In Peril June 8

Peril Strait

Peril Strait passes between Chichagof and Baranof Islands before opening into Chatham Sound.  It is a major sea route for ships of all sizes trying to get from the inside waters to Sitka.  Sergius Narrows is the only place in Peril Strait that requires special attention.  The channel is 24 feet deep and 450 feet wide resulting in currents reaching 6 knots on large tides.  In a 7 knot boat, a 6 knot current is a problem.  But like all these narrow passages, transiting at slack is not a problem.  The challenge is figuring out when slack tide is and having the patience to wait.  Today slack tide is at 04:40, so we are up and away at 4:10 with time to spare.

From Peril Strait, we head south into Chatham Sound and work our way east to Admiralty Island.  We follow the shoreline south giving a wide berth at the southern end where rocks and shoals abound and turn north to reach this evening's anchorage, Chapin Bay. 

Chapin has a narrow opening to reach a bay that runs east/west.  I have identified the southeast corner as a possible anchorage since it appears to be the most sheltered from almost any wind.  But, the wind is not blowing and the western end of the bay looks like bear habitat.  We opt to set the anchor in "bear country" and have settled in for the evening when the wind kicks-up from the east.  There is little doubt the anchor will hold but there is also little doubt that we will be swinging at the end of the chain.  We decide to pull up the anchor and go back to Plan A.  In less than 1/2 hour, we are in the lee of the island and spend a quiet comfortable night at anchor.

Off to the Glaciers June 7

The winds have finally died down and the time has come to depart from Sitka.  Being "stuck" in Sitka certainly is not a hardship.  We used this time to rest, to attend to boat details, and to explore the town. 

Sitka's harbor is home to a large fishing fleet.  Here pleasure boats are outnumbered by a factor approaching ten.  From our berth at the end of Dock 9 in Eliason Harbor, we have 1/4 mile walk to shore.  Everywhere we look, we see fish boats and many of them are being worked on by their owners.  The pleasure boats moored here dwarf "Chug".  Across the fairway from us is Marlinda.  She is at least 80 feet and likely closer to 100.  Each morning we watch the maintenance crew dressed in matching black wool sweaters and watch caps arrive to wipe her down - yet there appears to not to be anyone on the boat.  We wonder how it would be to have crew!  In truth, Chug is perfectly suited to us - not too big and not too small.

This morning we start our day by walking to the grocery store for a couple of forgotten items and then back to the boat to drop our load.  Since we are unable to access wifi from our location on the dock, our next adventure is a trip to the library and then to the Sheldon Jackson Museum before our planned departure this afternoon.  On our way up the dock, two things happen.  I see a sign reminding us that the local coffee stand will have cinnamon rolls this morning and my phone connects automatically to an open internet connection and I hear the sound of texts, emails and more arriving.  First things first, we get a fresh cinnamon roll to share and then sit on the curb in the parking lot and finish collecting and sending messages.  Back to the boat to drop off the computers and then onward to the museum.  

The Sheldon Jackson Museum is a rare treasure trove of Native Alaskan history.  Jackson was a missionary and founder of the boarding school.  He set about creating a museum to house collections that preserve the ethnic history of Alaska's native population.  He was concerned that the Native Alaskan students at his school would be assimilated into "white society" and lose touch with their personal history.  Many of the items were collected by Jackson but others have also contributed to the depth of the collection.  The quality of the artifacts is superb.

Not my photo - but this is the entrance when the water is raging!  We will go at slack.

From here, we begin working our way to Endicott Arm and Ford's Terror.  Endicott Arm is home to Daws Glacier which is one of the biggest, most active glaciers in the area.  Ford's Terror is a small arm that branches off Endicott is only accessible at slack tide.  Much has been written about the remoteness of Ford's Terror and few boater's tackle navigating around the waterfall and dodging ice bergs from Daws Glacier that are both found at the entry.  We have studied the books and looked at aerial photographs and believe we   But first, we have to get there.
are sufficiently prepared for the challenge.

We leave the dock a few minutes before 2 in the afternoon and backtrack up Olga and Neva Straits catching the flood ebb tide and finally set our anchor at 6:30 behind Piper Island in Schulze Cove.  Rosie (a boat we first encountered in Hoonah) is already anchored in the entrance to the bay.  We cross the 1.5 fathom bar into the bay and have the inner bay to ourselves.  We are within two miles of Sergius Narrows which we will transit on the early TTF (turn to flood) slack tide in the morning.

Safe in Sitka

Last night we anchored in Kalinin Bay at the entrance to Salisbury Sound.  The guide books are correct.  The anchorage is well-protected but also well-used.  We are the fourth boat to drop our anchor and as the evening progresses several more boats slip into the safe harbor. 

The weather can't make up its mind.  Clouds move in and the rain starts then within minutes the sun returns.  We celebrate our successful navigation of Chichigof's west side with a glass of scotch and "bergie bits" that we had scooped up in Glacier Bay.  The wind kicks-up late in the evening and blows without stop most of the night. 

This morning we pull our anchor at 7:30 with a strong north wind blowing.  We debate about resetting the anchor and waiting-out the winds in Kalinin Bay but finally opt to continue on our journey.  Our route takes us back into Salisbury Sound for about six miles where we will be exposed to the Pacific.  With luck, the north wind will be blocked by the land mass and whatever seas we encounter will be at our stern.  With Plan B in mind (return to anchor), we set out and our journey is smooth.  From Salisbury we head south into Neva and then Olga Straits before reaching Sitka. 

We are in a moon phase that has significantly less effect on the tides.  Just a week ago, we were experiencing tide swings that exceeded 25 feet.  Today the tide will swing just 5 feet.  As such, the tidal currents are also lessened which reduces the need to time our transit in Neva and Olga.  The flood current meets where these two passages come together.  If current weas an issue we would want to arrive at the entrance to Neva at the end of the flood tide so we could ride the ebb tide out of Olga.  As it is, we arrive an hour before the turn and push through the end of the flood tide in Olga.

Sitka Harbor

We arrive in Sitka and place a call to the Harbor Master.  We are assigned a slip in Eliason Harbor on the end of Dock 9.  The wind is pushing us north along the dock and the current is pulling us away from the dock.  Add to that, we are on the outside of the dock and there is another boat already moored here.  It takes a couple of tries, but we are soon tied-up just in time for lunch.

Sheldon Jackson Campus

Sheldon Jackson Museum

We walk into Sitka and learn that Sunday is not the best day to visit town.  Our favorite restaurant Ludvig's is closed (also closed on Monday).  We have such fond memories of having dinner here two years ago that we can't help but be disappointed.  We continue into town where many of the tourist stores are open but we are more interested in visiting the fabulous museum at the end of town on the Sheldon Jackson Campus.  This campus served as a boarding school for Native Alaskan's for many years and on our recent visit to Hoonah we learned that this is where Marj (Native Eskimo) went to high school.  The school became a local college and then fell into disuse.  When we were here in 2015, we met Carol Odess who was instrumental in helping to transform the campus into a Summer Music and Arts Camp.  Carol hails from Alabama but she and her late husband spent many summers fishing in Sitka and this has become her second home.  Carol gave us a tour of campus including many tutor style building that were being restored.  This year, as we walk through the campus we note the extensive restoration has continued.  We continue to the Sheldon Jackson museum to discover that it too is closed.  

   Aha!  This is open!!.  We enter the visitor center just as the historical film is beginning and take seats in the darkened auditorium.  We are presented first the Tlingit view of local history and then the Russian view.  Sitka was the site of an extensive Russian Settlement and there was significant conflict between the Russians and the native population.  There is a lovely exhibit of totem poles and carving techniques in the Visitor's Center.  We then head outside where there  

Our next stop is the National Park there is an amazing collection of totem poles.
is a beautiful trail through the woods with totem poles tucked in along the path.

We head back to the boat for an early supper and an early to bed.  We are both tired and looking forward to a night at the dock.  Our plans for the next several days are in flux.  There is a large low pressure system in the Gulf of Alaska working its way north.  The weather forecast for the next several days does not sound conducive to comfortable boating.  Up and down the coast, winds are forecast to be 25-35 knots with gusts to 50 knots.  Seas will range from 8 feet to 15 feet.  We are seriously considering staying right where we are until this all blows over.  Maybe we will get to Ludvig's afterall

The Path Less Traveled

We went the less traveled path west of Chichagof

Last evening after we tied up to the transient dock in Pelican the winds began to blow in earnest.  After pulling on my rain gear, I walked up the dock to the local library where I had access the internet for half an hour.  Interesting experience.  On Fridays,  the library is open from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and when I arrived at 7 every chair in the place was filled by an adult glued to an electronic device.  I took the only seat I could find, a child's chair at a small round table, and proceeded to join "the party" with smart phone, iPad and iMac all in my carrying case.  The juxtaposition of new electronic gadgets in a town made up of old boardwalks and houses perched on stilts above the water was interesting to contemplate. 

Alone

We are awake this morning just after 4 am (there is a lot of daylight in Alaska this time of year!).  After listening to the 3:30 am weather forecast we decide that if we were going to transit the outside of Chichagof Island, that it is today or most likely a week from today.  The outside of Chichagof is open to the Pacific and the direction of the wind, the height of the waves and the direction of the ocean swell combine to make transiting this area challenging.  Today was have SE winds at 15 knots with 6 foot seas.  Later in the week, the weather gods are forecasting SE winds at 35 knots with 13 foot seas.

We depart from the dock in Pelican at 5:15.  The wind is calm and the water is flat.  We retrace our steps from yesterday's arrival for 3 miles before turning south into Lisianski Strait.  This area is pristine wilderness and the strait is flanked by steep snow covered mountains.  The entrance to the Strait is narrow with lots of rocks and we are thankful for the GPS that makes navigation through these hazards so simple.  It is almost too easy to rely on GPS but a note on the chart that says "Chart in this area is incorrect" catches my attention. 

We clear the buoy at the west end of Lisianski Strait and set our course for Porcupine Rocks.  The swells are on our starboard bow and while we are completely safe, the rolling motion gets wearisome after an hour or so.  We turn into Imperial Pass and take the longer but certainly calmer and more scenic path behind Hogan and Herbert Graves Islands.  The route requires constant vigil as some of the openings between islands are both narrow and shallow.  We are helped along the way by a 7 foot tide that gives us a bit more room to maneuver.  We exit the area by taking Ogden Passage to Smooth Channel and then into Khaz Bay.  Out here we seem to be on our own.  It is as if we are the first to pass this way.  For much of the journey, there is no sign of human development.  Only in Kimsham Cove, do we see signs, here there are two houses and some ruins.

We are back in the open ocean and the boat once again begins to roll with the swells.  Another hour of travel takes us into the lee of Klokachef Island where we find smooth water that lasts until we turn the corner into Salisbury Sound.  We cross Salisbury Sound to Kalinin Bay where we plan to anchor this evening.  It is a lovely inlet with protection for all winds and it must not be a secret hiding place.  Two boats are already at anchor when we arrive and within the hour another boat arrives.  The last arrival is Discovery from Juneau.  Discovery is a beautiful charter boat that was built in 1931 and is impeccably maintained.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Sitka.  We are pleased to have had the opportunity to take the path less-traveled and to have experienced the west side of Chichagof Island.

Pelican

Rosie's Bar Pelican

We awaken just before 6.  For some strange reason, McDuff deigned to let us sleep in.  We have a leisurely breakfast of Crab cake all’Oeuf (leftover crab cakes topped with a poached egg – yummy).  We depart just after 8 am at the start of the ebb tide.  This tide will carry us all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  At times, we top speeds of 10 knots.  When we have passed the Inian Islands we head south into Lisianski Inlet to reach Pelican.  This narrow inlet is stunning.  Tall snow-capped mountains flank us on both sides.  We work our way onto the transient dock (B-Dock) behind the seaplane float.  The Assistant Harbor Master, Linda, answers a call to the Harbormaster on Channel 16 from her home.  Linda agrees to meet us at our boat in 5 minutes.  She drives her quad along the elevated boardwalk before walking down the ramp.  We learn she was in high school when she came to Pelican and now works a myriad of jobs to support herself – assistant harbormaster, assistant librarian, special education aide and even relief for the fuel dock manager.  She could win a prize for the “welcome wagon” skills.

We walk into town to pay for our moorage at the town hall and then promenade along the boardwalk (the only road in town), finally stopping at Rosie’s Bar for a beer.  We have read about Rose’s Bar in our old guidebooks and discover that just six weeks ago, Rose sold the bar.  The new owner gladly unlocks the door to sell us each a beer.  One on the new owners grew up in Pelican and returned six years ago with his wife and their children.  They hope the build on the bars grand history and also to introduce a few upgrades. 

The Streets of Pelican

Weather permitting; our next adventure will be to transit the outside of Chichagof Island on our way to Sitka.

Flynn Cove

Crabcakes for Breakfast

We depart late in the afternoon for the 10-mile run to Flynn Cove where we anchor in a very picturesque cove in 4 ½ fathoms of water.  Dinner is fresh crab & trout cakes courtesy of Floyd and Marj.  After listening to the weather on VHS, we decide to head to Pelican tomorrow.  It looks like Saturday could be a window for transiting the outside of Chichagof Island.  Our destination is Sitka.

“Cousin” Reunion (May 31, June 1-2)

Cousin Floyd Peterson

Barrie the Halibut Fisherman

This morning we are headed to Hoonah where Cousin Floyd and his wife Marjorie are expecting us.  Floyd is a Peterson is the same generation as my mother – so it is his great grandparent and my great-great grandparent that we have in common.  Floyd grew up in Hoonah and is part Tlingit (but more Swedish) and his wife Marjorie is also a born and raised Alaskan although she has only been in Hoonah for 51 years!

We depart Glacier Bay after a leisurely breakfast in the Lodge dining room and head across Icy Strait to Hoonah.  The water today is completely calm – quite different from the last time we crossed Icy Strait with waves breaking over the bow.  We arrive in Hoonah and dock at the City Pier just before 2 pm.  No sooner have we finished tying-off the dock lines than my cell phone rings.  Cousin Floyd has been watching our entrance from his living room window. 

Marj - Expert Fish Filleter

At 3, Marj drives down the dock to pick us up (and save us the walk up the ramp) and we head to Icy Point Cannery.  Icy Point is an amazing development.  The Native Corporation has invested millions (with much additional help from the Federal Government to create a tourist attraction in this remote village.  The facilities are first-rate and the options for activities almost endless.. the World’s Largest ZipRider, Whale Watching tours, Bear Search Tours, ATV Expeditions, Back Country Jeep Adventures, Kayak Tours, and Zodiac Tour … to name a few.  We walk through the re-purposed and wonderfully renovated Cannery that has restaurants, gift shops and art galleries with works by local artisans including Floyd’s wife Marjorie who does lovely basketry and other native crafts.  As we walk along the beach near the Cannery, three humpback whales break the surface.  The whales have been bubble-feeding in this area for the past several days but not today.

After touring the Cannery and related grounds, we head back to the Peterson’s house where we are treated to a dinner of local black-tail deer steaks.  It is a delightful evening and at the end of dinner, Floyd offers to take us fishing for halibut in the morning.  Marj offers the use of her computer to obtain Alaska fishing licenses.  Since I do not have my driver’s license with me, Barrie borrows a car and retrieves it from the boat.  With newly acquired fishing licenses in hand, we head back to the boat for the night. 

Wednesday morning, Floyd and Marj bring their boat Silver Spoon to our dock just before 9 am.  Once aboard, we travel at speed for about 10 miles before arriving at the fishing grounds that Floyd has selected for catching halibut.  For many years, Floyd was a fishing guide and his is renown for his abilities.  Locally, he is known as a high-liner which is the highest compliment a fisherman can receive.  Floyd quickly baits two poles with herring and we begin fishing at 6 fathoms.  In less than 10 minutes, Barrie’s pole bends over and the line releases from the downrigger.  Floyd estimates a 20-pound halibut but says we won’t know until Barrie brings it in.  Barrie’s halibut weighs in at 23 lbs. and is just the right size for the freezer on our boat.  We continue fishing and I catch a Dolly Varden trout before we pull in our lines and head back to the harbor at Hoonah.  On the way back, Floyd and I spy a brown bear on the beach.

 Barrie and I spend the next couple of hours on the boat.  We have lunch (fresh trout) and complete a few chores before Floyd and Marj pick us up on the dock.  This evening, we are treating them to dinner at Icy Strait Inn at the far edge of town.  As the evening draws to a close, Floyd asks if we like crab and says that we can go out in the morning and retrieve crab from a friend’s pot and then take a drive on the Forest Service roads outside of town.  We will have a picnic on the beach and hopefully will see some wildlife on the drive.  Floyd brings his boat alongside our dock at 9 am and by 10 we are back with 5 large Dungeness crab.  Back at the Peterson house, Floyd cooks the crab while Barrie and I catch-up on email etc.

We head out of town and are soon on dirt roads that are maintained either by the Native Corporation or the US Forest Service.  The scenery is stunning.  We enjoy looking at the muskeg flora and then see a young (perhaps 3-yr old) brown bear cross the road and run into the woods.  We continue to the beach and breakout the freshly caught and cooked crab.  Lunch is topped off with brownies that Marj made.  Yummy!  On the drive back we first see a black-tail deer and then a mother brown bear and her two cubs.  They are perhaps 50 yards from the car and don’t seem to be the least bit interested in us.  Soon we are back at the dock and saying our goodbyes.

This is our second time visiting Floyd and Marj.  We first met in 2015 on our first solo trip to Alaska on Chug.  They are the consummate hosts, generous to a fault with their time and treasure. We will remember our time here with fondness long after we have returned home.  We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and hope that they will visit us on Whidbey Island.