My intention was to head north towards Wrangell, and take my time doing it.
It doesn't really take a week to go to Wrangell from Ketchikan and return.
My crew for this trip was my wife Lisa, my little dog 'Bina, and my 9 year old grandson Bryan.
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, when you are heading north to Wrangell from Ketchikan the big limiter for small boats like mine is a relatively short stretch, about 25 miles, in Clarence Strait.
The marine forecast for this part of Clarence Strait today was good, but the reality of the water conditions was something else. Lisa does not do well in rough water and our puppy 'Bina had never been tested under those conditions.
We headed out towards Clarence Strait, but ended up bailing out part way through and turning North into Behm Canal, where calmer waters could be found.
In 1981 I won 3rd place in the King Salmon Derby with a 49 lb King. There were many parts to the prize, but one of them was a box of three salmon plugs called "Tomic Lures."
These plugs have been sitting in my garage since 1981. Bryan saw them and convinced me to bring them along. Sure enough, every King we caught on this trip was caught on these plugs. Guess I should have started using them a few decades earlier!
We stopped by Grant Island for some salmon trolling, and sure enough, Bryan got a King, just legal at 28". He was a pretty happy kid. And he reeled it in all by himself. All I did was net it.
Bryan even helped me clean up the deck after getting the fish in.
We went into Marguerite Bay in Traitors Cove, one of our favorite places. Readers of this blog know that we go there often. We were fortunate enough to get to the dock. There was only one other boat there, and it turned out to be a friend of mine who ties up on the same float in Bar Harbor.
Sometimes at this time of the year they fly tourists into this dock and take them up the logging road in vans to the bear and fish viewing platform. But my friend told me there had been no planes and there were no vans on the road. So no tourists for this visit - terrific!
This time I came prepared - I brought an axe. I also had my little cart. So Bryan and I went up along the road and found some firewood for our firepit on the dock that evening.
On Sunday Bryan and I walked up the road and checked out the bear and fish viewing platform - we saw neither.
This is the platform. You look through those square openings in the webbing at the river down below. The outside of that canvas is camo.
We proceeded up the road a little more to Margaret Lake. Bryan and I were here in late April on a trout fishing trip. This time we were just sightseeing.
On the walk back to the boat along the logging road we encountered two black bears. The first one was reluctant to leave the roadway, despite my whistling, stomping, and yelling. Finally he reluctantly lumbered off into the brush.
The second bear was more cooperative. As soon as he saw us he immediately took off at a full trot for the brush, so no problems there.
There were a lot of commercial trollers working the area right in front of Traitors Cove and as it got closer to evening they started coming into the bay for the night. Most of them anchored nearby, but a few came up to the dock.
Looks like a troller parking lot out there. They were all gone in the morning when we got up.
Faraway at the dock.
You can see the raft all staged with 2 crab pots ready to be set.
Only one problem, for the first time since I got that motor in 1988 I could not get it to start.
Bummer, Dude.
On Monday morning I listened to the marine forecast in Clarence Strait. It was excellent, so we made the decision to go for it.
On the way out of Behm Canal it was so calm that we decided to fly one of the kites I had brought along.
I tied it to a fishing rod and we flew it off the flybridge extension. It flew better than I thought it would. Those tails are about 20' long, just to put it into perspective a little better.
About half way between Camaano Pt and Meyers Chuck in Clarence Strait there is a small island with a few trees on it called Ship Island. It is a popular fishing spot, but many times, most times really, it is too rough to fish there. But not today. It was flat calm and there were several boats fishing there, so we decided to give it a try as well.
Bryan actually got 2 Kings here, but one was only 25", which is too small to keep. This one pictured above was 30" so we were able to keep that one. I don't carry a scale on board so I don't know how much his fish weighed.
If you look beyond Bryan in the above picture you can get a feeling for how calm it was.
Next we pulled into Meyers Chuck, which is a quirky little community right on the corner of Clarence Strait and Ernest Sound. There is a state run first come, first served, dock there that can hold several boats. There are several homes, cabins, sheds, etc. along the trail. There are no roads per se, and no vehicles (maybe an old golf cart or an ATV.)
We took our obligatory walk along the trail. Here are some pictures that show that Meyers Chuck is truly a community with an attitude.
Here's a Heron made out of drift wood that someone made along the path. He even has a small fish in his mouth.
If you remember that I said Meyer Chuck was a quirky little community, with an attitude.
It's hard to read this sign but one side points to the "Hall Way," and the other side points to the "Hi Way."
There is a lot of artistic talent in Meyers Chuck. They have a small gallery that they will open for you if you call the number posted on the door. I've looked through the window and there is some interesting art in there.
And here is the famous Meyers Chuck spider web and spider. You can see from the upper picture how big this thing is. And then someone welded a nice big spider to sit on the web. Bryan said it looks more like a crab.
They have a small hand made "playground," with only a few pieces to play on.
Bryan liked me to bounce him hard on the teeter totter. It's just a big plank sitting on a log section.
The slide didn't seem to work very well, or maybe it was just Bryan's shorts. He had more fun climbing up it than trying to slide down. It was a very slow slide.
Bryan found this very small crab on our walk.
One last narrative for Meyers Chuck, although I have no photos to back it up.
On the community bulletin board there was a poster that offered fresh cinnamon rolls, delivered to the boat! We ordered 4, and the next morning before we pulled out we were delivered 4 fresh, still warm, delicious cinnamon rolls!
We pulled out along with a few other boats and began our last leg of the journey up to Wrangell. It was pretty uneventful until we got just a few miles away. There were numerous gill net boats working the areas just south of Wrangell.
For those that don't know, the gill net hangs like a curtain in the water, with floats on the top and lead on the bottom. It may stretch for several hundred yards. The little floats are hard to see if there is any chop at all on the surface of the water. A couple of times I came within a few yards of running over a net, even though I knew they were in the area, and I was being very vigilant.
The commercial crabbing season was open and there were numerous crab pot buoys along the way. We had to be very alert to avoid running over them.
Here are a few shots taken as we approached the Wrangell harbor.
This is the entrance to Reliance Harbor, which is the "old" harbor, nearest town. Moorage here was about $41 for 2 nights, with shore power included. Such a deal. They have a newer harbor, Heritage Harbor, but it is a little further from town making it a little harder to get groceries, do laundry, etc.
There is a cannery right next to the entrance. That vessel on the right is the fish packer Sea Star, which I see frequently in the Ketchikan area. Fish packers are operated by the canneries. They cruise back and forth between the cannery and the fishing grounds. The commercial fishing boats can sell their catch to the packer and then not have to run all the way to town. A friend of mine managed the packers for one of the canneries in Ketchikan and he said they had about 60 of them!
This is a shot of the waterfront of Wrangell.
The beautiful house sits right on the point as you enter the harbor. I don't know who owns it, but I bet most Wrangellites know.
We stayed in Wrangell for 2 nights, not doing very much. Bryan and I went to see the native dancers presentation on Chief Shakes Island, but they don't allow pictures in there.
We did laundry, and re-provisioned. Oh and Bryan and Lisa went swimming at the local pool, which Lisa tells me is salt water.
On Thursday morning we pulled out of Wrangell.
The City of Wrangell is on the NW corner of Wrangell Island. It is just a couple of miles (if that) below the northern tip of the island. So when we departed we went around the northern tip of the island, and then south down the eastern side of the island.
I had tried in January to get a permit for the Anan Bay cabin, and was unsuccessful. But in Wrangell I had heard that there was a new transient float in Anan Bay for boats to use. It is not a good area for anchoring, which is why I always rent the cabin in order to get the float that sits out in front.
We peeked into the bay and took some pictures, but the bad news is, no new float. I heard later that it is still mired in Federal permit red tape.
Here's Anan Bay, pretty much the same way we left it 2 years ago when we were here with the whole family. You can see the USFS cabin in the background A float plane is tied to the small 25' float that is out in front of the cabin. To the right is the floating cabin where the USFS staff live while they are stationed here.
We continued on down, heading south out of Anan Bay. One of the next bays down is Frosty Bay, where we have spent the night on the anchor a few times, awaiting our appointed time in Anan Bay This time as we approached Frosty Bay I could see a US Coast Guard boat there, apparently stopped and talking with the occupants of another small boat. They finished their business and the small boat left, but the Coast Guard boat remained just drifting there as we approached.
I thought for sure they were going to stop me for a regulations and safety check. But they did not. They just fired up and ran right past me. Perhaps they are starting to recognize my boat. I have been stopped at least twice since I got a good inspection report in October of 2014. These "Good As Gold" reports are like a get out of jail free card, for a year.
I had promised Bryan that we would spend at least 1 night on the anchor, and tonight was the designated night. I had a couple of spots in mind, but ended up pulling into Santa Anna Inlet, a beautiful spot where I have anchored many times before.
When we pulled into the inlet, here is what we saw anchored right near the entrance.
This is the 205' yacht Meridian. It was anchored right in front of my office for over a week, so I was absolutely sure I knew what boat it was. You can't see them all in this photo but there were at least a dozen guests playing around on paddle boards, kayaks, rafts, etc. The very back of the yacht has a garage door that opens up so all the water toys can be stored within.
We went by Meridian very slowly to the head of the bay and dropped anchor in about 60' of water.
The rain started, Meridian collected her guests, and then Meridian pulled anchor and left.
I put the raft in and paddled Bina to shore. About an hour after that we saw this Brown Bear on the beach. No more shore excursions for Bina in this bay.
In the morning we pulled anchor about 8:30 AM and headed out.
The potentially rough portion of Clarence Strait was a little choppy for the first few miles, and then calmed right down. It was foggy, but calm.
We had one more night out so I headed up into Behm Canal again. There is a popular fishing area known as Tatoosh Rocks on the way, so we stopped there to fish awhile. Sure enough, the Tomic Lure struck again, and almost right away too.
We pulled into the Naha dock/float (since there still is no ramp to shore) and Lisa got this picture of Bryan with his 36" King. For this one he tried mightily, but it ended up being a 3 person job to get it in the boat.
We had a quiet but enjoyable last night out. Bryan enjoys watching Planet Earth videos.
On Saturday morning we had a good breakfast and headed out, destination Ketchikan.
We did some trolling along the way home, but this time the Tomic Lures did not produce - it happens.
We were in the stall about 1:30 PM, after logging about 255 nm for this voyage.
I think a good time was had by all (except for those first few hours of rough water for Lisa!)
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