Ballena, Calfs, Pups, Blue Ice Leg 8

Leaving the La Conte Glacier headed back across the Stikine River delta to Wrangell, AK.

Wow, what a few days it has been. We left Meyer Chuck after having eaten the famous Cinnamon roles....meh. I felt ill after and slept most of the day but not before capturing images of a grey whale near the entrance to Meyer Chuck. That more than made up for the underwhelming impression of the Cinnamon rolls.

We exited Meyers Chuck at near high tide clearing the rock, at three entry without incident. We were fortunate to witness a humpback whale frolicking near the entrance to Meyers Chuck. Was there a calf with her....I don't know but some claimed to have seen it.

Ballena, the spanish word for whale, in this case a grey whale. The word comes from the latin Bālena. Humpback whale are fliter feeders dependant on baleen filtering system.

We approached Thorne Bay as the waters of bay started to ebb creating a river flowing at about 2 knots per hour. We snaked our way through a number of shelfs and narrow channnels to make it to the marina. Enroute to the marina we saw some fish camps and resorts. Some of the fish camps are in serious need of repair.

We enjoyed sunshine, short walks and shopping at the small but well stocked store. The dogs, rambunctious as they are, managed to eat about half of the blueberry's I'd purchased at the grocery, they knocked the berrys our of my. hand. We saw a small family of deer grazing as we motored by. Sea planes arriving and leaving from the resort. There was a whole lot of activity at the Thorne Bay Marina. fishing boats coming and going, commercial fishers readying for the season. Our son and our friend Tommy set out traps. The Alaska Department of Wildlife has restricted the harvesting of king and dungeness crab, ling cod and salmon fishing to locals only in certain areas due to over harvesting of the fish and crab. Tommy and Caleb trapped one Dungeness near the enterance to Thorne Bay and one near Wrangell. Both are in the freezer and may endup staying there until we get back to Port Orchard.

We left Thorne Bay for Wrangell, Alaska. We hoped that the rest of the fleet would catch up to us but not only are they enjoying fishing and crabbing, they are taking advantage of anchoring in some of the bays, inlets and canals. Also, the weather is threatening to turn ugly so, some of the events have been cancelled, in particular the boomerang, that was supposed to give some of the locals an opportunity for a boat ride with yachties from the lower 48.

Our plan had been to stay here in Wrangell for a few days, go to Petersberg, see the La Conte glacier and then return to Thorne Bay for the Boomerang. The boomerang competition is a course that on paper appears like a boomerang. The course was to be about 25 miles. It is a bummer for me because I was looking forward to not being a time keeper and taking in more of the views. You see, Dusty, my 2 year old golden retriever really doesn't like the engine noises, wave slap, rocking and rolling and hobby horsing the boat does in rough water. So when the boat is really rolling and shuddering from wave slap, we go to the stateroom and lay on the bed in the middle of the boat at the lowest part, which while still being subject to the conditions of the sea, being low and midline reduces the effects.

The waters were disturbed on the way up from Thorne Bay to Wrangell and the plans for the competition changed. So we took a trip to Petersberg, did a little sight seeing, at breakfast and then jumped into the jet boat for the remainder of the trip which took us to the La Conte Glacier. We booked an excursion to the glacier with a visit to Petersberg through MUDDY WATER ADVENTURE.

Muddy Water Adventure is run by a nice fellow who has had a variety of jobs here in Wrangell. He is an Army veteran, Captain of the fire departent, tour company operator. He is knowledgable, easy to talk to and a safe operator of his jet boat. He picked us up at Heritage Marina and returned us to our boat at about 4 pm. He is from Wrangell and with exception of his time in the army, he has remained close to home.

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Scenes from Petersberg, the bergs and La Conte Glacier.

So when you come to Wrangell, call Zach Taylor, Muddy Water Adventure for a memorable excusion.

Today we headed out to Blake Channel to do the redesigned final leg of the competition to include two legs so that the ICR would meet the qualifications to be a sanctioned race. Jim and Bob are each avid competitors and participate in NAI competition and require a number sanctioned races to be invited to participate. Will we continue to participate in Predicted Log Races, that remains to be seen but for now, we will be happy with the award for the most improved rookies! This leg was in Blake Channel, it had 4 control points and two mandantory slow speed segments. We ran our competition at cruise speed of 10 nautical miles per hour. At a given point were required to we travel at our slow speed of less than 7 nautical miles per hour, we slowed down to 6 nautical miles per hours. We ran at this speed through the next control point and then at the next time mark, we returned to "cruise speed" 10 nautical miles per hour. We left this morning at 9 am and returnd to Wrangell at about 430 pm after completing the final legs of the competition.

The predicted times for this competition and the actual times for this leg of the competition.

The weather is supposed to turn foul in the next few days. We will hold out here in Wrangell and make a dash to Ketchikan where the O'briens, Barb and Jim, will depart for other adventures and the Linquist, Kari and Vic, will join us for our trip back to our home waters in the Puget Sound.

On my walks this morning and evening with the dogs, we walked to the Fisherman's Memorial. It is located at one end of the marina property at the waters edge. It is a lovely tribute to those lost at sea.

WRANGELL'S MARINERS MEMORIAL

We bid farewell to our son, Caleb, he will be flying to Petersberg, the shortest commercial flight leg in the United States. According to Zach, the safety talk gets finished as they are landing the plane in Petersberg or vice verse. Caleb will join Bluespan for continued travel to Junneau, Alaska with Tommy and Scott. We wish him fair winds and following seas.