Monday June 29- We walked to the Ace Hardware store this morning, picked up a water filter for our water maker. As well as pipe insulation for a few of the sweating water lines.
Exploring more of Historic Downtown Juneau.
Tuesday June 30- Dan is running a marathon in Alaska! Not a sanctioned race, they were all cancelled, he’s running the distance. The boat was his “ water station”.
At the startAfter 14 milesFinished!
Dan finished his marathon, took a tumble at mile 17, but still pushed to finish!
Wednesday July 1- explored more of Historic Downtown Juneau today, a 6 mile walk. Lots of Ravens, sounds of car tires with studs on, and the smell of Lilacs almost in full bloom.
Arrived back at the boat and Dan took a long nap. It was 70 degrees and sunny here today, a nice break from the gray skies and rain. There was measurable rainfall here in Juneau 29 out of the 30 days in June.
4:04 Sunrise, 9:32 Sunset Alaskan time. Still quarantined, (day 7) we planned with more detail our journey to Juneau, places to anchor, glaciers to see along the way.
There were two avocados still on the boat, I made a batch of guacamole, reminiscent of warmer weather.
We are at the city dock in Ketchikan. This afternoon we heard a whale, when we went into the cockpit, there it was right next to our boat!
This photo of Trance was taken by our newest Facebook follower, former Philadelphia resident who now lives here in Ketchikan, James W Kistner. Thanks for the photo!
Our plan is to go to Juneau, stopping in coves every night along the way, not having contact with other people until our 14 day quarantine is over.
We traveled about 31 miles from Ketchikan to Vixen Inlet, where we anchored for the night.
Monday June 22- quarantine day 9. Departed our quiet anchorage at 9:00am
Easterly Island, looks very manicure doesn’t it.
We encountered a pod of these Dall’s porpoises, they swam so fast and made quick turns, we didn’t know what they were at first, but several Facebook followers told us.
We traveled 26.5 miles today anchored in Fools Inlet around 2:30pm for the night.
Before dinner I baked a lemon bread, mostly for the heat.
For dinner I made chicken and rice, with peppers, celery, carrots and onions.
Tuesday June 23- quarantine day 10. Anchor up by 8:30am after Dan made eggs for breakfast. We’re off to Madan Bay.
As we traveled up Blake Channel, to Madan Bay, there were several small waterfalls streaming down the mountains along the way.
This is where we anchored.
Wednesday June 24- quarantine day 11. We departed our quiet little cove Madan Bay at 8:30am heading towards Deception Point Cove at the southern entrance to the Wrangall Narrows.
Thursday June 25- quarantine day 12. We departed at sunrise (4am!) to catch a favorable current going through the Wrangell Narrows. Passage through the Narrows should commence on the last part of a flood. The current enters the Narrows from both ends, when it meets in the middle, similar to the Chesapeake and Delaware canal (C &D) the current reverses.
We were going with the current exiting the Narrows, our speed over ground reached 10.1 knots, our speed was only 5.8, 4.3 knots of current.
Petersburg on average gets 106 inches of rain. It’s a small town that is more concerned with fishing and lumbering, not so much tourist, and has a strong Norwegian heritage.
After the Narrows we went south to the Le Conte Bay to see the glacier, encountering many icebergs.
Le Conte Glacier
Later headed back north anchored in Ruth’s Cove. It was 54 degrees in boat by morning, we were sleeping under 4 quilts and fuzzy blanket.
Friday June 26- quarantine day 13. Departed Ruth’s Cove towards Hobart Bay, Entrance Island. The cove inside the island measures about 600ft diameter. It was a cold rainy, foggy day. We did see a few whales.
Saturday June 27- quarantine day 14!
After departing Hobart Bay, we went up Holkham Bay a little ways to see the Sumdum Glacier. Afterwards, we weren’t to Taku Harbor, where we tied up to a floating raft for the night.
We were tied up between the sailboat and the fishing boat on the far side of the float in Taku Harbor.
Sunday June 28- Juneau. End of our self quarantine! We arrived at a city dock, at the Intermediate Vessel Float used for small cruise ships, yachts, and fishermen.
We are there with 2 fishing boats. There no cruise ships in the harbor as they are not operating.
The dock is near the historic section of Juneau, where all the tourist shops are. We took a walk around, it’s sad all that are businesses that are closed due to Covid-19.
This Eagle was flying around the dock.
We will stay here a few days or so, then head over to the marina in Auke Bay for a few days too.
Sunday June 14- departed Anacortes, Washington around 9am, cruising around the San Juan Islands.
We called Canadian customs regarding transiting through Canada to Alaska. They said we could as long as we don’t go ashore, get off the boat. We are allowed to anchor for emergencies.
Patos Island is a small island in the San Juan Islands, Washington, home to the Patos Island Lighthouse. It sits at the Boundary Pass between Canada and the United States.
Sunset on the Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia is part of the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Discovery Passage, another rainy day
Monday June 15- Discovery Passage is the main channel connecting the Strait of Georgia and Johnstone Strait. The section known as Seymour Narrows begins about 11 miles from the south end of the Passage where it enters the Georgia Strait, near the Campbell River.
Wikipedia
The adverse current in Seymour Narrows is expected to be over 7 knots today (but can go as high as 15 knots) by the time we would have arrived. We anchored at Gowlland Harbor to wait till the current shifts.
Seymour Narrows is a 3 mile stretch, 820 yards wide, known for strong tidal currents. Ripple Rock was a twin peak mountain 9 feet at low tide below the surface of the water that sat a the southern entrance. After 2.5 years of drilling, in April of 1958, the “mountains” were blown up using 1375 tons of explosives. The clearing is now 45 feet at low tide.
The Narrows
Tuesday June 16- Sunrise 5:15am, spent the day sailing up Queen Charlotte Strait in Canada. The wind will increase by mid day tomorrow, so we will tuck in at Caamano Sound around Banks Island back to the Inner Passage before it arrives. We also planned our Great Alaskan Sail!
Sunset 10:01pm, the rest of night was if the sun never completely set.
Wednesday June 17- Sunrise 5:11am. Today was the day we were to arrive in Seward, Alaska in anticipation of Dan running the Mayors Marathon in Anchorage, which was cancelled. With all the weather delays we had since Costa Rica, the boat never would made there. We would have left it at a marina somewhere and flown to Anchorage.
The day started warm, sunny, partly cloudy sky.
As the afternoon approached the wind increased, we saw up to 24 knots out of the South East. Overnight there will be a Gale warning. We picked out an anchorage that has protection from a southerly wind. We should arrive at 1:30am. Being so close to the Solstice, nights are more like twilight.
At 10:37pm, GMT-9, (2:37am Philadelphia time) Alaskan time, we crossed the border from Canada!
We sailed our boat to Alaska!!
The wind was slowly increasing as did the rain. We identified a couple of anchorages to stop for the night. Sunset 10:11pm Vancouver time
Thursday June 18- 4:04am Sunrise, 9:28pm Sunset, Alaska time. We ended up tucked in this cove, Tamgras Harbor for the day. We dropped anchor at 3:30am, then we both slept till 10am.
In the afternoon I baked chocolate chip cookies, checked us into the USA via the CBP Roam App. A customs officer from Ketchikan called on the phone, easy peasy all checked in. Now we have to quarantine for 14 days. Our travels here took 5 days, so they count as we did not go ashore in Canada. We are allowed to continue our travels as long as we don’t have have contact with other people.
Friday June 19- Happy Birthday Beth!
Sunrise 4:04am. We arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska around 1:30 pm.
Ketchikan, Alaska Our yellow quarantine flag is flying.
For dinner I made what was supposed to a clam sauce with mushrooms over linguini. Apparently I picked up two cans of Crab meat instead of Clams, so it ended up as a crab sauce.
We arrived at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, WA at 4:00pm. After settling in we walked around the marina.
These statues are near the Marina.
Trash/recycle cans around the marina are all designed to look like vintage cans of salmon.
For dinner we ordered takeout from Anthony’s Cabana. We both had salmon fish fry, so good!
Saturday June 13- provision and laundry day. 5 miles of walking today, to SeaBear, three trips to the grocery store (one for food, second for beverages, third for ice cream), and laundry. It was very productive day.
We arrived at Des Moines City marina by 10:30pm. We had a reservation and received our dock assignment early this morning.
Tuesday June 9- rain day, or should I say rain delay. Back in Richmond, California, 3 weeks ago, at a restaurant we also purchased a produce bag. In it was a stack of 6 inch tortillas. They’re not very fresh right now, so I’m turning them into baked chips. I brushed them with a mixture of oil and lime juice with Cumin and Chili powder.
Wednesday June 10- Rick left this morning, took an Uber to airport will arrive in a Philly mid evening. We departed Des Moines by 9:30am after fueling up. Riding the current up to Seattle. Our destination is Shilshole Marina to have some engine work done.
Thursday June 11- the fresh water/ antifreeze pump on the engine is leaking. This is the pump that supplies antifreeze coolant to the engine. Dan noticed antifreeze in the oil drip pan after changing the oil at Port Townsend on Monday and a squeaking sound indicating a bad bearing. Several phone calls were made to Marine and Industrial repair businesses for the availability of a repair person as well as parts. We opted to replace the pump.
Friday June 5- the morning started with pancakes. Laundry day. Boat deck cleaning, salt removal day.
Take out for dinner, at a restaurant recommended by Andrea, our daughter in-laws sister. Next Door Gastropub located in downtown Port Angeles. Thanks! Food was great!
Saturday June 6- departed Port Angeles at noon for Port Townsend.
We walked around historic downtown Port Townsend in the early evening with it’s wonderful building architecture.
Many buildings still have old painted advertising on them.
Other interesting sites
Sunday June 7- late morning we decided to walk this touristy town a bit more. There are several beautiful old homes here.
A few more interesting sites
We haven’t been doing much sightseeing since Mexico, mostly because of Covid-19. It was nice to walk around this small town, wearing our masks of course when people were near. Several restaurants were open for dine in. We opted to take out.
I discovered the “gallery “ option for uploading photos. Please let me know your thoughts. Do you like the larger photos or smaller ones where I can upload more?
Sailing Trance 
