6/29/11
Juneau, AK
Miles Travelled: 22
Southerly winds were forecast to build through the day, and we learned from yesterday’s nap debacle to try and avoid interrupting nap time, so we decided to get a move on as soon as the boys woke up. Odin had a rough night last night (gas pains), so he was sound asleep and we actually woke him up at 7:30 this morning.
We pulled out into Stephens Passage to 15-20 kt winds and uncomfortable 3-4 foot seas. We were bouncing around enough that I decided it would be unsafe to boil water for our usual breakfast of oatmeal on our Colman stove (we usually cook on a diesel stove, but since we turned it off last night it would take too long to heat up and boil water for coffee and oatmeal, so in cases like that we use a Colman camping stove but there isn’t any way to secure it or the pots on it if there is significant swell). So I boiled water in the jet boil for coffee (yep, we have 3 ways to heat water on this boat, coffee is very important) and we had a cold breakfast.
Soon we were in the lee of Grand Island and things got a lot calmer…we could have had oatmeal afterall. Oh well, peanut butter on bread and fruit was just fine.
We were concerned about getting a spot at the dock in Juneau since it’s a popular place to stay. Juneau is 8 miles in on Gastineau channel and for a boat like ours, Gastineau channel is a dead end. If there wasn’t space for us in Juneau we were worried about having to make a 16 mile detour, 8 miles up Gastineu and 8 miles back so that we could head to another marina in Auke Bay. As soon as we had one very weak bar of cell service before getting into Gastineau we were able to call the harbor office and though they wouldn’t reserve a slip for us, they assured us there would be space. Whew.
We pulled in and got our slip assignment just before 11:00. We passed Hey You on the way in and Rory helped catch our lines. It was lunch time for us and then nap time at 11:30. Lars slept for an hour and 15 minutes, and then Odin slept for two and half hours! I got to catch up on the blogs I read on my phone while they slept and Tor took a snooze too.
After the boys woke up we went to visit on Hey You and enjoyed the social time. Rory, Katy and Madison fly home tomorrow and we were glad to have a chance to meet them. One major difference in our cruising with the boys is that we just don’t have time to socialize. On every other trip we’ve taken, we’ve had lots of opportunities to meet other people and talk about boats or itineraries or neat anchorages. Since the boys eat dinner around 5 pm and go to bed by about 6:30 pm, our chances for rowing around an anchorage and talking with people on other boats are gone. After having a chance to socialize with Rory, Katy and Madison I’ve realized how much I’ve been missing it. We’ll have to figure out to get out and meet new people during the boys’ awake times.
After visiting on Hey You we walked into town to get some dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We love it when the wait staff at restaurants are parents themselves…they totally understand what it’s like to have kiddos at a restaurant. Our waitress tonight was quick to bring some orange slices while we waited for food and we were grateful!
On our way back to the boat after dinner we stopped by Osprey and visited with Steve and Elsie Hulsizer who we know from Seattle and the Puget Sound Cruising Club. It was really nice to see them! Elsie has written 2 books, one called Voyages to Windward about cruising the West coast of Vancouver Island that we really enjoyed reading when we did our Vancouver Island circumnavigation. Recently she published a new book about cruising in SE Alaska called Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska, we were able to buy it directly from the author and are really looking forward to reading it now that we have the context of actually being in SE Alaska. They were able to give us some good advice about anchorages between here and Glacier Bay as well as in Glacier Bay itself. We hit the socializing jackpot today and it felt really good to spend time with other people, I’m really glad we got to see Elsie and Steve.
We got the boys to bed about 45 minutes late and it was rough. They were over tired and crying, but as soon as I helped them get to sleep all was okay. It was a good reminder to keep things consistent…they thrive on consistency and sleep!
We plan to be in Juneau for at least 2 nights, maybe even 3. We’ve got to do laundry (surprise, surprise!), get groceries, find wifi and deal with a sometimes faulty connection on the back of our handheld GPS. Thank goodness we are in a city. Steve Hulsizer got us in touch with a friend of his who lives here and it sounds like is an electronics guy. My Dad also has a friend here who we can contact for help getting around town if needed. We’ll be busy here.
Lars and Papa snuggles while Odin was still napping
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