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Published: June 28th 2012
Fishing boats in Petersburg
Many hands ready the fishing fleet for the season Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. I really can’t say how long the days are. I went to bed at 10:30 PM & it was still light. There was plenty of light at 3:00 AM. I know that when the lights are out in the cabin it’s dark.
It rained hard last night and by mid-morning it and stopped and this evening the sun is bright. You can tell the locals in Petersburg because they are wearing the shorts and tank tops while we foreigners are still in our fleeces. At 9:00 PM with the sparkling snowfields all around. We have a glimpse of the really high peaks on the mainland in the distance. That’s where the glaciers are.
This morning we did a little laundry and got lattes. By late morning we had the Bullfrog down and set up for fishing. Kira caught the herring bait. We drove up a little ways into Wrangell narrows and tried trolling without success. Kira had more fun feeding the rest of her herring to the eagles perched on the masts above us. She threw the fish off
Petersburg
signs of civilization the bow and they would swoop down and grab them off the water.
Petersburg has a distinctly Scandinavian flavor to it and the people are generally fair, tall and lean (with many exceptions). There are about 3,000 residents and everything revolves around the fishing industry which is about to begin in earnest. Much preparation goes on along the docks with work on boats and armloads of provisions coming down from town. I see families on many boats – perhaps the kids are along on summer vacation. Women work alongside the men. One man told me the purse seiners will be out this weekend. There has been a steady flow of boats off loading at the processing plant behind us and I suspect it will soon be much busier. The harbormaster said they take in all species of salmon, cod, halibut and crab.
Ken and Patty from Oogachaka as well as Rob and Becky on Maxine both came in and we had dinner together at the Seaside House. Both couples are retired and Ken and Patty have moved aboard and they are headed for the Baja Haha this fall. We are the only ones on anything resembling a schedule
Petersburg Harbor
Strong evidence that it's best to keep moving. so we will move on tomorrow.
Friday June 22, 2012 Petersburg to Sandborn Canal (inside Port Houghton)
I’m looking forward to returning to friendly Petersburg where fishermen are willing to tell me what they do, the cashier shares her love of kayaking and the people in the grocery store offer to mail our postcards. Last minute shopping included a stop at the Java Hṻs, goodbyes to our boating friends with promises to meet again, and off we went into Frederick Sound where the mountains are high and the water is wide and a little bouncy.
Haitians have a way of describing “mountains beyond mountains.” Frederick Sound is a huge waterway and in all directions ranges of crystal peaks rise up from it and vie with the other to be taller and more rugged. I can see the earth curve in this expanse and yet I cannot see another boat. Channels lie within bays that lie within sounds within passages, “Further up and further in,” as C.S. Lewis would describe it. We rounded Cape Fanshaw into Stephens Passage finding our planned anchorage quite open to wind and current. Another anchorage, Sandborn Canal, within Port Houghton looks
crabber in Frederick Sound
This one looks laden with catch. more enticing so we will extend our day’s journey by a couple of hours and shorten tomorrow’s. Sandborn Canal (read inlet) looks narrow on the chart but it’s pretty wide and the wind still finds its way inside. Crab pots line the 50-foot shelf on both sides and guide us up to where the bay suddenly shallows. I looked for a bight out of the wind and found one back out by the entrance. We then took the dinghy back up as far as we could. It’s four to ten feet deep for quite a distance (at high tide) and while I read that one can kayak up the stream for a mile, this exploration will have to wait for another day. We set a couple of crab pots in among the dozens already there. Commercial crabbers set lines of pots at specific depths and leave to let them soak.
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Sue & Ken
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Long days.....
only stars we saw in Ak are the ones on their flag....We moved out of desert to the mountains. Found a great place, Show Low, in NE AZ Hope to stay here for a couple of months....Ken can go fish and I have a cute shed that i set up my sewing room in. Hope you have as much fun as we are!