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Wrangell The mariner’s saying, ‘Red sky in morning, sailors take warning’ was not a good predictor of the day to come. We decided to take Canoe Passage on our route to Wrangell from Meyers Chuck. Wanderer drifted through the narrows, in this well named stretch, with the engine up, with land 10 feet on either side of the boat and with 6 inches of water under the keel. We emerged into open waters to find calm seas and bright sunshine. I spotted kayaks on the shore and motored close and shouted “The caterer is here with breakfast.” The boys gave a loud cheer, followed by “We wish.” Then, they waved and returned to fixing breakfast. We meandered on toward Wrangell enjoying one of our most pleasant days underway. The public docks were very crowded. Fishing boats from all over the Northwest were in the harbor preparing for the seasons about to open. LaDonna, the harbormaster, found us a berth close to the ramp. A stroll down the docks revealed that many boats hadn’t been out in some time. Just off the ramp was Shake Island and Chief Shake’s long house. Sean and David aboard Tonie O pulled into harbor. We all had pizza and toured Shake Island afterward. We learned just how pervasive the condensation was aboard. Water lay under the cushions in the forward berth. We took everything out, stood the cushions up and ran heaters to dry it all. After it all went back in place, we washed down the interior with a mild Clorox solution to remove mildew starting to grow. After lunch, we went up town for a little exploring. Penny bought a garnet from a young girl and I finally found an electric heater/fan that my Honda 1000 watt generator could handle on fan and low power. I saw an office for Northland Shipping and discussed shipping a C-Dory home. He quoted me $780 for loading, shipping and unloading in Seattle. That’s about half the cost of gas needed to motor home. Penny and I discussed shipping Wanderer home when it was time to head south. Now we had more of Alaska to see. Glaciers were next on our list. |