Saturday, June 01, 2002 5:26 PM

Yo! This is our 4th day in Skagway. Nice town; and then 4 cruise ships pull in and 8000 or so people of dubious origin (I think most of them came from Polyester country) get off & start wandering around looking as if they've lost something. After a few minutes most of them have found plastic bags of Alaskan souvenir made in China. It seems to make them happy, so who am I to knock it? Anyway, other than the rampant tourism, Skagway is a pretty nice place.

We've taken some GREAT hikes in the hills outside of town, & visited with Jessica & Michael at their place in the woods. Tomorrow, we will go for a ride with them up over the White Pass. We're looking forward to it. We'll end up spending five days here, leaving Monday to meet friends (Victor & Diane) at Tenakee Springs, 80 miles or so south.

Since Juneau, our last email stop, we've cruised up Lynn Canal to Haines, the other small town with a road into Canada. Lynn Canal is a long inlet lined with tall mountains with glaciers hanging from every valley. We anchored in a little place called Boat Harbor, which was just perfect. You have to be careful when you enter & leave, because the current runs at a ferocious speed. We know, because we took the skiff through the rapids a couple hours before we took the big boat through (at high slack).

Haines has much less tourism, only a few ships (small ones) a month. It's more laid back (though both towns are very friendly once they learn that we are wandering around on our own old wood boat & not cruise ship people or "yachties"). It is not as windy as Skagway in Haines. Jeez, it really blows here most afternoons! After a couple days in Haines, we moved on to Skagway, & will soon move on again. We're starting to slow down some, doing a little craft work, & hope to stop for a week or so in some places along the way soon.

--Larry The first hike we took in Skagway was up to Lower Lake Dewey, a .7 mile hike uphill. We remarked as we were walking, that it seemed like the longest .7 miles we'd hiked in a long time! Boo helped me (Martha) quite a bit by pulling me UP the hill! (of course, the downside was that she also tried to help pull me DOWN the trail on the return trip!) There was a great viewpoint on the trail, overlooking Skagway. Lower Dewey Lake seemed like a remote alpine lake in the forest (gee, that's what it is! -Who knew?). This morning, we hiked past the airport & crossed the Skagway River to Yakutania Point. The trail was a beautiful tree lined & rocky path. We enjoyed it greatly. Skagway means "the place of wind", & they aren't kidding! Its a beautiful place. --Martha Arf, arf, arf, arf! --Boo

Note to George Leago: L is starting to make some leather goods finally, will work on selling them later as we slow down more. Need some genuine Alaska made hand tooled leather socks? --Larry, Martha, & Boo.

Monday, June 24, 2002 2:55 PM

Hi from Pelican, Alaska! We only have a few seconds, as we are at the city hall, using one of the employees computer since their usual Internet computer is on the blink. Just want to let you know we are still alive & having fun, & will send out a longer message once we get to another e-site. Adios from Martha, Larry, & Boo (Karen, boo says hi!)

Saturday, July 06, 2002 2:44 PM

Hi from Sitka AK. It's been awhile since we've been anywhere "civilized" enough to have email so there's a lot to catch up on and I only have 15 minutes before someone else wants this computer. So here goes... We left Skagway on my 55th birthday, June 3rd, and traveled our longest day so far, 110 nautical miles to Tenakee Springs, our first boardwalk town. No roads no cars, just a trail and boardwalks along a strip of cabins along the shore backed by primeval forest. Nice folks, a general store and not much else. A relief after Skagway. After a couple days we moved on to Crab Bay with our friends, Victor and Diane, on their boat Loreley where they caught shrimp and crab and I got skunked, again. Then we moved on to one of our favorite places, Elfin Cove.

A tiny drinking village with a fishing problem, at least that's what the bumper sticker says. It perches around the rocky forest edges of a little bay, actually and outer and inner bay, on the shore of cross sound. A protected little nook with cabins and small lodges and other marine businesses scattered every which way on the hillsides joined by boardwalks. It's mostly a little commercial fishing village and always has been. The people are friendly and the boats are mostly old classic wood trollers. Pelican Point looked at home there and Boo (our dog, for those just joining us) loved it because dogs don't have to be leashed there and all the dogs were friendly. My time is up. I'll write more later. Larry

Lets see, where were we before we went to the bar and had a few beers while waiting for our next turn at the computer? Elfin Cove! Right, great place, Boo loved it and pooped all over it. From there we ventured out to our friends resort in Gull Cove, Pelican, and Glacier Bay. Of the three, Glacier Bay deserves the most attention.

What a fantastic place! Everything is larger than life there. We would anchor in a bay with a glacier at the head wondering if we were far enough away for safety (huge chunks of ice fall off the face of a glacier you know) and find out when we ventured out in the skiff that the glacier was actually a mile and a half away! It's a place for which the word awesome is not enough. We were lucky enough to be there while the weather was perfect, 70's and clear and calm. We wound our way through the ice bergs to the face of glaciers that rumbled like thunder and shed house sized bergs into the water with sharp reports and mini tsunamis. We shut off the engine and watched in awe, true awe (which is saying something for jaded cynical folk like us). Anyway, Glacier Bay is something you all should see if you get the chance. We took lots of pictures.

Eventually we left the Glacier Bay, Elfin Cove, Icy Strait area and headed east and south to Sitka, a two day run. Two looong days. We arrived on the afternoon of July 3 and found out that the fireworks would be later that evening. If you call 11 PM evening... It doesn't get dark early here this time of year, you know. They had a great show and we were lucky enough to be anchored right underneath them (luckily, it was drizzling so we didn't catch fire which can be a problem on a wood boat). OK, time's up again. I'll write more in a day or so about Sitka which we love.

Larry

Sunday, July 14, 2002 5:21 PM

Hi again. Didn't think it would be so soon but there is a computer with satellite Internet access here in a wonderful little general store in Baranof Warm Springs.This place is a slice of heaven. A 15 minute walk up the trail is a HOT spring (110 plus) that flows into a series of natural stone pools right next to a rushing river that flows out of a beautiful pristine wilderness lake a short distance away. I could live here. Actually, since we live aboard Pelican Point, we do live here at the moment. Anyway, the trip here took us two days from Sitka because we got lazy and stopped in a quiet little bay only a few miles out of Sitka to take a nap.

Next day we went through Sergius Narrows. What a sleigh ride that was. We were doing 7.5 knots through the water and 15.6 over ground and we weren't always going straight. It is pretty awesome to run through a place like that when so much water is rushing through with you. Whirlpools, standing waves, horizontal buoys and churning foam, whew!

Behind me the locals are telling stories about Seattle marine stores, Doc's isn't faring well so far. Anyway, from here we'll head for a place called Rocky Pass. It should be a challenge. It's well marked but has a shortage of water in some spots I hear, we'll see. Then on to the west side of Prince of Wales Island where we expect to be able to update you again. Later--Larry.

I just wanted to add that there are gobs (or is it goo-gobs?) of hummingbirds here! The local folks have about 3 or 4 hummingbird feeders, & they flock to them! Mostly Rufous & Annas, from what we are told--I haven't checked my Petersons or Audubon yet...we also hear there are a couple of ouzels/dippers here too. We'll have to look for them. Also saw a red throated loon this morning. ok, so we're still having a wonderful time, & haven't gotten bored yet!
We'll send more next time we get near civilization. --Martha

Wednesday, July 17, 2002 12:03 PM

Hi! We're about to leave Baranof Warm Springs (reluctantly) and head out into Chatham Strait and onward. This place is a perfect slice of heaven! The Hot Springs are HOT! and the lake above is COLD! We spent a lot of time socializing with other wanderers and the many fishermen (seiners) that hang here waiting for the next opening. The people have been a huge part of the trip and you know me, I don't even LIKE people.

It's almost 11AM and we haven't left the dock yet. I wonder if we really will leave today (this is a REALLY hard place to leave). Larry.

This is martha -- I like this place, & would stay for another week...we'll see what we can compromise on. Boo seems to like it here, though she was really grumpy yesterday after her nap -- it is raining today, but still so beautiful here. The seiners are all slowly starting to leave, as the opening is on Thursday (today is Wednesday?), so the dock is slowly emptying. We looked up the hummingbirds, & find that anna's don't normally come this far north, so probably we are only seeing rufous. We see lots of other birds that we haven't identified...

This email is through a satellite dish here at the general store. Technolgy is something else! Larry insists that we are going through an interesting place called Rocky Pass next (that is after we cross Chatham Strait). I wonder why people cringe every time he mentions it? Actually, I do -- it is aptly named...but he hasn't killed us yet, so I'm sure we will do fine. We have good charts, & one of the cruising guides has an entire page of waypoints for where to turn at each buoy...so we'll do fine! time to get off the computer. hope you all are fine, & your weather (wherever you are) is to your liking. I'd rather have more dry, but rain is part of the whole Alaska experience, so I will not complain (too loudly, or too long) about it. See you when we see you!--Martha

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 5:48 PM

Hello from Craig, Alaska! This is my second attempt at sending out an email, since I screwed up on the last one (went in to fix an address before sending, & lost the whole blinking thing!). So, we'll try again.

Today is a beautiful day in Alaska--the sun is shinning, the winds are calm, & its about 72 degrees! I even went so far as to put on a dress this morning to explore Craig! First time my legs have seen the light of day since last Sept or so... Everyone is outside, smiling, though Larry says he heard someone complain about the heat!

Since we left Baranof Warm Springs, we crossed Chatham Strait, went through Rocky Pass, crossed Sumner Strait,through Dry Pass, & then through El Capitan Passage to get here to Craig. Before we left Orcas Island, Bobby had printed up copies of the computerized charts for Rocky Pass, but we decided to buy the "real thing" & use it, instead. Good thing! The computer charts are good, but much smaller, & so it was easier to read the regulation chart.

We had to keep reminding ourselves that "red right returning" in Rocky Pass is for boats northbound--we were southbound, so everything was opposite--made for some interesting navigating...the channels are narrow, shallow, & full of rocks & shelves; but the navigational markers are well placed (though the charts shows 2 in wrong places, & left 3 others off entirely) and fairly easy to follow if you go slowly and always know exactly where you are. GPS certainly doesn't hurt having in there! We anchored near green # 33 for the night, & found that the island we took Boo to was filled with blueberry bushes (high bush blueberries?--whatever, they showed up in my "Edible Wild Plants of Alaska" book, so we knew what we were getting). I made 2 small pies (pot pie size)--they were delicious!

The next day, we completed our trip through Rocky Pass with virtually no traffic during the entire pass. Though, at the narrowest constriction, in Devil's Elbow, we had to stop for a black bear who left the beach & swam across the channel in front of us! Larry got some good pictures of him! From there, we went to Point Baker (of Joe Upton's "Alaska Blues" fame) where we almost got run down by a seaplane. He circled the harbor, clearly saw we were there, but decided to go ahead & land without really waiting to give us clearance. If Larry hadn't sped up, then dropped back & gave him the channel, we would have had propellor up the ----. L made sure the pilot understood our feelings about the incident as soon as he taxied abreast of us...

When we left Point Baker, Larry did some trolling, & LARRY CAUGHT A SALMON!!! It was 4.5 lbs, 24 inches, a perfectly pretty Coho. We roasted most of it (delicious!!!) We also tempura fried some of it along with a couple of rockfish Larry had caught--that's the way to make fish & chips, let me tell you!

Dry Pass was another wonderful place, we anchored in the middle of it, & saw a total of 3 boats the whole time we were in there. From there, we went to Devil- fish Bay, another peaceful anchorage that you have to work at getting into-- very narrow with a couple of good sized rocks & shelves to negotiate around to get into the back part. From there to Craig was a good day's run...we ran into fog in Tuxekan Passage, & navigated point to point until we got here to Craig, where the fog was lifted & Larry made a perfect docking between 2 steel fishing boats (whew!).

We will probably just stay here until tomorrow, then get out & do some more fishing--now that L has actually succeeded in catching one salmon, he intends to get more! I will need to check on our canning equipment, so if( when) he catches a bunch, we can can them & bring some home. We also hope to get a halibut--but nothing too big (they get up over 600 pounds, I hear)! After that, we will start moseying back south. If the weather holds, we will make a looong crossing of Dixon Entrance (more diagonally from this side, rather than straight down between Ketchikan to Prince Rupert)--about 60 miles, if I remember Larry's estimate correctly...we'll have to see--fog we can handle; depends on the wind & waves. Which reminds me, we tried to go to Goddard Hot Springs on the outside south of Sitka, but chose the wrong day--the swells were pretty big & we would have had to take them on the beam, so decided to wait another year to see them. Anyway, we're still alive, & having a great time. We'll be home in about a month...that's all for now! --Martha, Larry, & Boo

Sunday, July 28, 2002 2:07 PM

Hi from beautiful Prince Rupert, British Columbia! After we left Craig, AK, we traveled down the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. It's a beautiful coast, & once we'd passed Hydaburg, a little native village about 20 miles south of Craig, we saw very few boats or other signs of man other than some clear cuts on the forested hillsides of PoW Island.

After a couple days we reached the southern end of the island, & headed out into Dixon Entrance. This is the biggest crossing of the trip, 100 miles altogether, about 70 of it in open ocean with waves from 4 to 8 feet rolling up from behind. Our old autopilot (Carlton) gets confused in those kind of seas, so it was hand steering all the way, working hard to keep a proper heading while also keeping the waves from hitting us on the beam & rolling us HARD from side to side. The boat did the trip beautifully as it should, since it was designed for far worse. It also helped to have the steadying sail (Rick) to dampen the roll. (Thanks, Rick!)

WE, on the other hand, who were designed for easy chairs & couches, had some nervous moments which we survived, arriving in Prince Rupert at 1:30 am. It's DARK at 1:30 am, & no one is manning the phones at the marina or Canadian Customs so we dropped the anchor in 100 feet of water in the harbor & went to sleep. Next day (yesterday) we checked into the marina & contacted Customs for the necessary legalities & walked a bit before succumbing to naps. The crossing had worn us out. Today, we're feeling much better & getting in some exploring, shopping, & chores. Tomorrow will be laundry day, & more chores to prepare for taking off again the day after.

It's good to be in Canada again, we are always treated so well here & we expect the weather to improve as we move further south. We'll update you again when we get to another center of civilization. That may be a while since we're about to enter BC's north coast which is mainly wild rain forest, islands, bears, & hopefully some fish! --Larry, Martha, & Boo

Last updated: 7/28/2002