June 12 - June 30, 2016

June 12 – June 30, 2016

We left Port Refugio and headed into Craig where it was very wet and windy as we all tied up at the city dock – we had the entire old dock to ourselves except for 2 fishing boats as we filled up the space by side tying.  We stayed here two nights then headed over to Fish Egg Island across from Craig for the night of the 14^th since the Colliers are arriving at 5:30.  We went to Klawock Fireweed Lodge to celebrate anniversaries and birthdays and had a wonderful Salmon Dinner.

Once we left Craig we went to several beautiful anchorage spots – Nagasay Cove on Esquibel Island where the guys went out fishing off of Noyes Island where they caught Halibut, Black Bass and King Salmon. Glen, Gary, Tom and Nat went and I heard Nat made a great boat boy!  I went touring with Glen and Pete – a 3 hour dinghy cruise over to Noyes Island and all around the area! From there we moved to Edna Bay, then into El Capitan to stay at the forest service dock where we had a Fish and Chips fry on land!  We also were able to go thru the caves in the morning before we left which was a great treat again – amazing to see the Caves above El Capitan.

From El Capitan we went went to Hole in the Wall which is somewhere we stayed in 2013 also – a beautiful, narrow entrance into a calm bay with beautiful view of the mountains. We left Hole in the Wall and made a couple hour stop in Port Protection so people could see it and stock up on a few groceries – not much there but better than nothing!  We also refueled the Grady since we have been doing quite a bit of fishing. We spent the night in Monte Carlo Island then headed thru Rocky Pass to a place by Payne Island called Lords Pocket where Steve caught another Halibut.  This was a beautiful anchorage and we spent a day in Kake which is a Tlingit community which used to have the tallest totem pole (132.5 feet) in Alaska.   Kake did have a store called the SOS Market so we were able to stock up on a few items again.  We spent two nights in Lords Pocket then it was off to Cannery Cove in Pybus Bay – What an incredible anchorage – right at the base of an incredible snow topped range.  Another boat had a drone and took pictures of our boats in the anchorage which show the beauty of the bay!  From Cannery Cove we left with the intended destination of Red Bluff but the weather had other plans for us so we ended up at Baranof Warm Springs for two nights as the weather changed to rainy, windy and foggy but the Hot Springs were a welcome treat and we walked to Lake Baranof.  There is a beautiful Waterfall at the head of the bay which comes down about 100 feet and a small community on the hillside below the hot springs. The Colliers were supposed to leave from here on a float plane but there was no way the plane could land due to the fog so we headed out to a spot called Ell Cove hoping the fog would lift which it did and they headed on to Sitka via float plane from a place called Hidden Falls which is the site of a Fish Hatchery.  After they flew out we arranged a tour for the group at the fish hatchery and what a treat!  Kyle who runs the hatchery took us thru the facility – showed us the incubation and holding tanks and explained the process working with Fish and Hatcheries and the fishermen of Alaska to develop a sustainable cycle.  We also got to see 5 Grizzly bear that they call Hatchery bears as they live on the other side of the lake and feast on the returning salmon.  Kyle told us that there are as many as 60 bears many of which they have named as they are regulars in the area.  Today we saw the Mama bear and her 2 surviving cubs (she had 3 last year) and two adolescent bears about 3 years old.

After Ell Cove we went to a place called Appleton Cove where we caught more crab.  We also fished and I got the prize for the most unique catch – Two Sea Anenomes that had attached themselves to a rock on the bottom that I managed to pull up.  Quite an entertaining catch to go along with the Rock fish I caught that will be fish taco’s tonight!

Today is June 28^th and we are going to Moser Island for the next two nights – Jim and Cheryl Matheson on Sea Jay have rented a beach cabin and we will have a Hotdog roast there tomorrow night and spend some more time fishing before we head to Sitka where I hope to be able to update the blog!

June 14, 2016

June 12 - June 14, 2016

We are leaving Craig today once we pick up the Nat and Linda Collier at the float plane dock.  Our plan is to play around in the Craig/Sitka area for the next two weeks for fishing, crabbing, exploring old mines, etc so no posts for awhile.  We have had a great time in town - Eating a celebration dinner at the Fireweed Lodge in Klawock for Gary's 75th - celebrating anniversaries and tomorrow is Glen's birthday but it is time to go Fishing! Next post will probably be around the end of June in Sitka unless we stumble across internet connection along the way - remember back to a time when you had to access internet by dialup not 3G/4G - we have 1x connection here in Craig so it is very very slow and hard to post!

May 31 - June 12, 2016

May 31 – June 4

      We went home for a few days to catch up on a bit of work and to go to S’Wiched since the restaurant opened while we were gone!   Yum – the food was great so everyone go try it out if you find yourself in Maple Valley – In the same shopping center as Safeway just to the south on Maple Valley Black Diamond Road.

    While we were gone the weather was terrible – rainy and windy while we had 80 in Seattle!  You might have heard about it on the news- on Friday June 3 a Cruise ship got blown into the dock at Ketchikan doing almost $4 million damage to the dock and $6 million to the boat – OOPS- Glen picked up his daughter Nicole that day in the Grady – gusts to 40 knots and 8 – 10 foot waves. Nicole said the Grady was taking waves over the top.  Glad we were home in Seattle and glad they got back to the boats safe.

June 4 – June 12^th

    This part of our trip was very remote – once we left Ketchikan we have not had any cell or internet service so I have a lot to catch everyone up on.  We left Ketchikan with Chris and Tom on Miners Debt headed to meet everyone else on the Prince of Wales Island in Kendrick Bay.  This bay was beautiful and very protected and puts us in the best position to go around Cape Chacon tomorrow which kind of feels like we are crossing the Dixon Entrance again as it is open water.  Nicole and Glen went fishing and Nicole caught the first Halibut of the trip!  We woke up to beautiful weather and after we went around the Cape we were back into lumpy rollers as we made our way around the south side of the Prince of Wales Island.  We spent the night in a bay by Hessa Island and Steve and I went fishing – Steve caught a Ling Cod which we had that night as Fish Taco’s on the Nelsea!  Chris made an amazing Mexican rice and Lenore added homemade coleslaw.  Diane and Liz flew in on a float plane that afternoon back from their trips home. We spent two night at Hessa bay and explored in the Grady.  Steve and I each caught a Cabizon but only kept Steve’s which was large.  We left Hessa Bay for Mabel Bay and spent one night there then moved on to Hetta Cove.  At Hetta we tried to hike to the lake but it was very steep and no trail so after getting a glimpse of the lake we went fishing and Steve was rewarded with a 44 lb Halibut! Yeah- fresh halibut for dinner.  From Hetta we went on to Crab Trap Cove which is by Hydaburg.  We spent two nights there and had our first afternoon of warm weather to relax in. Caught more crab in the cove and  we went to Hydaburg by dinghy and small boats which was about 2 miles away.  We had a beautiful sunny day and  a nice walk thru town to see the Totem Pole park.  We also had a tour of the carving shed and learned about the Haida Nation from Haa Goo who was quite a character. He taught us about his clan which has about 400 people in it and has the Raven and Eagle family lines which follow the mothers.  Haa Goo has a home in Seattle and family there but basically moved back to Hydaburg to be the Story teller of the Haida clan.

  We moved on from Crab Trap Cove to Port Rufugio to spend the night before heading to Craig on the 12^th. We had very wet rainy windy weather in Port Rufugio so we hunkered down on the Sea Life and had a group Spaghetti dinner which was perfect for a windy rainy day.  We were treated to a whale going thru the bay tonight after dinner. 

May 25 - May 30, 2016

May 25 – May 30, 2016

   We left Ketchikan on May 25 headed for the Misty Fjord National Park and Punchbowl. Chris and Tom ended up flying home from Ketchikan to move Tom’s parents to a retirement community in Gig Harbor (they have been living at one on San Juan Islands).  They will be gone for about 10 days and fly back up with us when Steve and I return on Saturday June 4^th. 

     Misty Fjords is a beautiful area of Alaska with steep granite cliffs and waterfalls. We came here in 2013 on our last trip and as I said then, the pictures don’t really show the beauty of this area – if you get the chance to see it I highly recommend a trip thru the Misty Fjords.  What seemed different this time is that there were many many more float planes out of Ketchikan taking the cruise ship people on a visual trip and at times we had 3 to 4 float planes landing in the areas we were anchored.  I am sure it was a surprise for them to see so many boats anchored together!  We met up the first night with Fran and Jeff on the Salpare.  It was fun to catch up with them and share Taco night with everyone on the Nelsea!  Fran and Jeff left on May 26^th for Ketchikan and Jim and Carolyn Mathison on Sea Jay and Gary and Lenore Timm on Noon Balloon caught up with us – they will be with us for quite awhile so now we are 6 boats in the floatilla until Chris and Tom return and we become 7 boats.  We also will  have 4 boats under tow so we have many  boats between fishing boats, dinghys and the big boats tied up at night! We spent two nights at Punchbowl then off to Walker Bay where we heard we would see Grizzly bear and cubs- the reports were correct and it was so much fun to see a mama with 3 cubs and another mama with 1 cub.  Grizzlies are quite different looking than the black bear we have been seeing – many pictures attached! We also continued our Jumbo Prawn and Crab catching so another seafood night on the Nelsea.

    May 29^th it is time for us to head back towards Ketchikan for our flight home for a few days and the weather was nasty – rainy, cold, misty(hence the name Misty Fjords) and the water was awful. Leaving anchorage this morning Glen had a dinghy problem – the Splice on the line attached to his Davit that raises the dinghy to the top of the boat broke an as the dinghy was falling back into the water it hit the side of the boat and flipped upside down.  Luckily not one got hurt but the dinghy motor is totaled along with a lot of the electronics etc due to being upside down in saltwater.  Luckily we have the same dinghy and we are not using it much since we are towing Nellie so Glen will use ours – he is working with insurance etc but probably can’t do anything about his replacement  in Alaska.  We got underway and the water is very rough with up to Six foot seas.  We decided to end our day at Alava Bay after a few hours of fighting the weather.  Not the best anchorage as it was very lumpy until the early hours of May 30^th but a fun place to stop as a barge arrived to pick up a float plane that was broken down and tied up to a float by us. Fun to watch them put the plane onto the barge.  We had a rocky night but woke up to beautiful water for our trip to Ketchikan on the 30^th.  Steve and I and Liz and Diane are all flying home tomorrow for a few days of work then backup for us on Saturday with Chris and Tom and we will join the others in an anchorage on the Prince of Wales Island.

This is how we Bear Watch!

Oops – Dinghy problems

May 17 - May 23 Khutze to Ketchikan

May 17 - May 23

Several Days without internet - We started at Khutze which is a beautiful bay where we anchored in front of a waterfall.  From there we went to Bishop Bay which has a wonderful hot springs.  It was harder to get to the Hot Springs since a storm took out the ramp that led from a floating dock to the shore but many of us climbed the rocks on the shore to get there and it was well worth the effort.  The water was perfect!
    Next on the travels was Lowe Inlet where we saw our first black bear on the shore!  Verney Falls is another fun sight in Lowe and there is also a BC Department of Fisheries and Oceans cabin that we went to (named the Lowe Budget Hotel!).
   The following day we were off to Kumealon Inlet.  This bay once held a large logging camp so we explored the shore a bit as they leave quite a bit of equipment behind when they abandon the camps - building, logging skids and even Helicopter Fuel tanks!  There is also a beautiful lagoon that we explored by dinghy.
    From Kumealon we travelled to Prince Rupert for our last night in BC. We keep running into another group of 6 boats that are part of NW Explorations to Alaska so some of the time we have had 11 boats travelling at the same time - we must have looked like an invasion as you can see from the picture of all of us arriving in Prince Rupert at the same time - quite a sight behind us! We shopped for a few groceries since we hope to get to Ketchikan soon.  It was also laundry day (yes there are household chores even on the boat!).  We ate dinner at the Pub by the Marina - Halibut Fish and Chips!!!
   We woke up on May 22 and decided that we would leave Ketchikan for Dundas Island which is the last Canadian Island before we would cross the Dixon Entrance to Ketchikan.  We did not leave until 9am but when we got to Dundas we realized that it looked like we should go on to Ketchikan because the wind they were predicting did not materialize so we kept going and arrive in Ketchikan at 6pm - a 9 hour cruise.  Dixon entrance had 5 - 6 foot rollers but no wind until we got to Ketchikan so it was a good day to cross and we have fueled the boat ( 700 Gallons of Diesel- The Nelsea holds 1050 gallons!) and are ready to start the Alaska part of the adventure. Yesterday was a day to go to the hardware and marine store, get our Alaska fishing licenses  and finish the grocery shopping.  We  met up with two more of the RHYC boats that we will be spending some  time with in Alaska so we had a dinner for 14 at the Bar Harbor Restaurant which was terrific!