Friday, May 26, 2006 - Based upon the VHF chatter, the Grand Banks were planning on leaving at 8:00 am We decided to pull up anchor at 6:45 ad and head for Wrangell. Most of the municipal marinas are first come, first serve and do not take reservations unless your are a commercial vessel (cruise ships, tour boats). We were looking forward for sitting in a destination for 4-5 days as another boat project was necessary. We were finding that are fresh water anchor wash down was not going to be sufficient for removing Alaska mud for the anchor. Bob wanted to install a salt water wash down as well. It was going to be a beautiful day as we headed up Ernest Sound and the Zimovia Strait for Wrangell. We were soon joined by a school of porpoises that ran with the boat for about 30 minutes. I tried to get pictures but they were staying close to the water's surface. We still had not spotted any whales, they still must all be in Maui. We were approached Wrangell about 12:30 pm feeling somewhat smug about beating the Grand Banks and called the harbor master requesting moorage. Much to our surprise, they had very little available as they were holding a reservation for 8 Grand Banks - Brian and his group were considered commercial vessels. The best they could do for us was to have us raft 3rd boat out with no power. We decided this was not how we wanted to spend the next 5 days so we decided to push on Petersburg, another 45 miles away. We headed up the Stikine Strait to Sumner Strait to the Wrangell Narrows. There appeared to be a shorter route, passing up the east side of Mitkof Island through a passage called Dry Strait. With that name it did not appear to be a reasonable alternative as it is only navigable at high tide and you definitely needed local knowledge to pass through it. It was not recommended for pleasure cruisers. Wrangell Narrows extends 21 miles from Sumner Strait to Frederick Sound and contains over 60 numbered navigational aids (lights, ranges, day beacons and buoys. The channel is narrow and intricate in places (looks like a slalom run) and has strong tidal currents (4-7 knots) along the way. The Narrows is used extensively by the Alaska Ferry, Cruise ships, barges and log rafts. It can be a tight squeeze in some of the passage. We meandered our way through with a minimal amount of on coming traffic and headed for beautiful downtown Petersburg. We hailed the harbor master and were assigned a slip in the South Harbor on C dock. We were pleasantly surprised by beautiful new concrete floating docks with large metal rail to tie to (no wood splinters when undoing the lines). Contrary to the rumors about the fishing boats not welcoming "yachties", man from the fishing boat next to us helped us tie up and welcomed us to Petersburg. After we settled in a bit, there was a knock on our door and a fisherman across the dock from us asked if we had any extra ice. He had been working all day and was in dire need of a cold drink. His freezer was occupied by 200 lbs of Halibut and he had to get rid of his ice to make room for the fish. We filled up his glasses and he went back to his boat and returned later with a fresh filet of Halibut to thank us for the ice. I think we are going to enjoy our stay.
Saturday, May 27 - Monday, May 29, 2006 - We have kicked back and are playing tourist and undertaking boat projects. We have arrived in Petersburg in time for their 25th Annual Salmon Derby. Lots of fishing activity, wish I had brought a pole. We love Petersburg, it is quaint and very small town and everyone is very friendly. The owner of the fishing boat next to us also owns the town laundry. The newspaper owner and publisher also runs a tour boat (more on that in the next installment). The Coastal Cold Storage has the best Halibut Beer Bits and Chips and the best smoked salmon dip. It is an unique dining experience as they have only two inside dining tables in amongst the cooling bins holding the days live offering of fresh oysters, clams and King Crab. Tina's Kitchen was also a pleasant surprise with great fish tacos.
