Alaska 2021 - May 13 -14

 Alaska 2021 – May 13-14

     We left Ketchikan for 2 nights in Naha Bay which was a 22 mile cruise up around Revillagigedo Island.  Naha Bay is a beautiful bay that has a State Park float and the Naha River trail that goes around Roosevelt Lake.  The hike is a round trip 4.8 mile hike along a combination of trails, boardwalk, mud and roots that leads to Orton Ranch which is a Baptist Church Camp. The trail had some challenges today with all the rain and downed trees from the past winter.  It looks like they are doing some work to fix the trail but it was quite a challenging scramble in some places along the trail.

 

Roosevelt Lake spills over into Naha Bay with a small set of rapids but at a high tide you can take the small boats into the lake which the guys did after our hike. The picture shows it at about a 2 ft drop – it is about 4 feet at low tide.

In addition to the public float, Naha Bay also has a public ramp built from the Bay side to the Lake side that is used to haul kayaks over to the lake.

 

 

We have seen Bear in Naha bay on past trips but this time we only saw evidence that they are around. Skunk Cabbage pulled out and bear tracks along the trail.  We keep watching for our first bear sighting this trip which should happen soon!  Also the first Shrimp of the trip were caught by Glen just outside of Naha Bay.  No crab but we know we will get some soon. We had another great dinner on the Nelsea including Shrimp and a yummy lemon chicken dinner prepared by Jane and Dave.  We have had group dinners every night which is a lot of fun and easy since we have the 3 boats anchored together.

 

 

Alaska 2021 - May 11-13

 Alaska 2021 - May 11-13

      We have been in Ketchikan for 2 nights which has been nice to be able to get off the boat and walk!  We have all restocked groceries and went out to dinner at Annabelle's.  We met up with two other boaters from the US  for dinner- Brian and Steve on the Tonic which is a 52 Offshore.  It was a fun evening sharing stories and also talking about the planned itinerary for the next three months. We are headed to Naha and hope to put out crab traps - its time for some fresh crab! Its overcast and predicted to rain but at least we are in Alaska!  Nelsea will return to Ketchikan on Saturday as Steve and I are flying home for a couple nights to catch up on work and see the family! When we return we will head slowly around Cape Chacon and to the west side of the Prince of Wales Island. Last time we fished on the way and are hoping for Halibut again!

     Ketchikan is very very quiet.  Many of the stores are closed due to Covid and of course there are no cruise ships or tourists here.  

We stayed at the city dock which is right downtown 

More adventures to come!

Alaska 2021 - May 11

Alaska 2021 – May 11

     We left Dundas for Ketchikan at 8am.  We only had a 5 ½ hour cruise covering 52 miles for today – our shortest leg yet since we left on the trip.  The Dixon Entrance was very flat today so we had a good, easy crossing – no rain just heavy overcast again.  Steve and I cleared customs using CHP Roam and Nexus, filled up with 605 gallons of fuel and headed with the others to the City Dock.  We are going to celebrate Liz’s birthday at Annabelles in Ketchikan for dinner – our first day off the boat since May 3!

     We made fantastic time and other than the rain and overcast skies it was a great cruise up to Alaska. Our plan is to stay here tonight and get a few more provisions tomorrow morning including fishing licenses. We are going to leave Ketchikan tomorrow and play around for the next 4 days until it is time for Steve and I to come back to Ketchikan and fly home on Sunday for a couple of days. 

 Alaska 2021 - May 10

We left Lowe Inlet today with a destination of Prince Rupert but the water and weather are so nice we decided to push on to Dundas which makes a shorter run to Ketchikan tomorrow.  We are many days ahead of schedule but since we can’t stop anywhere in Canada if the water and weather are good we just push on. Beautiful snow covered mountains and scenery on the journey today.

Alaska 2021 - May 9

 

Alaska 2021 – May 9 Mother’s Day

     Happy Mother’s day to all the Moms reading this blog!  Today we cruised up Graham Reach past Khutze Inlet. We went thru Fraser Reach, McKay Reach, Wright Sound then Grenville Channel to reach our destination for tonight of Lowe Inlet which was about 60 miles north of lasts nights stop in Horsefly Cove. We have stayed at Lowe Inlet on prior trips and the Nettle Basin and Verney Falls are the highlight. The Kumowdah River flows into Nettle Basin over Verney Falls and drains Lowe Lake. At a low tide Verney Falls will double in height which leads to some great pictures. It started as  another overcast day but much brighter and no rain-we actually saw glimpses of the sun on the journey but we are back in the heavy overcast now!

     On the journey we went past Butedale which is the site of a former cannery. The buildings are in ruins, but the waterfall is still spectacular.

     This is a beautiful cruise with high hills surrounding us and many waterfalls to enjoy. There is still quite a bit of snow in some of the hills.

 

 

Alaska 2021 - May 8

 

April 2021 – May 8

    We left Oliver Cove at 8:30 with an anticipated anchorage in Horsefly Cove in Green Inlet which is South of Butedale.  It is a cold, rainy gray day again which is unfortunate since this is normally a beautiful ride up Mathieson Channel.  We went thru Jackson pass and Jackson Narrows to Finlayson Channel. If you follow the Douglass book you would probably not anchor here as they say they spent the night poorly secured to a spit that extends from the stream on the south shore across from Horsefly cove. Not an assuring post but we anchor the three boats together on one center anchor and stern tie to shore so we will see how it works out! There are tidal rapids at Baffle Point and the description in Douglass is enjoy the view of the ebb current at the rapids – its like watching a jet fighter with is after burner ignited.  The rooster tails of the waterfall pulsate for perhaps 100 yards on a good low tide! My guess is this is why we are staying at Green Inlet!  Picture of Dave and Jane on Bidarka going thru Jackson Narrows and Jackson Channel. Pete is enjoying the ride with my Nana blanket from Evie and Lexi! We are seeing lots of waterfalls along the route!

 

Alaska 2021 – May 7

We spent the day cruising in cold wet rainy weather from Goldstream Bay to Oliver Cove Marine Park  via Shearwater. We floated off Shearwater where we were able to pick up internet and phone service.  It’s always nice to be able to catch up with people when we go by the areas with connectivity!  Our intention was to spend about an hour floating then heading on to our evening anchorage but the local Shrimp pots had other plans.  First Dave floated over 2 pots that got caught on his boat. Glen jumped in Stupid(his jet boat) to go help and realized he had also floated over a Shrimp float.  Glen’s pot was a fairly easy removal to put the pot back where it came from but not the same for Dave and Jane on Bidarka.  They had 2 floats and after about 2 hours along with Glen and Pete’s help they were free from the pots but the result was 2 floats and only one pot.  While Glen and Pete were resetting the pot with 2 floats a local came out to make sure everything was ok.  He was really nice and friendly about the mishap. The guys gave him money to cover the loss of the pot and we were on our way to find anchorage.  We went thru Seaforth Channel to Reid Pass and our spot to drop the hook for the night!  Dinner on the Nelsea and another fun evening with friends. The boys (Steve and Glen) beat Michelle and Liz at Cribbage -2 games.  We need a chance to redeem ourselves – hopefully tomorrow night.