August 2004 Cruise News
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We
start the August Cruise News in Ketchikan. I went to California for=
my
nephews wedding and brought my sister and her husband, Terry, back with me
for a two week cruise. We left Ketchikan on July 31st after buying
groceries and lots of booze and ice. My brother in law, Terry, makes
the best margaritas, so we had to have all the fixings for a two week cru=
ise
in the Behm Canal. We left on a beautif=
ul
sunny day passing the cruise ships docked and anchored in Ketchikan Bay. =
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Terry
couldn't wait until we got to the first anchorage to fish. Here he is just
outside the fuel dock. The salmon were jumping but not into our boat
(just yet). |
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We
found a great little anchorage our first night and the next day we went o=
ut
in the dinghy fishing. This is what my sister and Terry caught
the first day. |
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Day
2 brought in two salmon. We were on a roll. |
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We have
to admit that Terry caught the first halibut ever from Lucretia
Belle. We have been trying to catch halibut ever since we started
cruising in the Pacific Northwest. We're not out 3 days and Terry
catches a beauty. Unfortunately, the gaff didn't hold and Terry's
"hali" got away. |
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Crabbing
in the Behm Canal was great. This is a =
crab
keeper that Chuck rigged up to keep the crab fresh. We just lower t=
he
space crates into the water with the downrigger until we are ready to cle=
an
and cook them. I think there were six dungenes=
s
in here. |
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Misty
Fjords covers almost half of the Behm Canal.&=
nbsp;
This is just one of hundreds of waterfalls in the Misty Fjords. |
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I don't
know, I think I look younger. Don't you? |
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We had
one rainy day in the two week period. On this day in Misty Fjords,
Chuck and Terry pull up another crab trap. They were joined by a
floatplane which brought in some tourists to look at one of the waterfalls
(or to look at Terry and Chuck pulling crabs). |
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Day 4
was not a bad fishing day for these two either. |
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Just
after we arrived at one of the anchorages, I dropped a hook into the water
and bam, I caught this halibut. Besides the sea lion and the dophin, this was the biggest thing I have ever
caught. It really put up a fight. It turned out to be about 5=
0 or
60 pounds so we let it go. It would have been a waste to keep it.&n=
bsp;
Boy, was that a fun fish to catch. |
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Walker
Cove in the Misty Fjords was one of the prettiest places we anchored.&nbs=
p; |
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The
weather was super. This is early morning looking across the channel
from our anchorage in Walker Cove. |
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Klu Bay was another wonderful
anchorage. This is one of two waterfalls just outside the
anchorage. We took the dinghy right up close and watched the salmon
getting ready to go upstream to spawn. |
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An
Alaskan experience isn't complete without seeing bears. We never sa=
w a
one. I thought, OK, we'll fix that. We went to Marguerite Cre=
ek
bear observation platform. This is where people pay $500 to fly in a
floatplane and get taxied to see bears eating salmon. We didn't get
taxied. We ended up walking over a mile and when we got there---no
bears! But, the place was beautiful and very well done. We were abl=
e to
watch the salmon, however. |
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This is
the bear viewing platform. |
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No,
this is not a shooting gallery. |
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It must
be in the Bach genes. My sister caught the biggest fish every
time. This red snapper beat any record Chuck and I set at almost 23
inches long. =
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After my sister and Terry left, we headed north toward Sitka to try and secure a slip for the winter. We made a mad dash north traveling 80 miles a day. One of the places we anchored along the way was Alvin Bay on <= span class=3DSpellE>Kuiu Island. Here, again, I thought I'd drop = a line just after we anchored and at first I thought I caught my lure on the bottom. Then I pulled harder and it gave way a little and then it t= ook off. I called Chuck in a panic because I could hardly hold on to this thi= ng and the line was "whirring" out so fast. Chuck burned him= self slowing down the drag. I played it for a few minutes then my pole started bending and bending. Then my pole broke in half. I was ready to call it quits. "No" says Chuck. Reel it in anyway. So I did through the one eye remaining on the rod. Bu= t, the thing was just too strong and the line kept reeling out. We fin= ally cut the line. This was a halibut for sure but we will never know how big it was. <= o:p> |
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One of
the ways of getting to Sitka faster is to go through Rocky Pass. We
looked at the chart and decided it was way too dangerous. But, after
Chuck talked to several cruisers who had gone through several times, we t=
ook
the plunge so to speak. It was not too bad except for this little
stretch right here. The current was moving pretty fast. Lucki=
ly,
we were able to skirt by it. We saw as little as four feet of water
under our keel. |
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After
we successfully transited Rocky Pass, we come out into Keku
Strait near Frederick Sound. Here we literally had to weave our way
through about 20 humpback whales. They were everywhere, diving,
cruising, feeding. Chuck made me put on my PFD (personal floatation
device/vest) in case one of the whales nudged the boat since I was out on=
the
bow taking pictures. Luckily we never got nudged but those whales w=
ere
not more than 50 feet away from the boat. It was very exciting.&nbs=
p;
We would have felt safer if we were farther away but this was the only ro=
ute
we could take to our next anchorage and it was already getting late in the
day. |
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Here
are 4 humpbacks. Two backs and two tails. |
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After
the whale experience, we approached Baranoff
Island. As you can see, it was another beautiful, calm day in
paradise. Some severe fires inland created a smoky haze out here on=
the
coast. |
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Evening
was coming down on us fast as we continued up the coast of Baranoff Island. This is a fishing boat still=
out
in Chatham Strait at 7:00pm. The mountainous terrain of the east
coastline of Baranoff Island is truly breatht=
aking. |
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I
included this picture because I think Lion's Mane jellyfish are
beautiful. We saw this one in Ell Cove on Bara=
noff
Island. The white stuff are eggs. |
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We left
Ell Cove reluctantly and continued north to Peril Strait, a long passage =
that
separates Baranoff and C=
hichagof Islands.
We anchored in Deep Bay, about the midpoint of Peril Strait, and experien=
ced
another beautiful sunset. |
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The
next morning early, we transited Sergius Narr=
ows,
another place that we got all worked up about and it ended up being
easy. It is a dredged section with fast running water so we went
through at slack water. No problem! On the other side, we came
across this seiner, the Lucy O. We stop=
ped
and watched as they brought in their catch. |
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It looked
like a lot of salmon to us. |
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We
finally made it to Sitka which is on the west side of Baranoff
Island. This is Mt. Edgecumbe, a famous
volcanic landmark in Sitka and pictures of this mountain with snow on
it are truly awesome. Hopefully, we will be able to experience
winter here and see it for ourselves. |
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We were
assigned a slip upon arrival at the New Thomsen Harbor with the caveat th=
at
we could be asked to move to another slip at any time. They ca=
ll
this being "hot berthed". So far, we have not been asked =
to
move. |
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Our
slip is on the outside looking out onto the entrance to the marina through
the breakwater. This is one of many beautiful sunsets we see almost
every night. =
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This is
the view from the south of town. Behind Chuck and out of sight is a
cruise ship anchored in the bay. All the large cruise ships must an=
chor
and bring their guests to town via small, covered powerboats as there
are no docking facilities for them. |
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Once we got settled in our slip, made some minor repairs on = Lucretia Belle, and got her ready to leave in case we can't stay in Sitka. We then reported in at the Alaska Raptor Center. We had submitted applications last winter to volunteer and they were waiting for us. They wanted us to start work that very day. One of many things volunteers do is clean the birds mews (bedrooms). Chuck does that almost every morning. This is the mew for one of the resident = bald eagles, Sundown.
There
are some minor dangers working in the habitats with the birds. The =
one
that Chuck has experienced so far is being pooped on by a crow on his fir=
st
day. Now, when he enters their pen, he keeps a close eye on them. |
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This is
Volta, a 12+ year old mature eagle. Volta has been a resident at the
center most of his life since he was injured and can't fly. If an e=
agle
can't fly, they can't collect food and could starve. He definitely
doesn't starve at the center. |
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This is
Hoot, a long-time resident of the Center. |
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And
this is Sitka, a four year old immature bald eagle. Sitka and Chuck
have some sort of relationship going. Everytim=
e
he walks past her mew, she talks to him. |
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The other
day, during a show (as above), Chuck walked back behind the crowd of tour=
ists
and Sitka saw him. All of a sudden she let out a squawk. |
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I spend
a good part of each day working in the gift shop with these ladies.
Buses bring in tourists off of the cruise ships almost every hour so the =
shop
is very busy. T-shirts are the biggest sellers. |
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We have
a couple of mile walk to the Raptor Center three days a week. The r=
oute
takes us through a small residential area, past Swan Lake and the cemeter=
y,
and along the perimeter of a park. A spawning river flows through t=
he
park. Salmon are spawning by the thousands every day. This
picture was taken early on. The numbers of salmon we see swimming up
stream keep increasing each day. Unfortunately, so do the smelly
carcasses as the salmon die soon after spawning. |