May 22   Sitka

We had a nice overnight in Wrangell ...it is not Seattle and is nothing like what we are used to but it has a certain charm and the people were extremely friendly and helpful.

                                                              Wrangell waterfront.


We got an early start in order to take advantage of the current in Wrangell Narrows.  That is a 22 mile long, narrow stretch of water, well marked with 54 buoys and channel markers but with enough current to produce high anxiety.  You do need to be observant but honestly, it was nothing compared with Rocky Pass.
                                                

We cruised on past Petersburg and into Thomas Bay for a bit of glacier viewing and for Gary to catch a 60 lb halibut.  What to do with all that fish???  I found room in the fridge and freezer and we've been eating halibut ever since.

                                                                   Baird Glacier

The next day we went into Portage Bay on Frederick Sound.  It is a big anchorage...big enough for several yacht clubs.  The USFS also has a well stocked cabin and mooring buoy there. When Gary pulled anchor in the morning he pulled up enough kelp to all of the sushi bars at all of the Benihanas in the world.
From Portage we cruised Frederick Sound again on absolutely flat water....my favorite kind.

                             Not terribly scenic but it gives an idea of how flat the water was.

At the end of the day we pulled into Chapin Cove on Admiralty Island, our first time there.  What a beautiful place and we were lucky enough to get to see a great big brown bear combing the beach grass for dinner.

On the 19th we left Chapin and ran into some very bumpy water on the SW corner of Admiralty.  We went from flat to 6 feet in nothing flat.  When we rounded the corner and headed into Chatham Strait all was flat again.  From there it is only an hour to Warm Springs Cove.  There is a public bath there with private tubs of hot spring water.  As you bathe you look out your window to this lovely waterfall. It is one of our favorite places and we ALL left clean and refreshed.

Chatham Strait continued flat so we continued north into Peril Strait and spent a bumpy night off Dead Tree Island in Hanus Bay.  We thought we would be protected but the current changed and we bounced all night.
The next morning we started out but it got bumpy pretty fast so we ducked into Appleton Cove for a few hours.  Put the crab pots out and got skunked.....a first for us there.  About 2pm the water looked better so we headed west in Peril Strait for Hoonah Sound where we know we can get prawns.
We spent the first part of that night in bumpy water again but it calmed and we got a good night's sleep.
Yesterday morning we left there and headed for Sergius Narrows....another testy little spot but much much shorter in duration.  We ducked into Deep Bay to wait for tides and currents and then scooted out and through without any trouble.  (Waiting for current and tide is a new adventure for us....we had a twin diesel fast boat in the past and we didn't wait for much of anything because we could run at 30 kts and could pretty much out run any current around here...with a couple of exceptions)
After getting through the Narrows we pulled into Shulze Bay and dropped the hook behind Piper Island where we spent a calm night on the hook.
We got into Sitka this morning in time to reprovision, pay bills, cattch up on e mail, have dinner and post this.  We are going to head back north in the morning and get some more prawns.

                                                           Mt Edgecomb at Sitka

                                                                       Sitka Harbor