Back in the USA

We left Prince Rupert on Canada Day, July 1. The skies were sunny as we motored out through the narrow channel, Venna ? Passage, leading to the ocean. The winds were up a little and Mark tried sailing with the main sail for a short while. He describes the rest of the trip as "a lumpy powersail". As the swells and chop got worse, Skipper and I headed for our bunker.

The night was spent in a safe harbor in Brundig Inlet on Dundas Island. The anchorage was very well protected and quiet. The only bad thing about Dundas Island is the tiny flies. We slew quite a few with our electric bug zapper. Captain Mark logged 34 nautical miles for the day.

In the morning, after the dog was rowed to shore and allowed to mark his territory on the beach, Mark lifted anchor and began the journey North. The fog was fairly thick so he relied on the radar for several hours. We reached Ketchikan after 9 hours of motoring. Skipper and I stayed in the bunker-bed until 1pm.

I called the Ketchikan Harbormaster on the VHF and he assigned us to the Thomas Cove Marina. There are not too many pleasure boaters here. Our dock mates from Shearwater, “Bojangles”, was here for a few days. Also, “Thacher” was docked beside us for a few days.

Thomas Cove used to be a ball field. Then they dredged it out. They would call the ball game if the outfielders were knee deep in tidal water.

We checked out Ketchikan on Thursday. Everyone was preparing for the big Fourth of July celebration. Our moorage is in old part of town that his now been turned into cute shops and museums.

Parade Day. Walking up to downtown for the parade required rain suits. We found a good place to watch the parade and waited. It stopped raining just for the parade! What fun to see the entire town in the parade with 10,000 tourists, from 4 cruise ships, watching the parade.

As we were leaving to catch the bus for Safeway a young local fisherman gave us a whole side of King salmon. I had bought a piece of salmon in Prince Rupert for $17.00 CAN a pound. This is the 2nd time someone has given us fish!

The Safeway here is excellent! It is perhaps one of the best Safeways I have ever seen. We gathered lunch there from their wonderful salad bar. Their dining area had of view of the mountains and sea. If you know me at all, you know that I am a grocery store snob.

The wind is picking up with gusts to 25mph…sounds like more. I am glad we are not out on the water today.

We have had a least 2 inches of rain in 24 hours! Tonight the rain is HEAVY...1/4 inch in 2 hours.

We are thinking of heading for Wrangle tomorrow....rain or shine.

New photos on our blog at: http://picasaweb.google.com/kiata.linda08