Sunday June 12th 2022

Mon Jun 13 2022

Everyone has been telling us how cool the town of Sitka is. The month of June they have a classical music festival, and apparently the July 4th parade is exemplary of small town America. There’s room inside the breakwater to anchor so marina mooring and the associated costs aren’t mandatory in order to enjoy the local scene. Sounds like our kind of place, although we both agree that it would take a heck of a show to compete with the 4th of July we had up at Silverton, Colorado a few years back. There’s just nothing like fireworks in crystal clear air at 9,000 feet elevation with the “booms” reverberating off the surrounding cliffs. Oh yes, there’s also a boutique rum distillery there which is where we met the Texan that invited us to enjoy the fireworks from his front porch.

That guy was a bit bizarre, albeit friendly. When we were chatting with him at the distillery he noted that he had recently had a bit too much to drink there and was so wobbly he couldn’t walk home so he drove instead. Think about that.

Anyway, we decided this morning to strike out for Sitka, after chugging North up the Chatham Strait in fairly flat conditions (glad we weren’t going South), we made a hard turn to port and entered the Peril Strait. We wandered along to the Northwest then Southwest, enjoying the stern tidal current and eventually we arrived at a point about a mile from the Sergious Narrows. They have a reputation, and it’s advisable to respect the advice of more experienced folks and try and pass through near high tide when the current isn’t too strong. We were a bit early so we wandered a little way up Deep Bay and threw out the hook in a calm spot and killed about 90 minutes before firing the clappers back up and proceeding on and into the fray. The North end of the Narrows was unimpressive with a stern current of maybe 2 knots, but as we approached the South end only 0.3 miles distant the current picked up to 3.5 knots or so and the swirlies got really strong. It didn’t last more than 2 - 3 minutes and we weren’t in any danger, just having to mind the helm rather smartly.

It’s strange how there can be high slack tide in a place where tidal current is still running at 3 knots or more. I’ve pondered it and haven ’t had any epiphanies, but feel free to write to me and explain anytime. The key thing to know is that once were were the Sergious Narrows we were close to encountering a tidal flow on the bow. With diesel fuel costs at an all time high, we let Mother Nature help us as much as possible. We had already planned for this situation and proceeded up Fish Bay and into Schultze Cove. The cove is a bit on the tight side we found ourselves alone so in we came, anchoring in about 15 meters. We decided to “screw launching the dinghy” and instead deployed the crab traps from the stern after anchoring, maneuvering Sunset to create some separation between the traps. Afterwards we deployed the halibut rig then commenced to spin casting and jigging for anything silly enough to bite a metal lure. Eventually the rain came and ran us inside, but the exciting thing is that we’ve got one more packet of shrimp that Jack and Cindy Payne gave us. Isabel is going to do them up in butter and garlic and cream sauce. I can’t believe my luck, finding such a darling woman who can cook so well. Makes me willing to fix sewage problems.

Tomorrow we’ll press on down to Sitka on the outside of Baranoff Island. It’s less than 30 miles and Mr. Tide says we might as well get going after we pull up our crab traps in the morning.