22nd Jul - 25th Jul 22 - Guests!

Fri Jul 29 2022

Harris Harbor was an ideal location for taking care of business, and it had the added advantage of not having an upgraded electrical power system on the docks. Aurora Harbor just adjacent had the latest marine electrical power terminals on the dock, and word was that unless a boat was equipped with an isolation transformer the power might not be compatible. We like plugging in and avoiding using the generator and diesel furnace, so we were highly motivated to remain in Harris, but our original slip was only good for 3 days until the owner returned, so we were pleased to identify a space on the transient dock only 1 day after we had arrived. We discussed our options with the harbor master’s office then when the space opened up we cast off the lines and scooted on around. Bada boom, bada bing! Now we were good for 14 days. Turned out we also were going to be on the pontoon more than 7 days total, so a monthly rate would be cheaper. Anyway, we got settled in and continued exploring Juneau and preparing for the arrival of Ian and Nicola along with their daughter Charlotte. Ian is a professional yacht captain who we’ve crewed for on several occasions, and Nicola is Isabel’s best friend and former roommate from university. We all get on like a house afire, and we’ve sailed together on numerous occasions. Can’t say that about many of our other friends, who might become difficult company after a couple days cooped up on a small boat.

Anyway, as we prepared for their arrival I kept doing boat projects, key among them resurrecting the guest head. We had purchased parts from a place in Seattle but once they arrived I realized I might have discarded an old but serviceable part that wasn’t included in the new kit. Panic ensued until I found a vendor that had and would ship the key item immediately. Once it arrived I completed rebuilding the forward head vacuflush pump and then we needed to taxi to the pump out to thoroughly flush out both holding tanks and verify both heads were fully functional. To top that off I also was troubleshooting the shower in the master head because replacing the failed sump pump float switch had resulted in an unreliable system.

Have I mentioned I hate plumbing, especially that which involves excrement?

Anyway, our worry was that if we left our transient slip space a boat might sneak in while we were at the pump out, so we elected to get up extra early and taxi over, do our thing, and return to the transient spot before any other boats were moving about. It worked out well and soon we were back in our slip, fully functional heads and showers and ready for our guest’s arrival.

They turned up about 10 pm on Friday the 22nd looking completely jet lagged and haggard, but we did manage to sit up a bit and yak until fatigue overtook all of us. Saturday we had light rain as we poked around Juneau, taking in the local environs. Sunday morning a couple arrived to view our boat - somehow they had decided they might want to purchase her so we promised to remain aboard for their visit. We had originally intended to depart for our voyage Sunday morning but the weather was lousy with high winds down in Stephens Passage so instead we decided we would visit Mendenhall Glacier National Park, a short bus ride away. When we mentioned this to Craig and his wife Jenn, they immediately volunteered to drive us all up there, so we squeezed into their Honda Pilot and off we went. Along the way they took a lap around a big field to try for a bear sighting but that didn’t work out so on we went to the national park visitor’s center.

Mendenhall glacier was good! The visitor’s center had some great exhibits that explained how glaciers are formed and flow, and there was also a short educational movie. By the time we headed out to walk the trail down to the best viewing spot we were glacier experts. Afterwards we wandered on out a separate trail to Chester falls, a rather impressive waterfall that tumbled down a steep cliff. Charlotte was quite impressed with the waterfall, but she was most excited by the small chunk of ice Ian and I collected for her, as it was her first taste of a “bergie bit”.
When we were ready to depart the glacier we inquired about a bus or taxi or Uber, and the park official informed us that the bus was $20 each for the approximately 6 mile trip, and that Uber and taxis were not allowed to collect patrons inside the park. Stunned by the bus fare, we decided to walk towards the local bus stop about 1.5 miles distant while we attempted to flag down taxis that had dropped people at the glacier park. Apparently they weren’t allowed to stop for us as they whizzed on by, and soon we became a bit despondent, not knowing what the local bus schedule was and all. I elected to text Craig and let him know we were searching for a solution and he immediately texted back that he’d happily collect us in about 10 minutes. We continued ambling along and soon enough he arrived and transported us back to the marina, commenting along the way that we really should visit the salmon hatchery as we passed it.

We had planned to toss the lines and taxi across the inlet to the fuel dock so that we could beat a hasty departure on Monday morning, but as we did our pre-flight checks I determined that the bow thruster was completely unresponsive. Thus ensued about 2 hours of troubleshooting whereupon Ian and I diagnosed a dead (i.e. melted) “black box” controller which was part of the Lewmar bow thruster assembly. The part was available from numerous online vendors and before bedtime I had ordered a replacement for a bit under $200, shipped to “general delivery” at Juneau. Ian commented that with a compromised control system perhaps we should depart early Monday morning for the fuel dock, then launch out on our journey before any wind came up. We all voted yea for that approach and instead launched into happy hour.

Monday morning July 25th we tossed the lines around 0630 and taxied across the inlet to the Petro Marine fuel dock and soon had taken on 130 gallons of fuel. We pushed off from the dock and began our chug South down Stephens Passage to stage for the run into Ford’s Terror the next day. Along the way we spied a decent sized bergie bit. Ian and I donned our bluetooth headsets and I maneuvered the boat as he coached me in from his stern cockpit perch. Soon he had chopped off a nice chunk of “cocktail ice” and we continued on our merry way. We had initially intended to anchor up at Wood Spit which would provide excellent protection from any forecast weather, but as we got closer Ian pointed out an alternative just at the entrance to Tracy Arm. Soon we were anchored in “No Name Cove” where we might see bears along the shoreline. We launched the dinghy and Ian, Nicola and Charlotte motored off to explore a couple of sizable ice bergs floating outside the entrance. They returned a bit later raving about the insanely beautiful deep blue ice, then Isabel and I took our own turn. They weren’t kidding - it was an amazing experience to motor right up to the ice bergs, and we returned with several sculptural ice chunks to enhance our evening cocktails.