Or coffee, or wine, or therapy.....
We've been in, and out of Wrangell several times. We go out for a week or so at a time, and then come back to our slip to offload trash, get mail, and replenish fresh food.
One of our favorite anchorages is Madan Bay, and we were headed there to wait out some high winds. When we rounded the corner, we saw someone had taken our favorite spot, then we saw the name on the boat, Clementine. They are Heritage Harbor neighbors, and became bay neighbors. We shared some meals, adult beverages, and got to know each other better. Fun surprises.
Since we only have one cat now, and two shark beds, I left one in our cabin, and moved the other one to the cockpit. Gus appears to approve. I thought he might like to be in it while we are underway, but so far he only sits on the cushions, and uses the shark when we're at the dock, or anchor.
We met up with a sister ship- a Nauticat 43 in Anita Bay this past week. Donn was bringing his boat up to Wrangell to place it in his new permanent slip in Heritage Harbor. Raven's Dance is now just across from us. Nauticats Unite, or is that Nauticats Untie? Who else would like to join us?
Raven's Dance in Anita Bay.
I texted this photo of the new neighbor to the owners of Pacifier, they exclaimed, " We match!" Coincidently, the owner of Pacifer used to own a Nauticat. 😁
We're thinking of heading north to commune with the whales, so we won't be back for awhile. And by communing, I mean idle, or anchor, and let them surface, spout, breach, and sing, while we watch from a respectable distance. We're not all about chasing, or interfering with the wildlife. Don't get me started..... I have things I'd say to those whale-watching tour day boats.
SE Alaska hasn't had many tourists this year, and no cruise ships, so other than a few other personal boats, the only other craft out there is the commercial fishing fleet. While I do have empathy for those who make their living from tourism, (I used to be one of them), we are enjoying SE waters with very few other boats.
SCREECH.... Hold the presses! After we left the dock:
Gus did get in his shark underway, unfortunately we were transiting in 15- gusting to 25 knots of wind against tide, and current, and he got seasick. It was his worst bout, and now who knows if he'll try it again. I should have gotten the Bonine in him sooner, bad cat Mom.
Gus is relaxing after his harrowing day.
Also, we didn't go to our favorite whale watching site, we went in another direction, still headed north, but by a different path. Since we don't have a schedule, we're taking our time ducking out of the low weather systems that the Gulf of AK has been throwing at SE Alaska all summer, for the foreseeable future, fall, and the upcoming winter.
Ray Troll says it best:
Check out his website, https://www.trollart.com/, I enjoy his artwork.
We bought our Nauticat 44 last fall in Florida. After several trips down from Ketchikan we went down in March to prep the boat for the freighter, only to have new boat problems and coronavirus intervene. We put Hummingbird on a freighter June 6 in Fort Lauderdale. We went to BC to join the boat, but ended up in a hotel room in quarantine for two weeks. We have now been on the boat at Philbrook's Boatyard in Sidney BC for 6 weeks, and are finally ready to head back to Alaska. The folks here have been great, and the old boat is in dramatically better condition in every respect than when we bought it. Our plan is living aboard back in Southeast Alaska, with home base in an apartment in Sitka when needed. David & Jenny Johnson
ReplyDeleteCongratulation on your new-to-you Nauticat. We look forward to meeting up in person sometime, with more Nauticats arriving in SE Alaska, it might be time for a big rendezvous! If you haven’t already, I encourage you to join Facebook Nauticats International,and the online forum For Nauticat owners.
DeleteThe tourism trade is a double edged sword. We very much enjoyed the sparse crowds on Kuaui but felt for the small businesses that depend on tourists. And all the folks that should be clotting your waterways in Alaska and BC are instead really jamming things up down here in Puget Sound. May next year return us to something like normal.
ReplyDeleteReally, thanks for the offer to share your crowds, but I’m sincere in saying, no thanks, you can keep them. I shudder to think of the hordes that put off their plans this year, added to the folks who are planning next year. I’m being selfish, I know.
Delete