Sitka, our affair is almost at an end

The weather for the last four days has been spectacular: sunny, calm, temps to the low 50s!

My stay in Sitka is coming to an end. All along, this time of year had been in the back of my mind as a point when wandering could begin again. Early March brings longer daylight hours and generally milder weather although this year could very well be an exception. It is also before the tourons (tourist and moron portmanteau) begin to show up. The angle of the sun light this time of year illuminates in a magical way. And I have to vacate my slip no later than March 6^th.

Yeah, the harbormaster’s office called last week and had me move to a different slip. She was able to find me one that I can have until early March. I have to say that the women in the harbormaster’s office have been extremely accommodating to Blue Note and her crew. Thank you, Kristi and Joy Ann.

So where to from here? I have never been to Skagway. On the list. I have only been to Wrangell once and that was over thirty years ago. On the list. I have never been to Point Baker/Port Protection or Port Alexander. On the list. I have never seen the west coasts of Baranof and Prince of Wales Islands. On the list.

How to see all those places while maximizing new exploration and minimizing repeat visits was a problem I began to contemplate about three weeks ago. To better visualize it, I fired up the ten-year-old laptop that serves as repository for my charts and navigation tools. I hadn’t turned it on since mid November and when it came up it was stuck in a graphics mode that wouldn’t allow the nav program to load. I pulled up the applet that controls the video and tried to change it. No go. I checked the disk, no go. I edited the registry, no go. I even found and downloaded the newest video driver version, nope. This desperate activity sporadically stretched over 4-5 days, to no avail. Nothing I did or tried would increase either the resolution or the color depth. Sigh. Was it time for a new laptop?

I began to search and compare laptop prices. Ugh, not cheap. I kinda wanted a Mac but I wasn’t sure if my outdated nav software would run on it. After another 4-5 days I finally settled on a Dell. Then the strange ritual I usually go through before I spend money I know I have to spend began. Pull out the credit card, grab the phone…pause. Put the phone down and stow the card…do something else. Repeat. Sometimes this silly cycle can go on for days. Fortunately during one of the do-something-else periods I fired up the old laptop and was looking around at what was on the hard drive, kind of with an eye to not having the machine around or not easily accessible when I came across Empire.

Empire is a game of world conquest involving armies, navies, air forces, logistics, strategy, and tactics. It began life as a DOS-based game with text graphics. It has antecedents in the UNIX world before that. It’s been around a long time. I had been addicted to it a long time. I say had because the version on the laptop was one I purchased back in the 90s and was copy protected. The method used required looking for a random word on a random page in the user manual to complete the installation. When I purchased the desktop several years ago I was unable to find the manual and was therefore unable to load Empire on the new machine. This was a good thing as I thought of the thousands of hours I wouldn’t waste in the future. Besides I still had the old laptop and if the urge became unbearable I could still fire it up.

Now I was contemplating not having it around at all. I knew that Empire would run in the only video mode that was now available and that Empire was now the only reason to keep the old machine around in a real estate-starved living space. Amongst this figurative withdrawal I thought of one of the quirky bugs in the Empire code. After you have vanquished the computer, the software switches video modes to play a corny little video sequence where a grateful civilian leader pins a medal on you. When the map display comes back up it doesn’t switch back to the original mode and to get back to it you have to do the steps in order. It got me to thinking of the reason for all the agony I had been enduring for the last week and a half. I pulled up the video driver applet and began trying things in different orders. After about fifteen minutes and a half a dozen reboots I was able to get the display back to normal. Yaaay! Not only that but the display was clearer than it had ever been and the operation of the external video port did not require a reboot. Win! And I still have Empire. :-)

End of circumtextition, whew! After several hours of pouring over the small scale chart of the Alexander Archipelago (Southeast Alaska) I think I have come up with a route that best fulfills the above criteria. Leaving Sitka, it goes north up the west coasts of Baranof and Chichagof Islands and through Lisianski Strait to Pelican. From there, north to Elfin Cove, through Cross Sound, Icy Strait, into Lynn Canal and north to Haines and Skagway. I’ll hit Auke Bay either on the way up or back. Then it’s south through Chatham and Peril Straits to Sitka and around Cape Ommany to Port Alexander, north to Baranof Warm Springs and around to Petersburg, thence south through the Wrangell Narrows to Wrangell, west around Zarembo Island to Point Baker/Port Protection. And then it’s south down the west coast of Prince of Wales and around to Ketchikan.

Of course this is all highly tentative. The actual course will differ by weather, whim, and time in that order. As I said before, we have been having a warm and relatively dry winter. There, however, is no reason to expect that it will continue. Folks around here speak of the herring snows of March, a phenomenon whose description sounds very much like the chicken feathers snow we got in Valdez. And gales are common the month of March. But right now it is wonderful. The snow level is above 1500 feet. The temps dip below freezing at night when it’s clear and into the high 40s during the day.

Activity is beginning to pick up around here. The seiners are gearing up, the float planes are beginning to fly, and the crews are starting to show up. By the time the herring arrive it will be crazy. Time to go soon.

I’ve included an image showing the path I described above. It is shown in red. You can click on it to make it bigger. I know, no labels. Those of you who have been following this blog should be able to find Sitka. If you can’t, pull up Google Earth and feed ‘Sitka AK’ into the search box. The other images are of a couple of herring fishermen and some shots of the harbor on a particularly beautiful dusk.

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In the groove

I know it has been awhile since I have updated this. My only excuse is that when traveling it’s easy to find things to write about that are interesting. Tied to the dock, not so much.

So what’s been going on? Pretty much just finding the groove here in Sitka. Weekend before last, I went to an open mic hosted at the Larkspur Café. I met Ted Howard, one of the musical mainstays here. He’s in a blues band by the name of Belly Meat as well as a member of Sitka Folk, an organization that promotes music events here. It was an enjoyable evening.

Last Friday night, I went to see Belly Meat at the Westmark Lounge. They’re a four piece, stand up bass, slide resonator, Ted on guitar and mando, and a hot harp player. Ted had asked me to bring my harps and sit in, but after listening to their harp player, all I wanted to do was sit and listen. Good stuff.

Saturday night was a fund raiser for a local fisherman who has cancer. There were four bands, the Sugar Shakers, a rockabilly cover band, Belly Meat, the Sitka Blues Band, and another band whose name escapes me. Held upstairs at the Moose Lodge, there had to be over 150 people dancing, drinking, and bidding on pastries and tasties. I was impressed by the turn out as it was competing with a local production of the Nutcracker Ballet, which by all reports was excellent.

Sunday afternoon it was back to the Larkspur Café for a jam session. Three quarters of Belly Meat showed up, Ted, Ernie the bassist, Gary, the exceptional harp player, as well as John, a very tasty mando player. Although most of the tunes were a little outside of my usual fare, I managed not to embarrass myself too badly. It was fun and I look forward to doing it again this Sunday.

Other than that, I’ve gotten a little more done on the novel and Jazz has familiarized himself with the smells around the harbor and environs. We’ve been having gorgeous weather, clear, highs in the low 40s and calm winds. It looks like it has snowed but it’s actually frost from below freezing temps at night. And the sun is above the horizon for over 6 hours. Pretty nice.

The pic of Mount Edgecumbe was taken last weekend from where we were tied up when we first arrived. It shows the main entrance through the break water to the right. The others are of Eliason Harbor.

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Reconnecting

Thursday evening. Calm and 35 degrees.

It’s been a week since we arrived here in Sitka. As it worked out, we got here just as the weather turned nasty. The mooring we got was oriented roughly northeast-southwest and about 3/8 mile across open water to the breakwater. This proved to be a very uncomfortable situation as the storm winds and waves had a westerly component that rolled right through the openings in the breakwater and caught us broadside, slamming us against the dock. Sixty hours was spent checking mooring lines and fenders and sleeping little. To make matters worse, the boat tied ahead of us was occupied by a fellow named Bob who fancied himself an expert at tying up vessels. About midday on Thursday he knocked on the boat and demanded that I move further away from his boat. He was afraid my anchor was going to poke a hole in the skiff tied vertically to the stern of his boat. I didn’t really think it would as it was at least 3 feet away, but in the interests of harbor harmony I decided to humor him. He offered to help me and I took him up on it. This turned out to be a mistake as he was very drunk. After two hours of jockeying the Blue Note around in 20-30 knots of wind and 2-3 foot seas we ended up about 5 feet behind him. He was happy however, so the harmony was preserved. The mooring line and fender checking proved to be essential as we ended up collapsing three fenders and denting the topsides in two places. That night, a 28 foot Bayliner broke loose and ended up on the rocks.

I had called the harbormaster two days prior to our arrival, hoping for a slip assignment. I was told I would be put on the waiting list as there was nothing available except the transient float. I called again on Thursday morning to let them know I was here and to ask again about a slip. Same answer. Monday morning I decided to go talk to them face to face. I’m glad I did. After 20 minutes of sweet talking I now have a slip assigned to me. It will be more expensive than the transient mooring but it is considerably more sheltered AND it gets me away from drunk Bob.

On Saturday I ran into a fellow I had met in Valdez who was working on one of the seine boats on A float. He had just finished working as a diver here. We got to talking and it turned out we had several friends in the diving industry in common including a guy I had originally met in Santa Barbara over 35 years ago. After getting back to the boat I looked up the guy in the phone book. He’s listed! I haven’t gotten around to calling him yet.

This Sunday I am going in to the Larkspur Café. I’ve been told by three people now that there is a jam session every Sunday afternoon. I had intended to do it last Sunday but after Skyping with Jill I totally forgot to. My initial foray will be to see and hear what the scene is like. If I think I can add something I’ll take my toys in the next time.

The pic is an aerial view of the Sitka harbors. Eliason Harbor is in the upper left. The diagram is that of Eliason Harbor showing where we were and where we are.

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Back to Sitka via Baranof Warm Springs

Warm Springs Bay is roughly 80 miles from Petersburg. The available anchorages in between dictate two possibilities. One can split it 55 miles and 25 miles by choosing one of the harbors on the south end of Admiralty Island or split it 25 and 55 by anchoring in Portage Bay on Kupreanof Island. The weather forced the latter.

It had been blowing all week. The winds reported at Five Finger Light were 25 knots gusting to 40 knots. Not safe. By Saturday, the winds had “calmed” to high teens gusting to the low 20s. Not comfortable but doable. The Sunday forecast was for further moderation with it piping back up Monday. I decided to go.

We were late leaving. It was only 45 minutes, but it meant arriving in Portage Bay after dark. Two circumstances, one serendipitous, saved the situation. The first one was I had anchored there before. In 2000, Karen and I had put in there to await more favorable weather so I was familiar with the entrance. The other was that the sky had cleared and a half moon illuminated the Bay. Upon rounding East Point, an anchor light was shining where I had planned to anchor. Another sailboat had taken my spot. Fortunately there was plenty of room and we hooked with no complications.

Since Sunday was the long leg, we were underway at first light. The winds at Five Finger were 16 gusting 19 southeast. That meant that as soon as we entered Frederick Sound the winds rounding Cape Strait and out of Thomas Bay pushed up a nasty 4 foot chop on our aft quarter. The combination of pitching and yawing made for a very unpleasant ride and caused the vandals to come visiting. Thankfully it only lasted for a couple of hours. The sun was out and the porpoises were playing in our bow wave. The respite was brief though. As we rounded Cape Bendal we were once again subjected to the southeast winds blowing up Keku Strait. Four hours across the Sound to Point Gardner seemed like forever with the last hour requiring manual steering because of the heavy tide rips. What blessed relief to enter Chatham Strait even though it had begun to rain. An hour later we were tied to the dock in Baranof Warm Springs.

I had wanted to visit here for a long time, after hearing many stories of drinking, partying, and of course soaking in the springs. And here I was. Jazz and I explored the nearby environs, he reading the p-mail and me taking in the sights. The village of Baranof is situated on the north shore of the Bay between a large rock outcrop to the east and the waterfall to the west. There are less than 12 buildings visible with quite a few hidden in the trees upslope. Everything is connected by State-maintained boardwalks. One of the first buildings along the boardwalk from the floats is the public bath house. An interesting structure consisting of three rooms with doors facing the walk and open from waist high to ceiling on the bay side. Each room has a large tub and a chair. I decided to take Jazz back to the boat, grab a change of clothes and a beer, and take a soak. I knew it would be cold getting in and out of the tub because of the open air “window”, but I figured the warm water would be worth it. Brrr. Not quite. I stayed in long enough to get cleaned up and decided to drink the beer back down on the boat next to the heater.

Because our travel day was shorter on Monday I decided to hike up the boardwalk in the morning and find the actual springs. The boardwalk ended about a mile up the hill with no obvious springs in sight. There were a bunch of black plastic hoses, both large and small paralleling the walk. Of these, three were warm to the touch. Being the intrepid detective, I followed the warm ones to an area above the end of the boardwalk where it smelled faintly sulphurous. Aha! Imagine my disappointment when the hoses ended in a crevice with an old piece of roofing tin thrown over it. It wasn’t big enough for Jazz to swim in. Time was up. We had to get underway. As we were walking back, we ran into the caretaker who gave me directions to the springs. It would have to wait for the next time.

The next time came sooner than I expected. The forecast on Sunday afternoon was for 20 knot northerlies in Chatham Strait on Monday afternoon. I couldn’t receive the weather deep in the bay but looking out to the mouth it looked OK. And it was for about an hour. By the time we got to Takatz Bay about 7 miles north, we were bucking into 25 knots and 5 foot seas. We were down to about 4 knots of headway making the trip up to the entrance to Peril Strait an hour and a half longer than expected. Screw it! We turned around and ran before it back to Warm Springs Bay. Before entering the bay I flipped over to the weather channel. They had changed the Chatham weather to small craft advisories with winds to 30 knots and seas to six feet. Tuesday was 15 knots out of the south. Another day in Baranof Warm Springs.

After getting the boat squared away we walked up to find the springs. They are about 75 yards off the boardwalk towards the falls. Actually, the springs themselves are above a pool formed by naturally occurring rocks and a built-up wall. The pool overlooks the falls. Very spectacular. It is totally open however with no shelter from the rain which was continuing unabated, raising the question of what to do with clothes. Dealing with soaking wet clothes in a small enclosed cabin is no trivial matter in wet weather. Problem solved, don’t wear any! So I took Jazz back to the boat, took off all my clothes except socks, pulled my xtra-tuffs and rain gear back on and hiked back up. Heaven! The roar of the waterfall provided the sound track with the cold rain contrasting nicely with the hot water. I drank a beer, soaked til I pruned, pulled rain gear and xts back on and hiked down to the boat.

Tuesday we cruised up Chatham Strait, turned left into Peril Strait and anchored in Nismeni Cove about 22 miles up the Strait. Wednesday we made it down through Sergius Narrows, Neva and Olga Straits and into Sitka. I’m tied to the north transient float and all plugged in.

Two of the pics are of Baranof, one of the bath house and one of the pool.

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