Moira Sound, South Arm, July 14-17

After we left Dickman Bay Cove we picked up our crab trap and had to dump a small sand shark out through the crab door. He had to fold-up nearly in half to fit through the door. He swam away after he dropped out no worse for the ordeal. No, there were no crabs!

However, the prawn trap came up loaded with eight dozen good sized prawns.







We re-set the prawn trap at the entrance to Dickman Bay in West Arm on our way to South Arm.





We went to the head of South Arm to set the crab trap and check out the anchorage there. It was too open for our taste and we went back up the Arm to a little cove we spotted on our way in.









We sounded the little N. E. nook in the cove and felt comfortable anchoring there for the night. 54° 58.830’ N / 132° 07.940’ W







We had no sooner left the spot where we set the crab trap, and JoAnne spotted a bear working the high tide line on the opposite shore. I motored carefully over toward the bear into shoal water so JoAnne could get some photos. I had to back off when the depth of the water got too shallow. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge for a better shot at the bear. Before we got to the cove where we anchored, we spotted another bear also working the high tide line of the shore.

The little cove where we anchored was tranquil and secure.

Click on thumbnail to see the interesting reflections (totems).






The next morning we went back to the head of South Arm to pick up our empty crab trap, and spotted a third bear actually grazing along the high tide line. This 1s where "Beach Asparagus" thrives this time of year. Locals harvest this plant and some can it, and enjoy this delicacy all year. We figured the bears had zeroed in on it too.

After picking up the crab trap, we went over to West Arm and found four dozen good sized prawns in our prawn trap before heading over to Johnson Cove.


We re-set the prawn trap near the entrance to Johnson Cove before going to the head end to set the crab trap and anchoring in the cove. 54° 58.365’ N / 132° 05.520’ W







We set the crab trap near this old ferry boat that apparently had been scuttled and left as a derelict.







The cove was peaceful as well as scenic in the afternoon sun.








While we were sounding our anchorage, this little buck was content to stay put and just watch. When he discovered we were staying, he disappear into the foliage and we never saw him again the rest of our stay.





The next morning we picked up our empty crab trap and headed out of Johnson Cove to get our prawn trap on our way back to Ketchikan.










The prawn trap produced four dozen big prawns, in spite of the tel tale evidence of sand fleas. They left nothing behind of the bait, but the lacy remains of bones picked absolutely clean. There was also a skinny little star fish.





We left Moira Sound with 20 dozen of these tasty morsels in the box.... except for the ones we ate along the way. It's hard to not sample these tasty little morsels when you've worked so hard to gather them.









We got across a flat calm Clarance Strait and into Nichols Passage before the N.W. wind built. I started trolling for Coho as soon as we reached the Bronaugh Islands. We hadn't gone very far when we had a fish on. We got it to the boat, but again we farmed it out before we got 'em in the net. We fished along the north shore until we got to Bostwick Inlet, a local favorite for crabbing. We were hungry for crab and it was early enough in the day to go in to the head end of the inlet and set our trap amongst at least a hundred others. Boats are continually coming and going into Bostwick to tend crab pots. We then spent the next three hours unsuccessfully trolling along the shore between Bostwick Point and Blank Inlet while we were waiting for our trap to fill up with big succulent Dungeness Crabs.

When we went back into the inlet to tend our trap we found two legal sized males and one female which was returned. We went into Thomas Basin at the Ketchikan Yacht Club, and had crab for dinner.

We will hang in here until the incoming weather clears, then go around Revillagigedo Island through Misty Fiords, explore the top end of "Revilla" then come back here to get squared away for our trip south back to Puget Sound to lay Teal up for the winter.

Stay tuned,

George and JoAnne.

Moira Sound, July 13

After several days of rain while at the Ketchikan Yacht Club, it looked like we were going to have a change in the weather, so we took off for Moira Sound on Prince of Wales island. Our route took us out Nichols Passage and across Clarence Strait. There was a little S.E. wind so after we made our way through the fishing fleet at Bronaugh Islands, I set our 140 Genoa on close reach to steady the boat and motor sailed in broken cloud/sunny skies to Moira Sound.



We went into North Arm and set the prawn trap at a likely spot before continuing to Clarno Cove at the head end to check out the anchorages.






We weren't satisfied with any of the coves at the upper end, so we dropped back down to Cannery Cove.






After sounding the cove we anchored for the night.
55° 06.710’N / 132° 08.600’ W










After getting squared away I rowed out the crab trap, under a rainbow, to a likely spot.







Click on the thumbnail photo to see some of the still existing pilings that once supported the cannery. The cannery operated until they canned the entire run of salmon they depended on. A testimony to a bygone day.





The next morning we found the crab trap empty, but on our way to Dickman Bay we hauled our prawn trap and it produced four dozen good sized prawns. This haul reinforced our confidence for catching prawns.





On our way to Dickman Bay we went into Niblack Anchorage to check it out. The chart shows the abandon village site of Niblack at the head end, 55° 03.480’N / 132° 06.630’ W. Since it became a fishing lodge for a while, and now is the site of a small scale uranium mine with a floating logging camp anchored in the southwest cove to serve the mining crew.


None of the coves in Niblack Anchorage suited us so we moved on to Dickman Bay.

We set the prawn trap in a likely spot in about 400 feet before going up to the head end of the inlet to find an anchorage.





We found excellent anchorage in a very tranquil cove.






We anchored in a spot with a beautiful view. 55° 02.765’ N / 132° 15.037’ W

More to see in Moira Sound.
Stay tuned,

George and JoAnne

Ketchikan to George Inlet, July 6

After five days at the Ketchikan Yacht Club catching up on domestic and boat chores, email, blog posting, communications in general, and watching it rain, we decided to hold off on our plans to circumnavigate Ravillagigedo Island, through Misty Fiords National Monument, for a period of better weather.
It would be a shame not to see the fiord's during clear sunny weather if possible. We went into George and Carroll inlets to do some fishing and see the upper part of Carroll, which we hadn't seen the last time we were there.





When we got to Mountain Point, a local favorite salmon fishing area, we broke out the trolling gear, and fished to Herring Bay without a hit. We put up the fishing gear and headed to the top end of George Inlet.









We checked out all of the possible anchorages along the way to the suggested prawn spot where we set our trap before going into Tsa Cove, where after sounding the cove, we decided to anchor for the night. 55° 30.040’ N / 131°27.650’ W
There was a fair-sized stream of fresh water emptying into the cove, a likely spot for crab, so I rowed the skiff out to a spot off-shore from the stream and set the crab trap.

It was a quiet anchorage, although it rained most of the night. The next morning, after breakfast we motored over to the spot where I had set the crab trap. We hauled it in. Nothing but a large Sea Star which didn't want to leave our trap or the bait. He had about 15 points. We then went out where we had set the prawn trap and hauled it in. Just a dozen shrimp so small we threw them back.

We motored back down George Inlet to California Head and into Carroll Inlet, to the prawn spot where we caught a few very large prawns, in spite of a sand flea invasion, the last time we were in Carroll Inlet. We set our trap using canned tuna in a bait jar thus the bait escapes the sand fleas. We then went up to the spot where we caught good-sized crab on our last visit. We set our crab trap before going back to Gnat Cove to anchor for the night. 55° 22.675’ N / 130° 19.795’ W.

The next morning the prawn trap produced nothing, but the crab trap gave us five all better than 7-inch out of a total of ten. We then went over to a spot we found on out last trip to Carroll and immediately caught three bottom fish for bait for our next prawn trap set.




We set the prawn trap on our way to Shelter Cove further up the inlet using the fresh bait and hoping not to be hit by the sand fleas so wide-spread in Carroll Inlet. We then went into the Cove and tied to the public dock for the night. 55° 32.110’ N / 131° 20.905’ W






There was some activity at Shelter Cove. There was a logging camp for a logging operation working in the area, a road building crew landing at the dock daily that were building a road into a new area, and US Forest Service crew policing all the work going on.





The next day after lunch we went further up the inlet to the Swan Lake Power House and got permission to spend the night at their dock. 55° 37.050’ N / 131° 21.525’ W
This is the site for the generation of power for Ketchikan, and there is power available on the dock. We plugged in so we could run our 110V heater which helps keep the condensation inside the boat to a minimum.

We sat in the boat for the most part watching it rain. For a brief moment, we saw wireless connection. It disappeared rather quickly. They may have shut down for the night.




The mail plane didn't seem bothered by all the rain. It came up to the dock unloaded packages, loaded packages and power house crew flying out. It all took place in just a few minuets.






The next day we stopped on our way out just below Shelter Cove and hauled our prawn trap. We were only able to catch a few prawns before the sand fleas took charge of the trap, but some of them were huge.





We spent the rest of the day trolling for salmon around Mountain Point before heading into Ketchikan. We hooked three or four coho, but only got one to the boat. And it shook the hook during its fight to stay out of the net.

We will spend a couple of days in Ketchikan making ready for a trip over to Moira Sound on Prince of Wales Island, the third largest island in the US, behind Kodiak, and the big island of Hawaii.

Stay tuned,

George and JoAnne

Meyers Chuck and on to Ketchikan, June 30

Once out of Santa Anna Inlet we headed to Point Peters on the south end of Deer Island to retrieve our prawn trap, on the way across Sunny Bay we saw a large pod of Orcas and a very large Hump Back near our trap. Our trap came up empty and we headed for Meyers Chuck.













Meyers Chuck is a little pocket surrounded by islands creating a very secure hideaway anchorage in a storm. Click on chart to see enlargement and the hole in the wall entrance.




Once inside there is a public dock and an anchorage.
55° 44.390’ N / 132° 15.462’ W







The quirky little community of cabins, a few homes, an art & crafts gallery, (where Jo found her fish bone earrings) even has a part time post office. One of the residents brings hot sticky buns down to the dock in the morning.

This is a shot of the head of the dock; bulletin board, phone booth that only takes credit card calls (no coins), and an official mail box with a sign affixed that says "Mail Pick up - 10 am Tuesday".

Several boats came in while we were there and we had a good time visiting. Met a gal who's husband bought a town in Washington, on ebay. She said when he saw it had hydro-electric power, he had to have it. So he's the mayor, his partner who bought in with him is the town planner, and they have a full time caretaker. We looked on the internet and it's there. Also a young couple from Homer, Alaska, heading to New Zealand with their 7 year old daughter to start a new life there. Also a full-white-bearded salty sailor who spent his winter in the Broughtons on Vancouver Island at Pierres. He caught us up on the local doin's of our acquaintances from that part of the world whom we visited in summers past.

Sunset at Meyers Chuck.








The next day we headed for Ketchikan along the west side of Cleveland Peninsula on the mainland into Tongass Narrows.










Ship Island just off the shore along the way. We had a spell of beautiful weather after leaving Santa Anna Inlet that lasted for several days







Guard Island Light, at the north end of Tongass Narrows off of Point Vallenar







One of the several cruise ships that leave Tongass Narrows daily. One of these ships left a pretty good-sized wake, that we took part of over the bow, and unfortunately into the open hatch. Most of the stuff dried pretty fast once we got in. But the salt water needs to be washed out of clothes, cause otherwise they will never dry.








July 1, back in Ketchikan at low tide and a steep climb out of the harbor.



More later,

George and JoAnne

Santa Anna Inlet, June 29

When we left Wrangell we planed on fishing our way to Ernest sound. We were told of a good halibut spot in Circle Bay at the south end of Woronkofski Island. We stopped, we fished, we saw no indication of good halibut habitat. So much for local information, we headed down Zimovia Strait.




Zimovia Strait is another beautiful passage with spectacular vistas, where the tide meets in the narrow part.










The flood tide from Wrangell flows south and the flood tide from Ernest sound flows north. The tide meets at Village Islands just north of the narrows.







We met a couple of boats going north at the narrows. As I have pointed out before, in the Pacific Northwest when there are tide or current considerations boats seem to appear out of nowhere at the critical point of the passage.
After we got through the narrows we trolled for salmon until we got to Ernest Sound with out success. Along the way we met and visited with a young lad from Thoms Place out in his rowing shell and making enough speed to catch up with us.

After giving up on the fishing we went across Ernest Sound and down Seward Passage passed a couple of sailboats anchored in Frosty bay and set our prawn trap before being led by a pod of dolphins into Santa Anna Inlet to Anchor, 55° 58.556’ N / 131° 56.056’ W, for the night, along with a group of kayaker's and another sailboat that came in after us.

Tomorrow we head for Meyers Chuck on Clarence Strait.

Stay Tuned,

George and joAnne