We left Ketchikan yesterday morning after deciding we’d rather wait out this upcoming low pressure system (35kt winds and rain) at anchor in a pretty place with a view of trees and water, rather than at the dock in Ketchikan with a view of a very poorly maintained wooden boat (containing several dogs barking for most of the day) and a half sunk dinghy. We shopped and got enough produce to last until we cross into B.C., we had a nice dinner out at Bush Pilots Lounge, and we grabbed a few packages we had shipped to Frontier Shipping, so we’re all set for a bit!
We cruised south to the Petro Marine fuel dock (about 3.5nm from the boat harbor) only to learn they’d had a power outage and we couldn’t get fuel there, so we had to backtrack and go to the Petro Marine dock north of the boat harbor, where we filled the tanks on Airship with diesel, filled the dinghy gas jugs with gasoline, and refilled the one propane canister that we’d emptied. An extra hour or so for the detour, but not a big deal.
Conditions most of the way were calm, until we got out near the entrance to Behm Canal, where we had swell and flooding current coming in from the west against some wind from the east, which created a bit of a chop on our beam. A little rolly, but speeding up from 1200rpm to 1400rpm smoothed things out significantly (and shortened our trip a bit).
Just outside of Foggy Bay as we were making our turn in, we spotted a humpback in the distance diving, lunge feeding, diving again, repeat. I managed to snap a couple photos of it and was able to ID it from the fluke shot.
This is humpback whale FIBB-2BB384, gender unknown, and the interesting thing about this whale is that it might be the first Alaska-to-Baja whale I’ve identified. I’m not sure, but I think all of the whales we have seen/identified have had either SEAK numbers or BC numbers, but the encounters listed for this one on Happy Whale show SE Alaska and Baja and back, since 2020. Cool!
While it was still calm yesterday late afternoon, we took the dinghy out to see if we could find any salmon out front, but not a bite. Dinner was a cozy pasta with bolognese and a big salad. We’ll hang here and see how this anchorage is for the S/SE 35kt winds scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and evening, and then pop across Dixon when we have a good window. Until then, boat projects, art, writing, reading, and maybe a puzzle!