June 29, 2023
We arrived in Wrangell around 12:30 today. It was a pleasant 6.5 hour cruise from Meyers Chuck to here save for the littered fields of crab pots throughout Zimovia Strait. It was a two person lookout job to stay clear of them. Most of the pots were outside the channel but a few were either placed incorrectly in the channel or they were run aways. Either way, catching a crab pot on your prop will ruin your day. We had this happen to us several years ago and we have been paranoid ever since. (Worth noting, after we caught the rogue pot I put on a two inch shaft shark, kinda like a saw blade that should cut through any line but I really don’t want to test it).
Wrangell history’s started thousands of years ago with the arrival of the Tlingits. Founded by the Tlingits and then ruled by Britain, Russia and the US. Around 1840 the Hudson Bay Company leased land from the Russians. Today, Wrangell appears to us to be part fishing town, part cruise ship town (but on a much smaller scale than Ketchikan), and then just a town serving the small community with several hardware stores, liquor stores, and one reasonably large grocery store. While walking in town today we spoke with a lovely couple visiting from London, celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary. They were on the Hurtigruten Expeditions cruise ship that we passed anchored in the harbor as we came in . This company is out of Norway and our friend Lyn Fry has been on one of their ships up the the Norwegian Fjords. There are only 270 people on this amazing ship that is hybrid powered, and it was great fun talking to them and exchange stories. They started in Anchorage and are ending up in Vancouver which is quite a journey. We really enjoyed talking with them and they made our afternoon.
We were fortunate to get a space on the public Reliance dock, which is $30.00 per night WITH 30Amp power, which compared to Moorage fees in Washington and Canada is dirt cheap!!! It is now completely full with boats in for the Fourth of July festivities. We have called ahead to Petersburg to let them know we will be there over the 4th. Although you can not reserve a slip there our friends told us to call and let them know when we are arriving and they said “You are on the list and it will be no problem”, so we have the next stop sorted.
The water here in the harbor is a curious looking algae green. Not sure why? Any readers that have some insight into this phenomenon we would love to hear from.
Tomorrow we are planning on going on a hike and taking in some of the cultural sites which includes a reproduced long house. (The photo of me with the bear is simply because I have only seen one real bear—albeit for hours—so I needed to include this one).
Glad to hear this trip was low on the Marlene Meter! My guess on the mystery green color of the water is a high level of phytoplankton that is blooming with the relatively high level of sun occurring now. The other type is Zooplankton but they are the tiny krill creatures that are “animal” and not “plant”. Much of the phytoplankton is green!
You seem to be ambling along just fine down a bow thruster. Is the depth reading working consistently now or does that still come and go and you are used to it??
Blessings and I love the bread and wine reference from yesterday!
Dave Vacanti
Dave, thanks for the insights on the water. I think you are correct. The good news is we have our bow thruster back up and running. I was able to get a mechanic in to get that sorted. Our depth sounder is still problematic. It waves in and out. I tried a new in hull depth sounder that is sketchy with the readings. We’re going to look for one more option that we will ship in and have for arrival in Petersburg.The adventure continues.😂
I highly recommend Hurtigruten cruises. Very low key and casual. No dressing up at any time. Lots of very well-informed guides. We went to northern Norway in February and it was fabulous.
The green coloring in the water may be glacial milk from the Stikine River that empties the stikine glacier.
Gary, that makes sense. I think we saw the same green water at Toba, probably for the same reason.