Above–Misty Fjords (Pic from Wikipedia)

So we spent the last week in Ketchikan, AK at the Bar Harbor Marina. We’ve been up and down the main drag of the town using the bus or getting a tour from some friendly local boaters who used to live aboard their boat in this harbor but now have a house. With them, we toured the library (free internet); rec center (nice pool); saw the views up and down the island and ran a couple errands which included picking up our L16 batteries so we can now be on our way.

We also attended a home-grown concert called the “Monthly Grind” where several Ketchikan locals got up and sang, played instruments, or read some poetry for the 200 or so local folks attending. Loads of fun. We went there with the family who live aboard SV Nadejda here in Ketchikan. Their daughters were among the performers at the Monthly Grind. There’s a video here of their performance. We were encouraged to bring home made desserts to the event rather than pay the $5 entry, so I brought a new-to-me dessert made of baked cookie dough with sliced almonds and chocolate sauce on top. I didn’t realize there was a competition for best dessert. My almond-cookie bars won 1st place. The prize was a cool glass hummingbird feeder. No use for it on the boat, but I gave it to the couple who were giving us rides around town this week. I’d never made the dessert before nor did I try it at the event so who knows what was so great about it… I will have to make another batch to figure it out.

Today, David and I took the bus down to what is becoming our favorite local store–Murray Pacific Supply. It has tons of boating related gear as well as lots of fishing tackle. We’d already picked up a crab pot, prawn pot, and line a couple days ago but today we got a bunch of regular fishing tackle for both trolling and casting. I feel set for a fishing expedition.

The week of rain has stopped and it looks like we might have sunny skies for a couple days. Tomorrow morning, that fishing, crabbing, prawning expedition starts. We’re going over to Misty Fjords National Monument (link) for about a week. Yesterday evening, a local boater stopped by with some charts and marked several good anchorages, locations of free floats, moorings, and good sights to see on the charts as well as known crab, prawn, or halibut catches he’s made. One area is especially good for siting brown bears this time of year in the grassy meadows at the headwaters of one of the fjords.

So in a couple hours, its out to the grocer to stock up on fresh veggies; eggs, fruit, and whatnot. The area we’re visiting is remote enough we won’t be picking up the VHF weather and I’m not sure how readily we’ll be able to use the HF radio in the cliff-walled Fjords so this should be the last blog post for a week or more. The next one will hopefully have stories about catching and eating lots of prawns, crab, and fish.