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.