8/22/2025 Clarence Strait

 Leaving Ketchikan, sharing the Tongass Narrows.

A large Coast Guard presence just south of Ketchikan

The usual, where’re the rocks.

Low tide, Canoe Cove

High tide, Canoe Cove, Bill calls these “dragon’s teeth”. 

We left Canoe Cove, crossing Clarence Strait for Prince of Wales Island, the crossing didn’t quite go as planned.The wind was in the opposite direction from predicted, and we ended up with confused, short chop waves. I wore my new Relief Band to ward off nausea, and poor Gus was very seasick. By the time we ducked into Gardner Bay/Prince of Wales Island, Gus and I were more than ready to be in calm waters

One side of the bay showed evidence of multiple landslides, we’re a little sensitive since the catastrophic disaster on Wrangell a few years ago.

One morning while charging the battery bank, we had the generator overheat, and Bill had a couple of days of troubleshooting, and repair. Denali Rose carries loads of spare parts, additional fluids and many tools. Bill used a solution to dissolve any buildup in the exhaust hose, and some other stuff, again I won’t muddle this up with incorrect information, and the generator is back in business. 

Leaving Gardner Bay on a morning that weather prognosticators said would be a smooth ride, I was skeptical, but hoping for the best. 

Even small boats were out fishing.

I was presented with a glass calm Clarence Strait, my favorite. This is looking out towards the Pacific Ocean, a calm day indeed. 

Gus was grateful as well. That’s a 12volt fan, it’s been so warm, don’t laugh, I know “warm” is a relative term, anyway, we’ve taken to using this fan in the cockpit underway to help keep us cool. 

We rounded the southern end of Prince of Wales Island, caught the current for a speed boost, but the Pacific decided to send rollers our way as well. Gus was not a fan of the motion, but with the extra speed, we ducked into Minnie Bay in no time.

(A 43ft boat's theoretical displacement hull speed is approximately 8.7 knots, calculated using the formula 1.34 * √(waterline length in feet), but this only applies to displacement hulls and ignores factors like a boat's specific hull design, trim… and more technical stuff.)  

That dark grey line is the Canadian border. 

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

08/15/2025 Lyman Anchorage

 Tolstoi Bay

Sometimes we have to share our “quiet” bay with unwelcome noise, they came, they worked, and then they left. 

Then sometimes we share our anchorage with wonderful visitors. I was first alerted to a whale close by, when I heard whale song through the hull of the boat. We watched as he swam, dove, and bubble fed, scooping up whatever fish couldn’t escape. 

We moved on to Lyman Anchorage, to wait for a weather window, we wanted to cross Clarence Strait to Ketchikan.

We’d never been in this bay before, and it turned out to be a comfortable, protected place to hang while the weather in Clarence howled. We went in on a high tide, that narrow choke point has rocks on either side, and I stood on the bow as a rock lookout. 

Let’s play “where’s the rock” again.

At the entrance, low tide.

At the entrance, high tide.

We had some animal sightings, and enjoyed this quiet bay.

Black bear on the beach.

River otters, (as opposed to sea otters), cavorting, and finding fish to eat.

This bay was once a site for logging, and there were many steel cables lining the edges.  Our hope was that they weren’t strung across the bay, and that our anchor wouldn’t find them. 

Our next stop was Ketchikan, where we wanted to stop at Safeway, and get a few grocery items

😁 This is Bill wheeling 3 Rubbermaid tubs, full of groceries, down the dock to the boat. We stashed them onboard, and the next day departed for the fuel dock to top up, and we’re done with K-town. The cacophony of the tour Cessnas, helicopters, cruise ships, and multiple Alaska jets were too much for us.

Gus doesn’t sleep on my lap very often, but he decided this fleece blanket was too good to pass up.

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

Thorne Bay 08/08/2025

 Playing “Where are the rock(s).”

High tide

Low tide

That’s a serious difference, we don’t want to anchor too close to the shoal.

High tide

Low tide

We anchored between “a rock and a hard place”. 😁

We’ve been in this bay before, it doesn’t have a name, but it’s right next to the entrance to the small community of Thorne Bay. I think everyone who lives there has a some kind of a boat, skiff or kayak, that would add up to about 475 boats. I don’t know how many homes are on the road connected to town, but cabins and homes line the entire bay, called the North, and South ends, and many of the inhabitants are accessing town from the water. 

We took our dinghy to town from our anchorage, it's about 3 miles. We wanted to know if they had a fuel dock, they do, what the grocery store looked like, bare, as the supply barge hadn't been in yet, and what the cost of moorage  is if we wanted to bring Denali Rose in, $1.00 a foot, addl $25.00 for power - ea 24hours. 

When departing, I always take a photo of Denali Rose from the dinghy.

We're assuming derelict crew quarters from bygone logging era.

The marina entrance to town.

One evening in our bay, we had an unexpected visit by a humpback whale. He scooped up whatever food he found, and exited out.

Not a great photo, but sometimes you just have to live in the moment, and not through a lens.

Another favorite spot for Gus, when he is feeling ultra relaxed underway. This is his carrier, we keep it out in the cockpit in case of emergency. If needed, we could stuff him in there, zip it up, and be ready to take whatever action the emergency warranted. I have a spatula in there, because he likes to lay on the top, and it crushes the container, so the spatula mitigates some of that. 

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

Meyers Chuck 07/28/2025

 Let's play again: where are the rocks?

Low tide... this is the entrance to a small bay known as Meyers Chuck.

High tide, you'd better be paying attention to your charts.

All those little asterisks... rocks...the hard bits you want to avoid with your boat.

Everything that is delivered to this bay, comes by boat, or floatplane. 

When we arrived, the weather was sunny, and Clarence Strait was calm, so the dock was fairly empty. We tied up to our favorite spot on the end facing out. It's easier to depart that way.

The next day the weather was predicted to turn, and Clarence Strait was going to have the wind kick up a few notches. The dock was full by 10:30am, and more boats were still coming in, which meant they would have to anchor in the bay instead. I like to watch the jockeying for position, but not BE the one doing the jockeying. We ended up moving small boats closer together on the inside of the dock, to make room, as one boat came in having lost its anchor, and had to be on the dock. It happens, that's why we keep spares, and unfortunately they didn't have one. Lesson learned.

Looking down the length of the dock.

You can tell the winds by looking at those clouds. 

Meyers Chuck is a cute small community without any amenities, like power, running water, communications, the one exception is a part-time post office, it’s only open 2 days a week, and only in the summer, and the cinnamon rolls that the post mistress makes in the mornings. 

This board is at the top of the dock ramp, you can put your mail in the slot, read realty ads, pay a small fee for a map of the trail system, and get the information to order cinnamon rolls. At seven in the morning, Cassy gets in her skiff and delivers hot fresh rolls and cookies to you, either at the dock, or to your boat at anchor. They're delicious!

During the next few days, some boats left, some more arrived, and we ate cinnamon rolls. (Wrapped in plastic wrap for freshness.)

Gus is sitting on Denali Rose's side deck, keeping an eye on the new neighbors. He's ready to repel boarders if needed. As it turned out, this boat had a beautiful pure white long hair cat onboard. However, she was not to be trusted, and didn't have outside deck privileges. 

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

Fourth of July 07/18/2025

 

This is where Gus “hides” when he feels that a departure is going to take place. That’s a port in the back cabin where we sleep. As soon as the engine starts up though, he prefers to roost on his cushion in the cockpit.

Gus is wearing his harness in this photo, but he doesn't always have it on. He knows when we are underway, he is not allowed out, he can be down below in the boat, or in the cockpit, no wandering the decks. If he gets a wild hair, and insists on being out, he gets a leash attached to him, which will remind him of his manners. 

We moved from one side of Sokolof Island to the other, in order to see the July 3rd fireworks. Wrangell does them on the night of the 3rd, because they use the cruise ship dock for set up, and lighting. Then the crew can enjoy the 4th with their families, and the cruise ship dock is used for the boat races on the 4th. Clear as mud? Good.

Wrangell is about 6 miles away, and we had a good view.

Dusk, and lights of the community are coming on.

Not a great photo, but you get the idea, we had a good view of the fireworks, and none of the crowds, bugs, or remaining smoke haze.

The next day, we arrived Wrangell, added more fresh veggies to the larder, picked up our new part, had some good dinners with friends, both local and transient, and headed back out.

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

Off the Dock

 

Captain Ron quotes

As most boat owners know, this is a true statement. 

After Bill completed his battery install, and rewire project, we did what we call “cruise at the dock”. This means turning off the shore power cord, and utilizing all of our electrical needs on the battery system alone. Everything performed flawlessly, of course, even after multiple times of cruising at the dock. We left our slip feeling confident that our new system would sustain us, and result in a large savings in diesel fuel for the generator. 

Murphy loves a commotion, so one of our brand new components failed, and we headed for a nearby anchorage to assess, and look for fixes/alternatives. Bill saw the issue, and after talking to the company, they decided to send us a new part. This means hanging close to Wrangell, so we can head into the post office, pick up the shipment, and do the installation at the dock. It means turning off ALL the power, and that’s not something we want to do out at anchor.  Murphy and all…..

Passing by Sokolof, there were about 30 eagles lining the bank, feasting on something.

We decided to anchor in a small bay on the west side of Sokolof, weather in the foreseeable future is benign, and we could wait until we hear about what day to expect our new part to arrive. This puts us close to Wrangell, so the commute in will be short, but also we get the quiet of being off of the dock.

As you cruise into the bay, taking a wide turn is the best option, going around this rock, Bill remarked that he bet there was different colors of bottom paint on it. This photo is at low tide.

This photo is heading into high tide. Hmm you say, where’s the rock?

It’s on the chart.  See that asterisk, that’s the mark for that rock, go around.

It was interesting to see these two deer wandering the shore line on this island. They must have swam here from somewhere nearby. That buoy is a crab pot marker, not ours, this bay seems to be a spot for the commercial crabbers. 

Back in Wrangell, the quarry that is across the street from our harbor is in full production mode. Seven days a week they are mining rock and crushing it into gravel, we are glad to be away from the sound and grit that coats everything.

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