June 21 - June 25 Cyrus Cove to Cleveland Passage

June 21 – June 25, 2013  - Cyrus Cove, Hole in the Wall, Petersburg, Thomas Bay and Cleveland Passage

Another amazing few days on the Nelsea.  We started off in Cyrus Cove and ended up in a beautiful bay after going thru a very narrow, fast moving passage named Hole in the Wall.  Another amazing dinner with the Roche Armada of Fish and Chips (well kind of!) - We did not want to deep fry fish for 16 so we did an Oven Fried fish and Potatoes. Another one of our final dinners together as Miners Debt, Rendevous and the Nelsea are going into Petersburg – the others are staying out one more night prior to arriving in Petersburg.  We had to wait for high tide so we did not leave Hole in The Wall until about 10:30 and we stopped in Port Protection to get a little fuel to get us to Petersburg – we needed it as the currents were against us all the way across the channel and then for ½ of the trip up the Wrangell Narrows.  The Narrows channel is just that – very narrow and the water runs quickly but for us it was the wrong direction and at times we were travelling at less than 6 knots!

We arrived in Petersburg in time to fuel up and get our slip for the night.  Our plan was to spend 2 nights – restocking the boat and the guys are going fishing again.  The rest of the Roche Armada arrived on the second day and we had a dessert social on the Nelsea that night with Angel food cake, strawberries, whipped cream, Razzleberry pie and Ice cream!!!!!

On the 24^th we said our goodbyes to Rendevous, Panacea and Reflections as we probably will not meet up with them again(at least we don’t think so!).  Miner’s Debt and the Nelsea are headed out for Thomas Bay where the plan was to meet up for the night with Magic Moment.  We experienced our first Williwaw – oh my.  We were anchored and all of a sudden a storm came thru – major winds, lightening, thunder and it was blowing thru the place we were moored at about 28 miles per hour coming right off the mountain.  The Willawaw went on for about 20 minutes and we were tossed around but as quick as it appeared it ended and went back to a beautiful evening.

We got up on the 25^th with a plan to go to the Baird Glacier and then do a 2 ½ mile hike to a lake and waterfall. All three boats set out in the dinghy’s and what an adventure. Glen found our way up the river that was pouring out of the glacier and we ended up right at the base of the Glacier – not something any of us expected but what an amazing adventure.  It was truly magical and I have many pictures again – I will post them as I can’t possibly explain the beauty and majestic site we had at the base of the glacier – thanks again to Glen – he is an amazing boater and tour guide!!!!!!!!  We spent so much time at the glacier and used up all of our camera memory and time so we decided this time that we would pass on the hike.  Miner’s  Debt and the Nelsea need to continue on to Cleveland Passage for our journey to Tracy Arm and the floating icebergs so that we can get John and Elise to Juneau for their flight home on Friday.  We said goodbye to Magic Moment (Glen, Liz and Maryann – Glen’s sister) again and headed out in the late afternoon to our anchorage for the night off Whitney Island in Cleveland Passage. After dinner Jason caught a Halibut and John and Jason decided that before we left in the morning they wanted to try fishing again – another great morning!  John started off with about a 30 pound halibut. While we were cleaning and packaging that fish Jason got another one about that same size and while John was helping him get his into the boat, John got another one!  We have much fresh Halibut and know what we are having for dinner tonight. The freezer is full again with fish!  We left this great fishing spot for our anchorage just outside of Tracy Arm and if I had to guess the guys will fish again when we get there!  I think we might need to buy a chest freezer in Juneau at Costco for all the fish they are catching!  I sent our first catch home with Chris as she flew to Seattle on Monday for a week at home but the freezer is even more packed with all the Halibut! It is a nice problem to have!