July 13-17
Hi All,
Roseanne, Mark, and me had an excellent tour of the El Capitan Caves (Kathy sat this one out….maybe too many caves in the Philippines:))). The limestone was formed millions of years ago near the Equator and the caves only discovered in the 1990’s. There is a dense forest on top of the caves and it seems the caves are relatively young as the stalactites and stalagmites are pretty small. There is about 2 miles of caves but we only did a very small portion. To get to the caves 2 college interns took us up 371 steps, ugh, but they stopped several times and gave us some great facts regarding the dense forest. Most of it had been logged with some giant sized stumps still visible but now 200-330′ cedars, spruce and hemlocks are growing all around. It was pretty rocky, somewhat cool and wet and very dark….we turned off our headlamps and flashlights and yep, could not see my hand in front of my face….whoa!!!
We anchored on the opposite shore from the dinghy dock and the views were marvelous. Kathy did see a black bear albeit only briefly. There are a gazillion very large sea otters all around us. Once again we got reports of the area in a drought, very low rainfall effecting the lakes and salmon streams and so far very few salmon…..arghhhhh!!! But good news for the critters, significant rain is forecast in a few days…joy!!!
We stayed a 2nd night and just relaxed the rest of the day. Kathy made tacos and we had M&R over….good times!!!
July 14: We left around 9:00amish and headed for either Sarkar or Kaguk bays. First was Sarkar….very nice but a very active fishing lodge dominated the cove so we passed. Went on to Kaguk Bay…total 29nm and anchor down, passage beers opened by 1pm!!! We all just relaxed the rest of the day…but we did see 2 good size black bears, lots of otters and a few seals!!
Woke up on the Monday the 15th to rain….wow….it had been 23 days since rain….not good in a temperate rainforest albeit we had plenty of marine layer clouds and fog!! But, the forecast changed for Tuesday….now a bit nasty…big winds and lots of rain….so we decided to go to Craig a day early.
On our way out of the Kaguk anchorage around 9:30am and before the Tonowek Narrows, which we timed and still had a -2-3kt foul current….maybe 1-2 miles out….we had quite a whale show…..6 Humpbacks lazily feeding on the surface…..no bubble netting though…darn…but since we have been whining about the lack of wildlife it was good to see these guys!!
We made Craig about 1:15pm….27nm….hailed the Harbormaster only to be told they had a slip with no power….ugh…but at least not at anchor during the upcoming big blow. While we were at the office checking in a slip on the transient dock did become available for us, but then Mark wanted it so we let them have it hoping someone else would leave…which they finally did the next day in the am….of course, blowing stink/raining and then I fell again down the PH stairs racing to throw Kathy and Mark some lines as it was blowing Mystic around quite a bit….what is it with stairs these day….whaaaaaaaa…not really hurt, just stunned/bruised:)))
Craig is an ok town….pretty small, about 1000 people, old docks, some industry…..lumber mill, fish processing plants, mainly a fisherman town and again, not a good season and some of the fishermen were a bit cranky. The internet sucked as it seems to be the case in these small towns….either old technology and/or too many people. We did have an opening lunch at the Dockside Café….good burger and halibut fish & chips…but we have had better.
On Tuesday we had enough of the sucky internet and went to the library for a few hours….eventually found Papas Pizza to have pretty fast internet as well!!! I did get caught up on emails/online banking and got a few pictures uploaded to the website. We had an excellent dinner at the Shelter Cove Lodge! A fellow Selene, Rick on Jean Marie, had told us about the Lodge and wow….one of the best meals we have had in a while. I had a fabulous cioppino and Kathy had fresh halibut…yummers!!!! But, then we went to get our raincoats in the locker and found someone had taken Ksthy’s coat which had the boat keys. Dave, the manager was quite gracious, sort of figured out which guest had taken the coat, 15 mins later with a complimentary glass of wine, Dave was back with her coat and keys….what a gentlemen and great place!!!!
Rain: yep…it rained for over 48 hours while we were in Craig….pretty hard at times. There was some wind in the marina but not as bad as what was out in the open ocean so we were glad we were in a protected marina. While it was a pain to walk around in the rain we didn’t really complain as the locals were all rejoicing!!!
The Plan: We are leaving Craig on Thursday July 18 for Hydaburg, a native village with some artful totem pole carvers. From there we will go to Nichols Point at the southern end of Prince of Wales and stage for the long run across Dixon Entrance to Prince Rupert on 7/22. We are finding it hard to wrap our heads around the fact we are leaving this beautiful state of Alaska….we will most certainly be back…..and to our Canadian friends…we will certainly enjoy British Columbia!!!
Critter Stats:
Dungeness Crab: 73 total; still not crabbing
Prawns: 95: 81 Spotted, 14 Coon Stripe; 27 in Necker Bay
Whales: 173 total; 154 Humpbacks; 11 Orcas; 8 Minke: 6 Humpbacks out of Kaguk
Salmon: 1: 20-lb King in Whale Bay
Bears: 60 total: 57 Browns, 3 Black; 1 black in El Capitan; 2 in Kaguk
Wolves: 5
Otters: 950; 20 in El Capitan anchorage; 30 out of Kaguk going to Craig
Mountain Goats: 42 total
Dall’s Sheep: 3
Moose: 3
Alaskan Husky sled dogs: 60
Stellar Sea Lions: 900;
Hope all is well!
John
Mystic Moon
Craig, Prince of Wales
PS: Still no pics on the website….I did get some uploaded but just not enough internet speed to make much progress….hopefully Prince Rupert will have decent internet for a change:))))
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