Cruising 6/21/2015

2015 Boating Season

Cruising June 21, 2015

Russ here:

We cruised up through the Wrangell Narrows toward Petersburg. Our friend Steve Sari bought a home on Keene Island last year and we are going to stop and visit. I met Steve 35 years ago when I came up with his brother Phil to hunt Geese, Steve was a commercial fisherman in Petersburg at the time. Keene Island is about a third of the way up the narrows as you head north to Petersburg. The narrows is a river like passage between Kupreanof and Mitkof Islands. Its well marked with buoys and small cruise ships and ferries make the passage frequently.

Steve's home on Keene Island

We found the island easily and tied up to Steve's concrete float, dropped the dinghy, and went to shore. Steve was happy to see us and invited us to stay as long we wanted. We brought everything we would need to shore and Steve gave us a tour of his house, his two acre parcel, and all the systems that keep everything running. Steve's is the only house on Keene Island, the rest of the island is part of the Tongass National forest. Living on an island away from utilities can be a challenge but Steve's property was setup pretty good by the previous owners. Rain water from the roof is stored in a huge bladder and he has a desalination system as a backup. Solar panels and a diesel generator make electricity that is stored in a large bank of batteries. Hot water comes from a propane on-demand system. He has a satelite that brings in Direct TV and a booster that amplifies a weak cellular signal so he has contact with the outside world. It's a pretty good setup overall. There are deer, mink, squirrels, and at least one mouse on the island. The eagles are everywhere and the only noise is an ocassional boat passing by. The one drawback is having to motor 30 minutes to Petersburg to get groceries or anything you don't have on the island but that's a pretty good trade off for the solitude and being steps away from a huge fishery that includes all kinds of fish, crab, etc.

We took advantage of Steve's hospitality and stayed ten days. Part of the time we helped Steve with a list of projects. We set up a weather station, put together all his crab and shrimp pots, fixed a door threshold, new kitchen faucet, and minor plumbing repairs. We put out the crab pots and collected about seventy nice Dungeness Crab over several days and of course then you have to cook and clean all those crab. The good part is having a lot of crab omelettes, crab salads, crab sandwiches, and we took more with us in our freezer when we left.

Green House

Crab Pots

Weather Station

Mink

Steve Sari

Going Crabbing

Shrimp Pots

Big catch - TWO

Star Fish

DaLinda's Birthday

Steve's fiance Dalinda came to the island while we were there and we got to know her well. We helped celebrate her birthday one night. We had some wonderful meals during our stay and had a lot of laughs, a very special time we will remember forever.

View from Steve's Home

Now its time to head to Petersburg and plan a special side trip that will be in our next blog.