July 1st, 2024
We left Meyer’s Chuck at 6:30 this morning bound for Ketchikan. It was a pretty smooth cruise except for the third hour of the cruise. That bit of water has a huge fetch from the ocean up through Chatham Strait, and today I would characterize the seas as “moderate chop, 3 to four foot waves with four second intervals”. Tolerable but lumpy. We were fortunate enough to get a slip at the Ketchikan Yacht Club. The Club allows anyone to use slips that are empty while members are away. It is first come, first serve and you have to come into the harbor, look for an opening and then determine if it will be vacant for your stay. The docks are in Thomas Basin, right downtown within walking distance to everything and the facilities are basic but the docks are a lot nicer than the city owned ones, AND your Moorage includes access to a free washer and dryer located in the small club house at the beginning of the dock. Perfect for Greg who LOVES to wash clothes (truly, he does!).
We are back in cruise ship country. We forgot how busy it can get with four cruise ships in town filled with over 8000 people per boat. We “thought” we would go out for lunch; we ended up back on our boat eating left over pizza. Every restaurant or fast food establishment was packed out, with lines stretching out the doors! I thought these people already paid for their meals on the ship! We will go back out after the cruise ships leave around 6:00 p.m. It is such a strange experience as the streets of the little town go from “packed out” to empty in the time span of a couple of hours.
Tomorrow we will walk around the city and then continue our planning for transiting across Dixon Entrance. We are planning to cross on the 4th, staging the day before at Pond Bay, Duke Island as we did last year. We initially wanted to stage at Foggy Bay but the forecast is calling for quite a bit of morning fog (hence the name). Last year we experienced the fog in and outside of Foggy Bay and decided against it! We anticipate less fog around Pond Bay according to our weather consultant Chris Parker. Time will tell!
