Alaska 6/13/2013

Toni arrives

Danny and I worked pretty hard to get the fish scales, residue, and smell out of the boat before Toni arrived. We did pretty good, it helped that we put down plasic carpet runner over the interior floor before we started fishing and changed it twice, it really protected the flooring. We put nice smelling blue stuff in the toilet and holding tank too, Toni really likes the nice smelling blue stuff.

We finished up with 235 lbs. of Halibut fillets. It cost 55 cents/lb. to store it at Coastal cold storage, about $25 per 50 pound box to have it prepared for check-in on the airplane, then $20 for the first two boxes and $50 for the next three boxes for the airline. It cost about $450 total to ship it but Halibut sells here for $17/lb. X 235 lbs=$3,995 worth of fish, that's pretty good. OK, we spent quite a bit on fuel but two weeks fishing with your best buddy in Alaska..... priceless. We saw lots of wildlife and had a great time.

Toni arrived on the same plane Danny left on. Danny is my good friend but Toni is my life partner and it was great to be together again. The boat feels more like a home when she is aboard. We took a cab back to the marina then made a short walk through town while we caught up on what we both had been doing.

The next day was clear and warm so we decided to go to LaConte Glacier to see some icebergs, Toni had never done this. We cruised back as far as possible but we were still several miles from the glacier when we were stopped by ice flows. We dropped the dinghy and got some great photos with the boat in front of icebergs. Toni took over 500 photos so some of them have to be good, she was pretty excited to be that close to huge chunks of ice. We found some really clear bergy bits and collected them with the fish net to fill our large cooler for cocktail ice, over 50 pounds. For some reason this ice seems to last longer than normal ice, its over 500 years old. While we were gone our friends Casey and Mary Casebeer arrived in their C-Dory and we had a great visit with them trading stories and cruising information.

The next morning we visited with Casey and Mary again before they left to Laconte Glacier then started into town for supplies. On our way we ran into our friends Max and Susie Kamp and Steve and Maxine Vincent from Longview. They are here for a fishing trip on Max's boat. In the afternoon we met and had a good visit with them too, small world.

The rest of our day was taken up by looking in the different galleries in town, a visit to the visitor's center, and the local museum. A full day and it's wonderful to see people we know but it's time to travel North. Tomorrow morning we will start our way towards Juneau with unknown stops on the way. We will keep notes of our cruise and anchorages and update the blog when we arrive in Juneau.

Alaska postscript by Danny O'neill

Saturday June 9^th we left Petersburg after staying on an extra day because of the weather.

We have learned to fish the slack tides for Halibut. They seem to bite much better and it doesn't take a lot of weight to stay on the bottom. Its also easier to pull the anchor.We were short 30 lbs. to fill a 50 lb. box which would make our total 200 lbs. of Halibut fillets.

Fishing was a little slow so we played cribbage while we left our lines out, waiting for the tide to change. After three games of cribbage we went out to discover a halibut on one of the poles, it weighed about 25 lbs. So we were nearing our 200 lb. goal to send home with me, four 50 lb. Boxes.

We moved to deeper water and fished another ½ hour. We hooked a large 60 pounder and just got it on board when the other pole went down and we on and we landed a forty pounder. We had dropped a fresh bait in while we fighting the last fish and it produced a 30 lb. Fish within minutes. Needless to say the 30 lbs. we needed to fill the fish box turned into 80 additional pounds of fillets.We anchored in Exchange Cove, about 8 miles away, 45 miles south of Petersburg. We filleted and packaged fish until midnight, we had a couple drinks and fell into bed without dinner.

Sunday morning was spectacular, the sky was clear and sunny without a breath of wind. The views of the bay behind Exchange Island are beautiful. We spotted a doe and her fawn walking along the beach. I took a few photos of an old fishing boat anchored in the bay and we headed back to Petersburg. We have a lot of work to do to cleanup the boat after fishing and I'm sure Toni will appreciate coming aboard to a boat that is not smelling like a cannery.

The big island we anchored next to while fishing is Prince of Wales Island. It seems strange to have something that large up here without a Russian name, most of the islands have names like Mitkof or Kupreanof. How fortunate for us that Mr. Seward was able to purchase this beautiful land for only 7 cents an acre.

I go home Tuesday and Toni arrives on the same plane I depart on. The airport is small and I was surprised by the helpful people that work there.

I was amazed at the marine atlas we used to determine safe passage. It was very complete and a wealth of information on our trip up.

I am thankful to my best friend for including me on this trip. It does complete one more of the things I need to do on my bucket list.

Well, you've never heard from me before and its a treat to share our adventure with you. I'll sign off now and hope to meet some of you in the future.

Danny

Alaska 6/7/2013

We are in Petersburg for a few days while we wait for better weather in Sumner and Clarence Straits, thats where we have been Halibut fishing. The population of Petersburg is around 3,500 and I think that includes the surrounding area as well. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk through town, there are about 32 miles of paved and gravel roads that service Mitkof Island. There is a grocery store with a department store on the second floor, a couple of bars, two hardware stores, 3-4 restaurants, and several art gallery type stores. There is a larger grocery store about a half mile up the hill but its too far to pack supplies. There are several canneries adjacent to the marinas and I'm sure there are other businesses nearby that I haven't seen. Petersburg has three marinas that are home to mostly commercial fishing boats and there are lots of them here. Everyone is friendly and seem very proud of their community. They have one block of the main street under construction but they keep access to the businesses open.

We finally figured out the Halibut fishing and have caught 20 in all. We only have about a three hour window between tides that we can fish, then the water is moving too fast. The largest Halibut weighed 73 lbs., three 50 lbs., several 35 lbs, and the majority are in the 20 lb. Range, the limit is two each per day. We fillet our catch at the end of each day, double wrap it in plastic wrap, then wrap it in freezer paper in about 2 lb. Packages. We keep it on board in our small freezer or an ice chest until we come to town for fuel, then we take it up to Coastal Storage where it is frozen until Danny takes it home next week. We have 170 lbs. of fillets in storage now and plan to have one more trip before he leaves.

We have found a few nice anchorages, one on the north side of Zarembo Island in a cove by Northerly

and Southerly Islands and another in Exchange Cove on Prince of Wales Island, both are close to fishing in Clarence Strait. An evening at anchor always starts with a large meal followed by a cocktail. Entertainment is a few rousing games of cribbage followed by a movie. It doesn't get dark until after 10:00 PM and starts getting light again at 4:00 AM. Bedtime is usuall between 9:00 and 10:00 and we fall asleep quickly, something about a boat gently rocking at anchor is soothing.

Danny and I have had a great time fishing. The weather has been pretty good and we got out a lot more than we thought we would, we have a lot of fish. We didn't fish for Salmon because we get Salmon at home so Halibut will be on the menu for quite some time.

My Toni flies in four days from now, I miss her and it will be nice to have my regular first mate back on board, less fishing and more cruising. We will continue to post as we have internet and new experiences.

Alaska 2013

Since retiring and purchasing our 27' Ranger Tug we have cruised Lake Powell in Utah, the southern coast of Texas, the Florida Keys, up the inter coastal waterway from Florida to New York, the San Juan islands in Washington, and the Gulf islands, Desolation Sound, and the Broughtons in Canada. This year our goal is to cruise S.E. Alaska. We will try to keep in touch with family and friends as we travel and share our experiences.

My buddy Danny and I left Kelso, Wa. at 6:00 AM, May 24^th with the 27' Ranger Tug on the trailer for our road trip to Prince Rupert, Canada. Danny will be my traveling companion until June 11^th then he flys out and Toni flys in, she and I will cruise another 6-7 weeks in SE Alaska before returning home. Our goal this day is to come close to Prince George, approximately half way. The I-5 bridge near Burlington collapsed yesterday so we had a slight detour. We took Hwy 9 to the Sumas border crossing, arriving about 11:30 AM and waited about ½ hour in line then another hour (some confusion) before heading north on Canadian Hwy. 1. On the way we saw lots of deer and one bear. The countryside is beautiful, like Washington except there are a lot more lakes and marshes. We were a little excited about the trip so we drove until 9:00 PM before reaching Quesnel, B.C. and camped in the boat at a Walmart parking lot. We brought an air mattress for Danny and made the dinette into a bed, then each day we just put everything forward in the v-berth.

We were on the road again at 5:00 AM. Diesel fuel in Canada has been $1.29 to $1.41 per liter, a bit more expensive than the states. We didn't get too far before we had to wait for a bull moose to get out of the road, a short time later we saw another bear with a cub next to the road then another moose and lots of deer. We arrived at Prince Rupert at 4:30 PM, just in time to check in with Coastal Propane where we will leave the truck and trailer for the next two months. They charge $125 per month but it seems secure and its only ¼ mile from the boat ramp. We secured a slip for the boat and launched before 6:00 PM, cocktail time. We checked the weather for Dixon entrance on marine weather radio and it looked good for tomorrow.

We left the marina at 6:00 AM and headed through the well marked Venn Passage before entering Dixon entrance. Light wind and no swell or wind waves, its flat, the sun is shining, it doesn't get much better than this. We fast cruise at 3400 RPM, 14 MPH, and about 2.2 MPG. Danny is only here for a few weeks so we want to get to Petersburg to start fishing so we are on a fast speed schedule and he is splitting my fuel cost. We want to make Ketchikan, AK., a distance of about 95 miles, and look around before moving on the following day. We see several other boats as we travel, probably making the same passage.

We arrived in Ketchikan at about 2:00 PM, fueled, and got a slip assignment. We took on 43 gallons of diesel at $4.15/gallon, a slip with power is $31. There are three cruise ships at the docks and the town is full of tourists, a good thing for the local economy. Ketchikan is known as Alaska's first city because its the first city you come to as you travel north. We walked around town, took in the sights, and bought our fishing license. Out of state annual fishing license is $145.

We left Ketchikan at 6:00 AM and decided to bypass Wrangell and go straight to Petersburg, a distance of about 140 miles. The seas are calm again and the weather is sunny and clear, a perfect day to be on the water. We saw an occasional whale spouting as we traveled and a black bear walking the shoreline at low tide. We watched a logging operation that included a large helicopter as we traveled on. We finally arrived in Petersburg at 4:30 PM, fueled, and got a slip assignment, just in time for cocktail hour. Diesel fuel cost is $4.22/gallon, a slip with power is $22.

We walked a small portion of Petersburg and got some ice before going back to the boat to watch a movie before bed. The next morning we jigged for herring just outside the marina. The herring jig has five little hooks, we catch 2-5 herring at a time and quickly get enough bait for two days. We head back south down the Wrangell Narrows to fish in Sumner Straight. We caught some bottom fish and a few sand sharks but no Halibut, they told us in town that Halibut fishing was a little slow. I have a friend that has a cabin in the Wrangell Narrows and he he is letting us moor our boat at his dock while we are here so that saves us trying to find an anchorage. We will only go back to Petersburg for fuel and a few provisions.

The next day we caught a few 15 lb. Halibut and more bottom fish. We see whales everyday but no Orcas, Eagles are everywhere, if I get their attention I throw out a herring and they swoop down and pick it up. They are filming the series Ax Men at a logging operation in the Wrangell Narrows and we see there crew each time we pass through.

The next morning we cruised back north through the Narrows and fished in Fredericks Sound outside of Petersburg and south of the Baird glacier. After a few hours with no luck we decided to cruise La Conte glacier to see some icebergs. We made it to within a few miles of the glacier before the passage was completely blocked with ice but we got some great photos and came pretty close to icebergs, some as large as apartment buildings, fun stuff.

I don't get a 3G signal anywhere up here with my Verizon service so I will have to find a wifi when we are in town next time.

We are in Kito's Cave in Petersburg and they have wifi.... and beer, a perfect combination. My friend Danny and I will continue to fish for the next week, we have over 100 lbs. of Halibut fillets ready to be shipped when he leaves and we hope top add to that. I will write another log when I can, if you have any questions about the area or boat travel please ask and I will try to answer.

May 19, 2013

We had a good pre-Alaska shakedown cruise launching from Bellingham then cruising to Sucia Island where we anchored and explored for two days.

Sunset on Sucia Island

We moved on to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where we met with 48 other boats and their crews for the annual C-Brat gathering. We had a wonderful time renewing old friendships and starting many new ones. We had a great potluck on our last evening with live entertainment from one of our excellent C-Brat musicians. Afterwards we had our boat christened which was attended by many of our boating friends.

Next Friday my very good friend Danny Oneill and I will trailer the boat to Prince Rupert where we will launch and cruise our way to Petersburg Alaska. We will fish and tour until he has to return on June 11th. My Toni will fly in the same day and she and I will continue to cruise until early August. It is our hope to continue this blog as we travel and share our experiences as we have internet service. 

Please follow along if you like.