Laura Domela 
We got up early and left late from Petersburg this morning after a flurry of grocery shopping, laundry, and other miscellaneous chores. We won’t have access to any amenities again until we reach Sitka, so it’s nice to stock up while we can. The weather was quite nice for our cruise up to Portage Bay today (about 22 nautical miles). Very little wind, no rain, and even occasional bits of … Read more
“You made it across the entrance bar??” a fellow cruiser asked incredulously. For some reason, Exploring Southeast Alaska, the most popular cruising guide for this area, makes it sound difficult, even dangerous, to go up Le Conte Bay: “We do not recommend it, except for expeditionary-type excursions…you must favor the north shore to avoid the large drying mud flats that flow out of the Stikine River North Arm, while at … Read more
Today’s route from Wrangell to Petersburg took us through beautiful Wrangell Narrows. Wrangell Narrows is one of the trickier parts of this trip. It’s winding, shallow, and….narrow. Traffic can be heavy, with little space for ferries and barges to pass boats like ours. Currents run swiftly. Fishing boats zoom erratically. In 20 nautical miles, the Coast Guard maintains about 60 aids to navigation. Just north of the mid-point, near a place … Read more
Day 21 began with the delivery of Cassie’s famous cinnamon rolls to the boats in Meyers Chuck. With pastries securely on board consumed, the flotilla cast off lines and headed for Wrangell. Clarence Strait was calm again. As we motored northwest in Ernest Sound the sun briefly appeared and winds remained light. By the time we got to Zimovia Strait the sun was gone, but we still had views of snowcapped … Read more
We left Ketchikan around 9:00 a.m. and had a beautiful, calm cruise up Clarence Strait: Clarence Strait can be a nasty body of water. It’s 100 nm long and four miles wide. Current runs to several knots. When the wind blows, it gets ugly. Any day of calm water is appreciated! Our destination was Meyers Chuck, a community of about 20 people on the northwest corner of Cleveland Peninsula. There’s … Read more
Today was a lay day in Ketchikan. We figured people could use a day of rest (or chores or exploring) since we’ve been moving swiftly since meeting at Roche Harbor a couple weeks ago. Now that we’re in Alaska we can reset the pace a bit. Yesterday we were lucky enough to see some sun, but today was mostly rainy and gray (because…Ketchikan). The morning started with a bit of excitement. A small boat … Read more
This morning in Foggy Bay was still and quiet. We worked on the flotilla plan early, and then took the dinghy out (quietly) to look for bears and explore the bay before meeting with each boat to go over the plan for the next two days. Kevin took the Mavic up for some aerials of the anchorage before we took off toward Ketchikan. The cruise from Foggy Bay to Ketchikan was … Read more
The forecast today was for strong southerly winds (30-40 knots), and we weren’t totally sure how they would affect our trip up Grenville Channel. We departed Lowe Inlet a little after 10:00 a.m. in calm conditions and took advantage of the end of the flood to give us an extra few knots of speed. As we continued north the wind built, but we never lost the current. By the time … Read more