversary with a dinner out at a brand-new restaurant owned by the local Native Americans. It could have been better. You would think that after three whole days of practice they would have their act together.

We were thrilled the next day when our part came when they said it would. It took Rod a half-day to install it and now the generator works! We will leave Sitka on Sunday, June 26^th to hopefully rendezvous with Xanadu and see if everything is working right on Merlin.

We will be back in Sitka to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with Patrick and Natalie who are flying in on July 2^nd.

We may not be blogging for awhile, but welcome your e-mails to our regular e-mail address!

Signing out,

Susan, Rod, and Katie