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 … Read more
Monday morning in Ketchikan started out very windy and very rainy! Early in the afternoon the sun came out, and we even had some blue sky! We decided to pull our little wagon up to the market while the weather was pleasant and we got all of our shopping/reprovisioning taken care of. On Tuesday morning we hitched a ride with Dave and DeAnne (and Bodhi) up to Totem Bight State … Read more
At 4am this morning, while at anchor in Pond Bay, we were startled awake by what sounded like a loud and distressed “Hey!! HEY!!!” or “Hey! HELP!!!” A male voice. Kevin bolted up from the pillow and said “Did you hear that???” I had, but thought it was in my dream until that point. We threw on clothes lightning fast and ran up to the pilothouse, opened the doors, and … Read more
After Bradfield Canal, we spent one night in Vixen Harbor on our way to Ketchikan. The entrance to Vixen Harbor is always a fun transit…we’ve written posts about it several times before (here’s one), but the charts are wrong, and the route that looks best on the charts has only about a foot of water, and the other route looks to be intertidal (which is likely why more people don’t … Read more
Day 16 (Friday) – The wind had picked up quite a bit overnight while we were anchored in Foggy Bay. We also had some RAIN for the first time this whole trip last night…that’s certainly a record. We’ve never gone this long with no rain at all. We left Foggy Bay and had some 1-3 ft chop immediately, along with westerly swells. A little rolly, but not too bad, especially … Read more
One consequence of our quick trip from the San Juans to Ketchikan is that we didn’t have as many chores to take care of in Ketchikan as we usually would. Many of the boats don’t need fuel, laundry, or significant provisions. We haven’t been out for weeks—and we’ve been confined aboard—so the boats are still clean and don’t need any washing. And thankfully, nothing has broken. So after just a … Read more
Today was basically chore and explore day in Ketchikan: grocery shopping, laundry for those who needed it, picking up packages at Frontier Shipping, etc. Today was a little less rainy than yesterday, but still gray and moody. A good day to work on any boat projects or just see the town in the rain. (It has rained a LOT so far this trip.) The group met for dinner at Bar … Read more
We left Foggy Bay this morning around 7:00 a.m., headed for Ketchikan. We had some light swell at first, and a little more than light swell later in morning (and some fog) but overall it was a pretty smooth cruise. Arriving in Ketchikan was uneventful compared to past years when it takes all the concentration and focus you have to keep track of the incoming and outgoing boat traffic, float … Read more