May 3 – 9
Hi All,
Haines: We did make it to the Port Chilkoot Distillery in Haines….what a delight!! I had a flight of their bourbon, rye and rum….loved the Rye and bought a few bottles!! The Manager was there training his replacement and we had a nice talk regarding surviving Covid in small town Haines. He said our observations were correct….many businesses did not make it, many people moved out but the distillery did ok as they have distribution throughout Alaska….his statement was…..Covid did not decrease alcohol consumption, quite the opposite!!!! We know friends who love the Gin and Vodka!!!
https://www.portchilkootdistillery.com/
May 4: We did the 14nm passage to Skagway late morning when the flood tide started. Winds were still high…20kt+ but all behind so pretty smooth ride. And, we saw a whale….maybe our best showing yet with a full dive/tail showing Humpback. We tied up in the Small Boat Harbor about 300 yards away from 2 massive cruise ships!! Yep, the cruise ship games have begun. Skagway is now getting 2-3 cruise ships/day…each about 60-70% full….maybe 4-6,000 people….whoa!!!
May 5-6: We came up to Skagway in a hurry in order to see Sherry and Michelle/Ed before they all got very busy with the summer tourists. Sherry, a private tour guide in Skagway, already has several tours booked and Michelle and Ed are trying to get their dog mushing business going. But, they are a bit stymied due to the late Spring and still 3-4′ of snow at their summer dog mushing camp. We were supposed to go up for a visit on Friday, but Michelle asked for another day in order to remove some snow.
We did meet up with Sherry at the Bonanza bar & grill for their opening day….Cinco de Mayo….margaritas and Mexican food…yummers. Sherry’s stories of small town Skagway surviving Covid are heartfelt and difficult stories to hear. While Skagway was very isolated and did quite well avoiding the virus, the isolation was very difficult, especially from services in Canada, which is much closer than Juneau and you can get to Canada by car versus an expensive ferry ride to Juneau….wow. And, the NCL cruise lines donated millions of dollars to these small cruise ship towns in Alaska to keep them afloat. Self-serving but what a lifeline. Skagway is now back almost 100%….we saw maybe 2-3 businesses still closed…wow!!!
Sherry also came over to Mystic one night for Kathy’s famous crab bisque soup and sourdough grilled cheese….yummers, of course the wine was flowing as well. Sherry brought her 2 pets, Jedi, a large and sweet-as-can-be dog and her cat, Moo…..oh what fun we had with animals onboard Mystic!!!
So…oh darn….we had 2 days to well relax….of course, that meant doing some boat projects.
Kabola Defrost Fan: I was able to get the darn thing out….5 screws, 4 hidden and 3 with 90* awkward turns….but, I did it…AND, in the process my knee froze, which jerked my right hand holding the screwdriver which then proceeded into the blower fan above…..no, I did not have that fan turned off as the PH was cold in the am….but, still, a silly mistake….metal on plastic fan fins….hmmmm…so, luckily we had a spare 12v fan which took me an hour to replace, mainly as when it all got hooked up nothing ran, turned out a fuse blew in the electrical box, which of course is in the ER and you have to be a midget to get to it….I’m curled up like a ball and Kathy is handing me the tools…yep, a boat project….ugh:))) Turns out, Jeff who actually installed the Kabola system back in 2005, now works for Sure Marine in Seattle, is able to get us the exact motor and fan….ODG…unheard of after 18 years…but TG….plug and play!!!!! We will have the fan shipped to Sitka and we will install sometime in July!!!!
Engine Room: greased the stabilizer fins, changed the fresh water filter, inspected hot water tank zinc…after 3 years still 80% good….hmmm, when we were living on Mystic full time and using the watermaker most of the time, the zinc lasted a year….now it has been 3 years….shows just how little we have cruised in the last 3 years or used the watermaker!!
May 7-8, Michelle & Ed: We finally made it to Ed & Michelle’s ranch after months of planning/coordination. What a lovely lifestyle and place they have. It’s about 2 hours by car from Skagway, about 30 miles east of Carcross in the Yukon and ~5 miles from the Southern Lakes Resort on Tagish Lake. The drive takes you along the Whitepass route that the gold miners took during the Klondike gold rush in the late 1890’s. Breathtaking and oh soooooo much snow….DDG x 2!!!! We had lots of fun/jocularity playing with the dogs, eating a moose roast (first time for us and delicious!!), hearing Michelle’s Iditarod stories, and just catching up on their life in the Yukon. Ed will be managing a mining camp near Dawson this summer and yes, there is still a lot of gold in that area. Michelle will be running their dog mushing tourist business in Tutshi. They have ~50 Alaskan huskies, 2 of which we sponsor, Skandic and Dougal, both raced in the 2022 Iditarod, Dougal leading a lot of the time!!!
https://tagishlakekennel.com/tutshi-sled-dog-summer-tours/
The Plan: We will leave tomorrow to head south towards Juneau. We will overnight again in William Henry anchorage in Lynn Canal and then make Auke Bay in Juneau on Wednesday. We need to make a Costco et al run in Juneau and probably be there for 3 nights. After that it’s cruising in Glacier Bay, and the Hoonah and Tenakee Springs areas. We want to be back in Sitka by 6/12 +/-.
Critter Stats:
Whales: 9 total (8 Humpback, 1 Minke)
– 1 Humpback near Skagway in Lynn Canal
Bears: 3 Brown;
Dungeness Crab: 8; Red Bluff 2, Cannery Cove 2, Upper basin Good Island Inlet 3; Snug Cove 1
Prawns: 130 Spotted: 80 Red Bluff, 31 Pybus Bay; 19 Gambier Bay
Otters: 150; 75 in Rocky Pass, 75 outside Pybus Bay
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
PS: Pictures on the website: https://www.mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/skagway-and-tagish-lake-kennel
Hi Far Away Neighbors!
Happy to see that you are doing well and enjoying your trip. Miss seeing your smiling faces around here! What beautiful photos! Seeing your photos makes me so excited for our Alaska trip. In August we will be one of the 6,000 visitors ;-l Good to hear that the cruise ships helped the local communities stay afloat! The inside of the Mystic is beautiful! What a wonderful adventure for you, all the beautiful scenery animals and mammals!
On the local front, Chuck’s house sold! Don’t know the final price just that we heard it is couple with a disabled adult child from the East Bay Area. We believe escrow closes in mid-June. Last week we went to dinner with the Chatfield’s and Young’s then attended a comedy night at the club house. A local comedian who focuses on life over 55+. He was hilarious! Too bad we all could relate to his jokes!!! Tom treated me to a very nice Mother’s Day brunch at our club house. It was very well done, the buffet was all delicious with plenty of choices, nicely done. We are headed to Hawaii for a week from May 19th – May 27th with Tom’s sister and her husband. Looking forward to seeing the nice beaches and seeing the ocean, we miss it living in Brentwood. The Henry’s returned from Disneyland, we will find all about their trip at the Wave tonight.
Looking forward to your next blog! Take care and happy boating!
Your neighbors, Melaine and Tom
Hi guys,
Great blog and pics. Having worked on many an engine myself, there will always be a slip, drop or break sometime in the repair process. I’m glad you were able to get everything fixed. Your blog and pics are continuing to excite us about our upcoming trip to Alaska. Not sure about the massive mount of people on our ship, but can’t wait to get out and explore. Rye has also become one of my favorites, but bourbon is a very close second. I know Melaine is updating you about our neighbors house, so I’ll skip that part. Otherwise, life continues to be “the life” here, with Hawaii next week, Paso Robles in June, RV trip to Washington in July and Alaska in August.
Take care and keep up the blog, Tom & Melaine