Port Alexander

Friday. Rain and fog, mid 40s, light wind.

We’re tied to the State float in Port Alexander, having arrived yesterday afternoon. Gale warnings are posted for Chatham Strait. The heater is on, the cabin is cozy warm. Quicksilver Messenger Service is on the stereo. I just popped a bowl of Orville’s and opened a beer. Time to update the blog.

We left Sitka a little after 2 on Tuesday. A warm and partly cloudy day promised a pleasant trip. The winds were light but I was assured by a local that it would be blowing “out front.” As we cleared the breakwater and entered the Western Channel the wind died completely. All that remained were the long greasy swells rolling into the Sound from the west. The partly cloudy day turned to mostly cloudy then overcast. By the time we were in the lee of Biorka Island it was raining steadily. So much for promises and assurances.

Mercifully our anchorage at Goddard Hot Springs was only 16 miles from Sitka so we weren’t in it for very long. In fact the rain died as we entered the bight in front of the bathhouses. After the anchor was down I launched the skiff, loaded a towel and a change of clothes, and Jazz and I headed to the beach.

There are two identical bathhouses, each having a large oaken tub, filled by a hot water pipe and a cold water pipe. The water in the lower house was tepid with no flow out of the hot pipe. We hiked to the upper house. Wow, talk about hot! Try as I might I couldn’t get in. I couldn’t even leave my feet in for very long. Where’s the Goldilocks tub? I ended up draining about six inches out and turning off the hot water. After about 20 minutes I was finally able to enter it. Aah the miracle of hot water.

Well after I reached prune status I got out, got dressed and hiked back down the hill. On the way I spotted where one of the hoses had come apart at a joint. I pulled as much slack as I could and stuck them back together. By the time we got to the lower house water was flowing from the hot pipe.

The next morning Jazz and I checked the lower bathhouse. Yup, it too was now too hot to handle. Good deed done, we got back to the boat, loaded up the skiff and were on our way.

The forecast for the outside waters from Cape Decision to Cape Edgecumbe was for 10 knot westerlies, 8 foot seas, with a Small Craft Advisory posted due to seas. As promised, the wind was out of the west as we left Hot Springs Bay. In anticipation of a reach down the coast I set the main. But the joke was on me as with every turn through the rock pile to the south the wind was on the nose. There was a west swell but the seas could better be described as confused with a wind chop out of the south combined with the backwash off the rocks and islets.

The day however was warm and sunny. At one point we heaved-to to watch the humpbacks bubblefish. The motion was too rough though and the whales too far off for photography so we continued on.

My friend Carl on the F/V Last Dance had recommended Still Harbor just inside the southern point of Whale Bay as a good place to stay. We headed there. He was right, it lived up to its name after all the motion outside. But what an entrance. With the 8-foot west swell creating a washing machine like effect right at the mouth, followed by the serpentine course through the rocks, I could have made diamonds out of coal, if you know what I mean.

Thursday had the same forecast as Wednesday. We steeled ourselves for the motion to come. Yup same conditions: confused seas, wind on the nose, sunny and warm. As we angled for Cape Ommaney at Sealion Rocks the wind became favorable. I raised the main. We were still too close to the wind and it was too light to turn off Miss Mercedes, but the stabilizing effect was wonderful.

We shot the gap between Wooded Island and Cape Ommaney, made the five-mile downwind run and here we are at Port Alexander. I checked for cell phone coverage about 2 miles out and had it, but not in the inner bay. :-( I do have a wifi connection but not good enough to upload pictures. They will have to wait, probably for Petersburg.

The forecast for southern Chatham looks good for a morning departure. We are making for Baranof Warm Springs, hopefully to meet up again with Rory on the S/V Complice.

The pics are the full moon over the O'Connell Bridge in Sitka the night before leaving, the anchorage at Goddard Hot Springs, the lower bathhouse, sunset in Still Harbor, the next morning, Cape Ommaney (if you look carefully you can see sea lions hauled out just above the white water), part of the Port Alexander water front, Jazz beatin' feet for the beach.

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