Our night
was all but restful! At about 4:00 am,
we all woke up to a loud bang. The wind was howling and the waves were crashing
against the hull and the fairy kisses had changed to troll bites! Wendy thought that I should go up and assess
the situation. Notice how well she delegates so she could stay in bed. We were
holding well, the anchor alarm hadn’t gone off but the boat was swinging hard
from side to side. Dad always says that the Simbalaut is a ‘real swinger’
because of her height. Satisfied we were not in any danger, I went back to bed.
Then both Dad and I both heard the anchor alarm. This time Dad got up and he
came to a different conclusion. When Michael got up at 6:00 am, Dad was on the
couch fully dressed. He had been on anchor watch since he got up which he
delegated to Michael so he could go back to bed. Michael spent the morning
watching the shore line for signs of life. Her first sighting was a small heard
of deer wandering the beach. She also
found an eagle nest. Unfortunately, no bear!
Michael and
Wendy retrieved the crab pots from the new spot and they caught 4 nice
Dungeness crab. Dad took care of the crab while we made our famous omelets
which Wendy videoed. We pulled anchor and headed south into 4 to 5 foot seas. For
the next three hours Wendy was at the helm with Michael on watch and Dad and I
worked. Along the way we spotted a large pod of humpbacks that we tried to
approach with no luck. 
We made our
way up Tenakee Inlet to Tenakee Harbor which is a small Tlingit village. They
have a fire station, a library, a post office, a town hall, a grocery store, a
diner/bar, a community hot spring bath and no paved roads to serve their 70
year round residents.
As we
arrived at dock in the driving rain, Chief reminded Michael and Wendy that the
crew needed to prepare the fenders and the lines. They jumped into action,
Michael went to the bow and Wendy went to the boot pile, but instead of putting
on hers she got Chief’s which were several sizes too big and they caused her to
trip as she ran around the boat. As if the cluttered dock, driving rain, crashing
and banging wasn’t enough of a distraction, we looked out on the bow and
Michael was taking the fender covers off the fenders!
Somehow, we
slid in perfectly and landed without a hitch. The guys on the dock were a bit
surprised with the arrival of Chief and his harem. When asked about the fenders, Michael said
that it was the Chicago way; In Chicago they don’t wear their pajamas to work.
While I
fixed dinner, Chief napped, and Wendy and Michael went and scouted out town.
They found a fishing boat grave yard with a golf cart! We spent the rest of the night watching our
movies and updating our story.
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