It turned out to be pretty misty in Misty Fjords, who would have known… After leaving Ketchikan we sailed with the south wind, up Behm Canal. The wind was so good we skipped our intended anchorage and kept going. Even hoisted the spinnaker. We finally ran out of wind near Yes (Yas = mussel) Bay and tugged into a small anchorage near a fishing resort. In the morning we took the dinghy over to the resort. It was a rustic lodge, right next to a scenic stream and hummingbirds buzzing all over the place. Inside it had some huge fireplaces, a restaurant and bar. Apparently it has daily float plane service from Ketchikan to fly over the sport fisherman with the necessary pocket change. We talked to one of the guys who worked at the resort and, while it was raining on us hard, he told us that this year is a very dry year. The second person after the drenched customs officer in Ketchikan who said that. We headed back to the boat and continued sailing down Behm canal through Behm Nar rows and just before Fitzgibbon Cove where we were planning to anchor for the night the wind went away. Fitzgibbon had a mud flat on one end and just as expected by dawn Jim showed up to eat some grass. We flew the drone over to get a shot of Jim but he did not like it. Next morning we continued our sail down Behm canal, now already heading back down towards Ketchikan. The wind was still behind us so we flew the chute for a few hours before the wind decided to rotate 180degree. By early afternoon we headed into Walker Cove checked out the anchorage at the very end at the mud flat of a river but decided against it. Too deep and too steep of a drop. We motored back to the entrance of the inlet and anchored on what must have been an underwater mountain with the tip about 30 feet below the surface of the water but with the bottom rapidly dropping off around it in all directions to 600+ feet depth. Sometimes I wonder what the anchor touches down in the depth of the sea. Anchoring has b een pretty interesting up here in Alaska. The textbook teaches a scope of 7:1 for secure anchorage which means if it is 30 feet deep, one would have to put out 210 feet of anchor rode. We have 275 feet total, the problem is that rarely there is an anchorage here that is 30 feet deep and even if there is the tide goes up and down 15+ feet over night. Most places are however way too deep for our anchor to even reach the bottom and even close to shore the granit wall just drops off perpendicular into the water. So usually we end up with 3:1 and hope for the best. Tonight we got an anchorage in Punchbowl Cove, featuring a steep granite wall a little stream and the resident grizzly bear. Got here pretty early in the day when the area was swarming with float planes but at 2pm sharp the float plane traffic stopped. The cruise ship in Ketchikan must have left port. Tomorrow we plan on checking out the last one of the famous inlets, Smeaton Bay, before we head back to Ketchikan. Happy Fou rth of July.
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
Misty Fjords
Great photo. Great story.
wow, this a very nice view behind you. When is the next update? nothing in 9 days, hope you’re still afloat 🙂
ok ok, going to do some ‘work’ and make a blog update…