NORTH TO ALASKA!!!

Well, we are here, in Ketchikan, Alaska. We actually were in Alaska last night, but in Foggy Bay, an anchorage about midway between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan.

We left Prince Rupert early (6 AM) to get away and out into Dixon Entrance before the wind came up. However, the first several miles were incredibly rough - not because of the wind, but because of all the small, private fishing boats zooming through the harbor and through the narrow Venn Channel. It was as if there was a "Le Mans" start somewhere at 6 AM where everybody jumped into their boats and raced to see who could be first out to the fishing areas. There were at least 50 boats that passed us in the first half hour - all at full speed, putting out large wakes which rocked our boat crazily. Some passed within probably 10 feet of us and cut across our bow in an effort to squeeze through the channel. All of this within sight of signs posted on the channel markers indicating that it was a 5 knot, no wake zone...Anyway, we made it through the channel and the feared Dixon Entrance was quite hospitable. We had a light southwest wind (from behind) and the water was pretty smooth except for the last hour or so when we had a 1 foot chop, which wasn't all that bad.

We reached Foggy Bay (which is across the international border) around 1 PM, and considered, for a second, continuing on another 4 hours to Ketchikan, since we set our clocks back an hour and it was actually only noon. The wind was picking up, and the seas were getting rougher, so we decided to anchor and catch the morning calm today.

Ha! What morning calm? We worked our way out of Foggy Bay at around 5AM (it was a minus tide later, so had to get out of there before the narrow entrance was too shallow) into a sloppy, 4-5 foot sea with cross swells from both the southeast and the west. It was pretty ugly - not dangerous, but definitely uncomfortable. We had left so early, and in such a hurry, we hadn't even made coffee before pulling anchor. So I was at the helm, trying to keep the boat going in the right direction with a following sea and a cross swell, and Elaine was in the galley (what a trooper) making coffee in conditions that were like being in a large washing machine. Things were banging around in the cupboards, sliding across the shelves and occasionally landing on the sole (floor), but we had coffee!

These conditions lasted 2-3 hours before we finally got in the lee of some islands and things calmed down a bit. The closer we got to Ketchikan, the smoother things got, although the wind stayed surprisingly strong throughout the morning. I called US Customs and Border Patrol as we were coming in, and they cleared us by phone, since we have the Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) numbers, which is kind of like a NEXUS number for the boat. We went directly to the fuel dock to fill up, and were called back by CBP, saying there was an issue with our SVRS numbers, so we had to show them our passports. This is the fourth time we have used the SVRS for crossing international borders, and it has worked once. Hardly worth the effort to have been interviewed, background checked and fingerprinted a few years ago by the Coast Guard to facilitate border crossings. Luckily, the CBP office was very near the fuel dock, so they sent an agent over to look at our passports, then we could go get a slip at the marina.

We pulled into the marina behind three 900+ foot long cruise ships. The marina is very close to "downtown" Ketchikan (although the locals say that this area is not properly Ketchikan) which is heavily oriented to the cruise ship foot traffic. We did a quick tour of the town, then walked away from the tourist center to see what Ketchikan is really like and to do some grocery shopping. Along the way I stopped at a marine supply store and bought a pair of "Alaska Sneakers" which are ankle-high rubber boots. I've gotten tired of my feet being wet from working out on deck in the rain. Got them just in time, too - it's raining like crazy this evening...