Sunday June 27th: The wind forecast looked candy for our Dixon Entrance crossing: calm. As Chatham Sound is “shallow” (200ft ish) we assume the seas build here with afternoon wind – these are unchartered waters for us. And sure enough, it was only mid-morning when the wind built down Portland Inlet and squashed Tessa’s dreams of having one cruise without a boat wash.
Once we were NW of Portland Inlet, Dixon Entrance was a dream and it was smooth sailing until Ketchikan.
Tom fixed a fuse that blew on the macerator pump, and then Tessa washed the boat down in (yet again!) a warm breeze. We definitely had found our rhythm transiting eight to ten hours a day, with one person at the helm and the other doing projects and daily chores. Then when we did anchor for the night, there was just a little bit left to do and ample time to relax.
The commercial fishing season must just be starting, as we traveled with many of them North and they seemed to all be positioning themselves for the opener. We saw very few pleasure boaters, the most we saw was at Tribune Bay Hornby Island- which is a popular anchorage for its pristine sandy beach, one of the only in the area. The chatter on the vhf radio was almost nil, and the radar not really needed as there were so few boats out on the water. And ninety percent of the boats that were out, has AIS.
To check back in to the US we instinctively opened the ROAM App, however a window popped up saying it was not operable for non-essential travel during covid, so we waited until Tongass Narrows to call the local CBP Office. When we got in touch with a local officer he said, have you used the ROAM App? Doh. So if you are “transiting through” Canada between WA and AK, use the ROAM App even though there is a warning that pops up not to.
Tongass Narrows was funneling wind over current, making it the roughest water we had seen all day. By the time we got the fishboat alongside, we had to back track South to Casey Moran to check for moorage, only to find that there wasn’t room for us. So we again went North to Bar Harbor South Basin where they had 70’ slips near the store (a bonus).
Before arriving Ketchikan for your first time, download the PDF document with detailed information (and slip numbers!) on the marinas. Tessa hadn’t seen this document, so sent Tom down the incorrect side of Dock 9 the first time, only for him to have to do a tight turn between fingers with our fishboat alongside, and wind and current pushing us. He made the 180 turn expertly, and got us around to the South side of Dock 9 – only to find that the Seiner skiff had been left behind, and we wouldn’t fit with it there. This is a commercial marina, and transient moorage is “hot berthing” while a fishboat is out fishing. So, further in to shore we went with the berth next to us occupied with a Viking -like Sportfisher. The berths looked pretty wide, so we took the risk of docking with the fishboat along our port side between the two of us. Tom expertly backed the boat into the slip, Tessa hopped off to catch a midship and then stern and bow lines. We had easily a couple feet between our fishboat and the Sportfisher. Phew. And with a strong current pushing us aft, it was our midship line that was utterly taught and holding us in place.
Bar Harbor is in the process of updating their docks – with isoboost transformers for each slip. We thankfully had Philbrooks install one on our boat last year, so it was a non-issue for us if these weren’t installed on the dock.
As it was 80 plus degrees in Ketchikan, we went for a warm afternoon bicycle ride (we have Rad Bikes on board). With the lack of cruise ships, Ketchikan was a ghost town. We were happy to be here without them, but felt bad for the local economy which depends on the ships.
Mondays are days we need connectivity to “close the week” and be available for our restaurants. This week it was compounded with sweltering 106 degrees weather in the Seattle area. We were able to run some errands midday on the Rad Bikes, but it worked out that after we finished our work it was high tide and a great opportunity to do a grocery run (15 foot tides, you want to take advantage of the high tides with less angle on the ramp to the dock!).
Apparently a heat wave means a run on fresh produce and eggs. Who knew? We got back to the boat and Tessa thought she’d missed the eggs, so she went back. Only to find the shelves completely empty. Yes. She had missed them!
We biked further South to a smaller marina and caught up with fellow yacht club friends who arrived this afternoon. We hadn’t seen them in a couple years, and we had much to catch up on – we both had new boats!
The warm evening allowed us to enjoy the cockpit, while Portia explored her berth amongst the commercial fish boats. It was a productive two days in Ketchikan, it was time to commence our cruising in SE Alaska!
