Despite the beauty of Ford’s Terror, we had to move on
today. So we pulled anchor around 6:30
to ride the ebb out of Endicott Arm and then catch the flood up Stephen’s
Passage. On a boat related note, the
windlass (the electric thing that pulls the anchor up) has performed well, but
the rode seems to get more and more twisted every time the anchor is used. This results in the windlass binding up and
stopping, and requires me to go up to the windlass and unwind the chain or
rope. I’ll need to look into an anchor
swivel…
The trip out Endicott Arm was similar to the trip in
yesterday. Glassy water, sunny
skies. The entrances to Tracy Arm and
Endicott Arm are usually called bars, since they are narrow and shallow. They resemble the bars that people run to get
in and out of rivers. But in reality
they are terminal morraines, which means they are the furthest place that the
glaciers once reached. A strong current
runs through these areas at times, and we timed it to make it through near
slack.
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| I like this! |
Soon after emerging from Endicott Arm, we spotted a humpback
whale. And then another. And then several more. We turned off the engine and drifted for an
hour or so, watching the humpbacks swim leisurely. We also saw a bunch of seals and sea lions
frolicking around.
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| I've seen lots of Orcas and these Humpbacks are huge in comparison |
Around 10:30 the breeze was starting to pick up and I
decided we better head towards Taku Harbor before the weather turned
worse. We ended up having an uneventful
trip to Taku Harbor, although the winds did pick up to 20 knots with three foot
following seas by the time we pulled in.
Later on, the wind further increased, and there were plenty of gusts
above 30 knots at the dock we tied up to.
Taku Harbor is the site of a former cannery, and there’s
evidence of it all over. Tons of rusted
metal (they made their own cans, and left the raw material), pilings where the
pier used to be, boilers, concrete slabs.
It was fun to walk through the abandoned area and imagine what it was
once like.
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| I think this is an old washing machine...I didn't try to use it |
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| Pilings left over from the pier |
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| A crumbling building, and a bathtub |
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| Who knows what all this stuff is |
The city of Juneau built a very nice, large dock at Taku
Harbor that is free to use. No water or
power, but the docks are modern, safe, and clean. There was only one other boat there when we
arrived, and the gentleman aboard happened to be the lighthouse keeper at the
Five Fingers Light, near Fanshaw Bay where we spent the night a few days
ago. He was on his way to Juneau for
supplies but ducked into Taku Harbor to wait for better weather.
In the evening a large tour boat, the St. Peter, pulled onto
the dock. I talked with the crew for a
bit, and they were spending the night at Taku to save some distance
tomorrow. That way they could sleep in
until 7 instead of 5, and still meet the cruise ship they needed to pick up
passengers from in time for their trip up Tracy Arm.
By the evening thick clouds had replaced the sun of the
previous few days. Oh well, this is
Alaska, and I can’t expect sun and temperatures in the 70’s or 80’s every day!
43.2 nm today and 1117 total
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