The passage from Wrangell to Petersburg is through Wrangell Narrows, a well marked channel that is the main thoroughfare between Wrangell and Petersburg. Just like the books say to do, we timed the ending flood on the South End, to catch the beginning of the flood on the North End. Because this is a main thoroughfare, it can be have high commercial traffic volume where you (the smaller boat) gets to hug the edge of the channel. We overtook two boats and only passed a tug undertow at the North Entrance, so to say we had it easy is an understatement.
We were also surprised at the amount of humanity, resorts and homes, on Wrangell Narrows. And the number of commercial crab pots, sometime in the channel. We learned from a local that they used to pull a million pounds of crab in a season out of the narrows, back in the good ol’ days.
Petersburg is again a harbor where you “hot berth” while the commercial fishing boat is out fishing. These are again 70’ slips, something that you don’t see very often in WA State. They are also wide enough for us to dock with our 16’ fishboat alongside.
Petersburg is the commercial fish processing hub of SE Alaska. With three fish processing plants, there are commercial boats coming and going at all hours. When we were talking with the harbormaster at checkin (btw no bicycling on the dock), she said they can be reached any time as they are open 24/7. We were impressed!
As we bicycled through town our Rad Power Bikes again garnered attention. We ran into the guy looking at 61’ Tolly’s next week on his way back from the hardware store. He suggested going to Salty Pantry for lunch, and it did not disappoint. It was the best “on-shore” meal we had since leaving Anacortes WA. It was so good, that we were already planning lunch again tomorrow.
Petersburg was also the first town we saw “small” US-flagged cruise ships in port. As the Jones Act does not allow foreign registered vessels to travel from US port to US port (they need a foreign stop in the middle, say, Canada) the large cruise ships are not running until end of July as cruise ships are considered non-essential travel which the US-Canadian border remains closed to. And even then, each company is only doing one ship that is a ten day cruise. This was part of our decision to visit SE Alaska this year – the lack of cruise ships due to the border being closed to non-essential travel.
Petersburg is known for their Norwegian heritage, and the influence can be felt in downtown. This is a memorial to all the fishermen who have been lost at sea.
Petersburg is also know to be the halibut capital of SE Alaska. We tried our hand one morning, and lucked out at the local seafood market in town that afternoon. They also had black cod and yellow eye in addition to salmon and halibut. The hardware store is well stocked, as well as (to our surprise) the liquor store/pub.
Our final and last random tidbit is that there were not two, but three boats from Bainbridge Island WA (where we hail from) in port at Petersburg. All of us moor at Eagle Harbor Marina, and none of us had physically met each other until now. Sometimes the world is very very small!
