of opinion when we play Scrabble. We visited a picturesque, old, but still functioning Russian Orthodox church, and viewed the city from the steep streets above the city centre. By late afternoon, we were back at cousin Barb's house for a last shower, and then off to the city again, for dinner.
A fine fish dinner at "The Twisted Fish" followed. Then Barb drove us around and showed us even more of the town environs. We ended up the evening across Gastineau Channel to Douglas, on Douglas Island - across from Juneau and proudly independent of the city. Here we visited Barb's favourite bar, and met a number of her friends who also frequent the pub. Up on the wall above the bar is a stuffed golden labrador head, memorializing Gus, a favourite dog here.
Gus is remembered by all in Douglas!
As we were preparing to leave, one of the regulars walked into the pub and rang the bell. Far be it for me to break one of my cardinal rules to not take advantage of someone buying a round! So we remained for another drink, when the same fellow, celebrating a good day, rang the bell again. Far be it for me.....so we stayed for yet another one. He rang the bell a third time - this time I broke my rule...we accepted tokens for a drink at a later date, which we gave to Barb for her later convenience - and we made our way back to the marina, and said our farewells to Barb, who'd been very kind and generous to 3 strangers, one of whom is kind of related.
Wednesday morning was overcast, misty, foggy, and rainy - but we left anyway, at 0600. Shane and Kelcy are now doing the trip planning, boat handling, and navigation....I'm just along for a bit of monitoring. We motored southbound into Stephen Channel, and against a bit of southerly wind and chop, arrived in Taku Harbor by early afternoon. This is a marine park about 20 miles south of Juneau, with a nice dock to tie to, as well as a bit of a trail and old abandoned cannery to explore.....which we did.
Pieces of the old cannery, and pilings, at Taku
We had a dinner at 1900 and by 2130 were already in bed.
Thursday was another motoring day southbound against a slight breeze and chop. We left early again, at 0600, to minimize the amount of wind, forecast to come up by afternoon....and to arrive at Holkum Bay, our destination, for slack water at 1200. Holkum Bay has a narrow entrance which needs to be entered at slack water, and once inside, there is only one suitable anchorage place as the rest of the two arms extending out from it are essentially too deep. But this is the base point for Tracy Arm - the picturesque glacier, so here we are. Even in Stephen Channel, 8 miles north of Holkum, we were starting to pass large chunks of ice adrift from the arm. Inside the anchorage, the very large chunks of ice can't make it past the rocks at the entrance, although there are still some sizeable chunks which seem to find their way in. We had an early night, in anticipation of an early morning travelling up the arm to the Glaciers, although we did manage to squeeze in a movie ("Taken"). We were up at 0530 the following morning, motoring the 25 miles up Tracy Arm against an outflow wind, and dodging bergy-bits. In spite of rain and mist, the scenery was still spectacular, with 5000 ft. cliffs and waterfalls surrounding us, and ice bits flowing in the channel.
Waterfalls streaming down the cliff sides of Tracy Arm
By 1230 we'd made it to the foot of the South Sawyer Glacier - it was very slow going through the ice, with Shane on the bow pushing some of the bits away with a boat hook, and following large charter yachts through the thicker stuff.
Our Ice Lookout
A waterfall near the base of the glacier opened things up, though, and we were able to get quite close, and watch the glacier calving.
South Sawyer Glacier
The trip back was again against the wind, as it had switched to a quite strong inflow, up to 25 knots. We made it back to the anchorage for 1800 - tired, but happy we'd done it. Dinner and a movie ("Oceans 13"), and bed by 2300.
Saturday, 24 July we were up at 0600 to make our slack water out of Holkum Bay. We motorsailed southbound into Stephens Pass, bound for Gambier Harbor, in a cool, overcast and foggy morning. We did french toast underway for breakfast. By 0900 the weather had improved, with visibility over 15 miles, and the wind picking up to allow a bit of motor-assisted sailing on a close reach. By 1130 we were off Gambier Island/Harbor, in almost calm conditions, but sunny and warm. I was even able to pick up some cell phone coverage, and called Linda to touch base. It seemed to pleasant or early to stop for the day, so we continued southbound into Pybus Bay, Cannery Cove (we'd stopped here on the way up, and liked it). By 1545 we were anchored up for the day.
Sunday 25 July saw us up and underway at 0800, southbound for the village of Kake. We managed to pick up a short burst of internet wifi on the way out, as we passed a fishing resort, so quickly checked our emails. It was a mostly sunny day, with a light wind on our nose...motorsailing again. By 1400 we were approaching Kake, and were surrounded by numerous (at least 30) humpbacks, all blowing, sounding, and breaching. Quite a spectacular thing to see....and impossible to figure out exactly how many there were. We stopped at the fuel float on the way in for a fuel top-up and water, then continued to the marina 2 miles south of town. There are few services here, so we showered on deck. We met a couple (Robbie and Elaine) who live in Kake and manufacture and sell dry bags for kayaking/camping, and they
offered to drive us into town. They showed us around, including the hatchery, where several bears were prowling around, and offered their telephone for Shane to call home, then drove us back to the boat. Any clouds in the sky were disappearing, and we enjoyed a beautiful evening. We were able to clear out some of our garbage, and tidy the boat.
Monday morning was a beautiful summer day, with a light northwest wind, and sunny skies. With the tides also right, we decided to go for the dreaded Keku Strait, with Rocky Pass in the middle. This is a twisting, narrow, rock and kelp-filled passage with strong tidal currents. A challenge for any navigator...but with good visibility, good tides, and a chart plotter, we decided we could do it. With Shane on the bow as a lookout for rocks and kelp, Kelcy following our navigation very closely with both the paper charts (notated with notes from our pilot books) and electronic plotter, and me steering and manoevring the route, we managed to clear the
two worst spots - "The Summit", and "Devil's Elbow". By 1530 we were clear of Rocky Pass, at the south end of Keku Strait....with a following wind of 15 knots. So we raised the sails, turned on some Jimmy Buffet tunes, and had a celebratory rum drink. We sailed on a broad reach a further 20 miles, entering Pt. Baker, a small community of about a dozen homes, and tied to a dock. We chatted with a few sportfishing boats, and called it a night.
Shmoozing in Pt. Baker after our successful run through Rocky Pass
Friday, 27 July saw us underway from Pt.Baker at o800 on another fine sunny day. We motorsailed eastbound through Sumner Strait, turning southbound into Snow Passage, with the wind picking up astern of us, and the tide giving us a nice push. We sighted several whales sounding, and by 1235 we were on a broad reach entering Clarence Strait, bound for Ratz Harbor. I worked for awhile on fixing the heater, which seems to have a clogged fuel line...but was unable to repair it. By 1530 we were off Ratz Harbor, but with another fine sunny day, and the wind astern, we kept on going, and tied up for the evening at Meyer's Chuck, where we'd spent a day on our trip north. The fishing vessel ahead of us on the dock had been singlehanded by a fellow from Seattle (John), who chatted with us for awhile. We invited him over for some drinks, and shared our dinner with him (Shane barbecued some chicken and roast veggies). We were in bed by 2200. Wednesday 28 July saw yet another fine day. We were up at 0530 to catch the end of the ebb tide and get a southbound push. We got a nice wing-on-wing sail southbound in Clarence Strait, and by 1300 were on the approaches to Ketchikan. This time we got a dock near the centre of town, at Thomas Basin. The entrance to the boat basin is quite interesting when the cruise ships are in (there were 5 of them in town), as the entrance is partly blocked by one of them tied along the breakwall. It is necessary to slide around the end of the cruise ship with very little room to get in. We now have internet again, and laundry facilities nearby. The plan is to stay here for several days, and then head south again, to be back in BC by early next week. We walked to the harbormaster's office to check in, and discovered our friends on "Irish Dreamer" were tied up near the boat basin there....so visited for a short drink. Also tied up there was Stephen, on "Kharma", who joined us at the head of the ramp, at a very nice restaurant, for a catch-up of news, and a restaurant meal (Ihadn't had prime rib for awhile, so that was my deciding factor here!).
It is now Thursday morning, 29 July. Getting caught up on the blog, and then trying (again) to repair the heater will finish up much of my day.....then on to laundry and reprovisioning. We've agreed to meet up with Stephen ("Kharma") at a pub at 1800, so we'll see what we get into in the next few days before continuing into BC.
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