Going from Wrangell to Petersburg involves transiting Wrangell Narrows. The narrows are, well, narrow, and have currents that can run over 6 knots. Normally, we try to time the narrows so we arrive at the middle point – Papke’s Landing – where the current splits and goes opposite directions as the flood turns to ebb. That allows us to ride the flood current into the middle, then ride the ebb … Read more
Before we left Thoms Place this morning, we pulled up the two crab pots we’d put out last night and had two male keepers (Dungeness). Finally! Crabbing has been slow this summer so far! The weather was spectacular as we headed through Zimovia Narrows – warm and sunny with a light breeze from behind. Aboard Airship we enjoyed the ride from the flybridge. As soon as we got to Wrangell … Read more
We left Meyers Chuck this morning at a fairly low tide, making the narrow exit a bit exciting (but not a problem). It was a beautiful clear day, and the seas were fairly calm with just a one-foot chop as we headed around the corner to make our way to Thoms Place. Soon after we turned into Ernest Sound the water was flat calm. Great Escape had hung back in … Read more
We were greeted with lovely weather this morning for our departure from Ketchikan on the way to Meyers Chuck. Great Escape stayed behind for a bit to wait for a part to be delivered, but the rest of the boats headed north. Ralph on Rubicon made a dinghy airport run before he left (we’ll miss you Jeanette!!). The Ketchikan airport is on an island across from town, so it’s always … Read more
We left our anchorage at Foggy Bay around low tide (a -2.8ft this morning!) and had a much skinnier exit than we did coming in at high tide. The shallowest we saw on the depth finder was 16ft, The conditions in the channel were calm and the skies were brightening and it was so nice to have promise of better weather ahead! Our time in Ketchikan was spent doing chores, … Read more
We’re now in Alaska!! We went to Kelp Passage yesterday to set ourselves up for a possible Dixon Entrance crossing. Dixon Entrance is the final open-to-the-ocean section of the Inside Passage. It deserves respect, and can be dreadful in bad weather. For the last week or so we’ve been watching the forecast for Dixon. Generally, there has been exactly ONE good day in the forecast between weather systems, but that … Read more
We’d made a plan to exit Watts Narrows again at high slack (or nearish, anyway) which was at noon, but this group seems not to want to wait around at all in the mornings, and so voted to go on the early low slack at 6:00a.m. instead (still a lot of depth mid-channel and no issues transiting about a half an hour after slack with a knot or more of … Read more
We left Lowe Inlet around 8:00a.m. this morning in order to arrive at Watts Narrows at high slack tide (around 11:00a.m.) Watts Narrows is a short but narrow passage from Grenville Channel that connects into scenic Baker Inlet. There’s a dogleg turn near the inner part of the entrance that makes it difficult to see any opposing traffic. It’s not imperative to go through Watts Narrows at high slack, but … Read more