Into the Land of Glaciers and Icebergs
Thursday, June 21st – After our trip to Misty Fiords, we are back in Ketchikan for a day to change crew. Our friends, Janet and Tom Schmitt are joining us, and Jane Minor is leaving. We have a final farewell dinner with Jane at a small restaurant where the food turns out to be quite good. Our waiter is friendly and talkative. One thing we have noticed about Alaskans is that their friendliness and sense of humor are refreshing and fun. For the most part, they are eager to talk and engage one in conversation, and they love talking about their locale and land.
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To The First Mate’s joy, Tom is a fisherman. He arrives prepared with a fishing license, fishing pole and a collection of weights, spoons, spools and other stuff. However, he is not very familiar with fishing in Alaska. So, like The First Mate, he engages any fisherman he sees in conversation. The difference is that he understands what they are talking about, and she does not. Next thing she knows, The Captain is into fish talk. They manfully discuss different weights and lures. They disappear into every fish or hardware store we pass to buy new gadgets that they know will work this time.
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And they fish and fish, but they don’t catch and catch.
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They keep trying and trying. Their luck has to change or their skill must improve.
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The two Galley Wenches remain prepared, optimistic that the galley will be called into action to cook a fresh caught fish.
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Meyers Chuck is our first anchorage. The harbor is protected with its own natural breakwater of rocks.
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We head ashore to explore. Columbines are blooming along the paths. Just like home! There are some dockside fishermen, and we enviously admire their freshly caught salmon. Tom eagerly engages them, hoping to discover what works. The gals set out the crab trap. The guys fish in the bay. Nothing, nada, but we love our setting and are treated to a magnificent sunset.
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The natural setting of Meyer’s Chuck is so inviting, and the old clapboard buildings along the shore make the setting picturesque.
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At the end of a perfect day, we sit on deck and watch the sun set over the entrance to the bay. What a great start with Janet and Tom!
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Saturday, June 23rd – With the weather turning much colder and rain threatening, we anchor in the early afternoon in Frosty Bay feeling that the name mirrors the weather. The crab trap is deployed and the guys fish a bit, but rain soon drives them in and below deck. What to do on a rainy afternoon? We make popcorn and put on a movie! The movie is apropos for where we are, for it is about a bear cub orphaned in the BC wilderness. Having expected to wake up every morning to bears on the shores and not having that happen, it is nice to at least watch one on film. We watch those bears catch fish. Maybe we’re going about this all wrong.
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Sunday, June 24th – Bundled up against the damp cold, we motor to Wrangell. The misty rain and heavy overcast seems to be following us everywhere at the moment. On our way to Wrangell, we have to dodge fishnets. Gill netters had laid out long lines of nets, and the only thing visible was a marker float at each end. We have to keep a keen eye out as we thread our way through the maze.
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There is not much space for transient boats in Wrangell Harbor. Like so many of these small coastal towns, their marinas are full of fishing boats, and what docks they have are usually not long enough for Avante‘s 52-foot length. We called the Harbormaster on our way in, and his instructions are to “find a suitable boat and tie up against it.”
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Wrangell is a small Alaskan coastal town. Several of the buildings have interesting murals painted on their walls. The predominant theme is the ocean around them and life on the seas.
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We read that along the beach one can find petroglyphs carved into rocks lying on the sand and head down there to search. To our surprise, we have no trouble finding many fine examples.
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Chilled we may be, but when a couple we had stopped to talk with offers to take a photo of the 4 of us, we readily agree. Here we are: Bill, Sue, Janet and Tom on the petroglyph beach in Wrangell, Alaska.
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In the background behind us is a formation called The Elephant. We are told we are fortunate to be able to see it, as it is usually covered in clouds or mist. Not only do we see the mountain, but a tiny cloud has even given the fellow an eye!
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Earlier when we entered the harbor looking for a boat to tie up next to, we had spotted m/v Ramada, a boat that we had rafted next to in Prince Rupert. Its owners, Joe and Jane, having heard us on the radio talking to the harbormaster, wave us over to tie up alongside their boat. As we are both heading north, we keep meeting in various spots along the way and have become cruising friends. After a short discussion about the possibility of eating out in a Wrangell restaurant, we decide to pull together a joint dinner and eat on their boat. Their 65-foot trawler with full size everything in the kitchen is much more comfortable for 7 than our boat. It is a fun evening which we reluctantly cut short when the 2 captains announce that they have decided that a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call is required in order for us to reach the Wrangell Narrows at slack tide tomorrow.
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Monday, June 25th – How nice having another capable sailor like Tom onboard! The First Mate and Janet cozily sleep through the harbor exit. It will take us 3 hours to reach Wrangell Narrows.
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Navigating the Wrangell Narrows is tricky. It is a meandering channel with many shallow areas and strong currents, but a myriad of buoys and markers have been placed to keep boats in the channel. At night with all the marker lights on, the stretch has the nickname of Christmas Tree Alley. Motoring through in daylight, we have no trouble.
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By late morning, Petersburg lies ahead of us, and we plan to stop for the night.
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Here, too, the marina is predominantly full of fishing boats, but they do have a berth for Avante. Tied up securely, we head ashore to explore. Stopping at a local restaurant, we all enjoy a lunch of Halibut sandwiches. Grousing over the fact that we have not been able to catch the creatures ourselves, we are happy to see them on the menu!
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The early settlers of Petersburg were from Norway, and their influence can be seen throughout the town with many fine examples of Norwegian Rosemaling painting on buildings and homes.
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Walking by a laundromat reminds Janet that she should to do a load of laundry. Back on the boat, The First Mate adds some of our towels to the laundry load. Now, the towels that we have on the boat are microfiber, the benefits of which are that they don’t take up a lot of space and they don’t grow mold. A negative is that using fabric softener on them will gunk them up, but without fabric softener, they and everything else in the dryer with them stick together with static. To decrease this, she use these nubby-looking rubber balls. Throw them in the dryer with everything, and they are supposed to reduce static. Their success is questionable, but she has them, so she uses them. She gives them to Janet and explains their use. Janet heads back to the Laundromat which, since Petersburg is first and foremost a fishing town, has about 6 rugged, young fishermen in there fumbling with their loads of laundry. Janet, who grew up at a time when mothers did not tell their children not to talk to strangers and who is also of the same congenial ilk as the Alaskans, immediately engages them in conversation. She’s having a grand time talking and learning from them when she opens the dryer door and out explode these 4 missiles. Bouncing now across the floor are the nubby rubber balls. The First Mate had forgotten to warn her about this startling detail. The fishermen are aghast. What the ____ are those? As everyone is scrambling around the floor of the Laundromat struggling to capture 4 nubby rubber balls before they bounce out the door, Janet attempts to explain that the balls weren’t her idea really and that she has this stupid friend with microfiber towels who……..Well, that’s the last time Janet will offer to do the laundry! The First Mate only wishes she had been there with her camera!
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While Janet is chasing those nubby rubber balls, Tom goes for a walk along the docks where he encounters a shrimp boat having recently returned, and from whom, he is able to buy several pounds of fresh shrimp. We celebrate with a “Shrimp Feast aboard Avante for dinner. Using a recipe from our days of living in Spain, The First Mate chefs up Gambas al Ajillo, Shrimp in Garlic Sauce. There certainly is something soul satisfying about eating “off the water”, whether we catch it or not!
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Tuesday, June 26th – After days of overcast and rain, it is a relief to wake up to blue sky. As we motor out of Petersburg, there is a layer of white cloud, but at least they are not dark rain clouds.
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Ahead of us lies a land of Glaciers and Icebergs. It will be a truly different environment out there calling for vigilance and planning, as we explore lonely fiords to reach the glaciers. Feeling like explorers, we forge ahead while, appropriately, an eagle leads the way.
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We turn into Thomas Bay to view the glacier at its end.
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As we head down the arm to Baird Glacier, the water around us turns green from the glacial water. Depending upon the sunlight, the color of the water changes from a chilling green brown to a very pretty crystal green. The deeper we travel into the fiords, the colder the air temperature becomes, and the more layers we keep adding.
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Cautiously, we approach the ice flow from the Baird Glacier. We moved in as close as we dared, but the bottom shoaled very quickly. The water temperature here was 38 degrees! Note how the glacier no longer reaches the sea.
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Leaving the fiord, we return to the Inside Passage. With no wind and the water so very still, we feel like we are on a large mountain lake rather than in a channel between islands with the ocean only a few short miles away.
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Winding our way through a group of islands, we enter Cannery Cove and drop anchor in the peaceful bay. What looks like a very nice fishing lodge is on the shore. After being so isolated and remote all day, it is reassuring to see signs of civilization.
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By habit now, we prepare to drop our crab trap as soon as we are anchored. This time we are more optimistic, for there are lots other crab traps in the area. The First Mate drops her trap right in the middle with high hopes for tomorrow morning’s catch.