Friday Funny 8-30/19 (Denali Rose Fits, and Sits)

We spent about a week in Auke Bay, Statter Harbor, a marina NW of Juneau. We can't get into the marina downtown because of the height of the bridge, and the height of our mast, the two won't play nice.

The waiting list for a permanent slip here is quite long, and so about half of the docks are what they call "transient". It seems like everyone who owns a boat in Juneau, uses the transient dock. The signs say you have to move in 10 days, but locals say it's not enforced, it's good in case of a derelict that needs to be evicted. 

All of those U shaped areas are available, it's kind of like, "I fits, I sits".

Bill in his usual competent style, found an opening and sidled right in. I thought we were going to take out the cute little sailboat with our bowsprit, but, as Bill backed Denali Rose into place, it sailed right over her aft end. Captains have to learn how to drive competently here, one small alumaweld boat almost drove his bow up on our dock finger trying to fit in.

Aft end of Denali Rose's clearance

Forward end of Denali Rose clearance.

Here are some examples of "transients".

That's actually a charter boat in the middle, "Alaska Luxury Charters", they have two of those sleek looking boats.

That's a trimaran that someone is building a canopy over the top.

This I think, IS actually a transient, a yacht named "Pioneer".

This sailboat has a vinyl wrapped hull, I've never seen one before, and it's pretty cool. This one is made to look like wood,  complete with the plugs.

Coast Guard, of course, not a transient, this is actually their permanent space.

I only included this one, because our friends had a boat named Dawn Treader V, could this be their next boat. ("Surely you jest", I hear them say to me.)

All different kinds of sizes, shapes, and brands lined up together, there are lots of Bayliners, and cute Sea Sports.

Commercial fishing boats.

Even the many whale watching tour boats are tied up in transient.

When you can't find a space to finesse your boat into, there is usually room on the outer float. We don't recommend this until a last resort. The wake within the marina is a constant, and I can only imagine how bad it would be out there.

They only have so many power poles, not enough for all boats to plug in. The power runs from 50amp to 30amp to 20amp, you have to watch carefully, and when someone unplugs, be ready to grab it. 

We've found that as a transient, it was best to get to the marina between 11:00a-2:00pm, that's when the whale tours, the commercial fishermen, and the personal day boats were out enjoying themselves, and it's easier to find openings. After 4:00pm, you take your chances, we watched the late-comer parade every evening circle around, and around trying to find that one little spot, or raft up to someone they knew.

The view on the way into Statter Harbor. That extra large yacht anchored to the right, wouldn't fit anywhere inside.

The view of Mendenhall Glacier from our back deck, tied up on the D-4 dock, and we did score a 20amp service plug on the second day.

Add caption

Gus fits, and sits on top of the dodger, his favorite spot, to enjoy the last of the evening sun.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 08-23/19 (Shop 'till You Drop)

While in Juneau, and I completed my first shopping trip to Costco. I've been in a Costco in Anchorage twice, once on an errand with my sister-in-law, and once with a friend, but never to do my own shopping. OH MY!  My online fellow cruiser friend, Melissa, warned me ahead of time to "hang onto my wallet." Good advice. It took two dock carts to get all of the provisions down to the boat.

It was hard not to buy EVERYTHING, but I reminded myself that there is only so much storage space in Denali Rose. It's already taken days to figure out where everything can fit, be accessible, and most of all, remember where it's been put. Really, what's the point if I bought it, and then forget I have it, or forget where to find it?

Then the next day we went to Fred Meyers to pick up more supplies, because we could buy items in a lesser quantity. I didn't need, nor could I justify storage for 3000 Q-tips from Costco, when I could buy one box of 500. Another dock cart full to the boat. 

Never ending toilet roll.

When we don't have guests onboard, we use the v-berth for rubbermaid tubs of supplies, I filled them all, and still had more that needed homes.

The dinette table is lowered to the "bed" level, and covered.

I had to completely clean out, and rearrange the small pantry closet.

Each shelf has 3 layers of shoebox tubs filled with supplies.

Just a few more things to go, where do I store those humongous potato chip bags so they don't get crushed?

These large 120ft yachts are also tied up in the Auke Bay Marina, I bet they don't have storage problems.

Blue Moon

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Update, not really Funny 08-17/19

Well, I warned you about not receiving a Friday post on time. This is the first internet we've had in two weeks.

Glacier Bay was everything we knew it would be. The weather high held, and we had two weeks of blue, sunny skies, warm days, and cool nights. We ticked off the "must sees" everyday, glaciers, bears, seals, otters, and whales. We didn't always get photos, as it was nice just to live in the moment without a lens in front of the view.

Some highlights:

Inside the Huna Tribal Hall, incredible workmanship.

A Coast Guard Cutter which was inside the park, this would be handy later.

This is when the CG came in handy.

On our first night in the park, we were joined in our bay by another cruiser. See the rock that the arrow is pointing to? They unfortunately, laid their boat over on it, and we hosted them onboard until high tide at 2:00a, to see if they could float back off. No one got much sleep, and the miracle happened, they floated off without any discernible damage. It was a good, stout, well made boat, and everyone was glad for it. We did a "Pan Pan" at 10:30pm, and when the Coast Guard learned we had things in hand, they decided not to stop, and requested an update in the morning. (Pan Pan is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. A sort of Heads Up everyone.)

Reid Glacier

Denali Rose at anchor behind Reid Glacier, those are "hanging glaciers" in the mountaintops.

Lamplugh Glacier

A Nat Geo cruise vessel enjoying the scenery

John Hopkins Glacier

And the one glacier everyone on any kind of ship comes to see:

Margerie Glacier

Check out the leaning face of Margerie Glacier.

We hung out in front of Margerie Glacier for about two hours, thinking perhaps we would see the face calving. That large leaning piece looked like it might fall. We didn't hear much creaking or groaning, glacier sounds, so we thought it might still be securely attached. Just as we were about fifteen minutes away, we heard CRASH, and turned around to see the splash of ice entering the water. Oh well, we tried to be at the right place, at the right time.

Check out all of the boats/ships that cruise Glacier Bay on a daily basis, we're used to solitude, or just a couple of other boats, this is kinda crowded for us. This is a snapshot of boats that use AIS, (Automatic Identification System, personal boats don't have to have this technology, some have send/receive - we do, some only receive, and some don't have it at all.)

The Park Service allows 2- large cruise ships, 4- day cruisers, usually 80-125 passengers, and 25- personal boats a day.

We explored all arms of Glacier Bay, and then left to find good shelter for the predicted upcoming storm. We're partway to Juneau tucked into Swanson Harbor tied up to a state-built float. Snug, warm, and have invited the other boat tied up here, over for "sundowners" later. Rum anyone?

and you thought I would forget the cartoon didn't you.......

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.

Friday Funny 08-02/19 (New Friends, New Places, New Food)

Magnus, Porter, and Jill-the photobomb.😁

In Appleton Cove, we had the pleasure of meeting the crew of Yahtzee, Andy, Jill, Porter, and Magnus. As with many of our "cruising friends", we only know them online through blogs, facebook, and sailing forums, it's always fun to meet in person, and spend some time getting acquainted. Andy edits, and writes for the sailing magazine, "48 North", as well as his blog, "Rolling with Yahtzee, and Three Sheets Northwest.

We hosted them for dinner one evening, and then they hosted us for local caught crab, courtesy of Porter, and smores on the beach. 

"These two are keepers!"

Porter, who is 6years old, rows the dinghy, puts the pots out, and then later, retrieves them, measures the crab caught, throws back the females, and the undersized, and keeps the appropriate ones. He pulled in so many, Yahtzee didn't have room for all of them in their refrigerator. He's an impressive fisherman. I might add, he also does this from the SUP, as well as the dinghy.

Magnus holds up his salt shaker, he was awaiting his corn on the cob cooking in the fire, while Porter opts for a smore, made with a Girl Scout thin mint, instead of the usual square of Hersheys. We may have stumbled on an improvement to the conventional smore.

On our way to Hoonah, we stopped in Pavlov Harbor, inside Freshwater Bay. We saw small float planes coming and dropping off people, and then several hours later coming back and retrieving them. We wondered what was the draw? The next morning we got in our dinghy, and went to investigate. 

"Watcha lookin' at?"

Around the corner from our anchorage was a salmon stream, with jumping salmon. During the day, as we watched, we saw 5 different grizzlies. Notice the bench to the right? Those plane loads of tourists sat there, and quietly watched the bears fish. Too close if you ask me.

Tourists, single file.

In one day, we saw porpoise playing in our wake, whales feeding, grizzlies cavorting in the falls, and the usual eagles, ravens, and leaping salmon. That's my Alaska!

The internet in Hoonah is very slow, it probably has something to do with the large cruise ships that visit here, everyone on their cell phones, overwhelming the system. We received our one week Glacier Bay permit, and then we applied for an extension, and received an additional week. Score! We have two weeks to meander around, and take our time exploring. The added bonus is the the weather high that is over our area, means sunny days, and we're looking forward to it. 

local color

Which one are you?

Hoonah has a micro-brewery, Icy Strait Brewery, so of course, we had to try it out. Delicious, and artisan pizza to go with it.

Venison pizza to go with our Pilsner, and Bock.

There might not be a post next Friday, and possibly the following, due to our being in Glacier Bay. I can always post a short update on the SAT phone, so we'll see... maybe.... no promises.

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.