Once again we're readying for another Alaska Cruise. This year we plan to depart Anacortes a bit earlier on April 19, arriving in Sitka by the first week of May. It's pretty much the same itinerary and crew with the addition of at least a couple side trips up to Lituya Bay. Here's the plan:
2015 WILD BLUE ALASKA CRUISE ITINERARY
Revision 3, April 3, 2015
Leg #1 SUN-APR 19 ROCHE HARBOR, WA TO THU-MAY 7 SITKA, AK.
Northbound BC cruising including Vancouver, Gorge Harbor, Broughton Islands, Port McNeil, Namu, Shearwater, Boat Bluff/Alexander Inlet, Hartley Bay, Prince Rupert, Dundas Island, Ketchikan, Prince of Wales Island, Rocky Pass, Peril Strait, Kalinin Bay, Sitka – 19 days: To Boat fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Seattle. From boat fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Sitka to home. Crew: Roger and Maureen Larsen
Leg #2 THU-JUN 11 SITKA, AK TO MON-JUN 22 SITKA, AK.
Local Sitka cruising with King Salmon fishing and crabbing, anchoring at night. 5-day round-trip cruise to Lituya Bay for halibut fishing. Sitka to Sitka – 11 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Sitka. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Sitka to home. Crew with Alex only: Roger Larsen, Sid Findley, Gerard Ages.
Leg #3 TUE-JUN 23 SITKA, AK TO SAT-JUL 4 SITKA, AK.
Local Sitka cruising with King Salmon fishing and crabbing, anchoring at night. 5-day round-trip cruise to Lituya Bay for halibut fishing. Sitka to Sitka – 11 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Sitka. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Sitka to home. Crew with Alex only: Willie Benedetti, Joe Cebe, Mike Celentano
Leg #4 SUN-JUL 5 SITKA, AK TO WED-JUL 15 SITKA, AK.
Local Sitka cruising with King Salmon fishing and crabbing, anchoring at night. 5-day round-trip cruise to Lituya Bay for halibut fishing. Sitka to Sitka – 11 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Sitka. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Sitka to home. Crew with Alex only: Vince Fonte, Marvin Dee, Bob Silva
Leg #5 FRI-JUL 24 SITKA, AK TO MON-AUG 3 JUNEAU, AK.
Cruising Baranof, Admiralty and Chichagof Islands anchoring at night, fishing, to Auke Bay or Juneau – 11 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Sitka. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Juneau to home. Crew: Vince and Marianne Fonte; Chuck and Carolyn French.
Leg #6 WED-AUG 5 JUNEAU, AK TO FRI-AUG 14 KETCHIKAN, AK.
Southbound cruising with visits to Stephens Passage, Tracy Arm, Pack Creek bears, Petersburg, Wrangell, Anan Bay bears, and Ketchikan. – 10 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Juneau. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Ketchikan to home. Crew: Bill and Karen Almas
Leg #7 SUN-AUG 16 KETCHIKAN, AK TO THU-AUG 27 PORT MCNEILL, BC.
Southbound cruising through BC with visits to Prince Rupert, Lowe Inlet, Shearwater, Goose Island, Broughton Islands and Port McNeill. – 12 days: Fly www.AlaskaAir.com to Ketchikan. Fly www.Pacific-Coastal.com from Port McNeill to Vancouver, and then fly www.AirCanada.com from Vancouver to home. Crew with Alex Only: Denny and Lori Haythorn, Dick Squire.
Leg #8 FRI- AUG 28 PORT MCNEILL, BC TO WED-SEP 9, ANACORTES, WA.
Southbound cruising through BC with visits to Port McNeill, Broughton Islands, Desolation Sound, Comox, Naniamo or Vancouver, Victoria and Anacortes. – 13 days: Fly www.AirCanada to Vancouver then www.Pacific-Coastal.com to Port McNeill. Fly www.AlaskaAir.com from Seattle to home. Crew: Jan, Jerry and Justin Watkins
BOAT IMPROVEMENTS
The boat has been running great. No outstanding mechanical issues. We took fuel at $1.92 a gallon which turned out to be good low price around the Seattle area. As we do each year, a few improvements were completed, or almost completed:
- Replaced our noisy, power hog 17" LCD displays, with two new 19" LED Tote displays. These have 1000 NITS of brightness for day work, and dim well for night running.
- Relocated our Icom IC7000 Single Side Band transceiver base unit from the fly-bridge down to the shielded engine room. Hopefully this will reduce the amount of radiated RF Interference that when transmitting on certain frequencies, activates the bow and stern thrusters!
- Replaced the 16 foot SSB antenna with a 23 foot antenna to better match the transmitter to antenna below the 7 Mhz frequencies, especially on the 75-meter ham radio Alaska and Baja nets.
- Installed toroids on control, power and coaxial cables that connect to the SSB transceiver in hopes of reducing the receiver RFI and other electrical noise.
- Installed higher capacity blowers to keep the engine room cooler, especially if we cruise Baja.
- Disassembled and replaced the worn parts inside the Maxwell 350 windless.
- Replaced the two fly-bridge overhead lights with a sealed tube of LED rope lights which we hope will better survive the winters when the canvass top is off.
We're looking for another fun summer of cruising and blogging about it. And we should be actively blogging again pretty soon.
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