Reflections of Alaska 

September 2007

Weather

We awoke to rain and more high winds and only one cruise ship.  Skagway will be very different today.  I believe that weather affects the way you feel about a place.  If the sun is shining, I love it.  If it’s raining, I take a harder, usually harsher look. Overall, we were told that the Alaskan weather we experienced was much better than last summer, but not as good as summers past.  It rained a lot.  It was never hot and seldom even very warm.  But visibility was good, it wasn’t freezing, and eventually we learned to just ignore it and do whatever it was that we’d planned.      

Alaska in reflection

It is beautiful here.  Even in bad weather, it’s still beautiful.  I finally understand why people want to live here, especially in the summer.  Many of the SE Alaskans we’ve met are just summer residents, and while some head for Arizona come fall, many just go to Anchorage.  Anchorage, ALASKA?  For the winter?  One lady explained to me that Alaska was her home, but she didn’t feel so isolated “up north” during the winter.  If the weather is bad, like it was last year, you are pretty much stuck on the islands for days…or for WEEKS! 

We are often asked what our favorite place was and we have a hard time coming up with just one.  The big ports offer the services you need and a chance to stretch your legs and I don’t mind them at all.  Of the big three, Ketchikan, Juneau and Sitka, I guess I like Sitka the best.  The rich history, the easy to see and enjoy places of interest, restaurants, Hank’s taxi, and a good market, all make it a great port of call.  Even the shops seem to offer different items to take home to loved ones. 

Ketchikan is also a good stop, very convenient and the people at the harbor are really great.  Juneau has it all, but it feels like a city, (it is a city, the state Capitol).  Auke Bay at the other end of town and Douglass across the bay from downtown Juneau are great little towns and residents can function away from the tourist corridor.  I think they are all worthy of a stop and interestingly, those are the harbors that are always full, so we are not alone in our thinking.  They all have good airports, and secure harbors, so they are great places for crew changes and to leave for a quick trip “home”.

The smaller towns, Petersburg, Wrangell, Craig, Haines and Hoonah, are all good stops.  Petersburg is well described in the guide books and it is lovely.  Wrangell is not bad, nice people, good espresso bars, okay market, and an interesting fishing harbor.  Craig we only saw briefly, but met a boater who has spent over 30 summers there and loves it.  A quick walk revealed a good market, convenient post office, nice bookstore and coffee shop.  Lots of fish boats.  Glacier Bay, the park stands alone in its grandeur, although I did not love Gustavus, but probably due to the incredibly high taxi rates - we expected more than a few roadside stores after paying $30 per person RT for a short few mile ride.

Our two favorites were Hoonah and Haines, and for different reasons.  Hoonah is great because Paul the harbormaster is very friendly and always has a good story to tell.  We like the variety of people who live and visit there.  The market and hardware store are good.  The Icy Straight Point enterprise at what our charts call Cannery Point is  a nice walk and it’s enjoyable to browse thru the exhibits featuring the Alaskan fishing industry, then and now…it’s all kind of Disney World, but with a nice local flavor.  We see the same people we meet at the Laundromat (in the Harbor office) working at the stores; one gal served us down at the Lodge, then again the next day at Icy Straight.  We were in and out of Hoonah three times, Paul said if we came in again, we had to register to vote. 

And Haines.  I just loved Haines.  I can’t say for sure why, but we found it just delightful, a very livable town.  We stayed for a few days, and rented a car and took a good look around.  It is spectacularly beautiful, surrounded by snow capped mountains, with waterfalls and peeks of glaciers.  It felt whole to me.  Complete.  It’s a nice little harbor, bigger boats probably have to anchor out, but we were the only pleasure boat in…(and this in late July!) so they tied us up near the gas dock.  We were there for great weather and lots of rain too.  We were there when a cruise ship was in, and on a day when no ships were in.  There are other travelers who make their way to Haines as it is connected by road to the Yukon and mainland Alaska.  Maybe that is what I like; I don’t think I would get ‘Rock Fever’ like I would in Ketchikan. There is a health food store (Mountain Market) that is fantastic, and a mini brewery that makes awesome beer.  It’s hard to find, and you are sure you have it wrong, but the Haines Brewing Company is just outside of the town.  Buy a “growler” a big jug of beer, but be prepared to drink it in 24 hours as it does go flat.  We liked the spruce tip brew and something so dark and thick it made Guinness seem like a light ale.  We German/Irish like our beer.  I could probably live in Haines….in the summer anyway. 

And don’t miss the little ports like Elfin Cove and Pelican as they are postcard perfect.  There are many good anchorages, but I guess we especially liked Boat Harbor and found Ell Cove just heavenly. 

Cruise Ships and the other travelers

Every cruiser we meet has a thought about cruise ships…and they aren’t usually favorable. Here’s my take;

When we first came into Ketchikan and saw all those huge cruise ships  we were less than thrilled with so many thousands of people crowding the (our) little harbor.  We encountered them in all the popular ports and they do carry a lot of people.  It was quite different when we took our Alaskan cruise in 1979 - we were on the very small ship the Veendam with dear friends and most often we were the only ship in port, so while we only unloaded a few hundred people, there can be 10,000 people a day now.

But, somewhere along the way, I changed my mind about them.  First of all, we cruisers can choose isolated anchorages.  When the ship comes in, we can be at a secure anchorage in a few hours.  So I realized that we are choosing to be in port to take advantage of all those benefits that come with tourism and stopped being so possessive of this beautiful place.

And honestly, I do get caught up in the enthusiasm of the travelers.  It is a big deal for most of them - the trip of a lifetime and they have great energy.  They love Alaska, the shops, the activities, fishing and flight seeing.  They are happy and having a great time.  When I ask servers and people in “cruise ship” towns, most of them have a good attitude about it, realizing that without tourism, and specifically cruise ships, they would be without work and would not be able to live there.      

Like it or not, Alaska needs tourism and we are reminded of that daily.  Naturally, Alaskans, particularly Southeastern Alaskans are divided on the subject. But something had to replace logging, canneries and the like and the cruise ships have, for now, provided jobs. 

The great thing about tourism is that they come and then go away.  The season is relatively short, and then you get your town back.  It’s like that in our small resort town, Big Bear Lake, CA.  If we didn’t have tourism, we would not have the markets, restaurants - the jobs - that we have. 

There are very real issues about the ships in SE Alaska, like the proliferation of cruise ship owned jewelry shops that dominate the main streets, and are owned and staffed with workers who are not from the local town, and who may even board up the shops 7 months a year, making the town look forlorn and abandoned.  But more and more the locals are getting organized and proudly display the “Locally owned and operated” signs in the windows.  Most travelers want mementos that were created in the places they visited, not the same stuff they can buy on board or in any other cruise ship port of call. 

You can tell I was a travel agent for years can’t you?  Defending their right to Be.  But, now I must confess, I just hate traveling on big cruise ships, they are not my thing.  I don’t think they look like boats anymore, no graceful lines, and they are just too big with too many people for me. I would only go on one again if it were a large reunion with people I want to be with and love, and that after trying to talk them into something else!  Picky picky Jo.

And yes, I admit, my favorite picture of Skagway was in the evening, not one car or person on Broadway…it looked like a well kept ghost town.  And of course I love best the frontier feeling small towns without ships, the ones filled real characters.  But that’s what we both like about Alaska; it breeds real characters, and character in those that appear “normal”.  

On our way at last…

May 2007

The San Juan Islands

We are away.  They finished up the must do items, the rest have been relegated to the fix it in September list.  We took off for Oak Harbor where Dot & Ken (DK from here on out) spent quite a bit of time this winter to position ourselves to head out across the upper end of the Straights of Juan de Fuca to get out to San Juan Island and into Friday Harbor.  We purchased our boat from Friday Harbor Yacht Sales, so it was important that she get to see where the idea of her was hatched.  We love this little town and have visited several times over the years.  Ken was under the weather, so Ade and I went out and enjoyed a meal at Downriggers on the waterfront.
The next day we made our way over to Roche Harbor, the site of the Annual Selene Rendezvous.  It is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, visit with those you’ve met before and compare boat and cruising notes.  We had a fantastic time and met so many great people.  Some we hope to connect with this summer in Alaska and several that will be going to Mexico in the fall.  We ohh’d and ahh’d over the fantastic details of each boat - of the six 43’s, boats “just like ours” - none were just like ours - one had the “two master stateroom” layout that we have, but their main salon was quite different.  We marveled at how Howard Chan can manifest all of our dreams into reality in such small spaces.  Each of us is certain that we have the best boat…it is the best, for us.  I also am thankful that our men cannot design wives, lord knows what we’d look like.  On Saturday night just as the “banquet” was finishing up,
Big Bear friends arrived to spend a few nights about Dreamweaver.  We had a lovely visit with them and a nice walk through the Sculpture Garden and over to the Mausoleum.  Most of the Selene fleet took off early Sunday, but those of us left behind had a dock party alongside the very lovely “Voyager”, a 55′ beautifully outfitted to take on the world.  I have no doubt that the Dobbe’s will continue to log the miles and show us the way.
The next few days were spent cruising around the San Juan Islands, re-visiting old coves we’d explored by ferry and car, and finding new ones that are really on accessible by private boat.  We met up with the always entertaining Jay and Denise on JaDeDa, another Selene 43′ who have been cruising up here all year.  It was a nice shakedown cruise.

Onto Canada

D & K slipped over to Vancouver Island and a few of the Gulf Islands, while we tended to final details.  Ken didn’t really want to bring DW to downtown Vancouver, but we wanted to go there to add the provisions, (mostly wine and alcohol that you cannot bring over the border legally) so they drove our car from Anacortes and we did a bit of sightseeing and maintenance, Ken finding parts for his heating system that were not available in the states.  They nicely put the car in storage for us, then by way of the Gulf Islands, joined us in Pender Cove - where we celebrated with a wonderful bottle of champagne (or two) the beginning of our Alaskan odyssey.

Ade’s log goes into detail of the journey from island to island, but I’ll tell you that my favorites have been the trip up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet and the truly noisy, and therefore aptly named, “Chatterbox Falls”.  Jervis itself is jaw dropping…sheer cliffs with a pine forest right down to the waters edge, those trees clinging to life, then backed by snow capped mountain peaks.  We laughing have decided that much of this area is the prettiest of coves on our beloved Big Bear Lake, at sea level with the snow-capped Sierras (think road to Mammoth Mountain) or Rockies close in behind.  But it’s better.  If it were just a wee bit warmer we’d stay forever.
When we finally made our way thru the Malibu Rapids, which involved a lively debate between navigators Dottie and Ade, whose Nobeltec systems said two different things - we were still debating it, and arrived extra early from the earliest prediction for slack tide way back this inlet, when Ken just went for it - whoa boy, they ripped right around that little island that blocks the entrance and disappeared.  We looked at each other and said, what the heck, and followed.  What we hadn’t heard was his radio conversation with a tug on the other said that advised that it was a clear shot.  Once at the end of Princess Louisa, we were delighted to find several boats tied up to the dock - a couple on Posada, a Nordhavn 43 that we’d met a few years ago while researching that beautiful yacht.  They were traveling with another couple on a Nordhavn 36 that D & K met on the dock in Friday Harbor a week ago.

There were sailors, and fast boats and it was a lovely welcoming community.  We did a tiny bit of hiking, but tales of the impossible hike up the mossy sheer mountain to a fallen down cabin didn’t interest us as much as the prospect of, now get this, putting on shorts and tanks and sitting in the SUN on the deck reading.  You cannot imagine what that is like after so many months of either rain, or sunny, but freezing days.  It was bliss.  D & K, on the other hand, having been told that it was impossible to get up the cliff, forged ahead.  It was nearly twilight before they returned, I had already arranged a search party, even finding a dog to lead the way.  We decided to press on the next morning and head up a little closer to Desolation Sound - another favorite place that we’d visited twenty one years ago on a charter trip.

Before we left, we got to talking to the experts at the dock about the disparity between the tide charts on the computer systems.  We all pulled out printed books, all different, and various versions of the Nobeltec charts - and were more confused that ever.  You know how Ade is about these things, “its supposed to be science for goodness sakes, how can it be so different” - he likes answers…but what the heck, we all at least decided within a hour of the right time to take the rapids, so one by one, we left, each skipper smug in his knowledge that they had the right time…and they all did.  Seems we had a very small tide and the gap was wide.  They have since worked it all out and now almost agree on the best times to take the many rapids we encounter.

Desolation Sound

Desolation Sound is a very popular group of islands off the BC Mainland. There are a few cabins scattered about and the bays are shallow enough for the water to warm up nicely in the summer….but it was way too early for me to even consider getting in the water, the average water temperature is less than 50 degrees F.  We didn’t have a lot of time to explore the upper reaches of the area like we did the last time, but we managed a night at lovely Grace Harbor and arrived early enough for a nice dinghy explore and an encounter with a group of kids from an alternative school in Vancouver who were on day 10 of a wilderness trip.  They were swimming!  They were each sleeping on their own in little pup tents, and there are bears!  I am such a wuss.  One of the girls did confess to being ready to kill for a cheeseburger.

Our next stop was Melanie Cove in the Prideaux Haven area and we did manage a hike, although I did not find the apple orchard or the remains of “Mikes” cabin, the place so beautifully described by Muriel W. Blanchett in the Curve of Time.  Dottie bought the book and had not yet started it, so I grabbed it and haven’t let it go. If you have not read this book, pick it up.  Not only does it describe the islands and environment of the southern part of our journey, it also tells the story of this incredible family.  Muriel was widowed in 1925 with five small children when her husband apparently drowned while off on their 25′ motorboat.  She went on to spent many summers with her children (and dog) in that smallboat exploring the inlets, islands and coves.  What adventures they had, what an amazing woman.  She writes with such humor and poetry, with just enough mysticism to really captivate me.  Poor Dottie will never get this book back (until I find a copy to buy!)  And now it looks like we are North to Alaska!