Sitka skies this morning were mostly gray and cloudy, but the wind was light and it wasn’t raining. We left the harbor by about 6:30 a.m., timing our arrival at Sergius Narrows for near slack (9:48a.m.). On the way into Sitka, we’d jockeyed with lots of traffic from Sergius Narrows all the way into town. This time, we enjoyed nearly empty waterways and light traffic.
As we continued east in Peril Strait, we came upon two humpbacks (plus one more in the distance) hanging out right at the surface. We slowed (well, stopped, actually) to let them go where they wanted to go, and watched them for a few minutes until they dove.
We arrived at Appleton Cove expecting the whole place to be jammed with commercial crab pots, but it wasn’t too bad at all. We all found nice spots to anchor in 50-60ft, and there was plenty of room for several other boats that arrived later in the day.
Several of us put out crab and prawn traps, and then met for happy hour on the raft to discuss the plan for tomorrow. Some wind is on the way (not a ton, just enough to make travel uncomfortable), so we’ll modify our plans a bit over the coming days to make things more comfortable.
Later in the evening after dinner, we spotted a couple of bears on shore and headed out quietly in the dinghy to get a closer look. The sow and her cub seemed cautious and a little skittish, so we kept our distance. They knew we were there, and after a couple minutes they headed slowly back toward the cover of forest.
48.6nm today
1135.4 nm total
