4th of July

Arriving in Ketchikan dodging cruise ships and float planes

Jeri's name sake.

4th of July Parade

4th of July in Ketchikan

In many ways, this is a bit of a nostalgic cruise for John and I. I flew up to Ketchikan in `92 after he sailed Erycina, the 32 foot sail boat he had when I met him, from San Diego to Alaska and spent a month with him up here. When I arrived, the engine for the boat was on the dock but that is another story. Needless to say, it took a while to get out on the water but we did and had a great time! In `94 we flew up to sail for a month with some friends who had made the trip up to Alaska from Washington State, and in 2006, we spent three months doing most of the same trip we are doing this year. Not much has really changed - for sure more cruise ships, and we are noticing some very nice houses built on along the shores close to the major cities that weren’t there 5 years ago, and the glaciers have probably receded a bit further, but if anything the wildlife is even better.

This year, as in 2006, we spent the 4th of July in Ketchikan. Watched the parade with a couple thousand locals and 8,000 cruise ship folks, and them set the alarm to get up at 11PM to watch some very nice fire works from the comfort of our own boat. We are pretty far north here and will be going further north. Right now, it just gets dark at 11:00 PM and is almost full light at 4:00 AM.

Oh I can hear, John just got the motor for the dinghy going. Good man!!

One of the things we like about the marina we moor in in Ketchikan is that it is a working marina full of fishing boats. (No donations to the crew of Journey yet but I am still hoping!) We love watching the fishermen get ready to go, come back with their catches and just the general down to earth atmosphere of the place. And the names of the fishing boats are fascinating - the majority being feminine in nature and we assume, named after girlfriends, wives, mothers, daughters etc. So we are surrounded by Betty Sue‘s, Ruthie‘s, Jeanette‘s, Georgia’s, Sue Anne‘s, etc. The list is endless. Well the other night I thought John had seen a whale or something else spectacular in the marina as he whooped and told me to come up to the pilot house immediately. And there she was, “Jerilyn”, the first and undoubtedly the only fishing boat with my name on it - at least most of my name, two “n's” would have made it perfect. Obviously not named after me but touching just the same . The current owner said it was named after the previous owners daughter and that it is a good name, everyone likes it. I guess it probably does stand out from the rest of the crowd.

July 8, 2010

Our first salmon

The weather is great and fingers crossed, it will stay this way for the next 6 weeks! Sun and 70 degrees F. We just spent a couple days relaxing tied up to a government dock, watching the seals having a very good time and the salmon jump. We figured if we just put the dinghy out in entrance to the lagoon we would soon have our salmon for dinner. However that wasn’t necessary. Some nice young folks came by and gave us one of the a good size Cohoes they had caught. John cleaned it, I baked it and we then shared it with a couple of French Canadians kayakers. Nothing better than fresh fish that were swimming in the ocean only an hour ago!

Namu Cannery

Foxgloves - OK Lupins!

The not so sturdy dock with Journey in the background.

The current caretakers are spiffing up the place.

The Company Store - still with old stock in it.






Soon it will all fall into the bay.

We could hear the whale calls echoing off the hull of this derelict steel boat.

How cool was that! And rather spooky.

July 3, 2010

Common Loon - though I don't think they look or sound very common

Manned Canadian Lighthouse - the last one before entering into US waters

The rocks and trees come right down to the water - and the mirror reflections are beautiful.

Kind of look like totem poles when you turn them on their sides.

One of our favorite anchorages

The black blob is our bear.

Only a couple of black bears

We spent several days in some of the most beautiful anchorages we have ever been in. The entrances were usually narrow and shallow, rock walls with trees growing right down to the waters edge, and then the inlet would open up to a calm little bay with a grassy meadow at one end and usually a stream or two and a water fall emptying into the bay through the meadow. This was prime bear watching territory. Every time we entered one of these inlets, a pair of looms would greet us with their beautiful, haunting calls, and then disappear for the entire time we stayed. But not the ravens - they would chatter at us the entire time. You get the feeling they are trying to tell you something - or else they are chatting to each other about what silly creatures we are. I wonder what it means when one lands on your boat?

However, the Kermode or “spirit bears” remained elusive and didn’t show their faces - at least not when we were looking. We did see a couple of black bears - or maybe the same one twice - but no cream coloured grizzlies. You can imagine how miffed I was when we got to Prince Rupert and several of the local fishermen mentioned that all we needed to do was go up to the local dump to see several of these rare grizzlies - or there is a stuffed one at the airport. Somehow watching a bear rummage in our garbage or viewing a stuffed one is not the same thing!

Dolphins

One of the coolest things when we are on the water is the arrival of several Pacific White Sided Dolphins that arrive suddenly by the side of the boat and then race ahead play in the bow of the boat. Often you will “feel” their presence before you see them. It is the weirdest thing. John and I will run to the bow of the boat to watch these playful creatures. Seems like they know we are watching and will stay longer if we are there. It is truly amazing to watch as they surf on our bow wake, cross over and under each other, disappear under the boat and then shoot out of the water on the other side of the boat. It is always special when they pay a visit - no matter how calm or rough the water.

Alaska

We have arrived in Alaska, specifically Ketchikan. We crossed Dixon Entrance which is open to the Pacific pretty easily but then encountered very confused seas and rising winds as we entered the strait that would take us the 30 miles up to Ketchikan. So we ducked into the nearest and only anchorage as you enter the US to wait until the next day. Four years ago we ended up in this same anchorage, Foggy Bay, with about 6 other boats all waiting to go to Ketchikan. This year we were on our own. We seem to be one of a very few small pleasure boats making this trip this year. We often we are alone in anchorages which is nice, we have always enjoyed meeting up like people on these adventures. But the cruise ships are still out in force. When we arrived in Ketchikan, we had to dodge 6 cruise ships, two of which were leaving while another 2 where arriving to take their place - all happening as we were trying to dock in 15 knot winds.

We are staying here for a few days to regroup and restock the boat and then will be on our way to Juneau via some very interesting scenery - including a glacier or two and hopefully lots of bears and whales.

June 14- 19, 2010

Whale breaching

Eagles

Whale flippers sticking out of the water

Humpback whale back

And another "hump" back

Waiting for the weather, June 14th - 16th

Yes, we are going up the Inside Passage to Alaska which is protected by a series of islands that shelters the boater from the full force of the Pacific. BUT there are two stretches of water that we have to traverse that get the full force of the Pacific and listening to the continuous marine weather forecast tells us when the average cruiser, like us, should go.

The first challenge is to make it around Cape Caution - aptly named - and the next is Dixon Entrance which takes us across the American border to Alaska. In 2006 when we did this same trip we must have had very calm weather at the start and finish of the trip as I don’t remember any problems at all - especially no big seas - but this time!!! But I am getting ahead of myself. The key is to listen to the ocean buoy report for West Sea Otter - if the combined seas are 2 metres or less, it is OK to go. Well for three days the report said 3-4 metres so we stopped and anchored along the way to wait for better weather. We stayed one night in Deserters Cove and watched a gang of 20 river otters - (not the cute fuzzy ones that lay on their back in the ocean with a clam held on their chest - these look more like very big rats) - run up and down the bank, jump into the water and then take off on the land again. All single file. Very amusing but then when you are stuck on a boat with only your husband to talk to, you will begin to appreciate anything that is going on outside the boat! (Just kidding John!)

We decided to leave the next day despite the forecasts and make a try to get around Cape Caution but it was too rough so we ended up in Miles Inlet, ten miles south of the Cape, in an anchorage shaped like a “T” and all by ourselves. We amused ourselves by watching the eagles and ospreys fish, watching the tide and wind go up and down, and reading, reading, reading - for 3 days and two nights!

Cape Caution - June 17th

Finally, West Sea Otter was reporting combined seas of 2.4 metres, the winds were forecast for NW 10-15 knots and we only had 20 miles to go to get all the way around the Cape and into the next sound. So what the heck, let’s give it a try. Well that was the bumpiest ride I have ever had. John estimated the seas at +8 feet which I guess we should have expected if we had done the math, (2.4 metres!) but as is the case with the Pacific, there is always that westerly swell, sometimes low but this time pretty high, that unfortunately for where we wanted to go, was hitting us on the beam (side) of the boat which made everything very uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that some of our stuff wasn’t stowed as well as it should have been - no disasters but a lot of pots and pans and tools rattling in lockers and cupboards which made not only for a bumpy but noisy crossing.

I have a new appreciation for several things after finally making it around Cape Caution.

1. My husband is a good mariner and this adventure is possible only because of him.
2. A Cape is not an easy thing to get around.
3. The weather and sea state reports in this part of the world seems to be pretty accurate - so pay heed!

We made it. Found a secure anchorage and slept like logs for 10 hours!

A whale of a story! - June 18th

This has been an amazing day! Whales galore - almost wherever we looked. We first saw spouts in the distance, humpback whales feeding in a bay - but it wasn’t worth going over to investigate. Then we saw some closer and actually stopped to take a look. And then the pièce-de-résistance! A huge male whale flung himself up out of the water, stood on his tail and flopped on his back - not only once but 5 times! He then proceeded to roll over and over lifting his huge flippers in the air and waving them like flags. Now we knew he was a male whale because of a very large appendage that was visible when he breached. We’re are pretty sure he just had his way with a pretty young thing and was showing his delight with his exploits.

We are now tied up to a dock of an old derelict fish cannery that is being taken care of by 3 ex-hippy loggers who are living here and making it their home. The derelict buildings are all open and available for inspection though it is a bit dangerous to walk the wooden docks as many of the support structures are missing. John is going crazy about some of the machinery that is just sitting here rotting away. I imagine in a few years, this cannery like so many others in British Columbia will fall into the sea

Tonight I am waiting for the whales to come into this bay and for a grizzly to show up on the shore!

Eagles - Saturday, June 19th

Well no grizzly but the whale show was absolutely amazing! One of them definitely had a cold and sounded like a fog horn every time he blew. What a show.

The big treat today was sailing through a “flock” of about 10 eagles who were feeding on the fish etc. in the tide line. Usually you see eagles on their own or in groups of two so this was a rare spectacle. Hard to believe they were almost extinct a few years back. Even though they are the US's national bird, I don’t think I ever seen one until my first trip to Alaska in `92. Oh and we saw a deer swimming the channel in front of us - I guess even for animals, sometimes the shortest route is across the water.

Coming up - Bear Hunting!

This will likely be the last Internet access we have until we get to Ketchikan, Alaska in about two weeks. We have two goals for the next two weeks.

1. See a Kermode Bear - this is a cream coloured grizzly that the First Nation people call the spirit bear.
2. Cross Dixon Entrance safely and without too much bounce and roll and rattling pans.

June 12, 2010

Hi all, (this spoken with a Canadian accent) We have made great time but are now holed up in Port McNeil at the top of Vancouver Island - tied to a dock thankfully - as a big storm goes over. Gives us a chance to get more salad and beer, dump the garbage and do the laundry. It may be a couple days before we can leave as we experiencing Junuary here. (Sure hope July and August are better!) So a couple updates on our progress:

1. Today is our 17th wedding anniversary and we are spending it in the same place, Port McNeil, as we did in 2006 on our last trip to Alaska.


2. We travelled up two of the most notorious "straits" of water in the Pacific Northwest in record time this year (Strait of Georgia and Johnstone Strait) - had pretty good weather the entire way so it just took us 3 days.


3. Our boat hit a new speed record going twice as fast as her hull is rated. We hit 14.9 nautical miles an hour - for just a few seconds - but the ride was great. That's what happens when you go through one of the longest and fasting moving rapids in this area an hour before slack tide. Good news is John and the boat did just fine - and we got to where we wanted to be much faster than we thought we would!
   

Also remember that gin John decanted into a water bottle? Well it made it's way from the head to the counter in the galley unbeknownst to me and after a particularly dry sandwich for lunch, I grabbed the nearest bottle of water to wash down the bread. Needless to say I gagged on the gin (not even a drop of tonic or lime in it!) and spit half the sandwich back into the bottle of gin. I say it serves John right for trying to deceive customs!

We are again awed by the beauty and vastness of the scenery here. The mountains all around us still have snow on their summits, there are huge trees everywhere - even in the water! (One of my jobs is log spotter to make sure we don't hit one.) And the water is wide, deep and cold.

We're Off!

Launching Journey

It is Monday, June 7th and we are ready to push ourselves, and our boat, off the dock in Anacortes, Washington. We will stop in the San Juan Islands today, check into Canada tomorrow, and then make our way rather quickly we hope, up to Ketchikan in Alaska where we plan to spend 4-6 weeks cruising around and with glaciers, fiord's, eagles, whales, otters, salmon and maybe a few bears. We have had a busy month visiting friends and family and getting Journey ready after her long winter's sleep. She was quite green around the gills from all the rain - and a few of her electrical bits weren't working - but with four new batteries, a new voltage regulator and endless testing and checking on John's part, she is ready for another long cruise up Alaska's Inside Passage. We hope you all are having a wonderful and warm summer. We will keep you posted on our progress and send photos if we take any good ones.