2017-04-21 Faraway returns to Ketchikan

The maintenance session at the Wrangell Boat Shop was scheduled for one week, 4/24 - 4/28.
They said they would launch the boat on the high tide at 3 PM on Friday 4/28, and they needed me there when they launched.

My former stepson Steven Doran was to be my crew for the return trip.
He has made many trips with me on several different boats over the years, but has been out of town for the last approximately 6 years.

Steven and I flew up to Wrangell on Friday morning, arriving at about 10:30 AM.
It's only about a 26 minute flight from Ketchikan to Wrangell.

When we got to the boat yard the boat was already in the water.
They said that they had finished up everything that needed to be done out of the water so they had launched her early.

I went over all the maintenance tasks with the crew there and we were basically ready to go before noon.  The tide was still coming up back there so Steven and I walked into town and had lunch and got some groceries.  By the time we got back the tide was up enough for us to leave their dock.

We moved around the corner to the fuel dock and took on some fuel.

By now it was 2 PM, the weather was sunny, warm, and calm, and we had to make a decision whether to tie up and head out in the morning, or leave right then.
We decided to head south right away.

The route was south down through Zimovia Strait on the western side of the island.

It's an easy, mostly protected route down through the strait.

We made our way down there and made the decision to anchor for the night in Santa Anna Inlet.
Steven had not been in there before and it is a nice safe anchorage.

But, being the die hard fisherman that he is, Steven looked at the chart and picked out a spot on the north end of Deer Island and wanted to stop and fish there a bit before we went into the anchorage.

In less than 15 minutes he had a nice Ling Cod on, which we cooked on the Foreman Grill for a great dinner.

Our brief stop in Santa Anna Inlet for the night was quiet and uneventful, so much so that I neglected to take even one photo while we were in there.

The next challenge was to get around McHenry Ledge and make the approximately 20 mile exposed run down Clarence Strait to Camaano Point.
Once you get part way down that run there is no protection, and sometimes you can't turn around.
So it is indeed an important decision to make when you get to that point.

This shows the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the trip

As we approached the corner I continually tried getting the marine weather on the VHF radio, but could not do so.  Once we got closer to Meyer Chuck Steven got some cell signal and was able to get the marine weather for Clarence Strait that way.  It was marginal, meaning not a definite go or definite don't go.

When we turned the corner and entered Clarence Strait the water conditions looked fine.
Of course you can't see all the way down the route, and in my slow boat, it takes well over 2 hours to cover that exposed leg.

We made the decision to go for it.

About halfway down is Ship Island.
The run was fine all the way to Ship Island, and even for a couple miles after that.
I turned the helm over to Steven and went down below for a bathroom break.
When I returned we were fighting some rough water.
I gave Steven a hard time because I told him it was calm when I was driving and it only got rough when he took the helm.

It was a bit bouncy for 3 - 5 miles, but by the time we got to Camaano Point it had settled down again.

So now we had another decision to make.
It was only Saturday evening and we could easily make it into town that night.
But neither of us had any commitments for Sunday, so we decided to go a little out of the way and spend the night at Marguerite Bay in Traitors Cove, and head back to town the next day.

This chart snippet shows our general route up through Ernest Sound, around the corner into the long exposed run down Clarence Strait, and then north up into Behm Canal to Traitors Cove.
You can see Ketchikan down in the lower right, so we did go a little out of the way.

Marguerite Bay is a great place to visit and Steven had not been there in a long time.
We dropped our two crab pots on the way in and got tied up to the USFS dock there with no issues.
We had a late lunch so we decided to gear up and walk up the logging road to Margaret Lake before having dinner.
It was a great chance to stretch our legs and get some exercise.

After the hike Steven cooked up a batch of potatoes and onions, and I grilled a steak on the Foreman Grill.

So we had another great dinner.

Here are some pictures from our stay there at Marguerite Bay.

Yacht "Pastime" anchored in the cove

Steven shows off a couple of the crabs we got

Merganser behind the boat

USFS sign at the start of the logging road

USFS cabin and vehicles

Looks like they got a new toy

Some of the crabs we got

Seals on rocks at the entrance to the cove

We ended up with 11 keeper crabs in all, 3 Steven pulled the first night, and the rest we pulled on the way out of the cove.

We pulled away from the dock about 10:30 AM on Sunday morning, headed back to town.

We stopped and bottom fished in a few spots along the way, but this time to no avail.

Arrival in the stall at Bar Harbor was about 4:45 PM.

Mission accomplished.
Faraway is ready for a summer of cruising, at least I have done everything that I can think of to make her ready.

2017-04-20 Faraway goes to Wrangell

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I had the boat in a yard on Lake Union from September 2015 through April 2016.  So knowing that, one might ask what maintenance could the boat still need?

Well, I'll tell you.  Each spring there is a list of ongoing maintenance tasks that really need to be done, if you're going to keep the boat in tip top and safe running condition. 

Some of these tasks I could do myself, but since I was recovering from double hernia surgery for all of April, I decided to run the boat to Wrangell and let the Wrangell Boat Shop handle these spring tasks. 

Since I am now what some people call a senior citizen I don't feel comfortable taking the boat very far by myself.  So I needed a reliable crewman to help me run the boat up to Wrangell.

My friend Bob Hammer agreed to help me on this trip.
Bob grew up in Petersburg and has been fishing commercially and sport fishing all his life.
We've played ball together for decades, and he has gone out with me many times on my previous boat, the Forever, and also many times on my current boat, the Faraway.

It's about 85 - 95 miles from Ketchikan to Wrangell, depending on which route is taken.
That can be covered in one long day at the helm, but where's the fun in that?

Here's the first leg of the trip, to Meyers Chuck.
It's about 32 miles from town so we could have easily kept going.
But Bob's mother grew up in Meyers Chuck, and he had not been there in some time, and I always enjoy stopping there, so we made that our first stop.

Bob seems to know everyone.
As soon as we tied up to the State of Alaska float there an old guy came up to us and asked us some questions.  Sure enough, he knew Bob's mother, and most of her close relatives from there in Meyers Chuck.

Other than that old guy and one woman we saw on the dock, the place looked and felt like a ghost town.  We walked the path which leads right through most people's yards, and saw no people and no smoke coming out of the chimneys.

Bob went over the hill where we heard some activity and met with some guys who were clearing a building site.  I think it was just early in the season and most of the residents weren't back there yet for the summer season.

Here are some shots from our time in Meyers Chuck.

Faraway at the dock at Meyers Chuck

They say this used to be the school

Bob and I tried to figure out what this is

The Hall Way or the Hi Way, Cute!

They open the gallery only by appointment

Bob stands by the big spider web

Slide at the playground

Could this be the door to nowhere?

Sawmill

3 boats pulled up onto the grass

Bob tried out the rope swing

We spent a pleasant afternoon and evening in Meyers Chuck, taking a couple of walks, and just enjoying the serenity found there.

After a dinner of roasted chicken (brought from town) and instant mashed potatoes, we watched the movie "Inside Man," and then hit the bunks for a restful night's sleep.

We were up early and pulled out about 7:30 AM.
Our destination for the day was Santa Anna Inlet, which is inside Deer Island, on the way towards Anan Creek.

This chart shows the route from Meyers Chuck to Anan Bay, but we actually stopped for the night just about where the green boat symbol shows.

I've anchored in Santa Anna Inlet many times, and know it to be a safe, secure, and picturesque anchorage.  This time of year I did not expect to see many, if any, boats in the area.

We anchored up in Santa Anna Inlet at about 12:30 PM.
Once again, we had a lot of daylight available, and we could have kept going all the way to Wrangell.
But the boat did not need to be there until Sunday evening, so we had plenty of time to linger along the way and enjoy the journey.

Here are some shots from Santa Anna Inlet.

I went out in the raft and set 2 crab pots

Faraway at anchor in Santa Anna Inlet

Nordhavn "Sweet T"

I took a short nap in the afternoon and when I woke up a neighbor had come in and anchored.  Bob and I went over in the raft and visited briefly with them.  They had wintered in Petersburg and were now southbound, headed for a trip around Behm Canal, in the Misty Fiords National Monument.

Dinner was spaghetti this evening.
And after that we watched a couple of episodes of "Rawhide," with Clint Eastwood as star.

Saturday morning we were up about 6:30 AM.
We pulled the crab pots - empty, unfortunately.
We pulled the anchor and left the inlet about 8:30 AM.

I wanted to make a brief stop in Anan Bay, to see if there had been any visible changes to the Anan Creek Bear Observatory.  This is a world famous bear observatory and I and my family have been there many times.

It is too early in the season for there to be fish in the river, and therefore there are no bears, but I still wanted to get a few pictures of the area.

This is where the USFS employees live during the season

The float out front is for cabin guests to use

A better shot of the USFS float house with cabin in background

From here we made our way up what we call the "back side" of Wrangell Island.
With this route we actually rounded the northern tip of the island and then went down a short way on the western side and into the Reliance Harbor.

We had some time to kill in Wrangell since we arrived Saturday afternoon and we did not need to move the boat around to the Wrangell Boat Shop dock until mid afternoon on Sunday.

Here are some pictures taken around Wrangell.

Faraway in Reliance Harbor in Wrangell

The smaller marine ways on the right is where we were headed

I took a walk around Shakes Island

Interesting sign at the harbor

A 300+ ton vessel which was just hauled

Lots of boats in Wrangell

Faraway sits at the Wrangell Boat Shop dock

Mission accomplished.

Bob and I had a quiet evening at the dock there.
We took the ferry back down to Ketchikan, a 6 hour run.
Unfortunately it left at 5:15 AM and we had to check in by 4 AM.