Back to Wrangell

Tuesday,the 5th of August, we pulled out of Deception Point Bay mid-morning and continued south for the little town of Wrangle. The weather continued to improve and by the time we reached Wrangle (less than 4 hours) summer had begun.

Women and children had donned their tank tops and sundresses. Men were wearing their rolled down or clog style gumboots and had discarded their hooded sweatshirts. It was High Summer!

I had several opportunities to photograph totems in bright sunlight!

Wednesday we cleaned the boat, did laundry, and worked on solving some mechanical problems. That day, one problem was solved-the outboard motor was probably over filled with oil and that caused it to balk at starting. The remaining problem, the non-charging house batteries, stayed unsolved until a mechanic was called the next day.

I had met a guy on the dock who was restoring an old Gulf 32 for a friend. He thought he might be able to help with the electrical problem. It turns out that he is a college professor at James Madison in Virginia. (My nephew graduated from there 3 years ago.) Gary has a book of photography coming out next spring on the volcanoes of Alaska. He used his voltmeter on the system but couldn’t figure out the cause of the problem.

Andrea, Gary’s daughter, flew in that evening from Virginia. She is a college student at William and Mary.

The next day, with sunny weather continuing, Andrea and I went out to Petroglyph Beach to photograph and beachcomb. I found a bag-full of sea glass, an antique button, and an excellent polished agate. Mark had called a mechanic so he stayed at the boat. Andrea is an aspiring opera singer and FBI adgent.

The mechanic showed up after we got back and found the problem but didn’t have the parts to fix it. Mark did a bypass on the bad “isolator” and now we are in good shape until we can get a replacement.

Yesterday, Mark felt like he needed a “decompression” day so we took the dog up to Petroglyph Beach for our day off. Skipper had a great time bugging French tourists picnicking. Again I found lots of sea glass and another button.

Now, we are going to leave my favorite Alaskan town, and head down to Ketchikan.
Check out photo albums at: http://picasaweb.google.com/kiata.linda08