Travel Day

As planned, the alarm sounded at 2:45 am. Our flight out of Philadelphia, via Chicago and Seattle on to Ketchikan, Alaska was showing an on-time departure of 6 am. Our day was to consist of 7 hours of flight time intermixed with 5 hours of layovers.

The clouds were low with a trace of fog as we left for the airport. It was a perfect preview of the weather in store for us in Alaska. All in all, the travel was uneventful and on time; just long and tiring.

We leave the clouds of Philadelphia behind

You always can tell when you're approaching Chicago buy the grid of the neighborhoods

The drama started upon our arrival at our Ketchikan. As we waited at the sole baggage claim conveyer, it quickly became apparent that our four bags, containing all our gear for the next five weeks, did not arrive when we did. A check with the Alaska Air baggage agent was promising in that she had a report in her hand listing our four bags. She said that she expected they would arrive in 6 hours on a later flight, and that they would deliver them to us at our hotel, the Cape Fox Lodge.

The Cap Fox Lodge. Every culture has guys with crazy party hats

We passed the time trying to wind down from our travels, enjoyed a beer and some shrimp at the hotel bar,  and then we had a wonderful dinner at The Bar Harbor Restaurant. If you ever find yourself in Ketchikan, visit this fine eatery, it’s the best we have found in this town. The halibut tacos Karen had were to die for, and my halibut with pecan maple cream sauce was also delicious. I won’t make you envious by talking about the bread pudding and the homemade cinnamon ice cream. Plus the wine list was really great.

Our favorite in Ketchikan, Bar Harbor Restaurant

Back at the hotel, we got good news; three bags were delivered to our hotel at 10 pm local time, 2 am body time. My bag, with all my clothes, repeat ALL MY CLOTHES, was the bad news. “Tomorrow morning at 8:30” said the agent when she delivered the bad news. With that I gave up, exhausted beyond measure, and went to bed. Karen had passed out from fatigue a few hours earlier. Total time from the call of the alarm in Pennsylvania to the sound of my head collapsing into the pillow in Alaska: 24 hrs.

Our base camp in Ketchikan while we provision for our trip

Seattle Boat Show

We spent a week at the Seattle Boat show looking at what's both new and old in Pacific Northwest boating. We also mixed our nautical exploits with excursions in and around Seattle. The show also provided an opportunity for us to visit with friends. It seems we have amassed a great bunch of people who live in and around Seattle. Some are fellow cruisers we met in faraway anchorages and others are old friends from many different places and times in our lives. Everyone we talked to said the boat show traffic was up from last year, and the prices were down. I don't know if this is a reflection of better times ahead or simply a response to the more approachable price points.

The queue on opening morning

  

Karen takes the master head for a "dry run"

 Karen and Bob get in some "tourist time"

An evening view of the Lake Union in-water show from a 60ft Willard

Seattle skyline from Alki Beach

Seattle morning skyline from the stern of the Bainbridge Ferry

Dinner at a French Bistro overlooking the Harbor of Seattle

The main floor of the indoor show at the Quest Center

I had to pry Karen off the Krogen 58

Another great dinner in Seattle

 

Karen helps navigate when we lend a hand moving boats after the show closes

We had to delay our return home for one day because of the winter storm that shut down the East Coast. Even those Seattle cloudy days look good when you're shoveling two feet of snow.

Welcome Home!!!

Main Line Power Squadron

This evening, Karen and I made a presentation to the Main Line Power Squadron on our experiences cruising the Inside Passage. We had a great time. The members are warm and welcoming and seemed to enjoy seeing cruising grounds that none of them had yet experienced. Thanks again to Commander Susan Friedrichs and the members for their hospitality and kind words. You can check out this great group of mariners here.  To view the resource information pages from last night’s presentation click here.

Muirhead Islands to England Point Cove

Up at eight...and we are greeted by overcast skies, mist and fog. The run of good weather was over, at least for the day. As is often the case, the timing of today’s travels will be dictated by the tides. The entrance to Actaeon Sound is guarded by Snake Passage and high slack tide at Snake was not until 11:30am. Of course this was no problem, given our predilection to sleep in and spend the morning lounging around. It’s our vacation after all.

The anchor came up clean to Karen’s delight (she is the anchor wench, after all). We had a great set to the anchor the day before, and that often means the anchor comes up filled with mud. But with a clean anchor aboard, we departed our peaceful anchorage for our next adventure.

Snake Passage is well charted with kelp that helps mark the dangers. At high slack it was an uneventful pass. Of course, at high slack this narrow fairway looks much wider, with all the dangers lurking below the water.

Behind Snake Pass, the Sound opens up. Its so peaceful and pretty, almost like a wide tree-lined river.

As we motored up the sound, we stopped at the entrance to Bond Lagoon and pointed our nose into the entrance to scope it out. The entrance looks as if the fairway is good but we did not have enough water under the keel to make the passage into the lagoon. We will save this lagoon for another visit.

We snooped at Creasy Bay and saw the logging camp on the Venturi Logger barge, complete with a small helicopter. Behind that is a derelict barge that looks a lot shabbier than pictured in Hamilton's Secret Coast!

Have Logging Camp Will Travel

We passed our planned anchorage at England Point Cove and continued on to explore the entrance to Tsibass Lagoon. It must have been perfect slack, as there was no strong ebb to be seen. But you can tell this entrance is very narrow and not for Arctic Star. If we had a high speed dinghy, we'd definitely have gone in to explore.

On our way back to England Point, we took a look at Gleyka Cove, which seems have an abandoned logging camp and is marked with tons of floating logs that had numerous seals hauled out on them. Predictably, Karen, the critter chaser, directed the helm to change course and go visit the local mammals. They had such soulful faces, and were in a rainbow of seal colors: grey ones, brown ones, Dalmatian colored ones and brown spotted ones.

After the Loggers Leave, the Seals Take Over

We decided to anchor in England Point Cove, a highly recommended anchorage by the Hamilton's and by us! It's a lovely one boat (to us) anchorage. There are great views out a couple of directions and the prime anchor spot is easy to pick out. We set the anchor easily in the grey and misty skies.

We later took the dinghy back to Gleyka Cove, because the Hamiltons said you can walk along the North Creek to some abandoned trucks and stuff from the old logging days. We landed North of the creek with no issue and tied the dinghy off to a tree. Tall grass obscured holes and unsure footing was the name of the day as we followed a bear path (complete with fresh scat) to the rocky creek. Taking a look at the creek and the underbrush, we knew this wasn't going to work as a fun and easy walk.

Entrance to the Creek

There Be Bear Here!!

So we retrieved the dinghy and decided to dock at the logging camp and explore the logging roads. One the way there, we almost ran over a long, just-submerged fresh water line that ran from shore to the camp. Gotta be ever vigilant! At first glance, it just seemed like a long piece of kelp.

Docked at the camp, there was a rickety ramp to shore. It had a "leaning tower of Pisa" characteristic, and Karen was very skeptical because it was so askew and steep. Bob walked it with no issues and no fear, and so Karen grumblingly followed. The house at the top of the ramp was abandoned, with just a blue hard hat sitting on a log as a reminder of days gone by. We walked around and explored the log sluice that channeled logs down towards the holding pen where the seals were hauled out.

Home Sweet Home for the Loggers that used to work at Gleyka Cove

Of course Bob had to go first to check it out. It was a lot more stable than it looks.

I Wonder How Many Hours were Spent in that Chair

Someone Put a Flag on the Islet that Marks the Entrance to England Point Cove

We took the dinghy over to see our seal friends one more time before returning to the boat for a feast of marinated grilled pork and maple glazed carrots.

Davis Bay to Muirhead Islands

A bright light awoke us. What was that? OMG, it was the sun! The morning was crystal clear and calm. We had spent a peaceful night; no wind, no waves, no current to speak of. Davis Bay is a great spot, ample of room, good holding and beautiful views in all directions.

Davis Bay Anchorage Panorama

Karen continues to insist that the drying beach to the northeast is a perfect “bear beach”. It would be except there appears to be no bear here. That did not deter Karen from posting a lookout on the stern and enjoying a quiet morning reading what must be her 19th book of this trip.

Karen Splits Her Time Between Reading and Watching the "Bear Beach"

We took it easy this morning as we attempted to chill down from our mechanical adventures and transition to vacation mood. Therefore, it was not until one o’clock when we lifted the anchor for a short cruise to the other end of Drury Inlet and the Muirhead Islands.

The last time we visited the Muirhead Islands we stern tied on the south side. This time, we planned to anchor in the one-boat anchorage in the bay on the north side. We had explored this anchorage last time in the dinghy and liked it because we could anchor without a stern tie and have the place to ourselves.

A Beautiful Cruise Over to the Muirhead Islands

Shortly after we anchored, a Nauticat sailboat anchored in the south bay where we had been last year, so we were happy we chose the northern spot. After dropping anchor and enjoying the vistas on all sides, we launched the dinghy and explored the western end of Drury. The logging operation at the Western end appears to be shutting down with most of the equipment gone expect for the M/V Sir James Douglass, an old Coast Guard boat that was used as a base of operations. We later learned that a new logging camp was starting up in adjacent Actaeon Sound.

Karen Takes the Bow Watch for the Dinghy Expedition

As we were heading back from checking out the logging "leftovers", we ran into Tom from the Nauticat. He was out in his dinghy trying to find a spot where his cell phone would work. He and his wife Sharon, who remained on the Nauticat, have an invalid mother at home and he was trying to check in to confirm that all was OK. I offered to lend him our satellite phone so he could make contact. He was very grateful and said he would row over later to Arctic Star to take advantage of our offer. 

We continued our explorations by checking out the lower end of Actress Passage, the entrance to Actaeon Sound. We wanted to preview because tomorrow our plan is to transit Actress Passage and enter the sound for "off the grid" exploring and secure an overnight anchorage. It all looked straightforward, though we didn't go as far north as Snake Pass in the dinghy. We were confident the next day would be fun and well within our skill set.

Not long after we had the dinghy stowed, Tom appeared on our stern in his dinghy. We invited him aboard and gave him the satellite phone and a short briefing on its operation. Good news: all was well at home. We offered Tom a beer and settled into some boat talk (I have been a fan of the Nauticat ever since I saw one at the Annapolis Boat Show twenty years ago) and exchanged information about good anchorages. He lives in Qualicum and also sails in Mexico, so he had wonderful stories to tell.

Bob's special meatloaf and roasted potatoes with fresh rosemary were on the menu. We had another lovely clear night and a good night's sleep.

Many folks pass by anchoring in the Muirheads and continue on to large Sutherland Bay. We love the Muirheads, it's a kayaker's dream (and great for exploring by dinghy, too) and has very remote feeling. Give it a try if you haven't done so yet!

Arctic Star Enjoys a Peaceful Anchorage in the Muirhead Islands