17 May 23

To take advantage of the last of the ebb tide, we got up at 05:30 and were underway before 06:00. It was cool and calm with a low overcast in the anchorage, but a pea-soup fog existed out in the Johnstone Strait. We motored all the way to Port McNeill in one shot, in heavy fog nearly the whole way. Following my telecom with the Glacier Bay Parks Service, we submitted our request precisely at 08:00 (07:00 Juneau time) and this time we were granted our permit to enter the park, from 16 - 22 July; HOORAY!! Our success in playing back-eddies after the tide changed at 09:00 carried on, and we made it to Port McNeill Marina at 11:25, including a stop for diesel on the way in. We immediately went up to Gus’s Pub for lunch, then hit the grocery store and Rona Building Supply, where I bought new sea-boots (my old ones are worn out) and bear spray. We also stopped at the liquor store. Terri spent the rest of the afternoon making soups for the future. I spliced the new 250’ of anchor rode onto the end of the anchor chain, end-for-ended the old rode and spliced it onto the end of the new rode. Now we have 500’ of rope rode, along with 140’ of chain, so we are ready for deep anchorages. That took all afternoon. Then, we went up to Gus’s again (it is the only place open for dinner at this end of town) for dinner and came back to go to bed. Long day. The Astros capped it by coming back from 1-6 down after 7 innings to beat the Cubs 7-6.

50.35.527’N, 127-05.344’W; Log = 32.0, Sum (2023) = 256.4; Eng. hrs = 5.1, Sum = 3150.3

18 May 23

After yesterday’s exertions, we slept in until 08:30. After breakfast, the Admiral went up to do a load of laundry, while I prepped the skylight for painting repair (to provide UV protection to the adhesive that holds it all in place. We also topped up propane tank #1; it only took about 3.5 #. After lunch, we ran over to the loading dock to pump out the HTs and fill up the forward water tank. Unfortunately, the forward HT cap was seized and I could not break it loose. After we pumped out and filled up, we moved back to the dock and I got a coat of paint (Rustoleum Flat White) on the damaged areas of the skylight. Then, I attacked the seized HT cap. First, I sprayed a bunch of penetrating oil into the threads, then I had to modify one of the winch handles by removing the locking tab at the bottom to give me a good grip on the cap top. After half an hour of work and one broken bit, I got the cap loose. I cleaned the threads with oil and a wire brush and applied a coating of marine lubricant; I also lubricated the cap for the aft tank. Then, it was time for dinner, so, after a quick shower, we went up to Gus’s again. After listening to the evening weather forecast and consulting the tide tables, we decided to get up early - at 05:00 - to see if we can make it all the way around Cape Caution to Millbrook Cove. We watched the latest episode of “Ted Lasso” from bed and went to sleep about 21:30.

Eng. hrs = 0.7, Sum = 3151.0