Day 26 – Berg Bay to Wrangell

Another beautiful calm morning as we putt out of beautiful Berg Bay. There were two other boats there, both Nordic Tugs, anchored at the head of the bay. They untied and parted ways this morning and then one boat made its way to the very head of the inlet almost to shore – they had set crab pots there the night before…we hadn’t noticed. We watched through the binoculars as they pulled the pots and sure enough their pots were full. Making a mental note for return trip. Shellfish abound here. Today’s run is a short one, only 20 miles which is about 2 hours for us. As we rounded the northern tip of Wrangell Island we came upon the mouth of the Stikine River which is I’m guessing several miles wide. Here we are cruising along in very deep water when just a couple hundred yards away it is 3’ deep for as far as the eye can see. I was very much in awe of this for some reason. What we learned from the locals is that you don’t venture out there unless you know where the channels are, and they are constantly shifting with the sand and silt from the river. Similar to the Columbia River I’m guessing. It was as though someone had drawn a line across the ocean, it was light green where the delta began and gray blue where we were cruising. The city of Wrangell runs all the docks in 3 harbors here and they don’t take reservations, so you hail them on the VHF when you are close and hope they have room. We were assigned Heritage Harbor, which is slightly south of the town core, but walking distance if you are so inclined. Cell service was just strong enough for a phone call but emails wouldn’t download, so we packed up our devices and took a cab into town, and the kids continued on to the airport as they were flying out at 4:30. I got a hall pass for tonight and we got to go out to dinner! And how many places can you take your dinghy to the restaurant and tie up in front?! The Stikine Hotel and Restaurant is right at the cruise ship dock which has room for 1 cruise ship, but also lots of public use dock space. We split a fabulous dinner of razor clam chowder, wedge salad, and ribeye steak with chimichurri sauce and Portuguese dirty rice – the rice was a huge hit for me. I begged them for the recipe and the cook (who is Portuguese) finally relented. Below are the recipe components, but I’m sure there is some secret ingredient he’s leaving out. Hope to make it sometime this trip.

RECIPE: Portuguese Dirty Rice: Sauté in olive oil: braised pork belly (substitute pork loin or other fatty cuts), garlic, shallot, black beans, diced black olives, add 2 c. cooked rice (Jasmine works best), finish with lime juice, chipotle tabasco, salt to taste.