Alaska 5 - Frosty Bay
Anchored: Frosty Bay on our way to Wrangle, AK
Coordinates: 56º03.55N 131º58.2W
Time for a little catch up so I’ll be brief and try to catch up on the last 2-3 weeks.
Upon departing Lasqueti Island we had a very sporty downwind sail to the Copeland Islands. One accidental jibe and saved by the preventer. We didn’t reef early enough and when the 30 kt gust hit us we got rounded up, then reefed. No harm done and lesson learned (or reinforced) even when going downwind — reef early.
The next day was the planned passage through three rapids — Yuculta, Gillard, and Dent Rapids. We hit them all at slack without incident. The tails one reads about how harrowing those waters can be make one plan properly and then it is a complete non-event.
Hail storm.
As the clouds parted in front of us we got hit with a 10 minute hail storm. Mob took it in the chin. Hearty sole it is.
The next few days we made it through what can be another challenging area — Johnstone Strait, Queen Charlotte Strait, and rounding Cape Caution. We watched the weather, waited for our window, sailed when we could, and motored when we had to. All in all it was very calm and pleasant.
Pruth Bay was a highlight with some really amazing sandy beaches. After being on the boat since Nanaimo without touching land we had some wobbly legs.
Kwaskshua Channel heading into Pruth Bay.
Tacking right up to the shoreline, almost touching the trees.
From there it was on to Bella Bella where we picked up our good friend Johan Thaheld, provisioned, and fueled up. We spent a couple nights in the area meeting up with others boat in our “bungee fleet”, provisioning, and fueling up.
Having Johan on board was stupendous. He is a fabulous instructor and both Laura and I learned a lot from him. With all the motoring we had done it was great to get a break from the helm. We spent a fabulous evening in Bottleneck Cove and saw our first black bear.
Johan tends to be a bit of a night owl so the morning involved creating some special playlists to wake the dead — mission accomplished.
A couple more long motoring days with stops in Coghlan Bay and Kumealon Inlet eventually landed us in Clam Inlet where we staged for crossing Dixon Entrance.
The morning to Clam Inlet was complete fog but it cleared and we had a beautiful sunny afternoon. As the sky cleared we thought we would see the aurora borealis that night but alas we ended up with cloud cover. It seems that we were the only ones that did NOT see the northern lights that night — and we were in Alaska (well, not quite). Grrr.
Laura did land a few Rockfish here which made for a really good couple of meals.
Toasting Poseidon crossing Dixon Entrance into Alaska under sail.
Bring on the Kraken!
The next day we had a wonderful crossing of Dixon Entrance in the sunshine and under sail. We didn’t quite get the timing right on that passage and ended up in Foggy Bay around 10:00pm. There is a very narrow entrance to that harbor and we saw as little as 7 ft under our keel coming through. But we made it in and spent a lay day there watching bears and rowing around the bay in the rain.
The next day we made it to Ketchikan where we spent 4 nights in the Ketchikan Yacht Club surrounded by 2-3 giant cruise ships. I’m really glad we are doing what we are doing and not on one of those.
Once again we met up with our friends Scott and Karen (SV Tuuli) and Ron and Peggy (SV Solstice), provisioned, fueled, and rested. And properly provisioned with beer this time.
In Ketchikan we said goodbye to Johan and welcome Chuck and Dido (Laura’s sister and husband) onto the boat. The next day we headed over to Kasaan Bay and ended up in Brown’s Bay and the very west end. This looks like a tiny entrance and tiny bay but it is actually bigger that some of the biggest bays in the San Juans. I’m still getting used to the grandeur of this area. This is where we landed our first big batch of crab — yum!
The next morning we pulled up anchor for a day visit in Kasaan itself, a small first nation village. A wonderful young girl there gave us a tour of the totem poles in the area.
One of the totem poles in Kasaan. Click here to see all my pics of Kasaan.
Upon leaving Kasaan we headed to Meyers Chuck for the evening. We have a friend that spends time there in the summer that we wanted to hook up with and even though he is not there at the moment we still wanted to check out the community. We were all pleasantly surprised for how beautiful the cove is and the welcoming community. A local by the name of Becky makes cookies and and we placed and order for both! We hoping to pass by Meyers Chuck again on the way down when the salmon are running.
And finally, I’m caught up. Wrangle tomorrow.
Laura and Dido
Cleaning what’s left of our crab for lunch on our way to Frosty Bay.
Ardent Journey since the Copeland Islands