Endicott Arm Dawes Glacier

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Hope you enjoy the photos. We were also greeted by a lot of icebergs. The guys happily retrieved some great martini ice off of these.

The next day we headed for Endicott Arm after hearing that Tracy Arm was clogged up with icebergs at the S-curves. So we took off on the journey of 30 miles to the end of Endicott Arm to find an actual glacier. Gill’s had seen one - we hadn’t, so they led the way, going in and around a whole lot of giant ice cubes, a few of them easily as big as the boat. However, what was at the end of the Arm was unbelievable - a giant glacier, apparently not one of the big ones, but to us it was HUGE. A great big monstrous chunk of ice flowing out of the mountains. When a piece of ice falls off it’s called “calving” and a small one fell when we were there. Cruise ships used to come up to these glaciers and honk their horns to get them to “calve” for the entertainment of their travelers, but officials have put an end to that. Got a good Photo of Spirit in front of Dawes Glacier and a nice waterfall in the Arm. Also caught a black bear photo on the way out. Glad we were able to see the glacier and all of it’s little “berg bits.” It was a challenge to mane ver around all of them and quite an adventure. We went back to the cosiness of anchorage at Tracy Arm Cove for the evening but the grizzlies weren’t there this time.

Tracy Arm to Juneau

The trip to Juneau was uneventful with the exception of too much fog. Probably would have been pretty otherwise. We came across a few humpbacks grazing on the way up but none of them wanted to get up and play so we only saw one tail. Once moored at Aurora Basin, we explored a little bit of Juneau. The city was filled with 5 cruise ships and the streets were filled with every one of the people from those cruise ships. WOW what a crowd!! Managed to find a good restaurant for dinner and called it a night.

Trip to Skagway

One of our main reasons for coming to Juneau was to fly to Skagway and take the 3-hour train ride through the mountains. So early Tuesday morning we flew to Skagway (sure glad we didn’t take the boat - it’s 100 miles). Fortunately for us, all fog lifted and we had a wonderful clear 40 minute ride. We flew into Skagway only to find another 4 cruise ships docked. And all of the people from those cruise ships were walking around this tiny, little town of Skagway. It’s what keeps these little towns going. We had breakfast, walked around the town for a while and fortunately got on one of the last trains that wasn’t completely full so we each had our own seat. All I can say about the trip is that everyone has to do this at least once in their lifetime. It was fantastic! AWESOME!! The scenery is to die for; just like you’d expect to see in Alaska; steep cliffs, lots of wonderful waterfalls, heavy snow capped mountains, beautiful trees, two pitch-black tunnels to go through in the train, old trestles where you look straight down 2000 feet or more. The trip was exactly what we had wanted and a dream come true. Jim had a smile on his face the whole time while taking lots of pictures.

Our flight back to Juneau was beautiful. The pilot took us through the heart of the snow-capped mountains, where all we saw were the mountains and nothing else - except for a few more glaciers. An exceptional ride. Came back to the Gill’s for a wonderful dinner and called it a night.

Wednesday we’re playing tourist around Juneau.

Tracy Arm / Endicott Arm

Tracy and Endicott Arm

After a long day of travel we had an easy anchorage in Tracy Arm Cove (unnamed on the charts). Jim and Patrick spotted 4 grizzlies on shore and had a great time taking pictures. There was mamma bear and her three yearlings. She gave us a once over then ignored us by going poo poo then snoozing on a rock above the water, but the yearlings were keeping a close eye on us as we inched close in with the shore boat for good photos.

This was the best bear ever witnessed by this boater all at No Name Bay at the entrance of Tracy Arm.

Wrangell to Petersburg

Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck

This was an easy 31 miles with a little bumpy chop along the way. The entrance to Meyers Chuck is a bit intimidating but we followed the charts and watched the sonar tube and made it in. It was an interesting place - more houses than expected. Even had its own post office. The post office lady, Cassie, also makes the most wonderful cinnamon rolls and even delivered them to the boat at 7:00 in the morning, still warm from the oven. There was a school house that was turned into a private residence since they ran out of school children to teach. On a walk you come across a rope spider web about 30’ long with a rusty steel spider in the middle. It poured rain all day so we didn’t do much.

From Meyers Chuck we headed to Santa Anna Inlet about 21 miles away. A nice easy ride through fog and rain. We caught a few prawns on Wednesday, but left the traps down overnight and that really paid off. On Thursday we pulled the pots in beautiful sunshine and every prawn was big, kind of like Ocean Falls. Patrick even caught an octopus which he is trying to figure out what to do with (great halibut bait). We have now left Santa Anna Inlet and are on our way to Wrangell.

Wrangell

Wrangell to Petersburg

Traveling through the Narrows on our way to Petersburg was beautiful and exactly what we expected to see in Alaska, snowcapped 3800’+ mountains. We took a long walk through the small town of Wrangell. Cruise ships don’t come here - it’s not set up for it. It has a sense of being a totally relaxed way of living and the people were very friendly. We enjoyed a Traeger mesquite smoked prime rib dinner with Patricks octopus as an orderv (sp) to celebrate Patrick’s birthday.

Petersburg

Today was a wonderful bright sunny day. The Dahl porpoises were having a great time swimming around the boat. Our task for the day was to get through Wrangell Narrows which is very narrow. It was surprisingly well marked with 62 buoys leading the way. Petersburg was at the very end. We got off the boat and took a long walk through town just to see what was there. Petersburg is a very clean town and the people were friendly. We went to a restaurant outside of town where they come to the dock and pick you up. It’s right on the narrows and we had a delightful dinner.

Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck

Ketchikan to Meyers Chuck

This was an easy 31 miles with a little bumpy chop along the way. The entrance to Meyers Chuck is a bit intimidating but we followed the charts and watched the sonar tube and made it in. It was an interesting place - more houses than expected. Even had its own post office. The post office lady, Cassie, also makes the most wonderful cinnamon rolls and even delivered them to the boat at 7:00 in the morning, still warm from the oven. There was a school house that was turned into a private residence since they ran out of school children to teach. On a walk you come across a rope spider web about 30’ long with a rusty steel spider in the middle. It poured rain all day so we didn’t do much.

From Meyers Chuck we headed to Santa Anna Inlet about 21 miles away. A nice easy ride through fog and rain. We caught a few prawns on Wednesday, but left the traps down overnight and that really paid off. On Thursday we pulled the pots in beautiful sunshine and every prawn was big, kind of like Ocean Falls. Patrick even caught an octopus which he is trying to figure out what to do with (great halibut bait). We have now left Santa Anna Inlet and are on our way to Wrangell.

Santa Anna to Wrangle

We took a long walk through the small town of Wrangell. Cruise ships don’t come here - it’s not set up for it. It has a sense of being a totally relaxed way of living and the people were very friendly. We enjoyed a prime rib mesquite smoked dinner with Miriam and Patrick to celebrate Patrick’s birthday.

Wrangell to Petersburg

Traveling through the Narrows on our way to Petersburg was beautiful and exactly what we expected to see in Alaska, snowcapped 3800’+ mountains. There are over 700 slips in the Petersburg marina with mostly commercial fishing boats occupying the marina. Of course we had a wonderful dinner of smoked black cod and halibut at a fine restaurant on he waterfront

Ketchikan from Foggy Bay

We arrived in Ketchikan around noon and put on 650 gallons of diesel then in a 25 knot wind found our assigned slip in Bar Harbor. Ketchikan is a very friendly & fun place and we have really enjoyed being here. The only paved highway in Ketchikan is 38 miles long and today we rented a car and toured the area from one end to the other seeing some really cool Totems and had some great Halibut and chips along the way with the Gil's

Khutze Inlet to Foggy Bay Alaska

We chugged at a blazing 11 knots for 113 miles from Khutze inlet to Foggy Bay Alaska. Foggy Bay has a tricky, narrow, rocky, shallow entrance coming off the surf with a sharp right turning a very narrow channel reminding me of Emily Carr Cove. Once we were in there it is a very nice quiet anchorage after a long journey. We arrived about an hour before the other two boats prepared a hickory Smoked Honey basted chicken on the Treager wood pellet BBQ and Cheryl prepared her famous Potato salad for all six travelers.

SHEARWATER TO BOTTLENECK and on to Khutze Inlet

We left Shearwater and hit Bottle Neck then next morning headed for Khutze Inlet.

The crabbing was very good at Khutze and as always the view is splendid with snow capped peaks surrounding our quiet anchorage.

Bottle Neck and Water Fall point

We left Namu with a smile on our faces and headed for Shearwater for a brief stop to upgrade supplies and have a good Pizza and beer. The Shearwater docks had been blown apart by a 110 mile an hour winder last winter and they had no power or water on the dock yet but the pizza was good. Next day we headed for Bottle Neck and got a good photo of Spirit in front of Waterfall Point

Spirit at the Namu dock

Port McNeal to Namu 5/7,8/2011

We sneaked out of Port McNMeal at 11AM to head for Bull Harbor but when we got to open water it was a go decision to cross Cape Caution and anchor in Fury Cove. We were in 5 to 10 foot swells but at 8 to 12 second intervals so it was not to bad steaming at 13 knots. Spirit arrived about 3 hours after we did. Silver Star was also anchored in Fury Cove on their way to Alaska and we spent a quiet night on the hook having Traeger smoked Ling Cod with the Gills on SEa Jay for dinner.

Next morning we decoded to go to Namu and had a good time exploring the old fish cannery and they make a nice fire in the party barge for us. As you can see from the attached photo hanging on the party barge wall, they have a young new female marina manager who was quite pleasant to chat with

Next morning May 9 we headed for Shearwater for supplies before forging on to Prince Rupert with planned stops at Bottle Neck, Kuetz Bay and Lowe Inlet. Shear Water is getting ready for the season repairing the docks which broke apart in a 110 mph wind storm this winter.

Port Harvey to Port McNeal May 5, 2011

After a quiet night at Port Harvey we shoved off at 08:30 and weaved our way up Johnstone Straights through hundreds of nasty logs. Patrick and Miriam Gill arrived at about 3:30 and we had a nice dinner at the local fine dining establishment. We are hoping to cross Cape Caution by Monday and will go to Bull Harbor today to stage for the crossing

Port Harvey to Port McNeal May 5 2011

Campbell River to Port Harvey May 5 2011

One of the smoothest trip we have ever had going through Seymour Narrows and up Johnstone Straights.

We Arrived at Port Harvey at 5:30 and received a warm welcome from George and Gail but the restaurant was not open and they have no power on the dock but is was nice to visit with them and see their progress on the marina with expanded docks.

Our trip from Port Harvey to Port Mcneal was smooth until we got here and then it started to blow gusting to 30. We may be here a couple of days waiting for a good crossing of Cape Caution.

Campbell to Port Harvey May 5 2011

Campbell River to Port Harvey May 5 2011

One of the smoothest trip we have ever had going through Seymour Narrows and up Johnstone Straights.

We Arrived at Port Harvey at 5:30 and received a warm welcome from George and Gail but the restaurant was not open and they have no power yet on the dock... but is was nice to visit with them and see their progress on the marina with expanded docks and plans for a 40 KW generator sometime in June to provide power on the docks.

Our trip from Port Harvey to Port Mcneal was smooth until we got here and then it started to blow gusting to 30 in the Straights. We may be here a couple of days waiting for a good crossing of Cape Caution.

Campbell River May 4 & 5

Had a nice slow trip from Nanaimo to Campbell River at our new cruise speed of 10.5 knots.... slowing to 8 knots reduces fuel consumption by 50% increasing to 12.5 kits increases another 50% so 8 kits is over one mile per gallon but so far we just can't do it. Probably after our first fill up in Port McNeal we will slow to 8 kits.

Had a new SeaJay sign placed on the new gas tank on the stern of SeaJay. This was done by a wonderful lady Marita Brostrom who with her husband Gunnar owns de Quality Signs in Campbell River. I would highly recommend her for any sign work you need High Quality at a reasonable price. Today we are waiting for a 1pm slack on Seymore Narrows and head for Port Harvey which is about 60 miles up Johnstone Straights.

Everett to Roche Harbor then on to Nanaimo BC

Everett to Roche Harbor & on to Nanaimo BC on Vancouver Island

First day was an easy trip from Everett to Roche Harbor with sunshine and calm waters.

Tomorrow we will clear customs at Bedwell Harbor and head for Nanaimo.

Went through Bedwell this morning and got a 1.5 hour customs search again. They dumped all contents from our drawers and made a big mess. Don’t understand what is causing this treatment.

Had another easy trip on to Nanaimo and had a nice dinner with the Gill’s at the dinghy Dock pub.