Sistership Visit to Wrangell

This lifestyle has introduced us to new friends, and quite a few of them we know online only. We met another Nauticat 43 owner this week in Wrangell, (we're hull 16, they're 29), when they passed through on their way from Seattle to Glacier Bay. Bill and Ron (Captain Ron...hahaha), had been communicating online with each other for awhile, and now we have met them in-person.

(Redacted contact info)

He even put it on their boat card, it's good to have a sense of humor!

This gave us a good reason to play hookey from the project work on Denali Rose, and go play host, or tourist, whichever. It was wonderful to meet virtual friends, compare boats, and have some fun. Ron, and Suzie are warm, delightful people, and they have worked hard to make their Nauticat a beautiful boat. Bill has already placed orders for some of the items that we admired. 

Headed out past the Heritage Harbor breakwater at low tide.

A couple of local sailors in Wrangell, who had just come back from a recent trip, shared some fresh caught crabs with us. We passed that on in the form of crab omelets one evening, it was good eating! Then we watched "Guardian's of the Galaxy 1". I know this seems a bit strange, but "Guardian's of the Galaxy 2" was in town over the weekend, and we all wanted to go to the movies. Suzie and I loved Groot, and all of us enjoyed both the movies.

Gotta see the movies to understand.

Bill and I hadn't taken advantage of the local jetboat tours up the Stikine River, so we booked a last minute charter, and spent six hours sightseeing. Zach, who owns Muddy Water Adventures, grew up in Wrangell, and has traversed the Stikine River his whole life. He really knows it well.

Zach Taylor, and his company, "Muddy Water Adventures". 

It was an overcast day, but we still saw lots of great scenery, float-houses, scoped out the Forest Service cabins for rent, and went up to Shake's Glacier.

A water neighborhood.

Floathouses are used for base camp when the owners are boating, fishing, or hunting. Some of them were just small square boxes with minimum amenities, and others were small houses. They do need to have a permit from the State of Alaska to build and anchor.

Typical interior of a Forest Service cabin.

Cabins are $35.00 - $40.00 a night, and you bring all of your own supplies. We would really like to go back with our kayaks. It would be easy to get dropped off by jet boat with all of our gear, and enjoy the back sloughs. There's a hot springs on one of them, which would be fun to experience.

Shake's Glacier

As glaciers go, not a particularly spectacular one. There were some lovely blue colors, and this is one that rarely calves, though it is in retreat. 

Jetboat - 30+ knots, Sailboat - 7 knots, give or take.

Scenic waterfalls.

We stopped off at a friend's house, this is on Farm Island, and is not part of the Tongess Natl Forest.

This is Brenda's art studio, the actual house is to the left.

Brenda Schwartz-Yeager, who is an artist, also grew up in Wrangell, and owns a guiding business. Since she was fully booked up, she helped set up our charter, and went out of her way to make sure we would have a good trip. We really appreciate Brenda's help, and Zach was a terrific guide.

Alaska Charters and Adventures

This is Brenda's art business card.

Brenda does watercolor over charts, and they're beautiful. I have two of her prints hanging in Denali Rose's galley.

Sea Lions

We were teasing Zach, that we would have to mark him down on the animal quotient part of the trip, and then we saw sea lions sunning themselves on the mud flats.

Me, Suzie, Ron, David, and Tin, (an Australian couple who joined us). Bill was taking the photo.

And no trip to Wrangell is complete without a photo on the Wrangell log.

Captain Ron and Suzie

Bill and Donna