Bjorklund Log: Alaska Trip Day 58

7/13/10

Schulze Cove, Baranof Island, AK

Miles Travelled: 66

(Written by Tor)

What a fabulous day! Generally speaking our blog posts quickly recap our day of travel, or focus on the care and lives of our boys. Quite honestly this is because by the time we stop at the end of the day, we don’t generally have a great deal of energy for typing out complicated thoughts. That and caring for Lars’ and Odin is really the focus of this particular journey (for the next 20 years or so).

I will begin by getting the travel recap out of the way. We decided last night after putting the boys down that we were going to start very early to take advantage of the tides (anchor weighed at 0500). The boys managed to stay asleep despite 175’ of chain being pulled on board and we began our motor south to Peril strait. As soon as we got out into Chatham Strait we were travelling at close to 7 knots which is at least 1.3 knots faster than our norm. The original plan called for two long 40+ mile days to reach Sitka by the end of the week. We were able to do a really long day today, quite painlessly, by riding the tides south and then west through Peril Strait and Sergius Narrows with a 0.5-2 knot current pushing us the whole way. In fact, the last two hours of our trip we had to cut the engine (Perky, as it is a Perkins diesel) back to a slow idle forward in order not to arrive at the tidal narrows before it was safe to pass. We still ended up transiting the narrows a full ½ hour before slack water, shooting through at just over 9 knots without incident. After 66 miles we dropped our hook behind Piper island in a gorgeous, well sheltered anchorage just a mile or so from the exit of the narrows. This very long day only leaves a bit over 30 miles to Sitka AND the currents will be favorable for us again tomorrow morning - this time at a much saner hour of 0800!

A few things I noticed along our way today:

A bunch of Purse seiners getting ready to set their nets when allowed by the Fish and Game ‘opener’. We travelled amongst close to 30 or 40 purse seiners as they milled around Chatham Strait and Peril Strait getting to the spots they all wanted to fish. Purse seiners are about 60 feet long and have a large boom and ‘power block’ for deploying a purse shaped net. When the holds are empty most of them carry their large and very powerful skiffs resting on top of the net piled on the deck. In the 11.5 hours we were motoring today, we never once saw a net deployed, but it was interesting to see another fishery as most of the boats we have seen so far have been trollers (my favorite) or gillneters.

The other thing that is neat about northern Southeast Alaska is the effects of glacial rebound. All around the coast there is a grass skirt without trees for a few feet before the land hits the water. This occurs because the land is moving vertically upward ‘rebounding’ from the weight of the melted ice. This rebound occurs faster than dirt and trees can establish. Further south in our travels the forested land intersects the water EVERYWHERE with a very distinct horizontal green treeline right at the water’s surface. It is a noticeable difference between BC waters and Alaska. In fact, in Gustavus we learned that the public dock is so long because the land is moving up fast enough that 30 year old cabins built on the water in their day are now about ½ mile inland!

Another thing to note about travelling in Northern BC and Alaska in a small boat is the dominance of the tides. In Puget Sound we really only have Deception Pass and the Tacoma Narrows to worry about when thinking about tides. Most of the time, we plan a trip across the sound without looking at or planning around the tides as the worst affect is usually a ½ knot speed reduction. Here it is a bit different! The tidal range is more than double the 13’ range we see in Puget Sound and when the local winds oppose the tides it can get scary quickly! We have been blessed with amazing weather on our trip, but occasionally we will have a short crossing with mild 10-15 knot winds setting against the tide and have seen a glimpse of how big a problem it can be. There is a reason the guidebooks talk a lot about different anchorages being good places to ‘hide out’ from northwesterlies or southerlies until the tides change. Jess and I were commenting today to each other that returning to sailing in the Puget Sound in likely going to feel VERY crowded and simple.

And now back to the boys... We are very quickly approaching two months at sea. I cannot express in words how impressed I am with how the boys have adapted to living on our boat as a family. They just seem so darn happy all the time. It has been an incredible experience to spend so much time with them and with Jess. Sure, this trip is different than our past trips. When we arrive at an anchorage we eat dinner as a family and stay down below with sleeping boys instead of rowing around and meeting folks. Often this means we are in bed long before the sun sets at 11pm. Most folks make this trip in small boats to see the wilds of Alaska or even to catch a bunch of fish and crab along the way. We happen to be focused on our family, but what a gorgeous place to watch the little guys grow! Jess and I both miss our extended families and look forward to being home to spend time with them. That is one of the reasons we are so excited about getting to Sitka to see Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Ralph. That being said I would not trade our magical time aboard for anything! Despite 66 miles of gorgeous scenery, breaching whales and bald eagles the highlight of my day was without a doubt two hours playing with the boys in ‘the bin’ while Jess took the helm through Peril Strait. It takes a lot of work AND teamwork to pull this trip off, but those giggles are worth it!