Schultze Cove to Sitka 13 Jun - 17 Jun 22

Sat Jun 18 2022

We enjoyed a quiet evening after our delightful shrimp dinner, but were certainly hoping to hear the clicking of the halibut rig as a big one took the bait hook, line and sinker. Alas, it was not to be had. We’d be completely content to catch a chicken, as they call the small ones, as that would feed us for at least a couple meals. Isabel thought she caught something while jigging late in the evening, but it turned out she somehow managed to hook the halibut rig and brought it to the surface. At least she got to enjoy some excitement for a bit, and the sinker on the halibut rig really bent her lightweight rod over.

We’re now on the West side of Baranof Island, indirectly exposed to the open sea as Kruzof Island and a multitude of smaller islands still provide excellent protection. However, the water has multiple ways to come and go during the flood and ebb tides, so the currents in the channels are reasonably weak, generally around one knot and sometimes a little more. Compare that to some of the inland channels we’ve transited recently were two or three knots is common during the peak of the flood or ebb. Timing our movements there was a bit more important.

As always we get up and make coffee then check the weather forecast before we prepare to launch out on our next leg. While tidal flow is important to consider, there often seems to be a day wind from the Northwest, so orientation of channels, fetch in big water, our direction of travel and the direction of the tidal flow all get considered. Also of consideration is whether we’re aiming for a marina, as maneuvering Sunset onto a pontoon is pretty easy without winds and currents, but can get a lot more interesting if it’s blowing or a strong current is running through the marina as can happen in Petersburg. Fortunately Sitka has a large lagoon inside the breakwater so we can elect to anchor and dinghy to town if conditions are too difficult or there’s no room at the inn. In these Alaskan towns the local harbormasters run the show, keeping up with which slips are available and for how long, so when we turn up we advise them of our boat dimensions and plans then they consult their chart. The slips seem to mostly be permanently assigned to local citizens whether fishing boats pleasure boats, and when boats leave the captains advise the harbormaster of their planned return date. The system is referred to as “hot berthing” and it’s not uncommon to suddenly have to move to a different berth if a local boat returns unexpectedly.

While we were cruising on JollyDogs we were rarely in marinas, especially in French Polynesia where they’re rarer than frog’s hair. On the island of Tahiti we berthed at Marina Papeete a couple of times to make repairs and reprovision, and once at Marina Tiana for heavy repairs to our water tank and to get some canvas work done. For the rest of 2 years we lived on the hook. In Mexico we stored JollyDogs at Marina San Carlos during hurricane season, otherwise we were on the hook except at La Cruz where the anchorage is a roadstead, and San Felipe where the slips was crazy cheap and the water for rinsing the boat plentiful. Here we’re taking slips at each town as most don’t have suitable anchorages nearby, and because we want to be able to walk off the boat and wander about. Perhaps we’re also getting a bit soft and lazy?

So this is after the fact, but we did take a slip in Sitka for 4 days. Sitka is great! A lovely town with stunning mountains with snow capped peaks all around. There are a number of cruise ships that call there, with a terminal North of town that can handle only 1 ship and the rest have to anchor out to the South side of town and shuttle the punters in on orange life boats. Turned out Sitka is like the Sedona of Southeast Alaska, with moorage rates more than twice what we’ve paid at Ketchikan, Wrangell or Petersburg. While we did enjoy some killer activities and hikes there, their rate of $1.28/foot plus $7/day electricity plus tax here and tax there was a real buzz kill. After 4 days of frolicking we bailed out and chugged about an hour through the inner harbor and down to a local anchorage.

There’s a reason that cruise ships put in to Sitka. There’s a place that rehabilitates injured raptors - we visited and saw bald eagles and great spotted owls. There’s a place that looks after orphaned bears, both brown and black. Both are amazing to visit. There’s a really interesting national park visitors center, plenty of historic sites in town, and some great restaurants and bars, including Ludvig’s which is seriously good food, and Mean Queen, which serves up good pizzas and suds and hosts live music. Sitka has a classical music festival during the month of June, and we enjoyed a free piano concert at the local arts center. The pianist was visiting from London and had really fast fingers, playing around 15 of Chopin’s waltzes. Amazing.

We took some lovely hikes through the forest. We met and visited with other cruisers and local residents. We rescued a 90 year old man from a fall on a street; that involved a bit of blood and worry. We yakked with fishermen about their work and the upcoming season. We fixed a few things on the boat. We enjoyed the public library, a lovely comfortable place to hang out with free wifi. We discovered the local micro-brewery and ended up eating 2 pizzas in 2 nights. Shameful perhaps, but sometimes you just gotta know and theirs was the better compared to Mean Queen. Killer crust, and might have been comparable with a serious Napoli but they were a little heavy on the sauce, which made the center of the crust a little soggy. Still, an amazing crust! We enjoyed Ludvig’s chowder at the Science Center - absolutely stunning! Isabel went shopping for fresh produce and found that Sitka is about 50% more expensive than Ketchikan, Wrangell or Petersburg. We reckon it’s a markup partly due to the desirability of the area - not just extra transportation costs.

Sitka kicked ass!