22 Jul 23

It was raining in the early morning and when we woke up at 07:00. We got going about 08:20 and motored out into the murk of Icy Strait, just as the “Norwegian Sun” was approaching the cruise ship dock. The wind was light and the current was not anything to talk about and we carried on east, passing Sisters Reef and Rocky Island before turning north up the southern reach of Lynn Canal. At Pt. Retreat, we did a 150 degree turn to starboard and made our way on down to Auke Bay, where we tied up at the public dock at 15:00. The last 2 miles into Auke Bay was like returning from the wilderness to rush-hour traffic in LA, with whale-watching boats, sport fishermen and water taxis dashing about at 25 kn in no apparent order. This is easily the busiest port we have been in this entire expedition. A bunch of the whale-watching boats were watching a group of 5 or 6 humpbacks feeding in the middle of the Saginaw Channel, but we did not bother to stop, as it was no where near as cool as the private, one-whale show we had yesterday. After we settled in, everyone had a shower; just in time. After Captains hour on the boat, we went up to Forbidden Peak Brewery and Red Spruce (which shares the building) for dinner. When we got back, Ashley checked her reservations and advised that her flight was at 05:30 tomorrow, rather than 17:30 (i.e., 5:30 p.m.); yikes. We set the alarm for 03:45 and she booked a Lyft at 04:15. We went to bed around 11:30.

58-22.953’N, 134-38.974’W; Log = 43.8, Sum (2023) = 1756.5 N-m; Eng. hrs = 6.2, Sum = 3392.0

23 Jul 23

About 15 seconds later, the alarm went off and we all bolted out of bed and busied ourselves getting Ashley out the door. We walked her up and waited for her Lyft to arrive. At 4 minutes out, the driver just disappeared. Panic stations set in and we all started calling for a taxi. Ashley found one that showed up in about 10 minutes, still in good time to get her to the airport. After quick goodbyes, Ashley left and we went back to the boat and got back in bed. At about 05:00, she called to say she had changed her flight to 20:30 this evening and was coming back to the boat to spend the day with us. She showed up about 05:30; Terri helped her down, but I could not even drag myself out of bed by then. We all went back to sleep. Terri and I finally dragged out of bed about 09:30 and had a quiet breakfast below, as it was windy and pouring rain outside. Ashley slept in till about 11:30. We spent the rest of the day lazing about the salon and talking and watching the Astros beat Oakland 3-2. Just before 16:00, we walked up and caught the bus into town. On the way, I finally figured out the bus route and time-table and realized that we did not have time to linger in town, but had to immediately return to Auke Bay. At least we figured out where the grocery stores are. We got back at 17:20, went for a quick dinner at Forbidden Peak/Red Spruce, came back to the boat to collect Ashley’s gear, then walked her back up to the top of the ramp to meet her taxi at 19:00. After that, Terri and I came back to the boat to enjoy the now-dry evening, but were in bed by 21:45, exhausted. What a strange day; but it was very nice to spend a bit more time with Ashley - I’m glad she came back for the day.  

24 Jul 23

Today was a work day, after we finally woke up. It was 10:00 before we got going with a load of laundry to do. That took 2.5 hours, after which we had lunch at Forbidden Peak. Then, we came back to the boat to tackle our mold problem in the fore-peak. It has been so cool and damp for the last month that we have not had a chance to properly dry out the boat. Plus, Beneteau installed some foam-backed leatherette between the side-wall and the ceiling panels in the fore-peak and the foam is shot; it is saturated with moisture and falling apart, so I cut it completely out, which made a huge mess. After we got it out, we spent an hour scrubbing the side-wall panels and getting rid of the mold. It was hard work, but looks much better now. After an omelette dinner, and packing for tomorrow’s flight to Anchorage, we were in bed early.

25 Jul 23

We slept like logs last night and got up about 08:00. Then, we got up and finished packing for out trip to Anchorage. About noon, I called every taxi service in town to see about getting a ride to the airport, but none of them would take a booking at 13:30. So, we headed up to the bus-stop to catch the 12:58 bus. A few minutes before the bus was scheduled to arrive, an empty taxi happened by; we flagged him down and got a ride to the airport, thus saving us several blocks of walking (with bags) from the bus-stop to the terminal. The plane finally took off at 15:15 and we landed at Anchorage just before 17:00. John was at the airport to pick us up and take us to their house for dinner. We had an excellent reunion with the whole family. After dinner, we went for a walk and played outside with the kids until nearly 22:00, still in broad daylight. We all called it a day about 22:30.  

26 Jul 23

Terri and I woke up about 07:30. When we got upstairs, Connor was busy cooking breakfast: pancakes and sausage. He, John and I left the house about 09:00 and drove nearly 2 hours to the NW of Anchorage to meet John’s co-worker, Mike, at Dashka Landing, where we boarded his boat and drove for an hour down the Susitna River to fish for salmon using dip-nets. We fished for nearly 4 hours and caught 6 good salmon with 3 dip-nets, then headed home. We did not get home until about 20:30; fortunately, Jessica had kept some leftover BBQ chicken for us, so we did not go hungry. After we had dinner, I played more “ring the Gak” with Nora, Conner filleted the salmon and then it was time for bed for the kids. We were right behind them.  

27 Jul 23

After yesterday’s exertions, we slept in until 08:30. Conner fixed breakfast again and it was waiting for us when we got up. John went to work about 05:30. After coffee, we went up to the high school, where all the kids had swim lessons. Then, we met John for lunch at Bear Tooth Pub and Grill. After lunch, we went for a nice walk at Flat Top Mountain, on the east side of Anchorage; that took us up to 2500 ft above sea level with beautiful views of Anchorage and Cook Inlet. Then, we came back and played around the house with the kids for a while longer, until Jessica presented us with an excellent dinner of haddock that Conner caught last year with his grandad. 

28 Jul 23

We were up till nearly midnight last night talking with John and Jessica, but we were still up just after 07:30 this morning. After breakfast with the Lyons family, we spent the morning playing with the kids and talking with John and Jessica. About 11:45, we said goodbye to all the kids and John and Jessica took us for a quick lunch at Midnight Sun Brewery, and then to the airport to catch out 13:30 milk run flight to Juneau. We took off on time and, after stops in Cordova and Yakutat, landed in Juneau at 18:00. We got a taxi back to Auke Bay, then went up to Forbidden Peak Brewery for dinner. We crawled into bed after 23:00. 

29 Jul 23

After breakfast, Terri spent about 3 hours on the phone with her sisters, so we barely made it to the 11:58 bus into Juneau. After a quick run through the Sealaska Exhibit (very nice), we grabbed a quick lunch at the Imperial Grill, then wandered amongst the myriad tourist trap stores in “Old” downtown Juneau, along with all the tourists off of 5 different cruise ships - ugh!! Then, we caught the 15:10 counter-clockwise bus service back to Auke Bay, via the Mendenhall Loop, so we could have a What’sApp call with our grandbabies and their parents at just after 16:00 our time (17:00 Houston time); we even talked vaguely about possibly spending some time together on “c’est le bon” in the PacNW next summer. Followed by a long phone call with Ashley and an omelet on the boat (i.e., we are fed up with the relatively limited dining options available locally). The weather was clear and warm all day long. The Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays 17-4. So, all in all, it was a very good day.

30 Jul 23

I was bothered by the sound of the A/C sump pump last night, so did not sleep well from about 02:30 on; annoying. We got up at 08:00, had breakfast and went grocery shopping at Safeway; we took the bus up and got a taxi back, returning to the boat about 12:00. After lunch, Terri did a couple of loads of laundry and I washed the deck and topsides of the boat and filled up the water tank. Then, I took a solar shower (we had no hot water on the boat, since we had not been on shore power for a day and a half) and that was just fine. Terri, in the meantime, started on a batch of soup. We are all ready to start heading south - to Taku Harbor - tomorrow morning. The weather was fine, sunny and warm all day long. I started feeling a bit funny in the evening, so went to bed before 21:00.