Petersburg to Wrangell

(August 3rd, 2017)

There’s nothing quite like a warm, sunny morning to inspire some boat cleaning.  Unfortunately, the grocery run we’d failed to do the day before slowed progress.  Nevertheless, Rich was quick to wake up and begin cleaning and hosing down the deck while the girls and I made our grocery run.

On our way up to the grocery store, I’d tried to be helpful by taking out the garbage we’d been piling up for the last two weeks.  We must be getting better at something (although I’m not sure what), because we only had four small bags of garbage from that time.  What I failed to notice was that one of those bags was leaking some sticky, foul-smelling substance, which pooled grotesquely – and quite fragrantly – all over one of our favorite tools, our folding dock cart.  Upon disposing of our garbage, I could smell the stench even over the ubiquitous aroma of fish that pervaded this processing town, which meant I had a huge mess on my hands.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to fix it, so I wiped it up quickly as best I could with some napkins, and the girls and I boarded the courtesy van to the grocery store.  The service is quite convenient – call the store, and they’ll send a van to pick you up.  They even provide this service for the locals, as one of our stops on the way back to the boat was at another customer’s house to drop her off with her purchases.

My mishap gave us one more thing to clean when we returned to the boat with the cart full of groceries.  With the cart empty, I had one more quick run to make to town to pick up a hose, as our spring-hoses weren’t long enough to reach the spigot several slips down.  This gave me an opportunity to soil our cart further, when I spilled some of my iced latte in the bottom. 

So, when I returned to the boat, our cleaning projects expanded to include the cart.  Armed with vinegar, I set to work, which didn’t feel like work at all in the warm sun.  The cart appears to have cleaned up quite nicely, although we had to leave it on deck to dry.  If we didn’t look like liveaboards before, we sure do now.

Rich got most of the groceries put away, and having procured a new roll of Foodsaver bags, he also vacuum sealed the halibut we had caught on our way into port.  My hope was to ship most of it home to friends and family, so I could keep fishing, but unfortunately we ran out of time.  Maybe Wrangell will have a fish-shipping business.

The cleaning didn’t stop when we left the dock; I spent the next few hours alternating between making lunch, helping kids, and doing three days’ worth of dishes.  Rich took advantage of the warm weather, and the fact that we’re trying to empty our freshwater tanks, to give the cockpit a good scrub-down.

The freshwater problem started in Hobart Bay, where we filled the tank with the water maker.  The water in Hobart Bay was a ruddy brown – so dark we could barely see our fishing lures when we dangled them just below the surface.  We’ve been told this is due to tannins in the freshwater runoff that fed the cove, with the tannins a result of logging in the area decades past.  Whatever the reason, our water maker produced very hard water, with a strong well-like taste and smell.   Unhappy with this, Rich decided to drop a capful of bleach in the tank, and run it dry on our way to Wrangell.  There, we’d fill up with water at the dock, while we worked on cleaning out the water maker’s filter and filter housing.  Hopefully, that would get the brown tannin water out of the system, so we could make clean water again.

Morgan helped our campaign to run the tanks dry by showering.  Despite my attempts to help, she apparently decided that seven-minus-two-weeks was far too old to have help in the shower, and she insisted on showering alone.  Ten minutes later, she emerged, quite proud of her achievement.  She wouldn’t even let me brush her hair, and instead did it herself.

Even Ellie was inspired to clean, as she picked up the vacuum, completely unprompted, and took it upon herself to vacuum the floor. 

Despite the cleaning progress fueled by sunshine, we still don’t feel like we have the boat put together.  After making it through the narrows, the sound greeted us with sunshine and a warm southerly, blowing 10-15 knots.  Most of the fleet sailed, but with the wind on our nose, and our boat still not put together, we were unprepared to heel and just kept motoring.  I’m not sure how we’ll get to a point where we can put up the sails and be confident that only a few things – instead of most things – will come crashing to the floor.  Our days are so busy just trying to maintain the status quo, and keep the mess and disorganization from getting worse, that little time remains for improving the situation.  I achieved a minor victory a few days ago, when I finally found a permanent home for the Soda Stream, but such progress is slow and infrequent.  Despite everyone’s hard work cleaning and organizing, we only managed to just barely get the mess back to where we started.

That evening, we did what we haven’t yet done during the entire Sail Alaska trip, and that is pull into our second dock in a row.  Normally, our admiral can barely stand a single port for one day, much less two ports in a row.  But, the fleet had heard good things about Wrangell, and gently mutinied when Jim suggested we skip it. 

Once in port, we had a relaxing evening.  We were pleased to surprise the girls with a movie they’d been waiting for months to be released, Descendants 2.  Rich surreptitiously downloaded it while at a cafe with internet in Petersburg.  Meanwhile, Rich and I enjoyed our first on-board wine in more than a week; we’d run out of wine several harbors back, and having been away from port for so long, we couldn’t refuel until Petersburg.  I may have overcompensated, out of a fear of running out of wine again, purchasing 12 more bottles in Petersburg.  But, it will be 10 more days until Ketchikan, so at least we can be confident we won’t run out before then.

As usual, we were closed up in the cabin, getting ready for bed, when the sun finally went down for the evening.  The sunsets – while still late, about 10PM – are quickly getting noticeably earlier.  I’m sure the sunrises are getting later also, but they still occur before we normally wake up at 6AM, so we can’t confirm.

As the girls’ birthdays approach, I’m surprised daily by how much older they’re looking.  Ellie’s baby teeth look almost comically small in her maturing smile; and Morgan might as well be asking for the keys to the car. 

In less than two weeks, Morgan will be 7, and in less than 3 weeks, Ellie will be 5.  This summer, and our Alaska cruise, is flying by.  No doubt because we’re having amazing fun.