Alaska Trip Day 72

7/27/11

Berg Bay, Mainland AK

Miles Travelled:  19

It was a MUCH better sleeping night last night, thank goodness.  Odin screamed for about 45 seconds at 5:20 this morning, but then went back to sleep on his own and woke up at the normal time.  Tor and I took turns walking up to the Laundromat for showers and then we were off to the fuel dock.  We left Wrangell at about 10:00.

For as much as we felt Wrangell didn’t want us to come visit, today we felt like it didn’t want us to leave.  We’re getting tired of these dang contrary currents!  The contrary currents didn’t last long, but the weather was no fun for Tor when he was at the helm, 15kt headwinds and rain.  I got the boys down for their nap and Tor stoically piloted our good little ship. 

The boys slept for a record 2 hours and 40 minutes!  Poor Tor had to slow down the boat and be in the cold rain and wind to make sure we didn’t wake the boys up by arriving at our anchorage too early.  Eventually their nap just went on for a long enough time that we just decided to tie up that the USFS float in Berg Bay (the float is for the users of the cabin on shore), but it was empty and we thought we would just tie up and leave the engine running while the boys slept.  It worked out great, because the boys got to wake up on their own and Tor got to come down below where it was dry and warm.

We discovered why Tor has been getting so cold, his foul weather gear is no longer waterproof.  Even though he was bundled up in wool long johns, a wool sweater, a polar fleece jacket, mittens, a scarf and a wool hat, with leaking foul weather gear, the wind was just slicing through him.  Fortunately my foul weather coat is probably large enough for him to wear, and since one of us always needs to be down below, we really only need one foul weather coat…for now.  We’ll find something better in the future, but at least it seems like we’ve got a temporary solution.

Berg Bay is a beautiful place, and we are in good shape for getting to the Anan Bear Observatory tomorrow.  We think we will get up early, around 5:00 to get there in time for the boys to wake up and have breakfast.  Then we can row in and enjoy watching the bears before we need to head back to the boat for lunch and naps.  While lunch and naps are happening, we’ll head to our anchorage for the night.  After that we’re working our way back to Ketchikan and plan to be there in a few days.  I can’t believe our travels through SE Alaska are almost over.  It is amazing country and we feel so fortunate to have been able to experience it together on our good little ship.