Around the South End of Prince Of Wales

Wednesday May 22 to Saturday May 25

After leaving Ketchikan, we pulled up to the fuel dock for diesel and oil. Two US coast guard boats pulled up. I was startled to see a machine gun mounted on the bow of both boats.





Porpoises and whales popped up as we headed out Clarence Strait toward Prince of Wales Island. Anchored overnight in Gardner Bay before rounding Cape Chacon. Then anchored in Nichols Bay - Nichols was a New Yorker who surveyed the area in 1880's. The weather was perfect: blue sky and practically no wind. Dixon Entrance was practically flat, very unusual as there is no land until Japan. On Friday morning, the wind was howling 30 knots in Nelson Bay. However, the weather stations were reporting much less wind and 2-foot swells. So we headed out to Dixon Entrance again and it was indeed pretty flat, though the chop made it difficult to see the logs -- hitting one sounds awful. Stopped in the Barrier Islands in an anchorage nicknamed Charlie's Cove. We're back in protected waters and shorter hops -- I call this the Outside Inside Passage (Dad would have loved that!). Today, we saw another boat (fishermen) for the first time in four days.



Judy on Dinghy



First Black Bear of the Season



We put the dinghy down and went exploring Thursday and Friday. Saw our first black bear of this trip, who was vigorously digging for food (a carcass?) under a pile of drift wood; very healthy looking for this time of year. We also saw several groups of sea otters. They are very curious - several approached and then stuck their heads up to get a better look (or smell?). The moms are very protective of their pups. When they stick their heads up, they have an arm around the pup. When they dive, the pup rides on her back or is clutched to her chest. They love to play. Cannot get enough of them! 

Urs with Flotsam



We have a saying that the most reliable force in the universe is gravity. It never fails, especially over water. Unfortunately (very), it worked again. While Urs was off gathering floats on a beach, I was fiddling with the dinghy anchor and my iPod fell into the water. Why couldn't it have defied gravity just this once? I enjoyed it so much.

Back to a better report. The weather has been fantastic, sunny since leaving Ketchikan, but still two- or three-sweater temperature.