Ketchikan to Wrangell

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Sunday June 17^th, 2012 Ketchikan to Meyer’s Chuck

We crossed Clarence Straits in zigzag fashion, quartering the waves, for the comfort of the passengers. Sailors refer to it as tacking and for powerboaters zigzagging is better than upchucking.

There is lots of camaraderie on the public float in Meyer’s Chuck and a lady was taking orders for cinnamon (sticky) buns for tomorrow. Cassie is a local who makes them and might be regarded as the mayor of Meyer’s Chuck. Kira spotted a boy about Cole’s age fishing off the dock and she was off with her red bucket hunting for aquatic creatures. Our sometime bos’un, sometime marine biologist identified a large jellyfish as a Sea Blubber Cyanea capillata. It’s also called a Lion's Mane jellyfish and I have some riveting video.

By the time we had finished tying up BJ had happy hour planned and everyone was invited. At 5:00 we had 5 ½ couples aboard, one of which was headed south and the rest of us were headed north for the first time. These stories make this trip and happy hours so interesting. I read in a book on cruising to Alaska that the average age of the boaters interviewed was 63.8 years. Guess how old we are. Mary said “Oh, there’s Millie and most of the guests went out to help in the pretty little wooden sailboat and that broke up the party. Not in attendance was a brother-sister duo of kayakers trekking from Seattle to Glacier Bay. She’s 18 and just graduated from High School and her brother is 26. They started two months ago and she will go to college in the fall. They look to be pretty well outfitted, camp on shore in a tent, and were glad to have use of one of the cabins on shore tonight. They said they were pretty damp from the last couple of days. I’m trying to imagine what the crossing of Clarence Straits was like for them.

Meyer’s Chuck is a beautiful little bay with cabins, and home for about fourteen people year-round. Anchorage is possible but we all are comfortable on the dock tonight. We enjoyed some short periods of sunshine this afternoon – worth noting.

Monday June 18, 2012 Meyer’s Chuck to Berg Bay via Anan Bay

We came in on an 18’ foot tide last night and it’s a minus 2’ this morning – that’s twenty feet which feels like we are trapped in a large breakfast bowl with oatmeal stuck to the sides. We are not, however and Oogachaka and Mary Grace left at 8:00 AM right after Cassie brought the sticky buns. We flocked around her like pigeons on break crumbs money in one hand and coffee cups in the other. She handed out little baskets for each boat which we emptied and brought back. Cassie runs the gift shop/gallery (she’s the artist) where we bought postcards and she’s also the postmistress so we left the cards and money in a baggie with her. Pickup is at 10:00 AM Tuesdays by seaplane.

We passed the kayakers out in Earnest Inlet and they hope to make Frosty Bay by tonight. We honked from several miles away and after a few seconds they waved back. We have turned our stern to the blue skies and on toward where the clouds meet the mountains. It gives this feeling of travelling into the mountains as they loom higher and higher around our little craft. Snowy peaks disappear into the gray overcast except one which offers a glint of sunshine off its snowfields beckoning us on. Today we just glide effortlessly up these fiords like skating across a frozen lake, four hours without having bothered to change the rpm’s. I scribble in my journal while peaks loom 3,000 feet above us and the water lies 200 fathoms beneath. We have not seen a single pleasure boat since Meyer’s Chuck and only a couple hand trawlers in total.

We stopped an Anan Bay, a USFS Bear Observatory and there were only Forest Service people on the float. A young woman gave us some instructions and we anchored nearby. BJ took Kira and I to shore where we followed a boardwalk through the mossy forest to a falls where several levels of platforms allows visitors to see bears catching fish in season. There were no spawning coho and thus no bears and only two lonely visitors whistling, clapping and singing on the trail. The gal had said that the bears were awake and indeed there was plenty of scat as evidence. My bos’un, marine biologist, and wildlife specialist examined the scat and concluded that these newly awakened denizens were eating mostly grass and mussels found on the beach. She has been studying about life cycles of salmon and will now return in the fall with answers to the age-old question, “Does a bear poo in the woods?” (scientifically speaking).

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Photos

Meyer's Chuck
Public float in Meyer's Chuck

Kira on the dock
Our Marine biologist doing research.

Anan Bay Observatory
Bear observatory sans bears

Comments

[Sue & Ken]

Meyer's Chuck
is where our cat, Zelda, first got out of our boat since home I think. She walked in and out most all the boats and came home. Wish I could send you some of our sun and heat...108 today and 113 tomorrow...we are going to the mtns next week i think...have fun..XXX's