Day 35 | 2023 Flotilla to Alaska | Sitka to Appleton Cove

We left Sitka by 5:30am this morning to catch the early slack at Sergius Narrows. Feels nice to get off the dock after four days, but we still love Sitka (and I’m sure we’ll be back at least once this summer).

Eliason Harbor with mountain backdrop
Leaving Eliason Harbor

We saw another minke whale on our way out, plus a few sea lions and a bunch of deer.

Minke whale in Sitka Sound
Sitka Blacktail deer
Misty mountains
Two’s Out (tiny dot on the left) entering Appleton Cove

Since we left so early, we arrived early, but it’s too long a day (48nm from Sitka to Appleton Cove) to continue on up to Pavlof today (42nm MORE)…we’ll hope the weather cooperates and we can run up first thing tomorrow morning before the wind picks up.

First thing after anchoring (we’re the only ones here) — a big brown bear on shore. Free Solo took their dinghy over to get a closer look. Airship put down some crab traps (tomorrow is the opening of commercial season, so there are zero other traps in here). Seems like last year we didn’t get any crab at all, so we’re wondering if the place has been crabbed out, and I guess we’ll find out later!

Free Solo watching the big brown bear on shore

Kevin took the Mavic up for some aerial shots of our anchorage:

Flotilla at anchor in Appleton Cove
Looking toward the head of the bay in Appleton Cove
Appleton Cove aerial, looking into Peril Strait
Appleton Cove aerial
Appleton Cove aerial
Appleton Cove aerial
Appleton Cove aerial, head of the bay
Flotilla at anchor in Appleton Cove

We had an early happy hour on Airship to discuss the upcoming weather forecast (looks terrible starting tomorrow afternoon through Friday) and what our plans are around that. We’ll get up early (early!) tomorrow and head up to Pavlof for at least one night, and then decide how things look for our Friday trip up to Couverden.

The light was beautiful later in the evening!

We spotted another bear on shore:

As well as a couple Sitka black tailed deer, not far from the bear.

The bear spotted the deer as well:

Bear standing up to get a better look at the deer:

The bear didn’t seem too interested in the deer, and they continued on down the shore.

Beautiful sunset!