We had spectacular weather today for our 30nm cruise into Sitka — not a cloud to be seen in the bright blue sky. We pulled anchor in Deep Bay around 6:00 a.m., arrived at Sergius Narrows within a few minutes of slack, and had no real current to speak of. Navigating the traffic through Neva Strait and Olga Strait and into Sitka proved more demanding than Sergius Narrows. State ferries, fishing boats, pleasure boats, small passenger cruise boats — all traveling at different speeds — kept us on our toes!
Returning to civilization can be somewhat jarring after more than a week at anchor with no services, but the great weather and beautiful scenery today helps make the transition an easier one.
Sitka harbor is busy and crowded right now! They weren’t sure they’d have room for us at all. Rubicon found a spot on the outside transient dock (no power), while Dog Star, Akeeva, and Bonito went for fuel. They eventually found space for all of us (after Bonito spent one night at anchor). The anchorage here is easy and well-protected, but being at the dock makes doing chores and going into town quite a bit easier.
All of us took advantage of the nice weather to delay chores until tomorrow. We stretched our legs while we explored town, shopped, and then met for dinner.
Our group dinner tonight was at Beak Restaurant, in the same building with Raven Radio (KCAW). The food was fantastic and the service was great…so much so that some of us made plans to come back for Sunday brunch tomorrow morning!
30.2nm today
1086.8nm total
