Ketchikan, July 22-23rd

The next morning we had continued good weather so were a go for crossing the open water of the Dixon Entrance. We officially crossed back into US waters at 8:58 AM. We made it to Alaska in our own home built boat!

Approaching Ketchikan was a little nutty. Everything we read talked about the huge number of cruise ships rolling through this town, and they weren’t lying. There were four big cruise ships tied up downtown as we arrived at the waterfront. In addition, there were more tugs, barges, small passenger boats, seaplanes, etc. than we had seen throughout our trip up the inside passage so far. It was a bit overwhelming at first.

Berthing in most Alaskan towns is a very fluid thing. You usually check in on arrival and the Harbormaster will find you a space vacated by a fishing boat. Fishing boats come and go all the time so its an ever-changing situation. We called the Ketchikan harbor authority for berthing and were told “nothing available right now- go anchor somewhere and check back later”. Bummer!

We headed up the channel towards the North end of town and were calling around to some private marinas (one quoted us $5 per foot per night and said we would probably be rafted up to another boat) when the Harbormaster called us back and said he had a berth for us. We ended up on an end-tie at the North (quieter) end of town - worked out great as it was near a supermarket and laundry.

We also bumped into Farida, a local boat owned by Sue & Mike Proudfoot. We know them from our harbor as they sometimes stop by to visit friends. It was great to see a familiar boat & faces. They have been traveling around Alaska for awhile (they kept their boat up north for the winter) and gave us some helpful pointers. 

We spent two nights there and did plenty of walking into town and back for eating out and provisioning. We spent our first night at a restaurant watching a lightning storm, gawking at the cruise ships and watching locals catch salmon from a bridge. Very entertaining. 

Here’s Sues official report on our two days in the big city: Though the laundry was overpriced & crowded a large, fully stocked supermarket was a joy to see. We spent time at the Starbucks and met up with another cruising couple, Shellie and Randy on Moondancer. They had already been north and gave us some tips of places to stay and fish. Later they invited us to their boat for dinner which was quite a treat. They have a very nice sailboat and Shellie cooked up a delicious halibut dinner for us. The time flew by as we talked the evening away about all things inside passage and living the cruising lifestyle. We ended the night giving them a tour of Kama Hele. We might see them again back in Sausalito as they are headed south for the winter (they both just retired and are planning on cruising long-term, lucky ducks) & plan to stop in Sausalito on the way as Shellie has relatives there. Small world. 

Summer time and everyone brings out their toys:

Downtown is dominated by four cruise ship berths:

Good place for an oil change:

Great spot for lunch- no tourists!

Nope, not a decoy:

Overall, a good stop and definitely something different- but after all the chaos of the arrival, provisioning, and dealing with the crowds and mayhem, it was time to go.

Dundas Island, July 21st

The crossing back into the U.S. (Alaska) from British Columbia requires a bit of planning. The crossing transits Dixon Entrance which is exposed to the Gulf of Alaska and can be pretty rough. When arriving by boat, you must check into U.S. customs (at Ketchikan) before anchoring or mooring anywhere in Alaska and the distance between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan makes for a very long day. To break up the crossing, we overnighted at an anchorage on Dundas Island (which is still in Canadian waters, then continued straight on to Ketchikan the next day. The anchorage on Dundas had good shelter, beautiful weather and lots of swinging room, but also a crazy amount of blackflies just waiting for our arrival. We got completely swarmed within minutes of going out on deck. So, while a good spot to stage for the transition from Canada to the US, Dundas island is best enjoyed from inside the boat. 

Kona sleeping on watch:

Hiding out from the blackflies at Dundas Island with a nice prawn dinner:

Baker Inlet , July 20th

We decided to spend the next night at Baker Inlet as we had fond memories of stopping there on our last trip. 

We have a photo from our first blog of L.C., our first cat, standing on the bow of our boat, gazing wide-eyed at her surroundings. She loved to cruise as does Kona – cats and cruising go well together. We still had L.C’s ashes and thought it would be appropriate to scatter them at Baker. After looking at some photos of her and remembering what a good, sweet, shy kitty she was, we scattered her as dusk slowly fell on the inle

The next morning, as we left, we stopped to pick up our prawn pot and were delighted to see about 4 dozen. Kona immediately came over and started to smell and stare at them as if keeping watch. I’d like to think that was L.C.’s parting gift to us. 

Otter Shoal anchorage, July 19th

More fine weather , calm inside waters, and beautiful scenery:

                                          

Bottleneck Inlet, July 18th

Leaving Shearwater

Another thing we did while spending the extra day at Shearwater was plan our route for the next few days and realized if all went well, we could be in Alaska in 5 days. That got us both excited and it felt good to be on the move again. As we headed North we noticed a lot less boats. We slowed for a while down to troll for salmon, but got no bites. We ended up getting beat up a little at Milbank Sound with the remnants of the gale that blew through while we were in Shearwater, but then turned inside and all was calm once we found some lee behind the outer islands. Nice. We also got a bit of a whale show later in the afternoon. We saw one breaching and as we slowly got closer to it, it kept jumping. Such a cool thing to watch. Of course the one time it did breach close to the boat we both had our cameras pointed somewhere else and just caught the giant splash. You’ll have to take our word on how spectacular it was.

Millbank Sound

                                         

Back inside to calmer waters:

Hal, the autopilot running the show:

We had chosen Bottleneck Inlet as our evening anchorage. Turned out to be a beautiful spot. The sound of waterfalls, a mother seal and her baby playing nearby, and just a couple of other boats made for a peaceful night. Not to mention, as Pete went to check the crab pot the next morning (struck out), he got a beautiful shot of Kama hele at anchor in the cove. Definitely one of our favorites so far. 

Quick dinghy ride to check the crab pot:

Shearwater, July 16th-18th

Leaving Pruth Bay, we had a nice ride through some outer coastal islands before we headed out into open water

                                         

We arrived at Shearwater around 2:00 pm. Strong winds were forecast for later in the day but the anchorage outside of the marina had good protection. Also, as there was a flotilla with lots of boats at the dock, we preferred to anchor out. We stayed on the boat for awhile to make sure the anchor was secure. Thisa good decision as it turned out – we noticed a boat near us who arrived the same time we did. They lowered their anchor and then headed quickly to shore. They beat us to the laundry and we ended up having to wait. Grrr. However, later that night, when the winds blew 25-30, and Pete spent part of the night in the wheelhouse, that boat ended up dragging anchor as did two other boats. Ours stayed secured the whole stay. Lesson learned - always take care setting your anchor and prepare for changing conditions. We then tossed our garbage and laundry into the dinghy and went ashore. Not much to see, but Shearwater did have a small laundry, grocery, coffee shop (w/tasty carrot/ginger muffins) and restaurant/bar. Oh, and of course a fishing supply store. After doing the laundry and shopping, we headed back to the boat expecting to leave the next day.

That was not to be.

The other thing Shearwater had was good wi-fi - we were able to make phone calls & catch-up on the blog and things back home. This ended up being most of the reason we spent two nights. I had to deal w/some business related things that took much longer to resolve & put me in a foul mood. That, and just a rainy day, and Pete was tired from lack of sleep, made the decision to spend an extra night an easy one. Pete made the best use of the layover and made a delicious crab chowder that made everything better including my mood. Later, it stopped raining, so we decided to go back to town and stretch our legs a bit. After picking up another muffin (or two) for the coming days, we ambled. Not much to say - we did discover a nursery that sold fresh blueberries but unfortunately they were closed. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at the restaurant. As the flotilla was still around, we ended up eating in the bar which turned out great. We watched a little baseball, had a surprisingly tasty meal, and ended up sharing a table with Fawn & Jim, fellow cruisers from Seattle. Always nice to chat w/others who are sharing the same dream as you. They also have a blog (very well-written w/great photos) at trueloveadventures.com. Pete kept eyeing the windows as he noticed the wind picking up and was itching to get back to the boat. We said our goodbyes and headed home. When we got there, another boat was dragging its anchor and got fairly close to us. Luckily, just as Pete was thinking about getting out the fenders (just in case) the owners came and started her up and left. Shortly after that the wind died down and we had a restful evening, ready to leave “civilization” and head back out into the wild.

Cooking up the last of our crab catch from Pruth Bay. Crab Chowder!