Heading South from Ketchikan

Day 71 – July 20

We left Ketchikan under a gray wet sky today. Tom is a bit ahead of us as we needed to stay within internet range for a bit longer so I could attempt to get the Yacht clubs July Anchor Watch sent off. Having some technical difficulties with the computer today so who knows it might take another day or two to get it all figured out. If it does not go out today we hope to get it out in Prince Rupert.

Tom just called and said that he is kicking it up a bit. He is about 4 miles ahead of us and says that the water has kicked up and we might have to change plans. Glen is kicking it up a notch or two as well. My bracelet is on and I’m going to go hunker down to try to sleep through this section. Looks like No Liz water today!

It’s sad to be leaving Alaska.

We got about 12 miles out when Tom called and said something like ‘no way, it is too rough out here.’ His crew was stating that they were taking water through the doors. I’d only eaten ½ a sleeve of saltines at that point but had my bucket ready. Glen said that we were in about 7 foot waves. So we both turned around and headed for shelter, first in one bay where Glen set anchor. Before Tom could get clear in and tie on, Glen did a bit more investigation with the charts, and weather forecast. This was not the place to be if the winds kicked up to 30 as predicted.

Who’s idea was it to leave Ketchikan in the first place!

We left that bay and headed for Annette Inlet (Tom following) with the idea that if that did not work we’d go all the way back to Ketchikan. Tom tucked in behind Magic and followed us.

It was a dark and lumpy day...

We ended up in Annette Bay on Annette Island. Nice calm place with a floating dock in the middle which was very nice to be tied to. The eye of the storm...

We spent the afternoon watching a movie and then had dinner. Two fishing boats came in to join us on the dock. They had seen us out there in the muck earlier in the day and thought we were smart for getting into the bay. After they were all tied up they gave each of our boats a freshly caught salmon. We invited them over for dessert of fresh fruit (raspberries, blueberries, etc…) on shortcake with ice cream. The evening was spent chatting with these two brothers about our adventures, and places to go on our next trip north. They are Tsipsean natives and live in New Metlakatla on Annette Island where they were both born. However they spent many winters during their school years in Seattle and graduated from Ballard HS. Both spent some of their adult lives in Washington (one 10 years) but ended up deciding that coming home to Alaska and fishing alongside their dad and little brother was where they belonged and were the happiest. It was great fun to spend an evening talking to them. They said that the winds today were 30-40 with gusts up to 50 knots. And yes, we were out there for a bit in that mess. I’m glad we got into the harbor when we did. We all went back to our own boats at 11pm as we hoped to have an early start in the morning. The fisherman plan to get an early start by leaving the bay and start setting their nets at 3 am. This makes their nets ‘invisible’ in the morning light when the fish start their day. We hope to leave about 6 am to try to beat the wind and water. Time will tell.