July 5, 2021

One of the recommendations from locals, in particular a family we passed at Anan Wildlife Observatory, was the Le Conte Glacier. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour excursion straight east from Petersburg. We started to see floating ice or mini bergs in the open water before even starting up the 9-mile arm to the glacier. It was quite the amazing sight to see the glacier at the end!

Once we had our fill of the glacier, we made our way back down the arm, catching another whale glimpse on our way to our next anchorage in Ruth Island Cove.

July 4, 2021

The trip from Wrangell to Petersburg took us up the Wrangell Narrows. I’m not sure I’ve seen so many aids to navigation (ATON) in my life. It’s a great place to see every ATON in the navigation book. The narrows were pretty straightforward. There was a lot of traffic from smaller boats and we were lucky not to meet the ferry going thru. It traversed after we had docked at Petersburg.

We arrived mid afternoon and got to town in time to watch the egg toss and catch the end of the street fair activities. After a corndog for yours truly, we walked around a bit and headed over to watch the blindfolded rowing, log rolling, and herring toss. The rowing part took forever, and we all were getting tired and hungry so we headed back to the boats for dinner. Unfortunately, Petersburg had their fireworks on the 3^rd as well so we called it an early night.

July 3, 2021

The trip to Wrangell was pretty easy and smooth. The highlight was seeing over 20 eagles gathered on a beach along the way. It was really cool. Liz also caught pics of some deer by the water.

Our excitement was really getting boarded by the US Coast Guard. They were doing full sweeps in anticipation of the holiday weekend. Luckily all our paperwork was in order, Matt had his Mariner’s Credentials, and safety protocols were all up to date. Coda got a laugh passing us watching the boarding happen… but SI got the last laugh watching Coda get boarded next!

Once we were settled in Heritage Harbor at Wrangell, we made the about one-mile walk to town and stopped first at what was supposed to be a dive bar: Rayme’s Bar.

Lonely Planet quote: “If you’re on a tour of gritty Alaskan bars that smell of spilt beer and old carpets, pop into Rayme’s, where inhaling deeply is usually enough to make you feel light-headed.”

Rayme’s doesn’t exactly live up to dive bar status as it looked like it had an overhaul (no old carpets and nice high-top tables) in the last few years since the Lonely Planet review, though there is still a deer butt on the wall.

Next we ambled through town and settled at Stikine Inn for drinks and apps. We had great outdoor seating overlooking the water to watch kids jumping off the pier. After that, Liz, Barbara and Tonia walked to the Petroglyph Beach Park and then we settled in for a movie and watching fireworks from the boat. The start time was slated for 11pm but the real show didn’t start until 11:40 – it was good but a late night!

More views from the stay in Wrangell:

July 2, 2021

What a great morning. Ok, it’s overcast and there are few dozen pesky gnats flying around, but hey, did I mention that I’m unemployed and don’t have to worry about work?

The tides looked favorable for launching and we headed to the Anan Wildlife Observatory around noonish. The guide info said to enter the lagoon – bad idea! The tide was such that we got in but quickly realized the tide was out fast. We decided to abandon the lagoon though not before the current launched us in the wrong direction getting us stuck on rocks! Christian and Tonia hopped out to lighten the load and help maneuver. Matt also got out and realized his Alaskan sneakers (aka Xtratuf boots) were not quite high enough. We did manage to get free and Tonia and Christian rock climbed up to the trail, which was thankfully not too far overhead.

We hiked the trail (just about a mile from trail head) to a lookout station over the freshwater creek passing old and fresh bear dung. We hung out for a long while with no bears in sight. We finally decided to call it and head back. Shortly into the return hike, Tonia halted the group as she spotted one momma brown bear with her two cubs wandering on the other side of the lagoon. The rest of the observatory was pretty sparse of bears – mostly because the salmon are not yet coming upstream. A lady we passed also said that all the trails were recently upgraded, and it has temporally moved the bears farther away because of the noise.

Upon getting back to the dinghies we found that the trim was stuck up and we couldn’t get it the prop back in the water. With no tools Capt. Steve towed us back over to the mother ship. It took forever! And once back and equipped with screwdriver the trim was fixed in about 5 minutes. [Note to self: add screwdriver to dinghy cubby.]

We had a wonderful dinner of homemade pizza. Steve made a foe hamburger, Barbara made spinach Italian pizza, and we made taco pizza a la Happy Joe’s style.

After dinner we went back to the observatory to see if any fish were coming in at high tide and thus bring in the bears. The fish weren’t running but we did get to see one solo bear and the mother and two cubs on the shore entrance to the stream.

Here are a bunch more pics from the day:

July 1, 2021

I’m officially unemployed! [Matt to be clear. 😉] After 22 years, 5 months, and 19 days, my time at Microsoft has come to an end. What am I doing now? Boating of course!! At least for the next three years: Alaska, California, Mexico, Panama Canal, and then the Great Loop!!

Today’s float plan included heading towards the Anan Wildlife Observatory to see some bears. Since the anchorage there is tight, we decided to anchor in Fools Inlet. It is just across the Bradfield Canal from the observatory and will be a quick dinghy ride over tomorrow.

On the trip up we were joined by a playful group of dolphins that were playing in our wake and swimming out in front and across our bow.

June 29, 2021

Today was a day off to catch up on laundry, chill out, and shrimp off the back of the boat.

June 30, 2021

With all of Steve’s family traveling back to the lower 48, it was time to depart Ketchikan. Liz and Tonia went on a quick excursion to the Tongass Totem Museum to learn the history of totem poles in the Southern Alaska. It was quite interesting.

The wind was not cooperative in the low 20 knots when we started our journey north. As we got into the Clarence Strait, the waves also picked up and we briefly joined the Alaska Space Program with a few moments of low gravity. We decided to abandon the float plan for the day and head for protection in Smugglers Cove on the south side of Cleaveland Peninsula. It was a beautiful and much calmer space to anchor. We did get to see whales so that certainly made the detour worthwhile (though pics never really do the experience justice).

After getting settled in we got out the kayaks and checked out the shore. Some nice people left a swing and we poked around. Tonia is frustrated with the lack of recycling in Alaska but that didn’t stop her from doing a beach cleanup while on shore. Much more garbage washed ashore than one would have thought for a remote island!

June 27, 2021

We were back to Ketchikan for fishing charter next day and for Steve’s family to fly out two days later. We had a lovely dinner with great view of town and water at Cape Fox treated by Steve’s brother Gary. Here are just a few random shots from the day.

June 26, 2021

The Coda crew was eager to get back to the fishing, so we headed back towards Ketchikan. While they attempted to repeat the halibut harvesting, we settled into Alava Bay with the forest service cabin within view.

It was midsummer (celebrated the Saturday after the Summer Solstice) so we enjoyed homemade Swedish meatballs by Christian & Liz along with pickled herring, boiled eggs, potatoes & onions, and more. Barbara treated us to a homemade apple pie with pecan crumble on top. YUM!

June 24, 2021

Before departing Ketchikan, we checked out the 55North Bakery & Coffee and enjoyed a delicious sticky bun and peanut butter cream pie (think Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie but with homemade peanut butter cookie awesomeness). A definite must-return treat!

We saw seals and had a misty welcome to fjords. We planned to try to anchor in the Punchbowl Cove. However, there was a large boat across the anchoring using the only mooring buoy for their stern tie. So off to Punchbowl Northeast. The trip totally explained why we were in the Misty Fjords. The visibility went down to 100 feet it a couple places. We found the anchorage and set up in about 75 feet of water. The detoured bay was totally worth it though!

The fjords totally blocked all modern technology, and we could not even use VHF to check in with Coda. Had to get the dinghy out and travel halfway back to get in contact! Coda was behind us as they were fishing on the way over. They picked up a nice halibut so after they settled in, we had a great dinner.

June 25, 2021

Matt, Christian, and Steve’s son Nick went out early to pull the crab trap – a nice haul with eight total, five of which were keepers – and then the long haul back to the mouth of the inlet where the shrimp trap was dropped on the way in the day before – a smaller haul of three shrimps. It was a very misty and chilly ride there and back but all were troopers. We had a nice crab dinner that night!

The rest of the day we puttered around on the dinghy in the bay checking out the stream that connected at one end, snow that fell at one side, and looked for wildlife (alas, no bears) finding mostly birds and seal appearances.