July 13, 2010
Well here we are in Ketchikan, Alaska. FINALLY! We had some good and bad during the trip here from Prince Rupert. When we left Prince Rupert we had planned on a intermediate stop at Dundras Island and leave early (oh dark thirty) the next day to cross Dixon Entrance which is open to the Pacific Ocean. However when we got near Dundras it was clear that we should cross now so on we went. The crossing was in some of the best conditions I have ever experienced crossing this body of water.
Along the way we heard a MayDay from a boat reporting themselves just south of Foggy Point. At the time we where 10 miles south of Foggy Point so we thought we may be involved. The person sending the MayDay reported that the skipper of the boat was probably dead in his cabin and the person did not know how to run the boat to get it back to Ketchikan. As the call progressed, other boats that where closer responded and took control of the boat to help it along the way.
We headed to Foggy Bay, which is in Alaska, to spend the night before going on to Ketchikan. We started looking for our SE Alaska cruising guide that gives detailed instructions on entering this complicated anchorage and would you believe it? The Captain forgot to bring that book along on this trip. As we have been here before, we thought we could find the place where you anchor, but the old brain doesn’t work as it had. We went down one leg of the bay and almost got caught in a boiling rapid that surely would have destroyed our boat if we weren’t able to turn around. But the boat responded nicely to the hard 180 degree turn. We then tried to go into another leg of the bay but nothing looked familiar so we decided to bag it and go about 10 miles further north and try an anchorage that a person in Prince Rupert recommended. That worked OK and after about 12 hours since we left Prince Rupert we where anchored in a very nice and protected bay called Kah Shakes Cove.
Well here we are in Ketchikan, Alaska. FINALLY! We had some good and bad during the trip here from Prince Rupert. When we left Prince Rupert we had planned on a intermediate stop at Dundras Island and leave early (oh dark thirty) the next day to cross Dixon Entrance which is open to the Pacific Ocean. However when we got near Dundras it was clear that we should cross now so on we went. The crossing was in some of the best conditions I have ever experienced crossing this body of water.
Along the way we heard a MayDay from a boat reporting themselves just south of Foggy Point. At the time we where 10 miles south of Foggy Point so we thought we may be involved. The person sending the MayDay reported that the skipper of the boat was probably dead in his cabin and the person did not know how to run the boat to get it back to Ketchikan. As the call progressed, other boats that where closer responded and took control of the boat to help it along the way.
We headed to Foggy Bay, which is in Alaska, to spend the night before going on to Ketchikan. We started looking for our SE Alaska cruising guide that gives detailed instructions on entering this complicated anchorage and would you believe it? The Captain forgot to bring that book along on this trip. As we have been here before, we thought we could find the place where you anchor, but the old brain doesn’t work as it had. We went down one leg of the bay and almost got caught in a boiling rapid that surely would have destroyed our boat if we weren’t able to turn around. But the boat responded nicely to the hard 180 degree turn. We then tried to go into another leg of the bay but nothing looked familiar so we decided to bag it and go about 10 miles further north and try an anchorage that a person in Prince Rupert recommended. That worked OK and after about 12 hours since we left Prince Rupert we where anchored in a very nice and protected bay called Kah Shakes Cove.
THE EXIT FROM KAH SHAKES COVEThe next morning, we had to wait until 10:00 to leave this bay because of the low tide that didn’t leave enough water to cross the entrance earlier in the morning when we should have left. By this time, the wind was up and the waves where high. We did try to make it anyway, but the conditions where such that the word pleasure had to be removed from the term “pleasure boat”. We turned around and re-anchored in Kah Shakes to try again the next day. The next morning we got up at 0430 to get the anchor up and head out. The wind was still down, so the conditions where much improved and we finally made it to Ketchikan to clear customs and tie up to a berth at the Ketchikan Yacht Club for a couple of days.
SCENERY SHOT ENTERING KETCHIKANAmazingly, we have had 2 days of mostly sunny weather. This is a place that gets over 150 inches of rain a year, so sunny days are pretty rare in this neck of the woods. We are sharing the town with 4 large cruise ships, each of which discharges 5000 people to walk around the town. Ketchikan is loaded with shops of all kind to take advantage of this large influx of people. It could probably be called the new gold rush. The great fishing and the cruise ships are what keeps the town going. Speaking of fishing, we see a lot of boats coming in with more salmon then I could eat. They say this is the best fishing they’ve seen in a long time.
KETCHIKAN HARBOR WITH 2 CRUISE SHIPS - 2 MORE CAME IN LATERThe one thing this town doesn’t have is a copy of the SE Alaska cruising guide that I left at home. We have gone into every store that might possible have this book and so far – nothing.
This afternoon we took the bus out of town to see the totem pole park and then over to another marina here in Ketchikan to see our friends Barb and Rick, who also just got back from a successful fishing trip.
TOTEM PARK IN KETCHIKANWe are planning to leave here in the morning and head further north to Meyers Chuck, Wrangell and Petersberg before we turn south. We will probably be in Alaska for another week or so.
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