Juneau – Riveted

Happy Fourth of July

Laura Domela — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 18:55:50 +0000

Fireworks started at 11:59pm last night in Juneau. We took blankets up to the top deck of Airship and watched from our spot here on the dock.

Not bad, Juneau. Not bad. We’re skipping the parade today (I know, party poopers) so we can get the boat all clean and nice for our guests who arrive tomorrow. Have a fun and safe holiday, lower 48!

Juneau to Admiralty Cove

Laura Domela — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 20:38:56 +0000

Above photo: sunset in Juneau, Thursday night.

We left Juneau midday yesterday and headed for Admiralty Cove. Admiralty Cove is about three hours from Juneau, at the top of Admiralty Island. The weather was crappy, but we fished for a bit anyway (out near Skull Island). We eventually called it and headed in to anchor for the night and make dinner (salmon, brussels sprouts salad, and some roasted baby potatoes).

The sky cleared up just a little bit last night and from our anchorage we had a killer view of a full, very close rainbow. I couldn’t get the whole thing in one frame…that’s how close it was.

The wind blew pretty good all night and we had more rain (and slappy waves against the bow, but it wasn’t bad), but today has been nice. We’re now anchored in about 175 feet on the south side of Skull Island doing a little halibut fishing. This morning before we came out here we put our crab traps out in the cove, so we’re hoping for dinner of halibut or crab.

We’ll anchor again tonight in Admiralty Cove and then head back into Juneau tomorrow (July 3). Fourth of July fireworks start at 11:59pm on July 3, and apparently we’ll have a killer view of them from Steve’s dock. We’ll likely spend the 4th doing laundry and cleaning the boat, getting ready for our friends Todd and Loek to join us on the 5th (back to Ford’s Terror!! Yay!!)

Happy Saturday!

Around Juneau

Laura Domela — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 16:54:33 +0000

We’ve been hanging out with friends here in Juneau for a few days (and getting a bunch of work done with reliable internet, woohoo!)

The night we arrived, we went out to dinner with our friend Steve (from Nordic Tug Charters) and the guys from Calgary who are on the sailboat behind us here on the dock (a Beneteau called Good Fortune) … I mentioned this in an earlier post, but here they all are before Good Fortune headed out. Really great group of guys!

On Tuesday night, Steve invited us to join him and his friends for a barbeque out at Eagle Beach. We grabbed some stuff to bring (hot dogs, veggies and hummus, chips and salsa, watermelon) and headed down there (about 20 miles north of Juneau). When we were here last summer and had a rental car for a day or two, one of the things we did with it was to drive from one end of Glacier Highway to the other, and we stopped and hiked around a bit near Eagle Beach during that time. So gorgeous! I didn’t take any photos of the scenery the other day because it seemed there was no real good way to capture it, but I did snap a quick photo of Steve holding a 5 wood, a hot dog on a stick, and a cocktail (pretty mountains in the background, so you get the idea):

Several people went out onto the mud flats after dinner to hit golf balls (while dogs retrieved the balls). It was a fun evening!

Yesterday, Steve loaned us the Nordic Tug Charters van and Kevin, Sam, and I took it out to gather some stuff. We stopped at Costco (wine and bourbon), Western Auto Marine (a fish scale, some new non-cable downrigger line, and a harpoon!) and then around the corner to Jerry’s Meats & Seafoods to pick up some smoked salmon, some double-smoked bacon (so smoky!), a carton of their delicious house-made salsa, and three 5-gallon buckets of salmon heads and parts left over after Jerry’s cuts up the fish for filets….Steve uses it for crab bait. We put the (open) buckets of fish parts in the back of the van and as we drove away I said “Okay gang, we’re really in Alaska NOW!”

Last night we went out to dinner with the folks we met in Ketchikan, Wendy and Jeff (M/V Daybreak, a beautiful 58′ Fleming). Across on Douglas Island there’s a place called the Island Pub that has “the only gourmet pizza in Juneau.” Wendy and Jeff are heading out again in the morning and invited us to join them for dinner there. Every year, the Island Pub has a pizza contest, and the contest winners’ recipes go on the menu (for the year? for good? I’m not sure how that works, but it seems like the popular ones might stay on the menu until they’re knocked off by new ones…). From the contest winner menu, we tried one called Fatty Pants (Alfredo sauce, house and parmesan cheeses, crumbled bacon, Canadian bacon, pineapple, and pulled smoked pork) and another one with a pesto base that was super good, but I don’t remember the name of it. (It was from 2016 and not on the linked menu.) Anyway, great pizza…thin crust, good flavors. It’s so much fun to meet people cruising around up here, and then run into them again and again in different ports and anchorages. SE Alaska is so big and there’s so much to explore, but running into new and old friends along the way makes it seem just a little bit smaller and more connected.

This morning we’re going to head down to Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm and try for another halibut (because, HARPOON!). We’ll stay in Tracy Arm Cove tonight, then in the morning we’ll head into Endicott Arm and check out Dawes Glacier and probably fish a bit while we wait to go into Ford’s Terror. High slack in Juneau tomorrow is about 5:45pm, so we should be going into Ford’s Terror between 6 and 6:15pm. We’ll probably stay there for a few nights, kayak around, relax, read (hopefully cook up some halibut!) and then head back to Juneau on Tuesday or so.

We went out into Gastineau Channel with Steve a couple days ago to pull his crab traps and set ours, so we’ll pick those up on the way out this morning. He checked his last night (on his jet ski, wearing shorts and a tank top!!) and brought back 8 or 9 big Dungies, so chances are good that we’ll have some too!

The weather has been SO NICE! Here are a couple of photos from the same(ish) spot here on Steve’s dock in Aurora Basin:

Back in a couple days!

We’re Back in the Water

Laura Domela — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 16:12:37 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Getting ready to get off the blocks and into the lift:

Our new shaft seal arrived mid-day yesterday. Note: if you want to send something to Alaska and have it get there the soonest, do not use FedEx or UPS. Send it expedited vis USPS. The cutless bearing sent from WA late Tuesday vis USPS Expedited got to us on Thursday morning at 9am. The shaft seal sent to us from WA on Wednesday via UPS got to us on Monday afternoon, after going from Redmond WA to Portland OR, then to Louisville KY — because THAT’S on the way! — then to Anchorage AK, and finally to Juneau.

Anyway, we installed the new PYI PSS dripless shaft seal, Dean and Curtis reattached the propeller and after thorough inspection we concluded we were indeed ready to get back in the water.

As we get settled in the lift, Curtis removes the blocks:

Dean, making sure we’re all clear:

Rollin’ through the parking lot:

Here we go!

Dean backs the lift out over the slot between these two piers, then lowers the boat down so the deck is even with the pier, and then there’s a little ramp that gets put across from the pier to the pilot house door so we can get in before being lowered the rest of the way down to the water. We start the engine Dean releases the slings and moves the lift back to the yard as we go on our way. Pretty neat!

The wind and rain scheduled for last night hadn’t gotten underway yet (just light rain and a bit of fog when we launched at around 4pm) so we were able to spend an hour out in Gastineau Channel making sure everything was running as it should be. All was nice and smooth!

So, now we are back in the water just in time for this forecast for Stephens Passage:

...GALE WARNING TODAY...
.TODAY...S WIND 40 KT DIMINISHING TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. SEAS
8 FT SUBSIDING TO 6 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.
.TONIGHT...S WIND 25 KT DIMINISHING TO 20 KT LATE. SEAS 5 FT. RAIN.
.WED...S WIND 15 KT. SEAS 3 FT. RAIN.
.WED NIGHT...N WIND 10 KT. SEAS 2 FT OR LESS. RAIN.
.THU...NW WIND 15 KT. SEAS 3 FT. 
.FRI...N WIND 20 KT. SEAS 4 FT. 
.SAT...N WIND 25 KT. SEAS 5 FT.

This is where we’re watching if you want to follow along: NOAA Coastal Waters Forecast for Alaska and Surface Analysis from the NOAA NWS Ocean Prediction Center. Wish we had the 10 days back that we just spent diagnosing and figuring out (and fixing) this dang mechanical issue!

Kind of reminds me of this Far Side cartoon:

Wednesday looks like the only calm day, and I suppose we could go over to Taku Harbor tomorrow and hang there and do some crabbing, but then we have no internet in Taku, so if the weather doesn’t improve until after Saturday it makes working difficult. We could…well, stay here in Juneau and continue working and waiting for the weather. We’ll just watch the weather and see how things progress. For now, we’re tucked nicely in at Harris Harbor while the wind blows and the rain pelts sideways against the windows.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention…the other night we went out to dinner with some new and newer friends, and after dinner we stopped at The Alaskan Hotel and Bar for a drink. This place is 100 years old, and was built the year after Alaska became a territory.

No sooner had we gathered around a couple of tables with our drinks, a punk rock band took over the stage (well, the whole place really). I didn’t get the name of the band (and my Google search was unfruitful) but they were pretty entertaining.

Not everyone was as entertained as we were, but I totally dig happening onto a scene like this one…seeing a band you normally wouldn’t see, in a place you normally wouldn’t be, with some people you just met. It was pretty fantastic.

And here’s a clip of the band’s cover of Iggy Pop/The Stooges “I Wanna be Your Dog” (1969!!) to go with the photos:

Fun times in Juneau!

A Four Cruise Ship Day

Laura Domela — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 22:28:01 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Oh, but I cut out that fourth one that was over on the left. Well, trust me…there were four.

We walked into town today and stopped back in at Trickster Co. to pick up a shirt for my mom (requested after she saw Kevin's) and then I figured I needed one too, so now we all have shirts with that cool eagle raven design.

We grabbed some lunch at the Hangar on the Wharf (couple of caesar salads with blackened fish and a cup of chowder) and then wandered back to our little boat treehouse in the boat yard. I really hope this last part comes tomorrow morning…we're itching to get back in the water and headed south while the weather is decent. Looks like Monday night a front is coming through and the waves are forecast 5 feet in Stephens Passage, so we may stick around here (in the water, I hope) until that passes and it's bit calmer. We can do some sea trials with our new gear right here in Gastineau Channel though, so we'll work it out.

Tonight we are joining Steve and Julie and Harbormaster Dave and his wife Hope for dinner at the Twisted Fish. We're sure enjoying all the great people we've met in Juneau while we've been stranded here.

Jerry’s Meats & Seafoods

Laura Domela — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 02:09:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Awwww, the last part that we're waiting for (the PSS dripless shaft seal from PYI in Seattle)…the one we thought would arrive yesterday, did not. And then it also didn't arrive today. Maybe they sent it via Fed Ex or UPS instead of expedited USPS as requested (which for some reason is way faster to AK than FedEx and UPS are, probably because FedEx and UPS both to to Anchorage first). Anyway, our new shaft seal is still not here. We were hoping to get back in the water on Monday, and I guess we maybe still can if the part comes first thing Monday morning. Fingers crossed!

We ran a few errands this morning while we still had the use of Julie's car, and one of them was stopping by Jerry's Meats & Seafoods, around the corner from Western Auto & Marine.

Outside:

Inside:

This place is great! When we had breakfast with Steve and Julie last weekend, they cooked up some delicious bacon from Jerry's (double smoked) so we got some of that, some smoked salmon and crab spread, some smoked halibut, some of Jerry's homemade salsa, and a small package of prosciutto.

Jerry's also ships, and they have a great selection of Alaskan seafood. You can get 15 pounds of halibut and king salmon, in 1 to 1.5 pound bags, overnighted fro $385 (that includes shipping). That's just over $25/lb for Alaskan halibut and King salmon. Sweet!

We also stopped at Fred Meyer and Kevin picked up a larger tackle box, since the fishing stuff is ever increasing (as it does) and then we headed back to greet the Nordic Tug that Steve and Julie and their friends were on as they returned from their trip to Hoonah and Tenakee. We helped unload the boat and got to see their three day haul of fresh salmon and halibut:

(This photo doesn't include all the Dungeness crab they also brought back.) Nice!

Glacier Highway

Laura Domela — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 02:20:42 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

After we successfully installed our second new Cutless bearing this morning and did a ton of work (work work, not boat work), we thought we'd take Steve's and Julie's suggestion (and Julie's car!) and head north to check out Echo Cove.

It was a beautiful drive along Lynn Canal today:

We first took the road past Echo Cove and all the way to the very end:

That's it. The road narrows and gets closed in by bushes and is ultimately blocked with a sign that has some instructions about not fighting fires here because there are explosives stored…something like that.

Back at Echo Cove we walked around a bit, watched some guys fishing on shore, then headed back down to Eagle Beach and did a little hiking. Lots of salmon heading up this river, but no bears in sight:

Along the Eagle River:

Up close with the salmon as they head upriver:

Mountains, with salmon in the foreground:

After this hike we headed back toward Juneau and decided to stop and see the Shrine of St. Therese (No. 5 of 68 things to do in Juneau, according to Trip Advisor).

Beautiful trails in and around this place. This is the little stone chapel:

It sits out on this…oh what's that called…not an island, but like an island connected to land by a narrow spit:

Later on for dinner we headed over to Twisted Fish and had some king crab legs and a wasabi salmon…both great. I know the king crab is not caught here in SE…it's caught in the Bering Sea and flash frozen and then steamed to serve to us at a premium price, but it was still good. I know it's way better fresh, but it was pretty darn good. After dinner we walked around the waterfront some, and then drove the road to the south until it ended. No bullet holes in this one…probably because there are too many homes around and it's not all THAT far from town:

The last part that we're waiting for (new PSS dripless shaft seal) did not arrive today. If it arrives tomorrow we'll be able to finish up most of what needs to be done on Airship! If it doesn't come until Monday, then so be it. I completely cleaned and dried the mid-ship bilge and surrounding area today…now it's dry as a bone and looks brand new. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday we'll wax the rest of Airship.

Our plan is to do sea trials and test everything thoroughly as soon as we get back in the water, maybe stay here one more night depending on the time we finish all of that, and then head over to Taku Harbor to put some crab pots in the water overnight, then head south down Stephens Passage, maybe stopping at Port Snettisham for a hatchery visit, maybe stopping next at the entrance to Tracy Arm to do some halibut fishing…that's as far as our plans have gotten. South. That's what we know.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day (even warmer than today!)

Sunny Day in the Boatyard

Laura Domela — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 21:30:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Wow! This is QUITE a change from yesterday's weather, for sure.

We put our Cutless bearing in the freezer last night and then went and had a nice dinner at The Rookery Cafe. (Pro Tip: if you chill the Cutless bearing first, it'll shrink a little bit, which makes it a little easier to press into the stern tube).

Dinner was delicious, but I only took photos of the appetizers (the house made pickle plate and some fennel-cured sockeye lox with creme fraiche and Gustavus peas):

We shared two entrees: the Rookery ramen with duck, and Dungeness crab gnocchi. Both were very good! We walked around a bit downtown and then returned to our boat/treehouse at the boat yard. Kind of fun climbing the ladder to get up to the boat.

This morning we took new Cutless bearing No. 1 out of the freezer, got ourselves a little dish soap to lubricate the stern tube first, and then pressed the bearing in. It only required a little mild tapping with a wood block to get it all the way in at the end, and, well, 5 minutes later, new Cutless bearing installed! We also changed the zincs and Kevin pressure washed the hull of the boat.

Just before we left for lunch, our second Cutlass bearing arrived from the Nordic Tug factory (thanks guys!) so we stuck it in the freezer and headed down to try Tracy's King Crab Shack for some lunch.

There are four cruise ships in port today and the weather is gorgeous, so there were a ton of cruiseshippers downtown today, but the wait at Tracy's wasn't bad at all.

The king crab comes from Bristol Bay and I believe is frozen and then steamed to order here. We tried the Alaskan crab roll and the crab cake roll (sandwiches) both topped with cole slaw (both with combination of king and snow crab). The Alaskan crab roll was crabby and buttery, and the crab cake roll had some spicy sauce…they were very different and both good. We chatted a bit with a super nice couple from one of the ships (they were visiting from Toronto) and after seeing their king crab leg lunch (they said it was fabulous), I think we need to splurge and spend the $24/leg for those next time. When in Rome…or, you know…close to Rome….

It didn't help that we were sitting at the window where they steam the crab legs by the dozens. Yummmmmy:

We stopped and looked in a couple of shops that were closed last night: Annie Kaill's, where I bought this ring, because it's right up my alley, style-wise, and also because they didn't have the cute little fish measuring spoons that I really wanted:

Next we headed over to Trickster Co. Trickster Co. was founded by Rico Lanáat’ Worl (a Tlingit/Athabascan formline designer) to promote innovative indigenous design focusing on Northwest Coast art and Native culture. They began by designing skateboards for friends and family, but their product line is expanding pretty fast.

We bought a couple decks of the Tlingit Language Edition playing cards (these are so cool!). Each card has the Tlingit word for the card name as well as the standard numbers/suits. This deck was created to provide additional teaching material for people studying the Tlingit language (or for those who want to support the Native language revitalization).

…and Kevin got a great T-shirt with the Eagle Raven Tessellation design by Rico Worl:

Love it!

We got back to the boat and did some waxing and buffing on the boat waterline. Now we're just working a bit more and doing some laundry while we wait for the second Cutless bearing to chill out. The last part we are waiting for now is the new Shaft Seal from PYI, which should arrive tomorrow or Saturday. We can install it ourselves as soon as it arrives, so I think we'll be ready to go back in the water on Monday. Woohoo!! Can't wait to get back out there (posting about whales and icebergs and stuff again)!

So Much Glamour We Can Hardly Stand It

Laura Domela — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:28:15 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Camping in the boat yard!

This is where we spent last night, and where we'll likely be spending a few more nights (along with dollars, yes, we'll also be spending dollars).

Last night we were doing some work and more troubleshooting and it appears that we've found the cause of all evil our issues. We worked on the that quite a ways into the evening and it looks like we'll be needing to pull both Cutless bearings and replacing them, as well replacing the bellows part of the dripless shaft seal. (More on that in a later post when we've got everything fixed and running like normal again.)

It's been pouring rain and super windy for two days now and that's supposed to continue through the weekend.

Dean here at the boatyard gave us some just-caught halibut last night that we pan seared for a late dinner and served with some wilted spinach, roasted baby potatoes and a glass of wine. It was pretty great, all things considered.

We got to plug into power this morning (the big generator in this trailer) to charge up our batteries and laptops and stuff, and we're working from the boat (in the lift, soon to be blocked up). Steve at Nordic Tug Charters said we could use his shower and his van if we needed, and we're working with Dean to remedy the current state of things.

We'll keep you posted.

Fun and Fish in Juneau

Laura Domela — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:55:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Yesterday we did a bunch of work at the boat, went up and put some laundry in, and were let in on a great deal to pick up some freshly caught sockeyes for $6/lb (we bought two, about 10lbs), from Joe the gillnetter here at the dock. He sends most of his fish straight to Seattle, but now we know a guy who knows Joe and got to be part of the "bro deal" today:

This is Joe. He looks just very much like Sam Elliot:

We picked up our fish and took them back to Steve's warehouse, where Steve filleted them for us (aka "showed us how it's done") and we vacuum sealed them right there:

Here's today's procurement (along with two nice chunks of halibut from Steve's 125-pounder he caught the day before)! We kept one sockeye filet and one halibut filet out and put the rest into the freezer.

Last night for dinner I made some guacamole and cooked up some black beans while Kevin grilled up the fresh fish for tacos and we had Steve over for dinner to thank him for all of his help (well and just to hang out, because he's cool). We're probably going to stay another day here before heading to Taku Harbor (and, ultimately…sniff sniff…south).

Tomorrow morning we'll take another trip over to the marine supply store and get ourselves outfitted with some halibut rods and a bigger net (we seriously need a bigger net…wait til I show you a photo of what we've been using to bring in fish). Then we may go out on Steve's boat with him later in the day to pull up his halibut skate line…because he invited us to, and it sounds like fun to see how that all works! This is the basic configuration:

Image source.

Residents of Alaska can subsistence fish (fish for personal use or sharing with family) under slightly more relaxed rules and regulations as it relates to fishing methods and the limit of fish you can keep.

It's interesting…the last time (a week or two ago) when we were in Juneau for a week, we had actually gotten a little bored of Juneau. We'd been doing so much exploration in more remote coves and inlets, and coming to Juneau was mainly (after the first time) to drop off friends or pick up family, provision, get work done with reliable internet, etc. It's one thing to visit a place and just skim the surface (visit some shops, go to the museum, eat at a couple restaurants, try the local beer, ride the tram, do the hike, see the glacier)…all that is great but it only really gives you one interpretation. This time, even with the bit of mechanical stuff and haul and out all, we've met some great people and connected a little more with Juneau, and it's been so enjoyable!