On to Icy Strait

We enjoyed the fireworks in Sitka, but discovered that THE FIREWORKS (July 4^th.....and, auspiciously, also for Kelcy's Birthday) had been postponed – the ones we'd seen (quite good, actually!) were just some private displays visible from the harbour. We celebrated Kelcy's birthday on the 4^th with a nice sleep-in. The weather continued to pour down rain, but we walked through the inclement weather into town, and found a nice warm and dry restaurant for our lunch (it was far too late for breakfast). We had a nice window seat, and watched the 4^th Celebration Parade from the comfort of the restaurant. Being a national holiday, not much was open, but we walked around town. I was planning on treating Kelcy to a restaurant meal out for her birthday dinner, but all the restaurants were closed by late afternoon – so we found an open grocery store and got some food for dinner, returned to the boat, and fixed some stroganof for dinner with an attempt at baked alaska for the birthday dessert.....it's hard to beat egg whites into a merengue using just a fork, but I managed, kind of, and the baked alaska turned out reasonably well until the ice cream inside melted and we had a merengue slide.

July 5^th continued to be damp (I hesitate to call it rain, per se – more of a steady drizzle and mist, with fog). A bit more exploration of town filled our day, including a trip to the local computer shop to try and repair my ailing boat computer. The hard drive was making scratchy noises and I felt it was about to fail, so managed to get the drive copied onto a new one just before it crashed. Whew! That is the computer we use for chart plotter/tide calculations, etc.....as well as onboard movie entertainment and internet from various harbours. I do have my laptop for backup, but the boat computer is much more convenient. Our day was followed by the promised night out for dinner. We found a very nice place called Van Winkle's, and managed to enjoy a very good meal before walking back to the boat in the rain (by now, the rain was back with a vengeance).

The next morning dawned foggy and misty, but with our radar and navigation lights on, we departed at 0700, northbound again through Olga and Neva Straits. We'd been hoping to head for Icy Straits and Glacier Bay via the outside from there, in the Gulf of Alaska, with a promised lull in the weather. The lull arrived, the skies cleared, and the weather put out a small craft warning for the Gulf waters due to sea conditions.....so we continued back on our previous route, for Peril Strait northbound and eastbound. We found a convenient mooring buoy in Shultze Bay, just west of the beginning of Peril Strait, and spent the night on the buoy. The following morning, we were off at 0630, to catch the tide for the narrows.....and discovered that it was July 7^th, and not the 6^th....the tides we'd planned to catch were almost an hour later than what we'd been planning on. So we dawdled a bit, and then headed into the Strait, waiting for 3 large fish factory vessels and a tug with tow (Western Mariner) before running into the narrows. By early afternoon, we were motorsailing on a broad reach, eastbound in the strait, with whales sounding all around us. One of them actually surfaced right beside us, less than 3 feet away, and eyed us over, before rolling over and diving under the boat. I was worried that we would hit it, or that it would hit us (either way, we'd likely get the worst of the encounter). But the whale surfaces on the other side of us and swam lazily alongside us about a boat-length away, then dove and disappeared.

The curious whale....you can see how close he got!

As we approached our anchorage for the night, at Hanus Bay, Portage Arm, a couple of orca swam by us.

Greeted by Orcas

The anchorage was quite nice, and we especially appreciated the finally clear skies, sunny weather, and warm temperatures.

Enjoying the sunset with popcorn

We opened up the boat and hung out our bedding to air. Shane and I rowed to the nearby island and walked around the sand beaches, watching a small deer nibbling on some seaweed near the shore.

Going for a walk on a deserted island

A garbage fire took care of our burnable waste, and we had a pleasant evening in a protected and scenic anchorage, with a fondue for dinner, and drinks watching the sunset (okay....it sets at about 10PM, but it stays light for hours afterward). A late night movie (“Rescue Dawn”), and bedtime a little after midnight.

The next day, 8^th July, was another beautiful sunny day. We started off with light winds and motored out of Peril Strait and into Chatham Sound northbound. As the wind picked up, we were able to sail on a close reach, into Tenakee Arm, and then wing-on-wing another 8 miles, to Tenakee Springs. This turned out to be one of our favourite towns so far (maybe a village is more like it). They have roads, but no motor vehicles, except for the fire truck and garbage vehicle. Everyone walks, bikes, or golf-carts around the town. There is a hot spring here, with a bath house surrounding it. It's basically a rock cleft with the hot water, and the town has posted hours for separate bathing for men and women (no clothing is allowed). They also supply some well-used bicycles for people like us to borrow and get around, so we managed to ride our borrowed bikes the length of the roadway and back, before taking our baths.

Exploring Tenakee by bike

We got some limited internet from the town bakery, so were able to post a bit of news on facebook, check emails, etc.....but not enough bandwidth for the blog. Dinner of barbecued chicken (still nice weather.....it actually hit 78F, which for here is quite warm) and Kelcy made her way into town for her bath, joined by most of the teenaged girls of the town. I discovered the diesel in the day-tank for our heater was dripping into our hanging locker....so made some temporary repairs, and hit the sack.

The following day, 9^th July, started out warm and sunny for our departure. We motorsailed out of Tenakee and back into Chatham Strait, still northbound. By noon we were turning westbound into Icy Strait, with the wind following us around the corner for a broad reach. A pod of dolphins greeted us into Icy Strait, as did a few more whales. By 1400, we were turning into Hoonah Bay, and sailed past the cruise ship “Royal Princess”. All tied up at the Hoonah waterfront, we walked into town, and caught a shuttle bus to a restored cannery/museum and toured the area. The cannery is run by the local natives, and is a cruiseship destination. Lots of crafts and stores around the museum, all quite interesting.

Visiting the Cannery/Museum

By the time we left the cannery, we were back to clouds and showers, with a mile and a half to walk back to town (shuttles only seem to run out to the place, for the cruiseship people). Instead of getting wet, we hitchhiked a ride (first car stopped) back into town. We then went to a local pub for a beer, before returning to the boat for dinner, and a movie (“The Spy Next Door”).

A friendly bear outside the pub in Hoonah

Saturday morning dawned bright but early, for a 6 AM telephone call.
I telephoned the ranger station at Glacier Bay to apply for a short-notice permit to enter the park. They require reservations 2 months in advance, to get into Glacier Bay Park....but I was unwilling/unable to accurately predict our timing for this. So I took a chance on getting a short-notice permit. The Rangers allow 24 private boats per day in the park, and hold back 6 to 10 permits for a short-notice, requiring 48 hours notice. By calling them at 0600, we were able to get a permit to enter on Monday, for 4 days. Perfect!!! So the rest of the day I spent ripping apart the faulty day-tank and replacing some of the fittings and lines to correct the leak. Kelcy and Shane got the laundry and grocery shopping out of the way. After a dinner of sweet & sour pork, we moved the boat to a slip with power, to allow us to charge the batteries and really cool down the refrigerator/freezer. I'm working on updating the blog with the hopes of uploading this in the morning before we leave for an anchorage across the strait, near the Glacier Bay Park for the following day's entry. The local internet is at the library, across from the high school. Because of that, Facebook is blocked from access, and Shane and Kelcy were unable to update anything from here. I'm hoping I can get a quick upload of this before we leave in the morning. If you're reading this, I was successful!