July 10th - 22nd 2022 Juneau!

57 45.186n 133 31.578w

Thu Jul 28 2022

The first order of business at Auke Bay was to have a wander and get familiar with our surroundings. It turned out the University of Alaska campus was only about 10 minutes walk away, and the library there was open everyday but Saturday. Blazing wireless speed, so a quick stop produced updated podcasts and Spotify music. We gave our friend Nicki Germain a holler and she came down to the boat for a visit - catching up several years after our last encounter in Mexico. A local craft brewery was also an easy stroll away and next door a great watering hole frequented by local fisher people. We located the bus stop and sorted the schedule for riding downtown to see the dentist.

Once we were settled in Auke Bay we found it a nice place to be, especially observing and interacting with the fishermen as they sorted out their nets and prepared for the next week of catching. We fish. They catch. There is a difference. That said, we had a freezer full of halibut and crab that we had caught ourselves, so we were feeling pretty chuff.

On a pretty day you can actually see Mendenhall Glacier from the marina, blue ice face and all. Spectacular. Once on the university campus there is a trail head for a partial loop around Auke Lake, a lovely walk through the forest. We walked several miles each day with a minimum objective of 10,000 steps, but generally doing more like 15,000 steps. Gotta exercise somehow, and that’s one of the tougher parts of boat living, getting enough exercise, especially maintaining muscle mass and aerobic fitness. Keeping weight off isn’t the problem, rather it’s shrinking in muscular stature and losing lung capacity. We found our way to the library each day to sort out personal business or research things of interest or download podcasts and Spotify music.

A few days into our stay I spied a pair of sailboats coming in to find accommodations, and the second of the pair was flying a Royal Cruising Club burgee from the mast head. Isabel is a long time member of the club and was quite keen to meet the crew, and as luck would have it we ended up having a great time with the crews of both boats. Clive Woodman the RCC member and his partner Angela Lilienthal lived aboard and cruised SV Cosmic Dancer, doing typical RCC things like spending a couple of seasons in Greenland and other obscure places. Anne and Michael Hartshorn of SV Nimue were English and had been cruising since about 2004, spending part of each year back in the UK. Both couples had been trapped away from their boats during Covid, the boats in storage near Sydney on Vancouver Island, Canada. They were ambitious to sail up to Kodiak but couldn’t achieve it in a single season if originating from Sydney, so were working out other alternatives to get all the way there next year. They were great fun and we gathered at the local craft brewery to tell tales.

I had a dental problem that had to be addressed in Juneau, and after the procedure was complete Isabel and I elected to wander around downtown, exploring the local watering holes and dining options. We happened upon an Indian curry restaurant called “Spice”, and after noting that something soft like palak paneer would be a good option we wandered on in and had a seat. Turned out the proprietor was an electrical engineer from Ohio who had decided to open a restaurant in Juneau. She had been born and raised in the US but her parents and extended family were from Kerala, a region in the South of India. Isabel and I had lived and traveled in Kerala for 2 months in 2018, so we were quite excited to meet the proprietor. She was quite a charming lady and informed us that she used family recipes and that her uncle shipped her all the spices she needed from the family spice farm in Kerala. We had a couple of dishes and a garlic naan, and absolutely swooned over the food.

Auke Bay has a rule about moving every 10 days. All that involves is shifting to a different stall rather than actually departing the marina. After reconnoitering downtown via bus and making a couple shopping runs with Nicki, we decided that Harris Harbor marina just by downtown Juneau would be a lot more convenient for visiting dentists, chandleries, and local restaurants and pubs. Given that Sunday is the beginning of the gill netting period each week, arriving at a marina around noon on Sunday certainly increases the odds of finding a vacant slip. On Saturday afternoon I went to visit the 2 sailboats rafted up next to us to advise them of our impending departure, as they were keen to get closer to the electrical power and “de-raft”. Turned out that one of the couples were folks we knew from Mexico - the crew of the vessel SV Coquette that was still trapped in Tonga. We had a bit of fun discussing the trials and tribulations of the covid lockdowns, then hatched a plan for them to scoot into our stall upon our departure. Best part was that involved them handling our lines and helping us get out of the spot we were so tightly squeezed into. The following morning we blasted off with their assistance and about 4 hours later were hailing the Harris Harbor master about a transient berth. The designated transient stalls were full but they were able to offer us a private stall we could occupy for about 3 nights before we would have to relocate as the owner was due back. It was a bit windy and an impressive current was running but we managed to get Sunset backed into the stall without mishap and after sorting out the electrical power off we went to explore the downtown waterfront and get in our steps. We found ourselves a short walk from the dentist’s office, the post office, a nearby State Farm Insurance office that offered printing and notary services, and a great chandlery called Harri. Given we were needing all those things life was looking up. There was a waterfront walk all the way down past the cruise ship docks that offered a pleasant stroll. It passed by the public library, a very nice facility with free fast Internet and open 7 days a week. We did our thing at the public library, sharing the facility with plenty of local folks as well as crew members from various cruise ships.

Juneau has everything we could need including a small Costco that had most popular items. One thing the Costco wasn’t currently stocking was the Kirkland branded 15w40 diesel engine oil. In the lower 48 they sell it in a 3 gallon package that goes for around $45. At Harri I found Chevron Deli 400 15w40 that went for $57 a gallon. Yay Costco! Sure glad we carried enough to do an oil change while at Auke Bay, which takes a full 8 gallons. Even better, all the local marinas had a used oil dump tank so we didn’t have to carry our used motor oil around after an oil change.