Alaska 2021- May 24

 

Alaska 2021 – May 24, 2021

We left Menehee anchorage this morning with the thought of going closer to Cape Chacon with the intention of crossing tomorrow but the water was great, the sun was out and we decided it made sense to go ahead and go around Cape Chacon today. It was a great decision as it was a beautiful ride and we are currently anchored in Nichols Bay about half way down the inlet.

 

We saw a National Geographic Ship named the Orion pass by – it is the first large ship we have seen and we are curious to look it up to see what it is doing in Alaska this year.     

   

Rounding the Cape was calm and beautiful today.

 

Here is the drive in to Nichols Bay which is beautiful. We even got to see another whale at the entrance.

 

After we parked the boats we went out in Glen’s jetboat to look around the area, explore the beach on the ocean side and also go take Selfies of our group at Cape Chacon. Jane and Dave at Cape Chacon and the group!

 

 

On the way back to our boats we had another bear sighting. They are everywhere!

Alaska 2021 - May 22-May 23

 

Alaska 2021 – May 22-23

    We decided to move to another bay south on Prince of Wales Island named Niblack.  We are now about 26 miles North of Cape Chacon which is the southeast point of Prince of Wales Island and Alaska. Cape Chacon is only about 3 miles from the Canadian border. 

    We put out crab pots and shrimp pots but it was not a good area for either. We did have a great shrimp dinner from out catch at Paul Bight and there will be more places to try when we move later today.

    We went for a walking tour of a mining camp in Niblack bay It is being mined by the Niblack mining corporation and appears to be an active large operation.

 

This appears to be used for housing for the workers but there are no people here now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are palates of core drilling samples like the one in Steve’s hand. They dated from 2008 to 2019.

 

 

 

 

    We left Niblack for Manefee Anchorage which is closer to the Cape of Chacon. We will go around either tomorrow or Tuesday as bad weather is predicted for Wednesday. This is a beautiful spot to anchor – here is the view from the front of the boat.

 

 We were able to find some cell coverage on the way here so once we got the boats anchored Steve, Glen and I went out in Nellie to get the last of the email downloads and messages as once we go around Cape Chacon we will probably not have any coverage.  We took a selfie to show everyone at home what we do to get coverage!

Alaska 2021- May 20-21

April 2021 – May 20 – 21

 

We dropped anchor in Petes bight and spent the night at anchor.  It was a beautiful warm afternoon on May 20 and Steve, Glen and I played cribbage on the back deck of Nelsea.  This was also our first night for Crab dinner!  Thanks to Glen and Dave who caught crab the night before we returned to Ketchikan we were able to cook fresh crab.

May 21 the weather had changed so we decided to go to Old Kasaan before the rains start.  Old Kasaan is the site of an old Indian Village that has remnants of Totem Poles, Longhouse poles and also gravestones. We had our first bear siting on the beach where we were landing to go ashore and there was lots of evidence of bears on the trail along the water where the ruins are located.

We left Old Kasaan and took a ride around Kasaan Bay where we had another bear siting.  This time we were able to get pictures.

 

On the way back to the boats we stopped at a site of an old logging operation with a few cabins and equipment left behind that is being reclaimed by the woods.

Next stop is the boats and dinner.  It has definitely gotten colder as the day has gone on (52 degrees)  so it is an afternoon inside the boats instead of on the back deck like yesterday

Alaska 2021 - May 20

We have left Ketchikan today after our few days at home.  It is a spectacular day!  We are headed to a bay near Kasaan where I was told by Pete to make sure all the camera batteries are charged! I will post pictures of our visit once we have internet again which might be awhile. We will be heading south around the Cape of Chacon at the south end of Prince of Wales Island and when we went there in 2016 we did not have connectivity for quite awhile.

     Just a few pictures to show you the huge expanse of Alaska from the water and the great weather we are having today!