Alaska Trip Day 35

6/20/11

Meyers Chuck, AK

Miles travelled:  36

We spent last night at Dad and Lynn’s house, so this morning we finished packing up the car and got a ride back in to town to the boat.  Our farewell to Dad and Lynn wasn’t too sad since we knew we’d be back soon, so we got the engine started and the cold food stowed in the ice box and were off.  We needed to stop by the marina Greg and Nicole were staying in to drop off some things we borrowed from them.  We hope to keep running into that big red boat as we continue our travels north, but they needed to stay in Ketchikan one more day to wait for their mail and we need to keep going if we are  going to make it to Glacier Bay for our permit start date of 7/5.

Yep, we decided we are going to keep going to Glacier Bay.  After all of the rocky moments at the beginning of the trip and the serious questions we had about being able to make it as far as Glacier Bay, all four of us, and Yare, have hit our stride and we are working like a well-oiled machine and are really enjoying ourselves.  The boat doesn’t even seem so small (most of the time).  Operation Family Fun worked, and we are still on track to get as far as we hoped, amazing.  We also made plans to meet up with Mom and Ralph in Sitka and we are so excited to see them!

After stopping to see Greg and Nicole, we headed to the fuel dock while the boys had lunch.  We fueled up and left Ketchikan by 11:30.  I got the boys down for their nap by about 11:45 and they fell asleep without a fuss by noon and then slept until 2pm and woke up as well rested and happy boys!!!!  They happily played by themselves while I worked on dinner (meatloaf, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli) and Tor motored, and then motor sailed us north towards Meyers Chuck. 

We made good time to Meyers Chuck and were tied up at the (free!) dock by 4:45.  We were able to take a short walk to view the sites…the community is pretty much just houses and cabins connected by a trail around the bay.  It’s a beautiful spot.  Then we came back to the boat and had dinner in the cockpit.  The boys fell asleep quickly and without fuss.  I think the time change adjustment has been made.  Whew!  Now we have to see how they sleep in the morning with the early sunrise…I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a good morning!

Sunset at Meyers Chuck

Alaska Trip Days 32-34

6/16/11-6/19/11

Miles travelled:  0

We spent a wonderful weekend in Ketchikan with Dad and Lynn.  It was so neat to be in Ketchikan and to visit with Dad and Lynn on their home turf.  They have a lovely home, with a lovely view and they are great cooks so we had several excellent meals.  Lars and Odin also really enjoyed large expanses to crawl around in, and new things to explore…and get into, and different people to interact with.  It was also great to finally meet their dog Kayla, what a sweetie.  We even caught a few glimpses of Oscar the scaredy cat.

It was so nice to have a car at our disposal so we could get chores done too.  Tor spent half a day doing boat chores like changing the oil and water filters.  I spent another half a day re-provisioning.  The other thing that was great was access to a washer and dryer!  We did so many loads…it’s a good thing there was some rain while we were there to help replenish their water supply (since is rains so much in Ketchikan, ~14 ft. per year, rain catchment is a viable source for fresh water and it works great for them).

We had a dinner party with neighbors Ken and Emo, and Greg and Nicole from Baraka.  On the menu was Greek moussaka, salad, hummus and a spicy feta dip with pita.  It was an excellent meal, and great to visit with everyone.

The only problem we ran into was lack of sleep.  The time change back one hour once we got to Alaska caught us by surprise.  We also are in the land of lots of sunlight around the summer solstice, it gets light around 3:30am and dark around 10pm.  We had little boys waking up very early, and I had a couple of nights of waking up at 3:30am and not being able to go back to sleep.  We got smart and blacked out the windows in the room Tor and I were sleeping in, and in the room the boys were sleeping in and we all got a lot more sleep, the boys did some catch up sleeping and now everyone is doing much better.

Thanks for a wonderful visit Dad and Lynn!  We look forward to spending much more time with you in August!

Picnic with the Grandparents

Yum!  Potato and Chorizo tacos

Family portrait...we had fun with the self timer

Too cute, Dad and Lynn!

Out take!

Alaska trip Day 32 Ketchikan, Alaska

6/16/11

Ketchikan, AK

Miles Travelled:  69

(Tor Reporting)

This morning started FAR too early, but it ended up being a good thing.  The boys woke up just after 0230 and were not able to be convinced to return to slumber.  There was a good deal of crying, diaper changes and eventually breast feeding before getting them back into their sea berths and asleep. 

Normally this type of start to a day would be, well - disastrous.  Today, we both decided to look on the bright side: Even at 0300 there was enough light to safely navigate, the weather was DEAD calm, the seas mirror smooth (allowing deadheads and debris to be seen from over 1/2 mile!) and we had close to 70 miles to travel if we were to legally check into American waters without touching american soil before the customs check in at Ketchikan harbor (Note: this is a tricky requirement for most small sailboats with an average speed of a fast walker).  I helped get the boys diapered up and fed and then fired up the engine (without the alarm buzzer activated) and proceeded to raise the anchor and get underway.

Dixon Entrance has a well earned reputation for being difficult to cross.  It is between 15-20 miles across depending on where you leave Canada heading north and is directly open to the North Pacific on the west and the  large tidal ranges and river outflows on the east.  Most folks spend the night before crossing at the very north end of Dundas Island in Canada.  This tactic allows for a very well protected anchorage right on the edge of Dixon entrance providing the shortest straight line distance across.  

Leaving Prince Rupert in the early afternoon we did not have nearly enough time for our family to make the 50 miles to Dundas (explaining why we chose to get as far north as we could before the boys bedtime and anchor in Pearl Harbour).  Normally, our direction of travel would be called the "smooth water route" continued by following the mainland coast north to Portland Canal and then heading west along the coast line to avoid actually crossing Dixon entrance.  Given our very calm weather forecast we opted to head diagonally across the open water of Dixon entrance and head straight for Ketchikan.

We lucked out and motored the entire trip in glass smooth seas and very minimal swell.  Of course it would have been fabulous to have gotten the predicted 10 knot winds from the SE and had a downwind run, but we are not looking our gift horse in the mouth!  

Overall the day went great.  The weather remained good and Jess was able to take a very long spell at the helm to get a well deserved break from down below.  The boys napped well and we arrived at the dock in Ketchikan at about 2 pm.  The customs agent came down to our vessel and cheerfully checked us in within a few minutes and we eagerly greeted Bill and Lynn right at the dock at and started our 2-3 days of much awaited family time.  

Glass smooth Dixon Entrance, sweet!

Jess says:  I'm so happy nobody is sea sick!

Welcome to Ketchikan, cruise ships abound

Alaska Trip Day 31

6/15/11

Pearl Harbour, Tsimsean Penninsula, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  50.5

Whew!  What a busy day.  The weather was dead calm last night and we all slept very soundly.  In fact we were planning on getting going when the boys got up to breastfeed at their usual time around 5am.  They didn’t wake up!  They woke up about 6:30 and were happy as can be.  I woke up with a plugged duct and my right breast was very sore.  With going to one nap a day it means we’ve dropped a feeding, and last night they didn’t eat, so my body has produced more than they have eaten.  It’s still sore, but it feels a lot better.  

We motored to Prince Rupert and thanks to the currents going with us, we screamed north.  Spending most of the morning doing at least 7-7.5 kts, sometimes 8 kts.  Yay for miles covered!  It rained off and on and again I was down below with the boys and Tor was driving the boat.  Given the rainy weather I think I probably got the better deal, but it’s been 3 days of me down below and him driving, and I haven’t seen much of the scenery.

We made it to Prince Rupert at around 11:15 and the boys go down for their nap at 11:30.  We needed fuel, water and ice which is why we stopped and we didn’t want to interrupt their nap with turning the engine off and on again, so we were able to tie up to the public dock and put the boys down for a nap.

I stayed with the boat and tried to get internet access, no dice.  Tor ran around and found the Laundromat to wash diapers…we were down to just about 8 clean ones, not enough for a full day.  He made a stop at the grocery store and got some fresh food, (yay!  It’s been a while).  They boys had a great almost 2 hour nap and woke up well rested and cheerful.  We made our way to the fuel dock and I was able to log on to the internet for a short time to check email and make a quick blog post since Tor got the password for the Prince Rupert Yacht Club.

Tomorrow looks like our weather window for crossing Dixon Entrance.  It is forecast to be light SW winds in the morning building as the day goes on and on Friday SW winds at 20 kts.  We want to cross as much of Dixon Entrance as we can tomorrow, so we made some miles from Prince Rupert to Pearl Harbour.  We’d love to get to Ketchikan tomorrow, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.  It is approximately a 70 mile trip from here which would make for a 13 hour day.  It’ll make it difficult with the boys’ schedule, but for good weather crossing Dixon Entrance we may have to make the choice to mess with things a little bit.  The alarm is set for 4 am.

Chili for dinner!

Pearl Harbour, if you look hard you can see the pearl that the bay is named after

Lots of diapers to dry!

Alaska Trip Day 30

6/14/2011

Gunboat Harbour,  Gibson Island

Miles travelled: 41(?)

(Tor reporting)

We awoke this morning well rested but a bit early as the boys got up at 0630.  The squally weather abated late the previous night but not before raining very hard and filling our dinghy with about 30 gallons of fresh water.  Amazing how much water an 8 foot 8 inch pram can hold!  We did not move any last night after Baraka broke away and anchored elsewhere in Ire inlet.  The morning began with heavy rains and no wind, and a VERY low tide. 

We have been referencing Ketchikan and Sitka tides for a few days already and last night was no exception.  We awoke to quite a few more rocks than when we arrived the night before as it was shortly after a -2.6 foot tide.  Kinda creepy to see just how many obstacles you were lucky enough not to hit coming into the anchorage!

Tor and Jess tag teemed the morning chores prior to getting Yare up and away.  The oven had been left on the previous night and although it was too warm in the middle of the night for comfort, at least the coffee water was only minutes away upon waking.  At 0800 Tor went up on deck, raised the anchor, and got us underway.

Ire inlet is about 4 miles long and quite skinny.  It has a VERY narrow entrance that runs a fairly strong current at anything but slack water.  Last night we arrived at high tide, but this morning we left only 40 minutes past low slack and witnessed quite a different scene.  The Narrows was still over 20 feet deep, but the rocks were much more prominent as they were approximately 9-10 feet taller, and the current was running against us at close to three knots.  No troubles, but fascinating how a few hours can change so much.

Exiting Ire inlet we turned to port and transited through Ala passage and narrows.  This portion of the B.C. coast is lightly travelled and  said to be poorly charted.  Between Tor holding a paper chart in the cockpit and Jess referencing a digital chart on our laptop down below we easily navigated the tricky passage travelling at up to 8.5 knots.  (Thank you Karl for getting our laptop working with our digital charts at the very last minute, they work beautifully!)

Just north of Anger Island (containing Ire inlet) is the Math island group.   We spotted Cosine island before rounding Logarithm Pt.  Next came Tangent Pt. to starboard and Sine Pt. on Sine island to port. Jess and I both had fond memories of chanting SOH-CAH-TOH in school to learn trigonometry.  The cartographers were either very bored or quite frustrated with the math (don’t forget Anger island with Ire inlet).

The rest of the day turned into a windless foggy/rainy motor north through Petrel Passage (and narrows).  We spotted two Whales in the distance before heading into Petrel Pass and were assisted north through the narrows with an favorable current of up to three knots.  This current helped in arriving at our chosen anchorage long before we were ready to stop (the boys had only been asleep for 10 minutes on our new one nap a day effort).  We decided to keep steaming and made it up to the north end of Grenville channel.  The weather forecast is calling for fairly strong NW winds tonight and tomorrow morning (up to 25 kts) so we selected Gunboat passage as it is protected from the north but entirely open to the south.  The massive pile of driftwood logs on the beach attests to the severity of the SW winds in this area.  One of the logs was a complete tree with rootball that must have been 80’ long with a 4 foot diameter trunk.  We were very glad to go to sleep in dead calm weather expecting winds from the NW.

Jess adds:  Day 2 of Operation One Nap went well.  Lars and Odin were cheerful all day and had a reasonable 1 + hour nap.  It wasn’t long enough, but they’ll get there.  The funniest part of the day was when I looked over at Lars during lunch which is right before their nap, and he was asleep!  He was slightly rocking and his eyes were closed.  I wanted to get a picture, but freaked out and worked to get them to bed as soon as possible, since it was obviously needed!

Grey rainy day for motoring, but it was beautiful!

Gunboat Harbour

Alaska Trip Day 29

6/13/11

Ire Inlet, Anger Island, B.C.

Miles travelled:  33.5

Today was the beginning of Operation One Nap, and it started off great…the boys did not wake up around 5:00 to breastfeed!  They woke up at 6:30, but were completely happy, so we dozed in our bed until 7:00 which is the official start to the day in our house(boat)…at least as far as the boys are concerned.

With no anchor to weigh thanks to being tied up to Baraka, we had a nice easy start to our morning.  Tor got us underway while I got breakfast and coffee made.  Instead of putting the boys down to nap after breakfast, I kept them up and really, it went well.  They played on their own and I was able to clean up from breakfast, and then make some bread dough.  I was pleasantly surprised, because I figured I would need to spend more one on one time with them to help them play through their old nap time.  There were a couple of times they got fussy, but I was able to just change the scenery by putting them in their booster seats to have a snack, or letting them play on the sole with some metal bowls that they were able to easily make it to lunch time at 11:00.  They had a good lunch and then I got them to bed by 11:35.  They fell asleep within 15 minutes, which was a huge difference when they’ve been taking up to 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, Tor had been driving the boat the whole time in the rain.  The weather was pretty yucky and he was chilled, but he’s a trooper.  We both had our hands full all morning.

The boys woke up after about an hour and fifteen minutes.  It wasn’t enough knowing that they wouldn’t have another nap for the day, but I think that their nap will get longer as they get used to the new schedule.   It’s an early to bed night for Bjorklund boys.

We arrived in Ire inlet and got our anchor set by 1:50.  Ire Inlet is beautiful and well protected.  We are back in the land of reasonably deep anchorages (a.k.a shallow) and at high tide we anchored in 30 feet of water.  Yay.

Baraka arrived not long after and rafted up to us.  Greg and Nicole came over to Yare to warm up since we had our diesel stove running.  We had a nice visit with them and they played with the boys.  I worked on getting dinner ready (broccoli and feta frittata with fresh bread) and it was really nice to have extra people around to help keep the boys distracted from their tiredness.

All of us enjoyed dinner, but the boys were definitely feeling tired and were getting cranky.  We worked quickly and got them to bed about 45 minutes early and they fell asleep quickly and quietly.  Wonderful!

We keep getting gusts of wind, so Baraka decided to move and set their own anchor.  I think we will all sleep better on our own anchors.  It would have been just fine to have the 2 boats on our anchor if it wasn’t for the wind, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.   One 35 pound anchor is not up to the task of holding 64,000 lbs of boat in anything but calm conditions, and Greg and Nicole’s GPS indicated that it was slowly pulling through the mud.  They don’t call it a plow style anchor for nothin’.

Alaska Trip Day 28

6/12/11

Tuwartz Inlet, Pitt Island, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  35

Unfortunately we left Bishop Bay this morning, I will miss the hot springs. 

With all of the islands and channels around the islands there are many ways to get north, but the usual route is through Grenville Channel.  The ferry takes this route and though it is very direct, we followed Greg and Nicole’s advice to take a more outside and less well travelled route through Principe Channel.  Actually Greg and Nicole loaned us the charts so we could actually do it…it turns out that we only had charts for Grenville Channel. 

The boys slept in until 7:20, and when we got up most of the boats at the dock were gone, and so was Baraka.  We felt like we were running late and it spurred us on to leave the dock by 7:30.  It was an uneventful run though with the rainy weather it was kind of sloppy and choppy, especially once we got to Squally Channel…good name.  We saw a pod of Humpback whales near our anchorage, but they were far enough away that binoculars were needed.

We were on track to get to our anchorage around 1:30, so we decided to hold off on putting the boys down for their nap until we got settled.  Tuwartz Inlet is long and has a narrows, and is a neat spot that seems really remote.  Since Baraka got a head start on us, they were already anchored and graciously allowed us to raft up to them.

We quickly got the boys down for their nap and retreated to Baraka to say hi.  Thanks to the baby monitor we brought along, we could hear that the nap was not going well.  Eventually Tor went over to see if he could help, but no dice.  Lars ended up sleeping about 10 minutes and Odin never slept.  It’s time to make some changes to the nap schedule!  Tomorrow we begin Operation One Nap.  I plan to keep the boys up until 11:30 or so before putting them down.  I may need to do lots of distraction to keep them relatively happy since they are used to going down at 9:00, but I think they are ready for it!

Tor made dinner, curried sweet potatoes with garbanzo beans and chicken served with rice.  The boys loved it, but it was a mess to clean them up!  Lars’ fingernails are stained yellow from the curry powder.

After the boys went to sleep for the night we headed over to Baraka for a potluck dinner.  Tor’s curry was yummy as was Nicole’s chili.  We had a really fun evening with Greg and Nicole and left fairly early to get to bed.

The entrance to Tuwartz inlet