Ketchikan to Petersburg

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(June 19^th Continued)

Anan Bay provides poor anchorage in an exposed bay with a steeply shelving bottom. So we went into the mountains beneath the peaks and above the chasms, rounding a couple of island sentries and into Berg Bay with little green meadows between the tide line and the dense forest. Snow fields loom directly above us and tonight it is all ours to enjoy.

Tuesday June 19^th, 2012 Berg Bay to Ketchikan

A cloud comforter lays gently over us early this morning as we lie in Berg Bay not wanting to move lest we ruffle the reflections on the water. After breakfast Kira took me for a spin in the Bullfrog going around to the estuary of Aaron Creek where we poked up to a waterfall and took pictures. As we were leaving we met a kayaker coming from Wrangell in an inflatable kayak. He was planning on rolling his little boat into his backpack and hiking up over Bare Mountain (the one above us).

Wrangell is only 25 miles from Berg Bay through the Narrows and up Eastern Passage. The water has turned milky from the outflow of the Stikine River. We berthed behind Oogachaka, (whom we met in Meyer’s Chuck) in Wrangell-Reliance Harbor and we soon headed for the library where there was internet access. Downtown Wrangell is undergoing renovations with mainstreet completely torn up. This is a fishing town built around the harbor and its boats with a full yard and haulout grids. Tonight we ate pizza at the local tavern/pizzeria, served by a waitress from Oklahoma in tight Wrangell jeans, a dim little place where locals can personalize the ceiling tiles, a partial wall separating the families in the restaurant from the fishermen in the bar. Kira thought it felt creepy.

Wrangell is much smaller that Ketchikan and has a much more homespun feel to it. The writer Don Douglass says that Wrangell is less sophisticated and more relaxed than other historic Southeast towns, having the feel of the Alaska frontier.

Wednedsay June 20^th, Wrangell to Petersburg

We have 30-amp hookups with 20-amp breakers on the dock, enough to run the battery charger or the water heater. BJ, with her ability to hear perfectly when fast asleep thought she heard Kira cry in the night. So she got up, checked and found that it was only me whistling through my nose. But her keen senses, honed by years of motherhood detected something amiss and she groped for her glasses and found the breaker had tripped. She dressed, went out and reset the breaker at 3:00 AM and I awoke this morning to fully charged house batteries, hot coffee and feeling refreshed from a good night’s sleep.

Small fishing boats (gill netters) come and go this morning expertly navigating the harbor at low tide. A gillnetter next to us is manned by two very capable-looking young women and I realize that we are in Sarah Palin country – soccer moms of the North.

We wandered up the dock talking to those in the mood and we found a friend of Don and Reanne Douglass who told us that those two authors of our cruising guides have swallowed the anchor. They are in their eighties and they update the guides with information from friends. The harbormaster told us that a while a few cruise ships do come into Wrangell the town has not sold its collective soul to the cruise lines and they want to maintain control of their business and their town. Apparently the cruise lines demand kickbacks from local tour companies for bringing passengers in and the shops they own are the same shops that reappear in Puerta Viarta or the Caribbean in the winter. The harbormaster agrees that people are more laid back in this “frontier” town of 1,800 people. She said the boatyard is what has put Wrangell back on the map with its large facilities and skilled shipwrights.

Wrangell Narrows, the main route between Wrangell and Petersburg is billed as a “piloting” challenge and we planned our departure around the tides which flood into it from both ends. We will enter on the end of the flood and hopefully exit into Petersburg on the ebb thus have the benefit of current all the way. Wrangell Narrows in also called Christmas Tree Lane for its fifty or more red and green marker buoys lining the channel. BJ checked the numbers on the markers as we went by and followed them on the charts so we kept track of where we were. These channels do get quite narrow and I was very curious as to how the big ships navigate but we didn’t encounter more than a few fishing boats. One gal whose husband is a captain told me that the ferries make more turns in Wrangell Narrows than they do between Petersburg and Juneau. The shoreline is pretty with sides not as steep as in the fiords. Cabins appear occasionally in small bays.

We are docked in among the fishing boats in Petersburg and while the docks are old and rickety they’re quaint and everyone is friendly. We took an initial reconnaissance along the boardwalk which included the library, ice cream, a bookstore, and a toy store. The water around us in the marina boils with herring balls and a very large sea lion thrashes among them. Kira jigged for herring off the bow and caught seven. Behind us and sitting on pilings out over the harbor is a busy fish processing plant, which is well lighted and I suspect will operate all night.

I may have figured out how to include a route map in this post. Enjoy.

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Photos

Berg Bay
Looking up at Bare Mtn from Berg Bay.

Kira and the Bullfrog
Kira in Aaron Creek estuary.

Wrangell
Fishing boat up on a haulout grid in Wrangell Harbor.

Wrangell Narrows
Wrangell Narrows is often called Christmas Tree Lane after all the red and green marker buoys.

Petersburg
Eagles are a common site in Petersburg, AK.

Comments

[Sue]

R U having fun yet?
I think Petersburg is where we visited a fish packing plant. Saw how they smoke it and had good samples. Was fun if you like smoked fish....Wish you had more sun...have you seen an iceberg yet? I remember all the eagles on the trees in the narrows...hundreds then.