Meyers Chuck – Riveted

Meyers Chuck to Ketchikan

Laura Domela — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 03:30:05 +0000

We arrived in Meyers Chuck just after 5pm last night. We just docked and made dinner (OMG the BEST crab pasta recipe…I’ll share it below) and watched a movie. Well, 3/4 of a movie. It was 310 to Yuma, and we had it on our external hard drive, but it abruptly ended before it was technically over, so we’ll need to find it and watch the last quarter of it sometime. No big.

This morning was another minus tide at low tide (-2.6 I think). Meyers Chuck is the place where you can call Cassy and order up some freshly made cinnamon rolls for morning and she’ll bring ’em right to your boat. We didn’t do that, but at about 7:15am Cassy knocked on the pilothouse door (we were sleeping) and asked if we wanted a couple of cinnamon rolls. Even from a cozy sleep, it’s hard to say no to hot cinnamon rolls. Kevin went up and got them (thank you Cassy!) and we ended up getting up and doing the sugar and caffeine thing right then and there. A bit later, we hiked the trail out to the beach, which was much larger due to the very low tide.

I brought two really cool rocks back to the boat (Kevin keeps calling me “Lucy”)…but man I could outfit The Willows Inn with some killer little rectangular serving rocks from this beach. Picture the perfect amuse bouche bite served on top of this rock! (I’m gonna do it.)

The one above is about the size of a large cell phone (only much thicker and heavier) and this one below is smaller, but shows the cross section pretty well. They look a little gritty in these photos, but they’re pretty and smooth in person.

Back at the dock:

We didn’t leave Meyers Chuck until about 10:30am and had a nice chill cruise to Ketchikan, arriving just after 3pm. We’d planned to take our laundry to The Mat to take advantage of their “Wash and Fold” laundry service, but they closed today at 4pm and aren’t open tomorrow at all, so I guess we’ll do that on Monday. If we get it there by noon, it’ll be finished same day, for $1.75 per pound. Sounds like a deal to me!

We found a spot on the city floats/Casey Moran (the last spot, it seems) behind a big seiner called the Maren E (she’s pretty cool looking with that wooden bow). This spot is one of the least protected spots (and perilously close to that cruise ship dock behind us!), but it’s great to be right in town. We walked over to the Bar Harbor Restaurant for an early dinner tonight, and I took this shot of us on the dock. That seiner’s skiff is about the size of Airship!!

On our way past the Bar Harbor marina, we caught a glimpse of celebrity crabbing boat Time Bandit (notice the little kid fishing right there on the dock next to it):

Oh yeah, we saw this floating in the water on our way to Meyers Chuck yesterday…part of a concrete dock! Pretty nice piece, too!

Once we got to Ketchikan we’d planned to go get more supplies to re-do the patch job on the dinghy (our on-the-fly patch worked, kind of, but was substandard), but the marine store is closed tomorrow. So two of our major chores for today and tomorrow are now off the table. The weather is nice though, so maybe we’ll just go be tourists and look at totem poles. We have our 8 year old granddaughter joining us for 5 days starting Wednesday. We may take her into Misty Fjords, or across to Kasaan Bay, or back up to Meyers Chuck and Thoms Place…we’ll decide based on the weather. I think Misty Fjords is in the top spot right now. She wants to go crabbing, and fishing (though you can’t salmon fish in Behm Canal, but she could tool around with the little rod from the dinghy and probably be pretty happy), and she wants me to make seafood for her (ideally with what she catches).

Right, before I forget, last night’s crab pasta. I used this recipe, and substituted chives for the parsley because I didn’t have parsley and I did have chives. This is definitely one to make again. We both LOVED it. I bed it would be good with other seafoods (or chicken) subbed for the crab, too…yummy!

Meyers Chuck to Wrangell

Laura Domela — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:10:05 +0000

We left Meyers Chuck right after Cassy brought us warm cinnamon rolls. This is the first time we’ve ever lucked out on the cinnamon roll thing (worth it!). The first time in Meyers Chuck, we called but Cassy’s husband said she was out of town and we definitely didn’t want him to make ’em for us. The second time we were here, we were one of two pleasure boats on the dock, but the other boat didn’t want any and so we’d have had to order 8, so we passed. Anyway, yay, they were great!

Our cruise to Wrangell was nice and uneventful. Clarence Strait was a little choppy but we weren’t in it for very long.

I called the Harbormaster in Wrangell when we were just outside of Heritage Harbor (hoping to get a spot in Reliance, closer to town). He was on the dock and his handheld battery had just died, so he had to scramble to get a new one and then when we finally reached him, he said he was standing on the dock with a couple who told him to “Say hi to Laura, and ask how Kevin’s wrist is doing.” So funny! Turns out it was Dan and Pat on their Northern Pacific called “Rogue” … they follow the blog and we’ve corresponded via email in the past, so it was nice to finally meet in person!

Reliance Harbor in Wrangell:

After we got settled, we walked over to Shakes Island and looked at the covered totems and the exterior of the tribal house.

Our friends Jeff & Wendy (we met them in Ketchikan…M/V Daybreak, a gorgeous 58′ Fleming) were also in Wrangell and they invited us all to come by for a glass of wine before we went into town for dinner. Super fun visit! We walked up to the Stikine Inn for dinner and made it an early night.

Off to Petersburg tomorrow!

Here’s today’s route: Meyers Chuck to Wrangell – 51.9 nautical miles, 7 hours 6 minutes:

Meyers Chuck, AK

Laura Domela — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:35:52 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We wandered around Meyers Chuck yesterday evening once it stopped raining. Here's our post from the last time we were here, and here are some photos from our wandering around during this visit.

Looking out into Clarence Strait:

Meyers Chuck post office:

Floatplane dock in the foreground:

Waterfront:

Trail:

Fence:

Nice artwork on the delivery entrance for Loon Cottage:

View from Airship:

Heron at the end of our dock:

So there you go! A little mini-tour of Meyers Chuck. We called to see if we could get in on the "cinnamon buns delivered to your boat at 7am for $3" deal, but it's a little late in the season, and apparently they need an order of at least eight cinnamon buns to be worth doing. Unfortunately, the only other pleasure boat on the dock said they're going to leave before 7 and didn't want in, so we'll miss out again. Oh well. Maybe in Port Harvey!

Berg Bay, Santa Anna Inlet, Meyers Chuck

Laura Domela — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 20:50:03 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Wrangell on Friday morning and headed around the back of Wrangell island toward Berg Bay.

It was pretty windy (okay, very windy). Berg Bay was about 22 miles from Wrangell and we figured we could stay there for a night or two before moving on toward Clarence Strait and to Ketchikan (though, no rush since Clarence was not looking good until about Tuesday).

Wonder what happened here:

Wrangell to Berg Bay (about 20 nautical miles):

Berg Bay:

Berg Bay was pretty and we caught a bunch of Dungeness crabs (6 the first day, 5 the second day). Here’s our tiniest catch (of course we released him…so cute!):

Also, Kevin caught a shark!

The weather at Berg Bay was super rainy and windy and we spent the first night at the unoccupied Forest Service float (intended for cabin occupants only, but there were none) and the second night at anchor. Promptly at 5am this morning the wind came up dramatically and we got our weather forecast early (right about 5am our time, when we woke to the wind) from our NY connection (Hi Larra! Thanks again SO MUCH) since we couldn't get any of the VHF weather channels in Berg Bay. (XM weather is on the list to have for next summer.) Forecast was for 50kt winds and 11ft seas in Clarence Strait. Yikes!

We decided to go back to sleep and stay in Berg Bay one more day (since we had a few to kill, it appeared). We got up and around later in the morning and made coffee and breakfast, showered and then decided we might try heading down Blake Channel and out to Santa Anna Inlet (25 miles or so…and that much closer to Ketchikan). Worst case we’d get out of Blake Channel and it would suck and we’d just turn around and come back. We looked at the current though and it was 3.4kts against us until about 2:30pm, so we read for a bit to kill some time and then pulled anchor and headed out at around 1:30pm.

The weather was gray and windy and rainy (and a little foggy at times) but not bad at all.

Many waterfalls were visible, flowing rapidly down the hillsides and through the forests…it’s been pretty wet the last week or so in SE AK!

We pulled into Santa Anna Inlet and there was one other boat there. This anchorage is beautiful…there are several waterfalls nearby and we hear there's good crabbin' in here. We anchored in 35 feet (give or take 20 feet with the tide change).

Berg Bay to Santa Anna Inlet (about 25 nautical miles):

We put the crab traps out and made dinner to the sound of the rushing waterfall out the galley window.

Dinner last night: Alaskan sockeye salmon tacos with homemade corn relish (corn, jalapeno, lime juice, tomato, garlic), avocado, salsa, sour cream, with half of a baked sweet potato topped with lime juice, sea salt, and cilantro. Super yummy (and colorful!)

This morning we retrieved the crab traps (5 more Dungeness!) and left our anchorage. Our plan was to go over to Vixen Inlet and see how conditions were in Ernest Sound along the way. We checked out Vixen Inlet and it seemed like an okay anchorage, but the weather was looking fine so we decided to try our luck getting to Meyers Chuck. Seas for Clarence Strait were forecast to be 6ft, but the tiny bit of it we saw as we got to Meyers Chuck was only about 2ft.

Aside from several (maybe six??) giant LOGS blocking most of the narrow entrance to Meyers Chuck (Kevin did a fancy avoidance maneuver and didn't even graze one), it was an easy cruise.

Today's track from Santa Anna Inlet to Vixen Inlet and on to Meyers Chuck (about 28 nautical miles total):

The public dock at Meyers Chuck (with room for us…bonus)!

We cooked our crab while under way and then finished picking the crab meat after we got to the dock. Freezer = restocked!

Tomorrow we plan to head across Clarence Strait (Tuesday: N wind 15 kt. seas 3 ft.) to Prince of Wales Island to visit the Haida village of Kasaan, and then we'll probably head to Ketchikan on Wednesday (Wednesday: NW wind 10 kt. seas 2 ft. or less). Info about Kasaan here and here.

We are seeing fewer and fewer pleasure boats in SE Alaska these days. It kinda feels like we're still in the amusement park after it's closed.

Kevin’s Got a Brand New Drone

Laura Domela — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 12:11:20 +0000

After the Incident at Fury Cove, I convinced Kevin that he couldn't go the rest of our trip droneless, and he eventually caved and ordered the new DJI Inspire 1. We took it out for its maiden flight over at Meyers Chuck the other day.

As it takes off and raises into the air, its landing gear raises up and gets out of the way of the camera. Pretty sweet!

Taking off from the sea plane dock:

The camera can shoot 4K video and 12 megapixel stills and it's on a 3-axis gimbal. The camera and gimbal can be controlled by a second person with a separate controller. (Woohoo! That's me!)

We didn't try that fancy second person thing on the first flight.

Here's a little of our test footage:

Looks promising!

We’re in Wrangell!

Laura Domela — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 00:55:02 +0000

This morning we awoke briefly at 3:30am to what seemed like a bright and sunny day. Problem was, it was 3:30am. We went back to sleep and woke up some time after 6 and decided to get an early start. Meyers Chuck at 7am when we pulled out:

Nice and calm at Meyers Chuck, but pretty snotty out in Clarence Strait. Probably 3-4 foot seas…luckily, we were only in a for a little bit before we headed back inside to take the scenic route to Wrangell.

We saw a couple humpbacks on our way. We actually still slowed (we aren't so jaded yet) but didn't follow them to get any better photos than this:

We took the inside Zimovia Strait route. Gorgeous scenery along the way:

Approaching Wrangell:

We got a spot on the long dock at Reliance Harbor (the older docks, closest to town) and headed into town to explore. We took a walk around Shakes Island first. Shakes Island is a very small island reached by a pedestrian bridge right here near the docks at Reliance. There's a replica of the Chief Shakes tribal house, and a bunch of old totems under cover. It's hard to find any good information about any of this stuff online, strangely, but here's the website for the place. Chief Shakes was the title of a Tlinget chief, and there have been maybe nine different "Chief Shakes" (kinda like the pope!)

Tribal house entrance:

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the original house in 1940 with help from members of the community in Wrangell. A dedication ceremony was held after the project was complate and Chief Shakes VII (Charlie Jones), and his family used the house intermittently until his death in 1944.

The original house had weathered a few too many Wrangell winters, and was restored and reopened in 2013.

Here are a bunch of shots of the totems under cover. I wish I could find more information about these!

Orca:

Seal/sea lion:

You can get a good feel for how these totems are covered on the island in this shot:

I'll keep researching and let you know what I find out. I assume since Chief Shakes was Tlinget that these totems are also Tlinget…but I've yet to find that out officially.

We are back on Airship now doing a little work and cooking dinner. Tomorrow we'll meet up with our flotilla friends Lanette and Ron (from the Krogen 48, Cabernet) at the entrance to Wrangell Narrows around 11am and maybe go through together to Petersburg.

There's a ton of "fish action" going on around here…salmon and halibut coming back from the charter boats and being cleaned here on the dock's fish cleaning table. We stopped at the marine store in town and picked up some halibut tackle. We happened upon a guy shopping in there today (the checker connected us when we asked about what to use for halibut fishing). He was an older gentleman named Harold Bailey, who seriously seemed to know his shit. He helped us get outfitted (aka took pity on the newbies) so now we are equipped to fish for salmon AND halibut. Thank you Harold!!

Dinner tonight is going to be pappardelle carbonara with an arugula salad. Weather's lovely and we'll get an 8am start tomorrow morning.

Here's today's track (52 nautical miles, 7 hours 23 minutes):

Meyers Chuck, AK

Laura Domela — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 21:28:53 +0000

We left Ketchikan this morning and headed for Meyers Chuck.

Passing a Holland America cruise ship on our way out of Tongass Narrows:

Clarence Strait was a tiny bit choppy, but not bad at all. Guard Island Lighthouse:

Look how calm it is just past the tip of Cleveland Island:

Meyers Chuck is about half way between Ketchikan and Wrangell (which is where we'll head tomororw). It's quite a charming little spot:

Free city float (no services):

It's so calm and quiet here today. There are just a few boats and fewer people around. We walked up to the gallery, but Cassie's gone for the week so the gallery was closed (and that means no cinnamon rolls in the morning…maybe next time).

Trail to the gallery:

I peeked in the windows though and there look to be many interesting things in there…some gorgeous quilts, a few beautiful wooden bowls, jewelry, etc. Next time on that too!

Now we're back at Airship taking apart the outboard's carburetor and cleaning it, again, so that maybe we can get the dang thing to idle better. Kevin's got the new copter out and we may take it up for its maiden flight. It's a sexy thing, this new copter. I'm pretty sure he'll never go back to the other kind.

While on the dock talking to some boat neighbors, we spied this little pipefish…neat!

Here's today's track (32.5 nautical miles, 4 hours 43 minutes):

Tonight: salmon dinner and zucchini fries (thanks for that, Leigh!)