RED BLUFF BAY ON ANCHOR

Thursday, July 9^th

Happy Birthday to my Sister-in-Law Lisa! Hope you’re having a wonderful day!

I woke up to the sound of waves slapping the boat hull which isn’t a good sign, usually means waves or wind. It was indeed a bit windy and VERY rainy this morning once again. Sigh. At least this morning I have a project. Day before yesterday I decided to revive and feed my sourdough starter with the intent of making bread. Yesterday I made the dough and went through the process of turning it every 30 minutes for 3 hours, then refrigerated overnight. This morning was time to cook the bread but I did not have a dutch oven so had to borrow Bill’s. His pot was a bit larger than I normally cook in so the bread didn’t rise much but did cook much more quickly! I have two nice loaves which is good and bad. Good to have, but it’s so delicious that we make sourdough toast throughout the day, slathered in butter of course!! Or even better, butter with peanut butter that melts and gets gooey. Ok, enough food porn. 

We had rain all morning until finally around noon - IT STOPPED!! Connie and I threw the doors open and said “let’s go kayaking” which we did while conditions were favorable. It was still a bit windy and cold so we were bundled up in puffies and windbreakers, beanies and gloves and boots (with our life jackets on of course), but it was still a godsend to be off the boat, outside in the crisp air, and paddling around our bay. We were hoping to paddle up the stream nearby to look for bears but the current was just too strong, and frankly the shallows crept to the surface connecting with the bottom of my kayak from time to time, so we gave up. There’s a resident Eagle in the bay who perches in the same tree every day. From time to time the local seagulls harass it into leaving but with each dive bomb the Eagle would lurch up with its beak open and try to connect with a gull, and eventually they gave up. The favorable weather continued into the late afternoon so the whole group set out on a cocktail cruise around 5:15 to get up close to the gorgeous waterfall nearby, and explore the shoreline. Still no bears. Dinner tonight was Halibut Piccata from the halibut John caught a while back, along with scratch Rice Pilaf and Caesar Salad. Bill worked magic in his galley and whipped out Tiramisu from scratch to round out the meal. We do not starve….ever. 

Our anchorage In Red Bluff Bay looking south

The most gorgeous Peaks surround us

Sourdough flatbread

Miss Connie all bundled up

Such beauty for our backdrop

I love nature's color palatte

Looking Northwest in Red Bluff Bay

Some abandoned machinery on shore

Merganser family

So happy to be off the boat!

Connie in the background

My Slo-Mo video of the waterfall

TAKATZ BAY TO RED BLUFF BAY

Wednesday, July 8^th

Anchors up by 7AM and off we go to our next destination, just a short 25nm hop down to Red Bluff Bay. It’s nice today, not raining! YET. Chatham Strait was very pleasant, a millpond most of the way with a little chop right at the end of our journey. Red Bluff Bay is named as such for the beautiful bald red rock cliffs that line the entry to the bay. We’ve been here in the past and it was our best bear viewing experience of our 2022 trip, so again we have high hopes. It’s about 3 miles from the entrance to get back into the very head of the bay. AIS didn’t show any other boats back there so we were hopeful for a solitary experience, BUT….there was indeed a boat anchored right in the prime spot. We threw our anchor down a short distance away and rafted the other two boats up. After we were settled John did a depth check within our potential swing circle and found we were just a little too close for comfort to a rather large shoal that is exposed at low tide, so decided we needed to move. Just then we noticed the other boat was picking up its kayaks and tender and sure enough they shortly thereafter left the bay. Our engine was still running at this point, with the other two boats tied off to us on either side, so he pulled our anchor and maneuvered the whole flotilla over to the spot just vacated. Success! We now have a great spot. The rain Gods decided we’d had enough dry weather and pelted us once again all afternoon, it is getting to be a bit much I will admit. So far no bear sightings, and it’s too rainy to go explore up the river here either. Another indoor day! Oh well, I wasn’t feeling great today anyway. 

Leaving Takatz Bay, UnforgetAbell in foreground and Far Niente bringing up the rear

Far Niente arriving at the head of Red Bluff Bay, Stunning backdrop

Another shot just for scale

Waterfall pics never do the waterfall justice, but this one is HUGE and surging, and deafening 

Today's journey on video

TAKATZ BAY ON ANCHOR

Tuesday, July 7th

OMGee, it is not raining this morning! John went out fishing early this morning to try it one more time. Meanwhile Connie and I plotted to get out on our kayaks and take advantage of the break in the weather. We had the most beautiful paddle to the head of the inlet where there is a stream pouring out into the bay with a respectable current. We reached down deep to find our inner athlete, and paddled hard to the mouth of the stream, then rode the current all the way back out, which, when combined with the outgoing tide, was rather swift! John was once again skunked on fishing and is getting quite discouraged. The commercial fishing boats are fishing just outside and to the north so it would be nice to know if they are catching anything. When we were approaching Takatz a couple days ago, there must have been 50 commercial boats lining the shores just north of Takatz, setting nets. The rain returned this afternoon, the TV came on, and we binge watched 4 episodes of “I Will Find You” on Netflix, an edge of your seat thriller! Dinner on our own tonight followed by a rousing game of 5 Crowns on the Bryans boat after dinner. 

Nice view looking to the head of Takatz Bay

One of many waterfalls in Takatz

Note the depth, clearly in my kayak for this shot, looking west in Takatz

Shootin' the rapids out of the river

Our beautiful anchorage in Takatz

Waterfall behind the flotilla

Our view (when it's not raining)

TAKATZ BAY ON ANCHOR

Monday, July 6^th

Well what do you know - for once the weather predictions were correct – awoke to pounding rain this morning. Made for a cozy morning with the diesel heater going full tilt and a hot cup of coffee in my hand. John and I spent a couple of hours this morning researching itinerary options for the next 10 days or so between here and our next major stop of Ketchikan. The wind arrived this morning as well and we are clocking gusts up to 30mph in our protected anchorage, so can’t imagine what Chatham looks like! John and Greg headed out fishing a little bit ago (crazy town) so I hope it’s worth it! When they left the rain had subsided a bit but as I sit here writing this blog, it is back to full on dumping. We are swinging around with the wind gusts but thankfully our anchor seems solidly holding all three boats. Boys came back skunked, seems the only thing they are catching is rock cod which they are throwing back. The rest of the day was so unremarkable (but windy) that I can’t even recall what we did except sit inside and admire the surging waterfalls around us, supposedly today is the super soaker of 2-3” of rain, so far it’s holding true. 

I took no photos today, so once again revisiting favorites from the past.

Raven friends all lined up, I believe this was Hoonah in 2018

Back in 2018 when there WAS crab and prawns in AK

John SR and his Halibut caught in Glacier Bay

Mendenhall Glacier 2018

SITKA TO TAKATZ BAY

Sunday, July 5^th

We are now officially on our way back down from Alaska, as we made our way from Sitka to Takatz Bay, a 10 hour run. We didn’t really want to go that far in one day but the weather always dictates, and tomorrow is predicted to be SUPER ugly in Chatham Strait which is where we are headed this week. Very high winds are coming in late tonight into tomorrow with gusts up to 40mph, and torrential rain, so it was our goal to get somewhere we could hide out. It made for a very long day of 6AM departure and 4PM arrival. It was another whale show today as we transited the narrower parts early in Peril Strait. So many whales it was crazy! We saw a Mom teaching a baby to tail slap, we saw groups of humpbacks bubble feeding and fin slapping, it was so fun! That was when it was calm. The worst water was the last 20 miles of Peril Strait, exactly where it was nasty when we were headed the other direction on our way to Sitka. We turned south into Chatham around 2PM to some wind and 1’-2’ seas but nothing as bad as what we’d just been through. All along we were taking on the nose (bow) with wind and tide moving together (although coming at us) so it wasn’t too awful. The last 30 minutes outside Takatz Bay, a giant catamaran style yacht went barreling 20 knots+ past our three boats clearly trying to beat us to Takatz, and threw us an ENORMOUS wake to contend with that sent things flying. Such an ass. When we got in the back bay of Takatz, sure enough he was anchored in a prime location all settled in. I wanted to go say something but I am TERRIBLE at confrontation, and John decided it wouldn’t do any good anyway, but we were all furious. Huntress threw down an anchor and the other two boats rafted on either side of us as we quickly settled in, everyone a tad cranky after a long day of travel. Takatz is another stunning anchorage with high peaks surrounding us and waterfalls everywhere. I’ve also seen bears here before so convinced John to take me out on an exploration cruise. Bryans were too wiped out from the long day, but Abells joined us and it became our Happy Hour cocktail cruise. It was high tide and just very lightly sprinkling, and I knew tomorrow would be an indoor day with the rain coming our way. We were able to make it nearly all the way to the head of the bay which is out of the water at low tide, but about 4’-6’ for us – and the reward showed up! A beautiful brown bear was grazing on the shoreline, tearing through the sedge grass. The bear was completely unbothered by us so we were able to drift in pretty close without scaring it, to the point we could hear it tearing the grass and chewing, it was just so COOL! After a while we murmured our gratitude and goodbyes to this beautiful creature and headed back to the flotilla. Everyone is beat as mentioned, so dinner on our own. John and I played cards for a couple hands before calling it a night at 8PM – we’d been up since 5AM to see the kids off to the airport at 5:30AM, so it was a very long day.

Gorgeous Brown Bear, have a lot of pictures I loved

This is the jerk that swamped us

Map of Our trip today

SITKA AT THE DOCK

Saturday, July 4^th

Happy Birthday to Jenn! And Happy Fourth of July! And Happy Birthday to my other pseudo daughter, Angie (my bestie Lori’s daughter) whose birthday is also the 4th! And I hear another friend of ours, Jayne, also has a birthday today, Happy Birthday to all! The weather GODS cooperated today! Hallelujah, we deserve a reprieve! The sun is out intermittently but enough to make it a very pleasant day. Sitka has a lot of festivities planned for today, starting with an antique truck parade (which we missed), barn dance, carnival and food booths, and the grand parade through town at 1PM. We first stopped at the Sitka Totem Park and visitor center and learned a lot about the Tlingit history in Sitka, through a short film, a large collection of totem poles and art work, and a lovely trail through the woods with more totems. The tide was out so the kids enjoyed an hour of beach time finding all sorts of treasures. We made our way back downtown for some food from the booths, and eventually the grand parade which was so fun! Nearly all the entries in the parade threw candy to all the kids, so our grands had a ball with that and came home with a mittful of treats. Following the parade there was a water fight between the Coast Guard and the Sitka Fire Department, kids loved that too! Jenn and I slipped away mid afternoon because today is my last day to reprovision before we leave tomorrow morning. We are basically 2 weeks away from the next grocery store so had to stock up on a few fresh items. We could live for weeks on what’s in the pantry, but fresh produce and dairy is always running out. We had birthday dinner at Ludvig’s Restaurant which is the best restaurant in Sitka in my opinion, followed by Lemon Cake with Lemon Frosting that I made this morning to top off this stellar day. 

Curbside seats to the parade, Spencer behind Sycamore

Out for a Dinghy Ride

Just a cool boat in the harbor

SITKA AT THE DOCK

Friday, July 3^rd

Today is exploration day and we are packing a lot into our day. It’s pouring rain but we dressed for the weather and are doing some sightseeing regardless! First up at 9AM we visited the Raptor Center which is a rehabilitation and sanctuary for injured raptors. They take in birds from all over the US and rehabilitate them if possible, and if not then they become permanent residents of the facility or another facility. The birds they currently have as permanent residents are missing key elements necessary for survival and hunting, like a missing eye, a missing talon, or irreparable wing damage. In the case of the resident owls, their wings, while healed, now make too much noise for them to effectively hunt which I found fascinating. Apparently they are stealth hunters and rely on silent flight to catch prey, so if their wings make any minute noise they can’t go back into the wild. One of the resident eagles was found near power lines and they believe it was electrocuted, it can’t fly again. Another is brain damaged from blunt force trauma – probably hit by a car. Another lost its talon because it had been shot. They also had one non-raptor resident Raven they were taking care of who couldn’t fly so the top of his enclosure used to be open. The staff would feed the Raven fresh fish parts, but the Raven’s friends would come into the enclosure, bring him French fries from McDonalds, and the Raven would exchange fresh fish parts with the wild Ravens!  Again, those crafty Ravens, gotta love their smarts. The Raven now has the top covered on his enclosure so his diet doesn't include fries, and the staff jokes that McDonalds left Sitka because of the bad press. After a lunch break at Mean Queen restaurant, a warmup session back at the boat, a quick shopping excursion (Jenn and Den) to wander the shops downtown, we were off to the Fortress of the Bears, the bear rescue center. We had a timed entry at 3:20PM along with about 30 other people. The Fortress of the Bears (FOB) was founded by a guy who used to hunt bears for a living. Over time he fell in love with the bears and could no longer hunt them so decided to turn his attention elsewhere. The policy for Fish and Game is when a mother bear is shot or dies in the wild and has suckling cubs, they unfortunately have to also euthanize the cubs because they will not survive on their own. The FOB currently has 8 resident bears that they acquired as cubs. Unfortunately, they cannot be returned to the wild so their mission is to provide them with a safe home for their lifetime. There are currently 5 brown bears and 3 black bears at FOB. Two of the browns are sisters so they are housed together and are a hilarious pair of playful girls. Two (neutered) male bears who are brothers and another female bear are in the other enclosure. Because they’ve known each other since birth, they all get along. The black bears are in their own enclosure and are never mixed with the brown bears, they would not get along. The grandkids absolutely LOVED the bears and had a marvelous time, as we all did. The two females were very active, playing with their toys of tractor tires, a buoy on a rope that one of them loved to swing around like a tetherball, and one of the bears also kept chasing ducks around the pond. Several Eagles lined the trees surrounding the sanctuary, and typical of scavengers would swoop down during feeding time and try to grab a morsel from the bears, so that was pretty entertaining as well. Dinner back at the boat was some fresh Halibut Tacos from the halibut John caught a couple weeks ago, so delish! Movie night introduced the grandkids to Second Hand Lions, one of John’s favorite movies. They loved it! Jenn and I hit the sack early.

Taking a nap

The two males (darker color) and one female (cinnamon color)

This is one of the males taking a rest, note he's sitting on a log and resting his chin on a stump

One of the resident black bears

I think this is the largest male weighing in at 900 pounds, waiting for food

One very large raptor

The playful sisters