May 10-13
Hi All,
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS!!!!
May 10-11, Cannery Cove: DDG….anchored in a punchbowl surrounded by snow capped 3k’ mountains with a salmon stream and meadow in front. This should be called waterfall cove…..Kathy counted over 20+ waterfalls and the sound of water falling is pretty loud!!! We were here in 2006 and it was gorgeous then and is the same now…except now there is a large fishing lodge at the mouth of the Cove…saw people working but don’t think it is open. The passage was 26nm from Snug Cove….on the way we stopped and saw a pod of five Orcas feeding on something….very active!!!
And, we saw 6 big Brown bears…4 on 1st day and two more on the 2nd day, all grazing along the shore/meadows on the young grass….needless to say we were on the lookout for any hunters, but saw none….maybe the Lodge owns this land and doesn’t allow hunting….as in wants the Nature show for their guests…..sure hope so….we are both still very angry/depressed on the tragic display of man’s greed/ego at Snug Cove:((((
I did it…finally….Kathy commanded me to STOP CRABBING:)))) I got 5 more keepers….2 over 8″ and 2 over 7″…..wow:)))
May 12-13, Sandborn Canal in Port Houghton: May 12th is my BIRTHDAY…YEA!!!!…I only mention it as it has a 5 in the # which are the birthdays we now celebrate….and….drum role…. I’m eligible for Medicare. Obamacare continued to not work for me….I had Bronze/Catastrophic coverage and saved over $700/mo (AS IN $8,400/YEAR) moving to Medicare with much better coverage. And now, FINALLY, I can purchase my only prescription drug, Zetia for high cholesterol, in the USA as the drug plan I chose has coverage. In Obamacare all the insurance companies only approved statins which I’m allergic.
Hmmmm…..BD/Mom’s day off to a rough start…at about 7am a boat of hunters came into the anchorage….dropped off 2 hunters by the meadow….fortunately there were no bears present. We left immediately….even before we had coffee…..just not going to go through that horrible scene again!!
But the day ended well….anchored in a beautiful cove, tunes on, steak & fresh crab meat with Bearnaise sauce, sautéed mushrooms, salad and a 2012 Ata Rangai Pinot Noir, from New Zealand….perfect!!!!
Boat Stuff: Well….maybe not the birthday/Mom’s day we wanted….for the first time in quite a while we had boat issues….arghhhhh!!! We did have 15kts on the beam with a 2-3′ chop crossing Stephen’s Passage…actually had to turn on the stabilizers….and the IS-15 small instruments….tells us wind speed/direction, boat speed et al kept resetting on its own….seems ok at anchor so might be a loose connection somewhere.
The 2nd item was the CA-44 unit, our echosounder…..as we came into Port Houghton we lost the depth readout…..could not find the bottom….tried everything we know to fix/adjust but no joy. Getting into Sandborn Canal was supposedly tricky but as it turned out it was straightforward and easy but we were a bit unsure to enter an unknown anchorage with no depth sounder. So, we turned around and headed for Petersburg…like 55nm away….ugh…..but as we left Port Houghton, the unit started working again….now the water was an orange/brown from all the tannins in the water and there was a knot of current…..hmmm, maybe the water is too dense or the bottom too silty. We turned around and headed back to Sandborn only for the unit to quit reading the bottom again in about the same spot as before. We continued on towards Sandborn Canal and when we got to w/in 200′ of water depth the unit started to work again…..hmmm. So, we continued on into the anchorage with a working depth sounder….yea and what a relief!!!!
The 3rd item….why do boat issues come in 3’s…..the up function on the windlass stopped working. We got the anchor set just fine…..225′ chain out….but went to pull in a little and no up function….will be physically hard to bring up manually but can do. After my passage beer and a nap to ponder the situation I went out for some troubleshooting….cleaned all connections….a little corrosion but not bad….then tested the solenoid and yep, shorted…..ugh. We do have a spare but hey, not what we wanted to do on Mom’s/BD so we left it for the next day:))))
And, fortified with plenty of coffee the next morning, down into the chain locker hole I went and got the solenoid changed….Kathy did the honors and we have a working up & down reversing solenoid and windlass….oh, happy day!!!
Hmmm…..we came to Sandborn Canal as the guide book said it was one of the best places to see wildlife in SE Alaska…..hmmm…while it has a good cute factor, it was a bust….a lot of gulls, crows, ravens, a few ducks, a couple of Eagles and that was it…..arghhhhh!!
Well…maybe not a total bust….when Kathy got up the morning of the 14th around 5:15am she saw two moose walking along the shoreline….maybe a mom and her 2nd year calf….they were in a hurry and eventually ducked into the forest…..wow!!!!
Sunshine: We now have 16.5 hours of sunlight…..sunrise at 4:30am (yes, we are using our port hole black out shades:))) and sunset @ 9pm…..whoa!!!!
The Plan: We are heading into Petersburg on Tuesday the 14th. It’s a day earlier than planned but we need to get some things done so an extra day will be good. Mark and Roseanne also arrive on the same day so Opening Ceremonies with them!!!! It will be so much fun to have Mystic and Koinonia back together again!!!! Craig & Jeanette arrive on the 17th and the Viking Festival starts on the 16-19th as well….let the good times roll!!!!
Critter Stats:
Dungeness crab: 25 total; 5 large ones at Cannery Cove
Prawns: 6 Spotted;
Whales: 52 total; 44 Humpbacks; 8 Orcas; a pod of 5 Orcas near False Pybus Point; 5 Humpbacks in Stephens Passage near the Brother islands
Salmon: 0
Bears: 17 Browns; 6 more Browns at Cannery Cove
Wolves: 5
Otters: 700+, ~50% with pups; note…have not seen any since Glacier Bay….curious
Mountain Goats: total 42
Dall’s Sheep: 3
Moose: 3; saw 2 more in Sandborn Canal
Alaskan Husky sled dogs: 60
Stellar Sea Lions: ~450;
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Petersburg Alaska
GO MYSTIC GO!!
Position: 57 05’52.57 N, 133 21’01.03 W
Course: Stopped.
Position: 19-05-14 10:35:49 -0800
http://maps.google.com/maps?&llW.09794,-133.3503&qW.09794,-133.3503&z=16
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