2022-05-21 Misty Fiords Trip

We had another 3 day good weather window, but I had commitments in town on Friday so could not leave until Saturday morning.  Over the decades that I have lived and boated from Ketchikan I have made many trips back into the Misty Fiords area in several different boats.  I even had the account of one of those trips published in the Passagemaker magazine.  But it had been several years since I was back there and so I decided to head in that direction.

I pulled out of Bar Harbor at about 6:45 AM in calm and sunny conditions.

Somewhere up on that hillside above the Marine View building sits the house on 6th Ave that we moved into on Oct 1, 2021.  Sadly I have had to sell it.  I will surely miss the view that it afforded over this part of the harbor.  I really enjoyed watching all the boats come and go in the Ketchikan harbor.

Since it was so early all the cruise ships scheduled for the day had not yet arrived, with only 1 ship in port as I passed by the downtown area.  On some days we have as many as 6 ships in town at the same time carrying over 15,000 passengers and who knows how many crew.

This is the yacht Jackpot which has been here in town for a couple of years.  It is 164' long with an estimated cost of $35 million.  I had the unique opportunity a few months ago to go out to the boat, but really did not get to see very much of it while I was there.  I can see this boat from the dining room of the 6th Ave house.

This is the USCG base in Ketchikan.  They have several different classes of ships that are based here.  I did not know it when I passed by but I would see one of them a little later in my trip.

This is Doyon's Landing.  They may offer other services that I am not aware of, but I do know that they offer transient moorage to yachts that come through town which are too large to fit into any of our harbors.  These large yachts can and sometimes do anchor up in front of Pennock Island near the Jackpot.  But that is not quite as convenient for them as they have to use their tenders to go back and forth to town.

About 11 AM the USCG Cutter John McCormick came up behind me and passed me going about 24 knots. I usually cruise between 8 and 9 knots, to give you some comparison.  A big ship going very fast, creating a huge wake.  I’d like to know what his GPH fuel burn is.

My navigational system has an AIS receiver.  AIS is Automatic Identification System.  My boat receives only and does not transmit.  Larger boats are required to both transmit and receive.  The AIS signal contains a lot of information about the vessel; its name, size, speed, direction, hailing port, MMSI number, etc.  That’s how I knew how fast the USCG Cutter was going.

My Garmin GPS unit receives these signals and shows the vessels in either green or red markers on the screen.  If the unit determines that the approaching vessel may be on a collision course within a few miles, then it turns the marker red and sounds an alarm which must be responded to.  When you are out at sea this is a good thing because it alerts you to vessels in your area that may be of concern.  However, when leaving or entering a harbor there are numerous vessels transmitting and most of them are stationary.  So, the alarm sounds repeatedly, and you have to respond to each one, or cancel the alarm entirely.

Whenever you see a USCG vessel approaching you always have to be aware that they may stop and board you for a safety inspection.  A safety inspection checks for life jackets, fire extinguishers, flares, vessel documentation, placards regarding discharge of oil and trash, etc.  If you get a good report you don't have to undergo another safety inspection for a calendar year.  On this day they just flew past me and did not even slow down.

One of my goals for this trip was to see New Eddystone Rock again.  It is one of the "must sees" in this area.  If you want to read more about it you can see the Wikipedia link at New Eddystone Rock - Wikipedia

Basically it is a 237' volcanic plug that sits atop the Eddystone volcano, most of which is underwater.  It is a very impressive sight and one that tourists come from all over the world to see.

This first photo is from about 10 miles away, and it is that small black island in the very center of the photo.

Just like photos of my boat, one can not have too many photos of New Eddystone Rock.  The seas were flat calm, and the sky was sunny, so I drifted there for awhile and took a lot of photos (with my messed up camera.)

Several years ago a friend of mine was back in the area with some out of state guests and he wanted to show them the rock.  He had a metal boat with a jet drive (no props) so he just drove it up onto the gravel beach and they unloaded.  He walked his anchor up the beach and dug it down into the sand and gravel.  They walked around the base of the rock.  As he started back to the boat he saw that the wind had come up and his anchor was dragging.  He ran for it but eventually ended up in the water swimming to grab the anchor line.  He got ahold of the line, and pulled himself up to the boat, but most boats are not set up to allow people to get aboard from the water.  He somehow managed to get aboard, but he told me he almost bought the farm that day.  It was mid May and it was still very cold out.  It's easy to get into trouble in a hurry in this country so one has to be alert and aware at all times.

I had intended to spend the night on a mooring buoy in front of a USFS cabin on Winstanley Island, just a mile or two from New Eddystone Rock. However, in this country one must always have a Plan B and a Plan C.  The access to Winstanley Island requires going through Shoalwater Pass, which has a very shallow bar to be crossed.  It was just now low tide so I had to wait an hour or so before there would be enough water to get in there.

While I was drifting and waiting I noticed a couple of small boats go into Shoalwater Pass, and so I presumed that they had gotten the one mooring buoy that is in there.  I can anchor in there, and have done so many times, but it's harder to anchor when alone, so I preferred not to have to do that.

Plan B was another mooring buoy in front of Ella Creek, just a couple miles on the other side of Behm Canal.  I putted on over there and got tied up to the buoy with no problems.  The little cove is exposed from the north, but the weather forecast was good so I expected no problems spending the night here.

While glassing the beach with binoculars I noticed a "cairn" (A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound) with water bubbling up out of the top.  And a few feet away more water was gurgling up out of the beach rocks.  

My camera doesn't do it justice. I have been here before but never noticed this.  Even at high tide, when the cairn was underwater, I could still see the water bubbling up as if from an underground spring.

Here are a few additional shots from my spot for the night.

It wasn't in my original plan, but I realized how close I was to Punchbowl Cove and how unlikely it was that I would be back in these waters anytime soon, so I decided to go on over there and get some photos.  Punchbowl Cove is one of the most impressive areas in all of Misty Fiords.  The sheer rock walls were apparently just carved by the ice, creating what appears to be a large punchbowl.  There is a mooring buoy at the back of the cove, but only the one.  There is a trail that goes steeply up to Punchbowl Lake that I have trekked in my younger days.

I just went into the cove and shot as many photos as my disabled camera would allow.  

Now it was time to beat feet for home.  My original plan had been to plan my arrival into Bar Harbor at about 8 or 8:30 PM, but I ended up just going in earlier than that.  The weather here in Misty Fiords did not even resemble the weather that I experienced as I got closer to town.

As I approached Pt Alava to turn the corner towards home I saw a marker pop up on my AIS.  Oddly it did not show a vessel name, only showing "Unknown Vessel."  I had never seen cruise ships in the Misty Fiords area but this vessel looked to be a small cruise ship about 300 - 400' long.  As I got closer I could see the name, "Roald Amundsen."  

The rest of the trip was uneventful, except to say that the closer I got to town the worse the weather got.  There is a short stretch between Mt Point and Saxman where you are exposed on the port side to seas coming in from Nichols Passage.  I got rocked around pretty good in that section until I got inside the protection of Pennock Island.

I stopped for fuel, and you don't want to hear about that, with fuel prices the way they are now.  Suffice it to say it is scary.

I got into the stall about 4:30 PM, in a stiff breeze, which always makes it harder when you are alone.

Total mileage for this trip was 103 nm.

Now it's time to plan my next adventure!

2022-05-07 Bailey Bay - Klu Bay Trip

 I had been watching the weather forecasts closely since returning from the maintenance period in Wrangell.  That was not really a "boat trip" per se, since I just ran the boat up there, and then ran it back after the maintenance was done.

The Ketchi-Canvas lady was scheduled to start working on the repairs to the flybridge enclosure on or after May 10th, and I figured I wouldn't be able to take the boat out while she was working on it.

I had been wanting to get up to Klu Bay in Western Behm Canal, but it is a long run up there, about 45 miles, so I didn't want to stay just one night.

A 3 day weather window opened up with 3 days of sunshine and at the same time 3 days of little or no winds, perfect weather for a trip like this.

I left Bar Harbor about 6 AM on Saturday in calm conditions.

I did not take any photos on the way up there, but it was a nice calm ride.

Getting tied up to the mooring buoy by myself was a challenge, since there was tidal current in Bailey Bay.  I finally got my rope through the ring and got tied up.  Then I noticed my boat hook slowly drifting away in the current.  I could have made the effort to put the raft in and go after it, but I did not.  I carry a spare, so now I need a new boat hook.

Here are some shots I took from the boat while tied to the mooring buoy in Bailey Bay.

Kayakers camped on the beach

I spent a quiet night on the mooring buoy there.

I played some guitar, did crossword puzzles, and read on my Kindle app.

On Sunday morning I got underway about 10:15 AM.

My "neighbors" on shore must have had a tent camp up in the brush somewhere because after eating their meal out on the beach last night they disappeared into the woods.  In the morning they must have been heading out because they emerged from the woods with heavy packs and headed over to where their kayaks were pulled up onto the beach.  They were still sorting their gear and loading the kayaks when I left.

I motored slowly down Hassler Pass and into Gedney Pass, and then into Shrimp Bay, which connects through a narrow but deep channel into Klu Bay.  I got tied to the mooring buoy much easier this time as there was no current to deal with,

Here are some shots of Klu Bay.

On the way out I had to pass through Shrimp Bay again.  There are 2 waterfalls there, side by side.

Video would have been much better to show the massive amount of water coming out of the larger of the 2 waterfalls.  I will work on being able to capture video in the future, I thought my old Nikon D80 could capture video, but it does not.

This is the view looking out towards the entrance to Shrimp Bay, through which I must pass on my way south towards home.

A recent addition to the boat is an auto-pilot, which makes it easier to take a few photos when I am alone and underway.

I had planned to not get into Bar Harbor until evening because I had no reason to hurry back, and on sunny days the wind tends to kick up a little in the late afternoon and then calm back down again in the evening.

So I planned to stop in at my favorite place, the USFS dock at the back of Naha Bay.

Fortunately there was a spot at the dock for me, even though there were a couple of smaller boats already there.

I took a short walk up the trail and shot a few photos.

I pulled out from the dock there at the Naha about 5 PM and slowly made my way back into town, arriving into Bar Harbor about 8 PM in dead calm conditions.

Total distance traveled was 101 nautical miles.

2019-06-25 Naha Trip

Ryan Doran and I took advantage of the nice weather and made a short overnight trip to the Naha.

We hiked a good ways up the trail before turning back due to a large blow down on the trail that is hard to over or around.

We also walked "The Loop" at least 3 times before leaving on Wednesday morning.

All in all it was a short but fun trip.

2019-06-14 Wrangell maintenance

I had previously scheduled June 17 - 19 at the Wrangell Boat Shop for annual maintenance that needs to be done on the boat.  The weather in Clarence Strait was considerably better on the Friday the 14th so I headed up there then, making it to Wrangell in one day.

My haul-out was not scheduled until Monday afternoon so I just cooled my heels waiting in the harbor over the weekend.

On Monday afternoon, right on schedule, they hauled the boat out of the water and into their shed.

They pressure washed the bottom right away in preparation for bottom paint the next day.

Here is the complete list of the work I had them do for me:

     Pressure wash the bottom
     Repaint the bottom
     Replace all external zincs
     Replace all internal "pencil" zincs
     Replace impellers for main engines
     Replace impeller for generator
     Replace glow plug and screen on diesel furnace
     Replace filter elements in Racor fuel filters
     Troubleshoot problem with shower drain

Whenever I have them repaint the bottom I always ask them to remove the props on the bow thruster and clean out that tunnel very thoroughly.  It is a very small bow thruster and it needs to be as efficient as possible.

Here at the Wrangell Boat Shop they don't use a sling method to haul the boats.  Instead they had a "cradle" that the boat sits in and then it is winched up inside the building.

I stayed on board during this maintenance session.  The boat was at a slight downhill angle but it was not prohibitive.

They had me plugged into shore power so the only inconvenience was that I had to use the bathroom in their shop, which believe me, is an experience all its own.

When they started looking at the drain problem they immediately found a filter on the shower drain pump which was totally plugged.  That solved the shower drain problem.  I still need to get a plumber to fix the control knob which is not mixing hot and cold to make warm.

They launched the boat as scheduled on Wed afternoon and I spent that night over at the transient dock in Heritage Harbor.

On Thursday morning I took off bright and early and made the run down to Ketchikan in one day.

So the annual maintenance chores needed on Faraway have been taken care of for another year.

2019-06-08 Fire Cove

My buddies from my "used to job" asked if I wanted to link up with then at the Fire Cove dock, which is deep inside Neets Bay.  I had commitments for Friday evening so I left Saturday morning to meet up with them out there.  It was about 4 hour run for me to get there.

The dock at Fire Cove is very small and they had 3 boats there already, so I had to raft onto one of the other boats.

Sorry I did not get any pictures.

They each had a 4 wheeler, and two of them had dogs with them.  So it was a lively group at the small dock.

We took the 4 wheelers up the road system a good long ways, perhaps 7 or 8 miles, and then stopped to fish in some of the ponds and streams that we found.  Trout fishing was generally good and we kept a nice assortment of cut throats which eventually became appetizers for our dinner that night.

We had a nice gas fired fire place and with comfortable deck chairs enjoyed our appetizers and then later our dinner out on the dock.

I only stayed the one night and so headed back the next morning.  It was a long way to go for one over nighter, I admit, but a good time was had by all.

2019-05-27 Harbor cruise

Former co-worker, now good friend, Kim Whalen had her parents in town so we decided to do a short harbor cruise on Memorial Day.

Things did not start out on a good note when I attempted to back out of the slip with the bow line still tied to the dock.  Things got better from there.

We just rode slowly over to the ship yard, and then back through town, eventually going around the back side of Pennock, to get back to the harbor.