We have a busy plan this morning then an 8-hour motor. Let me back up:
After spending the last ten days back in California, we left San Luis Obispo via car up Highway 101 meeting our local crew along the way. Veterans Vince and Marianne Fonte, and Chuck and Carolyn French, joined with us at a new San Jose hotel close to a favorite restaurant: Vito’s Trattoria on Skypark Drive. Early Friday we flew to Sitka, arriving late afternoon. After unpacking, we made our provisions list for stocking on Saturday.
Today, we have to unload our on-shore cold storage locker into the boat's freezer, provision at the market and fuel the boat. Once completed, we will get motoring northward, hoping for a secure anchorage this evening. The girls get marketing while the boys head to the fuel dock. A line of boats at the fuel dock adds almost an hour and it takes another hour to fuel. The girls have the groceries delivered to the fuel dock where we load, and go. The Wild Blue has been in and out of Sitka since May 5th. By 1PM we are saying good bye to this pretty Alaskan town after almost three months!
Our route today is a bit different. We will follow the standard inside route northward towards Peril Strait but at Salisbury Sound, instead turning right into the flat waters of the Strait, we head out to sea. At Piehle Pass we turn for the inside route again, up Smooth Channel, then Ogden and Surveyor Passages, through Portlock Harbor, Golding Harbor and into Baker Cove. About 9PM we pulled into Baker and set the hook.
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| Our route northward from Salisbury Sound, outside Chicagof Island, through Piehle, Smooth, Ogden, Surveyor, Portluck and Golding into Baker Cove. |
Sunday, July 26th: Lisianski Strait, Bohemia Cove to Pelican
This morning we cruised out of Baker and Portlock Harbor dodging a seiner set. A seiner season had opened early this morning and we watched from our anchorage as the fishing boat set his net across the mouth of Baker Cove. We left between two sets and it looked like a good catch of coho salmon.
We exited Portlock via Imperial Passage and were in the ocean for about an hour. 6-foot well-spaced swells rocked the boat on our way to the southwest entrance of Lisianski Strait. At the entrance a couple humpbacks feeding almost too close!
Short of the top of the Strait we pulled off at Bohemia Creek and tied to the National Parks provided float. It was a nice respite from the rain and we enjoined a great lunch.
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| A robust dock built by the National Park Service for recreational use. No charge! |
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| Crew Vince and Marianne are playing in the rain. These two are less than 3 months away from celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. |
After 2 hours of hiking, lunching and napping, we slipped our lines and headed for Pelican. We arrived about 3pm to very quiet community. Only about 120 folks live here year round and maybe as many as 250 in the summer months. Pelican Seafoods closed for business in July 2008 and the population has dwindled. Rosie's Bar amd Grill was very quiet, the brightest light being her "OPEN" sign. With no harbormaster, we just picked an open slip and hoped for the best. It had no power so we occasionally ran the generator. After walking the town and chatting up a few folks, we decided to leave an envelope with our dock fees at the harbor office.
Because of a storm forecast we spent two nights here. We walked the Pelican boardwalk, saw the near new schoolhouse, visited the power station, and spied on as two large halibut were filleted on the boardwalk. It was a quiet time for Scrabble, Mexican Train, rain watching and book reading. It was just too rainy to get any decent photos of Pelican.
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