April 19-23
Hi All,
HAPPY EASTER!!!!
I left off the last blog as we were in the middle of our Juneau City tour with Steve. BTW, Alaska Luxury tours is a new concept for Juneau….high end tours….they do whale watching and city tours…..Marquis by Carver boats with jet drives that carry up to 8 passengers….sip champagne while watching all the whales versus the big catamarans that pack in 50-100 people….of course, the price is 2-3x:)))) Last year was year 1 and they did exceptional, making a profit. This year they have over 250 prebookings….they are off and running….good for them!!!
After the Mendenhall glacier we had a delightful lunch at Hangar on the Wharf downtown…we think we were there in 2006 but not sure….beautiful view of Gastineau Channel. We also met several “locals” all friends of Steve with some delightful local conversations.
From there we went up into the Gold mining area and did a few small hikes, the area had huge mountains and waterfalls and the trees were just starting to leave out….beautiful!!: “The members of the Auke tribe of Tlingit Indians were the first settlers to the area that became Juneau. The land and the sea provided such an abundance of food and natural resources that these original settlers enjoyed a productive and creative lifestyle. The cultural heritage of all the Indian tribes of the Northwest Coastal areas is readily evident in Juneau and the surrounding area. It was gold that spurred the birth of the town that was originally named Harrisburg, later renamed Juneau. The town was founded in 1880 by gold seekers Joe Juneau and Richard Harris. However, it was the Tlingit Chief Kowee that first pointed Harris and Juneau in the direction of Gold!During the prime 60 years of gold mining in the area Juneau was home to three of the world’s largest gold mines: The Alaska Juneau, and the Alaska Gastineau mine, on the Juneau side of the Channel and the Treadwell mine on the Douglas island side. The three produced $158 million worth of gold at a time when gold was priced between $20.00 and $35.00 an ounce. The Alaska Juneau mine closed during WWII as the cost of production became prohibitive. The Treadwell mine was flooded in 1917 and finally closed in 1922.Joe Juneau continued his hunt for gold, heading for the Klondike in 1897. He died in Dawson in 1903 and his body was returned to Juneau to rest in the Evergreen Cemetery.Richard Harris lost most of his holdings and went to work for various Juneau mining companies. He died in a sanitarium in Oregon in 1907. His body was also returned to Juneau and rests nearby that of Joe Juneau.Chief Kowee received little or no credit for his part in the Juneau gold rush. He died in his home in Juneau’s Indian Village in 1892. He was cremated, according to his wishes, at the entrance to Evergreen Cemetery. A bronze plaque marks that spot.”
After that we visited the Macaulay salmon hatchery. It was closed to visitors (opens when the cruise ships arrives) but it is an active hatchery and we saw many pens full of “fry”, ~1 year old salmon and will be released soon. “The hatchery raises just over 130 million chum, king and coho salmon annually and is designed to allow visitors see the outside operations of an active hatchery. You’ll learn about what it takes to raise salmon, the importance of the Alaska hatchery system, and the near shore marine environment that salmon share with other marine life. From mid June through October, you can watch adult salmon swim up a 450 foot fish ladder and gather into holding ponds until the fish are ready to reproduce. View baby salmon year round from a sky bridge and meet over 150 local marine species in the various aquariums and touch tanks.”
After that it was to the Alaska Brewing tasting room for a flight of delicious local beer. We also met a friend of Steve’s who is just starting a marijuana business. They have a retail store in downtown Juneau and are looking forward to many cruise ship visitors….they have a license for on-site consumption…oh my!!! Kathy and I very much appreciated the conversations with Steve and his friend, both young, professional entrepreneurs!!!
The next day we did many more errands…..first was Jerry’s Seafood for crab & prawn dip….yummers, some of the best we have tasted…..and some smoked salmon…..sockeye and coho!!! Next was Home Depot, Western Auto Marine, Costco and finally Fred Meyer’s……ODG….enough shopping already:))))
I’m actually writing this blog on Easter Sunday so HAPPY EASTER everyone…of course, by the time I post this is will be a few days later:)))) We had a very nice brunch at SALT restaurant in downtown Juneau…..an eclectic restaurant…..could easily be in Seattle or SF!! Steve and his partner Brent had us over to their luxury boats for Happy Hour after they did an open house for all their booking agents…..sweet as!!!
Weather: Well…..the opposite of nice….rainy, misty, low clouds, sometimes windy, cold….lows in the 30’sF and highs in the 40’sF….very typical Alaska weather…arghhhhh!!!! In fact the crappy weather had us cancel our scheduled Alaskan bush plane sightseeing tour of the Juneau ice fields….whaaaaaaaa…..maybe next time!! And, we now have 15 hours of sunlight…..sunrise at 5:30am and sunset at 8:30pm!!!! Forecast is for this dismal weather to continue until later in the week then we will get 5-7 days of sunshine…..yea!!!!
Monday, 4/22: We were supposed to head north to Haines and Skagway on Monday, April 22…..but the NWS issued a High Wind Alert for Monday…..SE winds up to 40kts gust to 60kts…yikes….obviously we did not head up the Lynn Canal which is a narrow channel and acts like a bowling alley for these kind of winds…..so a snow day:)))) It was calm in the marina until about noon then high winds hit….25G35 kts blowing right across Auke Bay into the marina….of course, D dock where we were took the brunt being the first dock after the breakwater….whoa…..one of the boats anchored outside started to drag and actually came in the entrance to the marina….another fishing boat and a marina boat finally secured the runaway to another dock. Many people were outside adding lines/fenders….we added every fender we had on the dock side as Mystic was getting pushed and rolled a bit into the dock….yikes!!! The high winds lasted about 5 hours and then gradually calmed to 7-15kts…..that was plenty for us!!!
Tuesday 4/23: Arghhhhh……woke up to a forecast for 30G40kt winds in Lynn Canal so no go again today….another day spent putzing on the boat!!!!
Boat Stuff:
GE Refrigerator: Hmmmm…..the issue with defrost water freezing in the drain tube and stopping the evaporator fan surfaced again. We had this issue in 2005/2006. It was solved by installing some heat wire along the drain plate and tube that heats with the defrost cycle. Kathy woke me up about 11pm…..uh John, the fridge temp is at 60*F…..ever since 2005 we keep a wireless temp probe in the refer….ugh…..so we opened it up and saw 2″ of frozen water with the evap fan iced in….out came the heat gun and an hour later we had it all melted and draining….we put it back together and went to bed after midnight. It worked for several days just fine when we opened it up again and discovered the defrost water was frozen and not draining….arghhh. So I spent a few hours putting in a new defrost thermostat….we are not sure that is the issue but its the only spare part we have…..we will open it all up again in a few days and see what we have…fingers crossed!!!
The Plan: The forecast is for 15kt winds on Wednesday April 24 so we will head towards Haines….about 65nm north. First we will get ~450 gallons of fuel. We will visit the historic towns of Haines and Skagway until ~May 1 when we will start the 300nm cruise south down the Lynn Canal and Stephen Passage to Petersburg by May 15th to meet up with Mark and Roseanne on mv Koinonia and Craig & Jeanette!! Oh, and the Viking Festival:)))
Hope all is well
John
Mystic Moon
Auke Bay Alaska
PS: Posted more pictures of Glacier Bay to Juneau:
http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Glacier-Bay;-Russel-Il-and-Glaciers-Galore
http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Glacier-Bay-Part-2:-John-Hopkins-Glacier-to-Juneau
