MAY 22, 2022 – PORT PROTECTION

Well, we had hoped to attempt a southern crossing of Baranof Island (island where Sitka is located) and a trip up the outside, but the weather just isn’t going to cooperate. 7-9 foot seas out there right now, and prediction of increasing winds. The weather changes so rapidly as just yesterday the predictions were calm winds and seas through next Wednesday. Now they are saying 20knot winds in Chatham Strait (runs up the inside of Baranof island) which is open to the Gulf of Alaska to the south, so good chance of some bumpy water. Instead, we are gearing up for a trip through Rocky Pass and Keku Strait tomorrow morning departing Port Protection at 4:30AM to catch high slack in the passage. This is an extremely challenging channel through a rock-strewn passage requiring very diligent navigation, and also requires planning for the slack current at the most dangerous section which is the “Devil’s Elbow”. None of us has been through this before, but we pulled the paper charts and see that John’s Dad transited it in 2001 in Family Matters (previous boat we shared with John’s parents)! His notes on the paper chart will be super helpful. Both Esperança and Lucky Dog have navigation software of course, but in situations like this it’s good to have both references. Today we are staying anchored in Port Protection and doing various boat chores, some cooking, and cleaning. John and Shannon ventured out to try their hand at some halibut fishing but got to the outside and were greeted with wind and rough waters, and they just kept getting blown off their fishing position – you need to be able to keep the boat in one place to fish for halibut – so they bagged it and came back pretty quickly. Late afternoon, Shannon and I did a Korean collagen facial just for fun. It’s a paper face towel smothered in collagen (supposedly) that you lay across your face for 15-20 minutes and supposed to be beneficial. I think we just did it for some amusement and for crazy pictures! We had an early round of games and cards before dinner, which was grilled chicken thighs and Italian chopped salad, complete with a vacuum sealed (lasts for months) Costco French loaf. I have to say they are really pretty good, I just don’t want to know what’s in them! Today was a good day, relaxing and renewing. This has been a great anchorage for us and I would definitely come back. Lots of great dinghy exploring and things to see in the harbor.

Scary photo, but our skin was gleaming afterwards