Hecate Strait to Ketchikan

Entering Tongass Strait - Ketchikan

5/24/11

Ketchikan

55*20.5 N

131*38.7’ W

It’s funny when you travel from one country to another, even when the language is the same, how different the culture can be.  But then I have to remind myself that culture is even different when you travel from state to state in the US.  Despite the huge influence of global communications (TV, radio, etc) which you would think would merge such cultures as English accents, values, food choices, etc., cultures and values are different everywhere you go, even in small ways.

Four little duckies, all in a row

At least these have been my thoughts as I have spent the last 3 days in Ketchikan, Alaska.  Going from a benign, helpful culture with a unique accent in their speech in Canada, to the good-old-boys, we’re-frontier-folks, don’t-tread-on-me type of folks in Alaska.

Here’s an interesting example of culture difference: in Washington (Friday Harbor), there always two kinds of dump bins – one for trash, the other for recycle, which includes cardboard, cans, plastic containers, etc., all of which is separated by people in the recycle centers.  In Canada, there are usually 2-3 different recycle bins, one for cardboard, one for containers, etc., so you have to do your own separating.  Here in Alaska, “recycle” is not in their vocabulary.  When I asked the harbormaster if there was a recycle bin, she didn’t understand until I explained.  Nope, no recycle here.

Looking at Alaska from Canada

This town has a more rustic, rugged feel than any of the ports that I visited in Canada.  Here in the port there is an interesting mix of pleasure and commercial fishermen (not many yachts except transient). Here in the harbor, it’s all about catching fish – the 2^nd day I was here, a small 23’ powerboat with two guys offloaded 3 halibut, and 3 king salmon.  A nice catch…one of the kings measured out to 38 pounds!  A Fish & Game lady came down to measure and record (I haven’t seen one of those for awhile!), and, while she was measuring, and the guys were cleaning (which took about an hour), they attracted lots of different people to look, discuss, evaluate, and to reminisce.  Things seem unhurried around here, as people seem to have a lot of time to chat and gossip.

One of many waterfalls in the channels

My boat is moored right next to the main loading ramp, a main hub, if you will, where there is usually one or two groups at various times discussing things like their boats, boat maintenance, fishing, and, of course, politics.  In regards to politics, what surprises me is that there is not a lot of Fox Channel political diatribe being tossed about, as I would have thought coming from Sarah Palin country (although there is some).  There are a lot of blue-collar concerns about loss of jobs (the lumber milling industry is dead because the lumber companies are exporting raw logs direct to China and Japan, thus eliminating a ton of jobs. This fact has both the Alaska workers as well as the Canadians concerned; at least 3 or 4 people have told me this).  The fishing industry has suffered too.  The strong tourist industry doesn’t attract a lot of the regular people around here, and there are a lot of imports of people catering to the summer crowds of tourists.

Ketchikan (and what seems to be a large chunk of SE Alaska area) gets a huge influx of cruise ship tourists coming in.  When I bicycled over to the main part of town on Sunday, there were 5 giant cruise ships (one Disneyland one!) docked all in a very long line, tons of people milling around taking pictures and shopping. 

Nice scene...

But what's this?

Ah! Another Cruise ship

Shopping is a big part of this industry and the amount of nicky-nack stores in downtown is staggering – Indian rugs, quilts, wooden statues of bears, eagles, and other wildlife, candy of all sorts, and even jewelry stores, many specializing in diamonds.  Why would people off of a cruise ship buy diamonds in Alaska??  I don’t understand.  But I don’t understand nicky-nack purchases either.  Oh well, to each his/her own…

Ketchikan

Ketchikan is maybe 2-3 blocks thick and lies entirely along the Tongass Straits, a narrow channel with Ketchikan on one side and the airport on the other (you have to take a small ferry to get to the airport – no “bridge to nowhere”!).  Only one or two jets land there during a day.  It’s been nice for me because the road along Tongass is nice and level, so I’ve been using my handy foldable bike to get around, even though the harbor is a couple of miles to town.  I found a good freight place to receive shipments of stuff that I’ve ordered for the boat (solar panels and other things).  There’s a Safeway that’s pretty near, and a video rental place.  Hot dog!  All the comforts of home.

Still and yet, once I get to Juneau, I may decide to stay at a nice hotel for a couple of days to at least enjoy a nice bath, which I haven’t had since doing the hot tub in Friday Harbor, which was a nice luxury.  Blue Bossa has been a very comfortable boat for my modest needs, but it still doesn’t have a bath.  Not having a bathtub probably wouldn’t be missed if I was cruising in tropical places such as Mexico (my friend Gary thinks I’m crazy to be cruising where the water temperature never gets above 50 degrees – and if it wasn’t for the awesome scenery, I would agree with him), but up here, it is missed.

Oh yeah, there are a TON of eagles here – they’re as numerous as seagulls (well, maybe not, but there’s a lot, especially on the weekends when fishermen are coming back with their spoils).  A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my main cabin working on some e-mails, and a guy on the dock signaled me quietly that I should come out.  I did and he pointed to the top of my mast…sitting on somewhat fragile wind-vane on the tippy-top of my mast was the…biggest! damn! bird I have ever seen.  He dwarfed the mast practically.  He was completely brown (which means he was a young eagle – their heads turn white when they pass 4 years old), and looked very ruffled.  I kick myself now for not taking a picture, but I was too concerned that a) he would break my vane and b) that he would shit giant loads on my deck.  So I shook the backstay until he spread out his huge wings and flew away.  WOW!

Tell me this wasn't shaped by glaciers...

Ketchikan is suppose to get tons of rain…whereas Seattle gets an average 52 inches in a year, Ketchikan gets 160 inches.  But I haven’t seen any evidence of this so far, as it’s been pretty sunny for the last 4 days.  Really nice!  By now, summer is definitely becoming a much-welcomed reality.  I’m now outside with just a regular t-shirt and pants (yes and shoes, underwear, etc.) and it’s actually quite pleasant to go on walks and actually work a bit of sweat.  I’ll be wearing shorts soon.  More and more of my hatches are at least open enough that if it does rain, I won’t be leaking water in the boat.

Driad Pt Lighthouse, near Bella Bella

But with summer up here also comes REALLY long days.  First of all, Alaska is one hour ahead of California.  The sun is actually shining at 5am, and still up by 9pm.  That’s good in one sense in that Blue Bossa can cruise in late hours and still watch out for deadheads.

Bottleneck, looking out

My last blog, I was in Shearwater, a nice little resort that catered to transient yachts and adventurous sport fishermen and hunters.  Shearwater is inland from Hecate (pronounced “Heck-it”) Straits.

Bottleneck

I stayed there for 2 days, and while I was there, I met some Texans from a 55’ Selene trawler called Watermark.  The guy who owns this multi-million dollar boat is a retired Texan who owned a big printing company, hence the name Watermark.  They invited me on board for a drink and were very friendly; the owner and his friend and wife were on board, all from Texas.  The owner is planning on going as far north as Ketchikan, then head south again to Mexico, then to the canal, then to the east coast, and then maybe to Europe.  He has a full agenda ahead of him, hoping to see as much as he can for the time left him (he’s 75 years old).  Most of our conversation centered on boats and cruising – although his friend, who was an ex-military pilot, wanted to talk politics (belittling Obama), I steered them back to…boats and cruising.  Talk about culture difference - Texans are a country to themselves.

Blue Bossa left the next day (full tank of fuel), winding around some islands to merge into Seaforth Channel until it opened out to Milbanke Sound, which was an open-to-the-sea area, if only briefly.  Once there, I found Finlayson channel, which headed due north until I got to a beautiful long bay called Bottleneck Inlet.  I was the only boat there when I arrived, so I dug in as close as I could and still have plenty of water underneath me when it got low tide (tidal changes can be at least 25 feet now).  It wasn’t long before there were 5 other large trawler-type yachts that shared the area with me, including Watermark.  The owner was nice enough to invite me to watch a movie with them (after dinner), which I was happy to accept (it was The Count of Monte Cristo which I saw before but enjoyed it once again – what can I say, I’m easily entertained, especially with the large built in screen and surround-sound that this guy had).

From Fancy Cove to Bottleneck

The next morning, I awoke a bit late (all of the yachts had left early) and left about 0900.  Back on route Finlayson Channel, which merged on Graham Reach, passing Butedale on the left, which is a great example of a once beautiful place becoming totally run-down, then changing to Fraser Reach, dead ending and taking a left on McKay Reach, which finally dumped into Whale Channel…(whew!).  By then, it was about 1500 hours and I should have called it a day by staying at Coglan Anchorage, but I was in a rut and had to keep going.  So left on Wright Sound (har!) towards the open ocean, and out to Otter Channel, where I ran into a goodly SE wind, with lots of steep chop.  I was motor-sailing with the main reefed, and had to slow the engine down to lessen the pounding.  By now I was berating myself for going on, but the boat was handling the crummy conditions ok, so I kept going, smelling the barn.

Butedale, the proverbial ghost town

Finally, there was a short 7-mile jaunt north (now downwind) up Principe Channel to my destination, which was Monckton Inlet, after going over 80 miles in 12 hours.  A long bay, but it had a side cove to it that was totally awesome, winding around a bunch of rocks, and finally ending up in a totally enclosed and very quiet lagoon where I dropped anchor.  By then, it was 2100, and still light outside and raining.  I spent a very restful night there.

Leaving Montague

The next morning I left about noon and headed back along Principe Channel until I took a right about 18 miles north on Petrel Channel.  My destination was going to be Captain Cove, but there was a very strong 3 knot current going against me after I passed Newcomb Harbour, enough to convince me that I was spinning my wheels – so turned back and went into Newcomb, which proved to be a nice quiet anchorage.  This is a mile long inlet, where it gets shallow towards the end, almost marshy.  It had a nice low valley, and I was hoping I would get to see some bears, but no luck.

Prince Rupert Yacht Club

To time the current correctly, I didn’t leave until 0900 the next day, but even then, the current was pretty small going with me.  I winded through the Petrel Channel Narrows until I merged with Ogden Channel, still heading north, which merged into Arthur Passage which emptied into Catham Sound, which is the entryway to Prince Rupert Harbour.  I was debating with myself the whole time whether I wanted to skip the town or to keep going, and decided to go ahead and visit it.  I was glad I did.

One of many container ships

Prince Rupert is the last city on the NW Pacific coast until you get to Alaska.  There were one or two cruise ships, but mostly there was commercial freight traffic – as a lot of stuff from the far east is deposited here and shipped by rail freight to other parts of Canada and US.  Apparently Prince Rupert is the closest port from Japan and China…go figure…and transit time is reduced by like 2 days.  This influx of freight has been a boon to this town, which lost about a third of the population from a downward turn of it’s fisheries, forest industries, and the closure of it’s pulp mill (I got a lot of feedback about raw lumber going to Asia from here too).

Brand new container cranes

Somebody's fancy resort just floated away...

I stayed here for two days.  One of the more interesting “adventures” was going to the local pub and watching the San Jose Sharks get pummeled by the Vancouver Canuks (hockey).  It was interesting because the number one sport in Canada is ice hockey, and the pub was jammed with people guzzling beer and vigorously cheering each time the Canuks made a goal (while I groaned).  A couple of people knew that I was from the San Jose area and couldn’t help but shake their heads sadly at me.  As of today, I guess the series is still going on, with Canuks having won 3 games, and Sharks having won 1.  Game 5 is tonight and I won’t watch it because I think I’m jinxed (update: it didn’t matter, the Sharks lost anyway and are now out of the series…sigh!).

I went to the first movie theater in 3 months, watching “Thor”, which was actually pretty good (remember, I’m easily entertained) – directed by Kenneth Branagh, the Shakespearing actor/director.  It was almost like watching Hamlet, except you could actually understand what the actors were saying this time :>)

The convoluted way - long, but pretty

There are two ways to get into Prince Rupert.  The first one comes out of the south and bypasses a bunch of huge loading docks for freighters.  The other one winds around a bunch of islands in very shallow waters until it dumps you back out on Catham Sound north, which is the route that I took to leave Prince Rupert, on a beautiful sunny day.  I won’t even tell you about the convoluted windings that I did to get out, but it all was very scenic, and therefore, worth it.  Once out in Catham Sound, I headed towards Dundas Island which redirects you into Dixon Entrance, which is a notoriously windy spot. 

Brundige Inlet

Brundige Inlet

And just after I passed Dundas Island to head towards Foggy Bay (a stop off in Alaska before you get to Ketchikan), the westerly started kicking up.  I decided to take a quick left to Brundige Inlet on Dundas Island to anchor for the night and leave early the next day to avoid bucking against any heavy winds.  I’m glad I did.  Brundige is a very deep 2.5 mile long inlet that’s very scenic, with low rolling hills mostly covered with trees.  To the left of it is a neat little separate inlet that is tricky to get into, but once in, it’s a nice hiding spot.  That’s where I spent the night.

I got up early at 0600 and headed due north across Dixon Entrance, smelling the barn, which was Ketchikan.  There was virtually no wind, the seas glassy and occasionally, a big west roller would pass underneath.  There was a bit of traffic (a couple of tugs with barges and some commercial fishing boats), but nothing too serious. 

Last Canadian lighthouse!

Like everyplace else from Friday Harbor to here, I have to keep a sharp lookout for floating logs and deadheads, some places thicker than others.  Many times I would see them in a sort of line, like in a current change, where there would be debris - floating garbage, floating logs, seaweed - all in a curving line, sometimes going as long as a mile, signifying a current change or pattern.  Usually this line would also be populated with seagulls, which made it easier to see.  It’s harder to see if it’s windy, and my hand is always close to the autopilot buttons to change course quickly if needed.

So now I’m in Ketchikan and I have a couple of projects to do before I take off.  I find that my water heater is backordered from Seaward for 4 weeks, which means I’ll have to pick it up in Juneau (no hot water showers for me – time to get a solar shower).  But I am adding another 100’ of chain to my anchor line (deeper waters here in AK), and building a solar panel rack, so I think I’ll be here for another 3-4 days.  I’ve already done some important projects that I’ve been putting off – pulling the food out of my refrigerator and cleaning it – and, lifting the stove off of it’s gimbals so that I could get behind it to clean the GRUNDGE that was back there…yech!  Today I’ll clean the head – oh boy!

I think I’ll rent a car this Thursday and explore Revillagigedo Island (where Ketchikan is) and be a tourist (without buying any nicky-nacks, thank you very much).