Monthly Archives: June 2015

My parents flew into Petersburg on June 16 so we headed out the following day after getting Dad’s fishing license.  We motored over to Thomas Bay and anchored next to Ruth Island.  We put the crab pots out and Dad and Ron started fishing off the boat.  Dad caught a Skate (looked like a big stingray) about 40 lbs really thought we had a halibut but no such luck.  The next morning we had 5 crab in the pots.  Whoohooo…….  So after a while we headed out and motored Pybus Bay Cannery Cove where we stayed for two nights on the hook.  Still looking for bear and to catch salmon.  The weather was perfect when leaving heading to Tracy Arm.  We got into Tracy Arm Cove and anchored.  Dad tried his luck at fishing again  but this time only caught a big starfish. We’ve caught a lot of ugly bottom fish, all mouth no body.  Maybe one day we might get something we can eat lol.  The next morning we headed up Tracy Arm to the North and South Sawyer Glacier.  It was a 6 hour trip in and out.  Of course we had to run into a big cruise ship going in and boy did he put off the wake. No way to get away from it.  Dad’s coffee and brownie went everywhere.  We were only able to get into North Sawyer Glacier  because of the icebergs blocking South Sawyer.  On the way out we motored over to the side of the cliffs to look at some white rock and low and behold there were two Grizzley’s on the side of the cliff one in the water and the other on the side eating berries.  Yea,,,, we saw two bears.  Now if we could see a whale we would have seen a glacier, bear, eagle all in the same day.  Motoring up Stephen’s Passage Dad said he saw a whale.  I didn’t and Ron was taking a nap so not sure if he was seeing things. 🙂

We ended up on a float in Taku Harbor for the next two nights.  When we woke up the first morning Ron started the generator and the water intake was not working. After checking the sea strainer we decided the under hull intake was plugged. So Ron had to get his wet suite on and snorkel under the boat.  It was real fun trying to help him get his wet suit on but he did it and cleared the blockage and since it was a beautiful day and crab pots out we decided to stay another night.  Very nice place to stay.

The following morning we headed to Juneau sun shining and warm.  We trolled for about two hours but still no fish….As we came into Juneau the weather changed.  Raining and windy.  We cleaned the boat, laundry, shopping and ready to head back out but the weather is not cooperating.  We are going to try to leave in the morning not sure where we will stop it will just depend how Stephen’s Passage is.

When we were in Taku Harbor Ron met a guy from Douglas Island and offered us his vehicle.  When we arrived in Juneau we could only get into Douglas Harbor which is way out of Juneau so we started checking on  renting a car.  Dave came by and took Ron to the airport to see about a car rental.  Believe it or not there were no cars available.  So Dave let us use his car while we have been here.  What nice people you meet on the water. Ron started talking to the guy on his fishing boat in the slip accross from us and he wanted to borrow our hose. He asked would you like some King Salmon for dinner? Of Course we said “yes”! He had just caught several; King Salmon and was cleaning them. He gave us half a fish. Wow can you believe how nice Alaska people are????

Internet service has not been easy to get.  We are eating pizza and I am sitting here typing.  So slow and frustrating.

Until out next internet service

Cabernet “at home on any sea”

We left Wrangell on our way to Petersburg but decided to stop and fish off of Elephant Nose Point.   8 hours later Ron and Chick were still empty handed. Ron bought a new rod and reel, a lot of lures. Ron did catch a salmon but it was too small and had to throw it back he also caught  the ugliest Quillback Rockfish threw that back also.  I am now an official fishing guide.  I led them to the fish but they could not catch anything. I guess I need to know what kind of lures for them to use. My next job…..  After finally getting the guys ready to go we headed to St. John Harbor to anchor. Got there late in the evening.  Chick decided to fish again. Caught a bunch of bottom fish of some kind.The only thing he caught this trip was ugly rock fish and the flu. Poor guy….maybe next time.  We had another awesome sunset.   We left this morning and went through the Wrangell Narrows which they call Christmas Tree lane as we had to follow the red and green markers for 22 miles.  The weather is absolutely beautiful 75 degrees. Of course the day before they leave.  It was a great time.

I have finally been able to upload more pictures in the photo gallery….check it out.

Cabernet “at home on any sea”

We spent Saturday with  Chick and Carel exploring Ketchikan and eating lunch at Annabells.  There were two cruise ships in and it was raining like crazy.

Leaving Sunday was iffy with the weather but we decided to go around 1:00.  We headed around the bend into the Behm Canal and decided to troll and do a little bit of fishing with no such luck on catching anything.    So we headed to Naha Bay for the night.  It was absolutely beautiful there.  Ron and Chick took the dinghy and explored up the creek and into Roosevelt Bay where Trumpeter Swans are suppose to winter .  This place had a 7 mile wildlife trail but had not been used for a while.  There was a landslide by the float which took out the ramp so no access to land.  The evening Sunset was awesome with the rain clouds.  I guess you could call it a sunset in Alaska.

The next day we headed to Neets Bay.  Chick was not feeling well.  We fished a little bit but again nothing so on to Helm Bay we went for the night.  Chick was sick for two days.  Honestly I did not give him food poisoning must have been the stomach flu. We think he got sick because he lost at Mexican Train unfortunately Carel was sick the next day so I guess that was not it.  Now they are both on the mend.  After leaving Helm Bay we headed to Meyer’s Chuck.  What a beautiful cove and you would never guess it was there.  The sun was shining.  We walked around the trail and ordered cinnamon rolls for the next morning by Cassie a local lady there that sold to all of the boaters. She delivered them in here little “dingy”.

When we woke up the sun was gone and it was raining again.  We went to Union Bay and fished for a while.  Ron supposedly caught a red snapper but I can’t find it.  Ron said that he moved it to the side because Bailey wanted it and said it must have gone out the scupper right…..After no such luck fishing and a storm appearing to be coming in we went on to Anan Bear Observatory.  No bears yet….We took the dinghy to shore. The forest service really has this place cleaned up on the trails.  Starting July 5 to August 25 you must have a permit to visit.  Upon leaving the shore in the dinghy I decided to fall out and hit my knee on a rock.  Boy did that hurt and it will for a while.  Since anchoring was not great we decided to go to Frosty Bay for the night.  There was a fishing boat off loading 50 gallon barrels of something to shore.  There was several people on shore moving them.  Looks like they had set up a camp of some sort. You see strange things out in t he middle of nowhere in Alaska.

We went through the  Blake Channel and it was beautiful so many waterfalls.  I guess they have a lot of water here….well it’s been raining for days so why not water falls.

We went on a skiff (speed boat) today through the Stikine River to the Shakes Glacier it was absolutely amazing.  We even brought back a piece of glacier ice so Ron could put it in a scotch.  Just prior to going we went through the museum which is very awesome for a small town.  We would recommend coming to this town anytime.

Still having a hard time with internet so when we can load pictures to your photo gallery I will let you know.

Cabernet “at home on any sea”

Well we finally made it to Alaska but not after leaving Prince Rupert and 4:30 a.m.  Our initial stop was to be in Foggy Bay that night but we have weather coming in so decided that we would make it from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan in one day  We had to go through the Dixon Entrance and once again we had beam seas and about 8 sec swells.  Not as bad as Queen Charlotte Sound but still don’t like the rolling.

I guess our luck ran out after having almost beautiful weather for 2 1/2 weeks.  It is raining in Ketchikan.  But we were greeted by some beautiful eagles sitting in the marina.  Ketchikan is about 15000 people but when the 4-5 cruise ships come in the town doubles.  Ron and I rode our bikes into town yesterday and observed the tourist and how crazy it is with all those ships.  Of course we are not tourist I even had a pedicure done lol……

Our friends Chick and Carel arrived last night so depending upon the weather we will either head out today or wait until tomorrow.  Our first stop will be in the Behm Canal.

We probably won’t have much internet access so we will post as we can.

The first picture is a young eagle.

Cabernet “at home on any sea”

Well we finally made it to Prince Rupert.    Two more days and we will be in Ketchikan.  It has been a long week since leaving Port McNeill and crossing Queen Charlotte Sound which took us 4 hours at 3-5 ft swells at 4 sec.  For anyone that does not know how bad that is trust me it was not fun. The pilot house looked like a cyclone went through it.  We rocked and rolled for a long time. The boat can handle it but we don’t want to go through that again.  Bailey could not even stand up the cat slept through it all.  We found we need to do a better job of tying things and storing things so they don’t move around. Glasses clattered in the cabinets, and things shifted.  We ended up in Fury Cove anchored and then on to Ocean Falls which was a very interesting town.  This town use to have 5000 people now maybe 100.  It was a complete ghost town where everyone just up and left.  It was very eerie. It was a Crown Zellerbach paper plant that closed and everyone just left the town. Hotels, apartment buildings and homes, all just setting there empty. Walked through some of the houses and they are or were nice houses, just empty.  Then onward to Shearwater where we stayed for 2 days.  We took a water taxi to the town of Bella Bella and walked around. Bella Bella is inhabited by the local Indians. We walked around, they all were so friendly. Would ask us if we were tourists. We learned the greeting is “Yo”, they loved it! We just can’t believe that people live out here in nowhere land.   Next on to Rescue Bay, Windy Bay, Bishop Bay, Lowe Inlet where we anchored.  Lowe Inlet was the worst anchorage last night.  We had gale winds of 30 mph and we had to wait up for the tide to go out to see if we had enough water under the hull.  Tides here are 12 to 16 feet. So the world looks pretty different around you when you wake up in the morning, from what it looked like when  you went to bed.  Needless to say we did not sleep very well.

Rescue Bay was full of seals.  They were very curious and would pop their heads up when we were motoring around on the dinghy to see what we were doing.

On our way into Bishop Bay we had porpoises lead us in for about an hour which was really cool. They road our wake and under the bow of the boat playing all the way. Pretty cool.  We also have not seen any bears or whales but did see a buck and doe swimming across the Grenville Channel today. It’s a mile and a half wide!! Hope they made it across.

Bailey had to learn again how to go the bathroom on the boat since we have been anchored for the last 4 days.  I think she might finally have it. How to use her fake grass.

Well need to quit for the night, up at 4:30 crossing tomorrow morning. This is open sea so it could get rough. so early start.

The scenery has been absolutely beautiful. We were anchored in a bay and looking at all the tall mountains around us and said, I”ll bet there a places here no one has every walked. No one. It is so far from anywhere.

It is so nice to finally get back to some civilization.  Pictures will be downloaded to our photo gallery as soon as I have more then a few hours.  Service is so slow…….

Cabernet “at home on any sea”

We will post more pictures on the link in our gallery.