4TH OF JULY IN WRANGELL, AK

Thursday, June 29th Day 76  Portage Bay to Wrangell, AK via Wrangell Narrows

We were up early again, lifting the kelp infested anchor at 7:30 as scheduled. It was a nice morning. John plotted the course and he negotiated the shoals with ease, leaving our overnight anchorage of Portage Bay. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast as we headed toward Wrangell Narrows. 

The Narrows extend in a general north / south direction for 21 miles between Mitkof Island to the east, Lindenberg Peninsula and Woewodski Island to the west. The channel is narrow and intricate, between dangerous ledges and flats, and strong tidal currents. The entire passage is heavily marked with an extensive system of lights, day beacons and buoys to guide you through. I think it should be called the Wrangell Narrow Shallows! It is very slow going and tedious for the skipper.  The velocity of the current can reach 4 to 5 knots. The cruise ships, ferries, barges, fisherman using this channel make it somewhat stressful. 21 nautical miles is a long way to zig zag through shallow narrows. This was our second time through and our skippers did a fine job. 

Heading for Wrangell Narrows at high tide.

Entering the 20 miles of the Narrows. 

We arrived at our transient moorage inside the breakwater finding two other Selenes being moored here, Pat and Rick aboard Jean Marie and Susan and Chris aboard Gypsy Spirit. John got busy socializing right away. Imagine that! I was all about filling the water tanks and taking a hollywood shower. I had stripped the sheets earlier and so looked forward to a great nights sleep. 

Friday, June 30th Day 77  Wrangell, AK

After a fabulous nights sleep and a big breakfast, it was raining again, but that didn’t stop us from going into town. After spending three hours at the library utilizing the wifi, we went to the True Value hardware store, bought a new food saver, as well as other random boat things. We enjoyed a walk about town and lunch at the Queens tent cafe before returning back to the boats.  

U.S. Post Office complete with totem. 

Wrangell public library.

Using wifi at the local library.

Many of the eagles you see travel in pairs, kinda like the cruising community.

Monday, July 3rd Day 80  Wrangell, AK

We got up and about, making another trip to the library for internet and banking. Tom doesn’t really have much patience for the quiet library thing. We finished up our business and made a couple shopping stops before dropping him back off at the boat. John, Kay and I went out to lunch before grocery shopping. We will be leaving Wednesday for approximately two weeks at anchor. John was a doll being very patient  driving us around town one last trip to the gift shop at the museum, drug store and grocery market. 

Another ancient totem.

Ancient dugout canoe made from a single red cedar log.

We ran into Mark Bunzell, the author of the Wagoneers BC cruising guide at the IGA grocery. We had met him at the Seattle boat show in January and had nice chat about our cruising experience farther north here in Alaska.

Transient dock in Wrangell, AK

Upon arriving back at the marina, we got a nice surprise that our friends from California; Larry, Marcia and Sandy (the Wonder Dog) on their Nordhavn, Hale Kai had arrived! Visiting and catching up with them was a special treat! The guys helped land a second Nordhavn in their moorage named Serenity. They were a very nice younger couple traveling with their teenagers. 

Dinner was beer brats on the grill, macaroni salad with red white and blue fruit sponge cake dessert!  We went back to our respective boats for a nap after dinner. We took our seats in the pilot house before 11pm to watch the world famous Wrangell firework show, which took place in the Alaskan evening rain until 12:30 am. The display was very impressive! Special thanks to the Wrangell fire department who have delivered this show for 50 years!

The pictures of the fire works didn't come out, but it was a great show.

Tuesday, July 4th Day 82  Wrangell, AK

Everyone was up visiting one another on the docks with all the boat doggies. I was there with my treats as usual. And those dogs remember which boats to visit for the snacks. It’s pretty cute! I got busy getting my 12 bean soup with ham hocks in the crock pot.

By 10:30 we were making our way downtown to find our spot to watch the parade. The streets were lined with people. We have no idea where everyone came from. 

It started with a group of veterans carrying flags, followed by the Harley riders, the fire department had their trucks loaded with family members and were throwing candy to the kids. Many youngsters participated on quads. Lots of very creative floats made from 

trailers and even boats in tow, docks built on trailers and even a Scottish trio in traditional grab wearing kilts and playing bag pipes. It was very well done. Then it was on to the food vendor chose brats to indorse Barb and Dick’s cause, who are Ketchikan Al’s sister-in-law.

In the afternoon there were logging competitions and boat races down by the pier. We took our seats on the bleachers to watch the logging. First up was the chainsaw disk race. This event was timed and the disk had to be a specific thickness, not to thick or to thin. It was pretty amazing to watch these guys handle those saws. 

Then there was a team event with the double handle long manual saws, again the push / pull rhythm was remarkable. There was even a pair of gils who rocked it. One event was done standing on both ends of a log in a cradle and swinging an axe between your feet until the log split in two! That was frightening to watch, I was amazed no one got hurt!  

Then out to the docks to watch the boats races which really didn’t impress me that much. I walked about checking out the shops and all the people watching. Lots of characters and creative holiday outfits, that’s for sure. 

Back at the boats there was more visiting with the neighboring boats. We spent some time with last minute chores like filling water tanks and the usual. I made corn bread to go with the beans. We all enjoyed the warm supper on our boat this time. We would be leaving in the morning heading back north for a couple weeks of fishing. It was a very enjoyable 4th of July celebration. 

Wednesday, July 5th Day 83  Wrangell Narrows (back north) to Portage Bay

Today was Kay’s Birthday. Tom and I had but together a plan to have a surprise party for her. We all had secretly signed a card a few days ago and he snuck a gift over to our place for safe keeping. 

The cruise up Fredrick Sound was mellow this time. I visited with John most of the morning. By afternoon, I was busy blowing up balloons, hanging banners and baking a birthday cake. She did not know, I knew it was her birthday. I decorated the aft cockpit with the banners and balloons so she would see them when they followed us into Portage Bay. I think I was more excited to give her the surprise than she would be to get it. I made applesauce spice cake with cream cheese frosting and put the candles on it the shape of the big dipper on the Alaskan flag. 

I radioed over to ASD that I was making grilled pork chops for dinner and scalloped potatoes for dinner. She could take the night off from dinner. I think that made her suspicious. We got the anchor set in nice spot and the birthday party followed. A couple of gifts and party favors are rare in these remote locations. Everyone enjoyed!

Sunset in Portage Bay