Day 22 ~ Farragut Bay to Petersburg

On this particular morning, Gene took his turn at being the last one out of the bunks several hours after Dad and I got up. We pulled up the anchors and cruised up Farragut Bay to Francis Anchorage. The Anchorage was a bit shallow with a mud flat that was filled with crab pots. We were very surprised to find five houses scattered over a mile with solar panels and wind power, but no cows!

We fished on both shores of Fredrick Sound in brilliant sunshine. At one point, this sea otter came up alongside the boat and did a whole show for me and then sat up like I was supposed to throw him a fish, which I didn’t, so he did it again. Looking back I wonder if the other fishermen do throw them fish so that is why he was performing. I drove from the bridge, enjoying the scenery and the eagles while the guys fished.

Finally, after hours of cruising around Gene got a fish on and of course it immediately started to rain. It was a 12 pound silver, which Dad declared, “A beautiful feisty fish.”  He gave a jump rating of 8 for the acrobatics that it displayed during its path to our net.

We decided that it was best to head into Petersburg Harbor for the night because the next day we were going to Le Conte Bay to look at the Le Conte Glacier and Petersburg Harbor was the nearest spot to tuck into for the evening. Now that the Simbalaut was capable of making water the only things that required her to go to shore are fuel, booze and guests coming or going.

Hands down, Petersburg harbor was the best harbor so far on the trip. The harbor was so different than what we experience at home. We had big boats on both sides of us and we were hooked up to 60 amp power! The sail boats were gone and they were replaced with tough looking fishing boats. The brute strength of vessels that moored there was impressive and they dwarfed us as we walked by. The working boats of the 57th parallel north are some serious boats.

We spent the evening giving the boat a much needed bath in anticipation of the photo opportunities that we were expecting at the glacier.