JUNE 21, 2022 – PETERSBURG TO ST. JOHN’S HARBOR (ZAREMBO ISLAND)

Left the dock at 6:30 this morning to a flurry of activity in the passage as boats big and small were off on their journeys for the day as well. The smaller ones zipping by us at high speeds (wakes not a consideration here apparently) and dodging the larger ones in the Wrangell Narrows. The Narrows are lined with cabins and larger homes as well, one side being serviced by roads and the other side reliant on their water transportation to get to Petersburg. Along the way we saw hundreds of commercial crab pots all down the route. Wrangell Narrows is also dubbed “Christmas Tree Lane” because of all the red and green markers defining your safe route through this shallow and rocky passage. Not as technically challenging as Keku Strait and Rocky Passage but definitely requires attentive navigation. We came out into Sumner Strait headed for Exchange Cove as we were going to hole up there as home base for going out and hitting the fishing. Instead, John spied “St. John’s Harbor” just south of where we exited Wrangell Narrows so we decided to give it a try. Anchored in 55 feet of water, settled, and John headed out for some fishing. I decided to stay behind and do some boat chores, like scrubbing the shower, vacuuming, making up the guest bed, etc. and even got out my workout stuff and did my first real workout since we got aboard, sad to admit. I’ve been lazy and now my jeans are tight – yikes. J came back empty handed and then the rain rolled in and pelted us for a few hours while we napped. But first we moved the boat a little farther away from shore because the tide had gone out quite a bit and all of a sudden it was 8’ right behind the boat, even though we were anchored in 38’ at that point and white all around us (according to the Garmin) – it’s crazy up here, the charts are really inaccurate AND unreliable when it comes to the severe slope of these shoaling bays. Around 5:30 we went back out for our usual evening cruise around the bay, saw no bears and very few eagles, but did run across the dang otters. No point in crabbing or shrimping here.

Christmas Tree Lane complete with a fir tree in the middle!

Have to stay between the red and green all the way down. Further this is considered going out to sea so the red stays on our port side not the usual "red, right, returning"