Haines and Skagway

Haines is a nice little town. The people are very friendly, and the library is great for such a small town. Ft. Steward is a neat little area, and the officer's quarters give the town a genuine look. It rained much of the time we were here, but then the sun decided to come out yesterday, and today has been a beautifu, sun-filled day. Last night we were able to go for a drive to see a lot of wildlife and nature. There were many eagles out, like usual, but we also were able to spot a mounatin goat and drive up Chilkoot River. We went on a hike in the forest, where we were able to identfy Sitka Spruce, Western hemlock, Dwarf dogwood, bunchberry, blueberry, skunk cabbage, ferns, moss, lichen, etc. It was very pleasant. Day one everyone says hi, and by day two in Haines, you are greeting people in the street by name. I imagine if we were around for much longer, it would be easy to just never leave, as has been the case with many of the current residents. Today we took the fast ferry Skagway, a really neat gold rush town, and probably the northernmost stop of our trip. There was not enough space in the small harbor to facilitate our boat, but we wanted to see the town anyway. We were able to attend a church service in a really neat log chapel before we caught a live show about "Soapy", the famous outlaw from 1898. They pulled Debbie up on stage to do the "can-can" dance. All the towns' sidwalks were wooden, and there was a train running near. Horse-drawn carriages dotted the street, and in the spirit of the season many tour directors were dressed in period clothing. We are currently back in Haines, and will depart from here in the morning.

Brett's Insight

In this exotic, one-cruise-ship-town you can feel the spirit of raven with exububarance of the Tlingit people and the totem poles. Here in Haines it is not hard to find genuine Made in Alaska trinkets: Made in China is sparse here.
--By Brett Edwards

Port Angeles to Haines

After Port Angeles, we cleared customs into Canada at Bedwell Harbor. We anchored about 6 hours later in Campbell Bay, Canada. It was a beautiful, calm anchorage, and we were the only boat. The next day, we left early and traveled approximately 150 miles to an unknown cove just past Seymore Narrows, where we spent another very calm night. The next morning we left early for Queen Charlotte Sound. Our intentions were to run all night, which we did. On June 30th, we arrived in Ketchican, Alaska and cleared customs at 1:30 am. At 5am we were abruptly awaken and notified we had to move from where we were so that a cruise ship could moor. After moving to another harbor, we spent the day cleaning and securing things on the boat, preparing to move farther up the line. On July 1st we left Ketchican and headed towards Wrangell at 6:30am-- the weather was beautiful. That night, we anchored in Anan Bay at the Bear Observatory. The next morning I observed a brown bear eating in the tall grass and observed bald eagles also. We met the forest service ranger at 8:30 and he escorted us up to the observatory site where we glimpsed a black bear catching salmon in the stream and eating them. At 1pm we pulled anchor and headed to Wrangell. We spend the next day in Wrangell and headed to Petersburg via Wrangall Narrows to spend Independence Day in Petersburg. We bbqed steak, watched the parade, the log rolling contest, and relaxed. The next morning we threw off the dock lines and headed to Fredrick Sound to look for humpback and orca whales. That night we observed a few humpbacks, but failed to spot any orcas. We dropped anchor on the Douglas Island side of Juneau bay. On July 6th we had a helicopter tour of Mendenhall Glacier--what an awesome sight! In the afternoon, the boys and I headed to Auke Bay, while Debbie and our other guests went shopping in Juneau. The next few days we just spent resting, relaxing, and piddling around. On the 12th we took off and went fishing for the day, catching 9 halibut and 5 salmon in about 4 hours, before we headed back with our catch. Tiffany, Doug, and the girls flew in on the 14th. We threw off the dock lines that night, and headed for Spasski Bay for the night, then to Hoonah the next day. We had fun watching the whales and fishing off the back of the boat. The next morning we went to Hoonah, where we spent the day, before we headed back to Fritz Cove for the night. Thursday afternoon, we went to St. James Bay to anchor for the night en route to Haines. In St. James Bay, Tiffany caught a nice dungness crab. The next morning we were up early with the wind blowing out of the southeast and the rain. Visibility was 2 miles, 53 degrees, we headed to Haines.

port angeles

we arived in port angeles on monday of this week and all is well except for the motor on the inflatable boat it decited to bend a rod , so we are waiting for a new motor wich we hope to get on wensday and headback out on thursady morning early with the next stop being southern alaska , say tuned for up dates

capt john

Departing for the Adventure

John and Debbie purchased the M/V Thunder and went to Mexico on a shake down cruise and are preparing to head to Southeast Alaska for the summer. We will be departing Long Beach on June 15th, 2008 for Port Angeles, Washington and then through Canada to Juneau, Alaska to have an exciting summer with family and friends. We will keep you updated as we go. Smooth sailing and calm winds, Captain John.