Farewell to Alaska

Dear Readers,

We have been without an internet connection for a few days as we transversed Rocky Pass and made our way down the west side of Prince of Wales Island staying at Exchange Cove, Coffman Cove, and Thorne Bay--all great places. John and Roxie went down the other side of the island to have a more "wild" experience. Yesterday we arrived in Ketchikan where we checked into customs nine weeks ago and started our exploration of Southeast Alaska.

As soon as weather permits--maybe tomorrow--we will head for Foggy Bay and then Dixon Entrance and make the crossing to Prince Rupert and meet up again with John and Roxie. Once we get into British Columbia, it will be more difficult to get an internet connection. Therefore, I might not do another blog posting for some time. We will be covering the same waters that we did on the way up, so not much new to report.

It has been great fun to write this blog.  For us, it has proven to be a good journal of our trip. Thank you for reading it!

Signing out,
Susan, Rod, and Katie

Alaska Cruisers

Hot Springs, Bear Encounters, and Big Waves!

Cabins, boardwalk, and waterfall at Warm Springs Bay

We left Takatz Bay on the east side of Baronof Island on a beautiful, sunny morning. We stopped to pick up our shrimp pot at the entrance to the bay, but there were only three little ones—not worth heating up water to cook them—so they got to go back in the sea. It only took ninety minutes to get to our next overnight spot—Warm Springs Bay with its small community of Baronof. We were very lucky to get spots at the dock which is usually jammed with fishing boats so their crews can sit in the hot springs. We noticed right away that several guys were fishing and catching coho salmon right off the dock. Rod and John were not so lucky—John caught a little bait fish and Rod not a thing. However, a guy off another boat took pity on Rod and gave him one of his salmon. Later, Roxie traded fresh-baked cookies for a coho. That night’s dinner for the four of us was barbequed salmon and several filets went into our freezers!

Carver's wares at Warm Springs

Our truly amazing experience of the day was walking on a boardwalk to the Baronof Hot Springs--three natural pools of varying hot water next to a raging river at the top of a waterfall. We all four sat in the hottest pool and enjoyed the beautiful setting. John took some pictures that I will try to send along in a future blog post. This community pipes this hot water into their summer homes. The residents have also put a public bath house at the top of the dock—three rooms with big tubs that are constantly filling up with the hot mineral water.

Alaskan garb at Baronof Hot Springs

Warm Springs Bay was so great that we decided to spend another night here. There was time for more fishing the next day and Roxie caught two cohos, sharing one with us. We also took a nice hike up to Baronof Lake. The path to the lake was easy, but too short, so we took a scramble up a rock face to see the great views. That evening, we enjoyed Happy Hour on the flybridge of Xanadu and were joined by a young Alaskan couple cruising on their sailboat. Dinner was crab omelettes on our boat.

Yachts at Red Bluff Bay

The next morning we left early and headed for Red Bluff Bay which seems to be a no-miss destination among boaters. After spending a night there, we agree. We shared the large anchorage area with several large yachts, a first for us in Alaska. The attraction is the beautiful scenery and a bear meadow at the head of the bay. The sport of the evening for the yachtsmen seemed to be taking their dinghies or kayaks and getting as close as possible to the brown bears (grizzlies) on the beach. I saw two from my kayak but stayed my distance. Tip: John has some great pictures of the grizzlies in Red Bluff Bay on his blog: www.xanadulove.blogspot.com.

Red Bluff Bay waterfall

The next morning Rod took Katie, as usual, to the beach for her business. He described his experience as follows: “We have been told that when encountering a grizzly bear, don’t panic and above all, don’t run. EASY to say, HARD to do. When I saw the bear about a hundred yards away ambling his way down ‘our’ beach, my thoughts were to get myself and Katie back in the kayak as fast as I could. The comical part was my boots sinking six inches in the mud. No way could I run. We both managed to get soaked and very muddy getting in the kayak and were extremely disappointed when we got back to the big boat to find that nobody had seen our adventure. In the meantime, the bear continued to amble, ignored us completely, and disappeared into the woods.”

In spite of the bear scare, we left very early (5:55 am) to try to catch calm water to go across Chatham Strait. The forecast was for 20 knot winds and four foot waves. This is a bit much for us, but it is usually calmer in the mornings than predicted, and it did not sound like it was going to get any better for several days. It was not bad at first; in fact, I was happily cooking the 38 shrimp we had just picked up in our shrimp pot. Then the waves got bigger and closer together. For the first time on this trip, I felt queasy. Later, Rod told me that the waves were more like six to eight feet! We were very happy to get in the lee of Admiralty Island and calm water again. By the way, Katie was a real trooper in the rough water. John and Roxie’s cat, always a barometer of rough water, was sick as a dog (?). We anchored in Chapin Bay, a lovely big inner bowl with a great beach for Katie to play and walk on. Also, there were no signs of bears, thank goodness. The next morning John and Roxie left before us to go out to Frederick Sound to try to catch a halibut. Rod and I retrieved our crab pot in which we found one legal one. I killed, cleaned, and cooked the crab while Rod took Katie to shore and then we were on our way too. We found out when we got out of Chapin Bay that John and Roxie had caught two halibut—one at 17# and the other a whopping 87#! We all met in Lord’s Pocket (a local name) in the Keku Islands. Roxie and John spent many hours taking care of their halibut and we had a wonderful dinner of it that evening. They were generous with their filets and some are in our freezer too for future dinners.

Tomorrow, we head for Rocky Pass, a route south towards Prince of Wales Island, which is not taken by too many boaters because of some significant navigational challenges.

 Signing out,

Susan, Rod, and Katie

Exploring Baronof Island

Sitka Marina

After seeing off future parents Patrick and Natalie, we left Sitka to start our gradual journey back to Ketchikan and eventually home. We took a more westerly route back to Peril Strait and cruised through Krestof Sound and went by the very pretty Magoun Island. It was too early to stop for the day, so we went on to Piper Island in Fish Bay. We were lucky to snag the NFS buoy in front of the Forest Service A-frame cabin with a lovely sandy beach. It was a great place to go ashore with Katie and since no one was using the cabin, we took a peek inside. (The cabins are not locked.) Katie seemed quite happy to be in a “house” again.

We got to sleep in a bit the next morning while waiting for slack current to go through Sergius Narrows. We were glad to get through before the high-speed Alaska Marine catamaran ferryboat came through this narrow gap in Peril Strait. We met her later in a much wider spot. Our spot for the night was Appleton Cove where we had stayed on the trip west. Roxie on Xanadu baked a rhubarb pie for our dessert. Marvelous! We have been taking turns doing dinners which has been wonderful. It’s like going out to eat every other night. We all agree that we are eating very well on this trip.

Grizzly and cub in bay near Sitka

We picked up our crab pot on the way out of Appleton Cove the next morning and had our best haul ever—eight crabs! Five of them were female and went back in the bay, but there were three good keepers that made tasty crab omelet’s that night. We again headed west in Peril Strait and turned the corner south into the huge and sometimes harrowing Chatham Strait. Today it was wonderfully calm. This side of Baronof Island has higher and more precipitous mountains with snow often down to the water thus creating beautiful waterfalls in the summer. We stopped and looked at one that was at least 300 or 400 feet tall. Shortly after, we stopped for the night in Takatz Bay, a granite basin with green glacier melt water in which to anchor.

Waterfall on west side of Baronof Island

Tomorrow we head for Warm Springs Bay and its natural hot springs. We are very ready for the “spa” experience!

Signing out,

Susan, Rod, and Katie

Surprise in Sitka!

We were delighted to meet Patrick and Natalie at the top of the dock as they arrived for a four-day stay with us over the 4^th of July holiday weekend. We visited on the boat all afternoon and then joined John and Roxie on Xanadu for appetizers. We were pleased when the visitors pulled out two host and hostess presents—one for Rod and one for me. Imagine our huge surprise and happiness when Rod opened an “I Love My Grandpa” mug and I opened an “I Love My Grandma” mug! Patrick and Natalie are expecting! The baby is due in late January! Needless to say, the tears flowed and we talked about the wonderful news for the rest of the weekend! The expectant parents have been married for almost fourteen years, so this is a big change in lifestyle for them. Natalie is doing quite well, we thought, and is now entering her second trimester so will hopefully feel even better.

All we did in Sitka with the kids after that evening was anticlimactic, so I will close this posting with just one picture.

Signing off,

Susan, Rod, and Katie

Traveling with a Dog

Katie in Alaska

Other boaters have asked what it is truly like to travel with a dog on a boat to Alaska. Our answer would probably be that it does present some challenges, but worth it for us as Katie, our mixed-breed terrier, is great company and part of our family. In other words, we could not leave her at home. The three biggest challenges are getting her ashore for her exercise and bathroom needs, not being able to take her everywhere with us (such as museums, stores, restaurants, and on other boats), and lastly, dealing with the space that she and her “stuff” take up on our boat. Katie had to get used to a different schedule than at home in Bellingham. On this trip, many mornings we had to leave a dock or anchorage very early to take advantage of calmer waters. This meant that Katie had to be taken to shore before we left. Picture waking her as early as 5 am, putting on her much-hated life jacket, jumping into the kayak with her, and going to a rough shore area for a quick opportunity to do her morning constitutional—sometimes in the rain! She is always very ready to stop for the day—sometimes six or seven hours later—and have a longer walk on shore, if possible. (Of course, the human passengers needed this too!) An advantage of traveling with Katie is that people stop and talk to us, especially cruise ship passengers who are missing their dogs back home.  So far, Katie has been a wonderful sport about everything, and we think that she is having almost as much fun as we are! An extra for Katie is having Roxie on board Xanadu, the boat with which we are traveling. Roxie is teaching Katie tricks. So far, Katie has learned to do a circle when asked to, sit up “pretty” and shake hands. They are working on rolling over for a treat. Katie gets very excited when we go on Xanadu  and she sees Roxie!

Katie sends her greetings to all of you and will show you her tricks when we get home in late August.