Day 40 ~ Sitka to Appleton Cove

It is interesting how warm the boat gets when the sun is shining!  This morning I woke up and realized that I hadn’t finished everything that Judy needed for the Navigator Rendezvous so I tip toed up and jumped on my computer. Michael was already up and enjoying the view and a bit sad that she was leaving. Wendy, not wanting the day to begin was refusing to get up. I tried to talk her into riding with us to Ketchikan but she was steadfast in her need to get back to the office.

Dad had two different groups of ‘old friends’ that stopped by the boat to say hello when they found out that he was in town. In the past, his company was very involved with the fishing industry and he had a relationship with these folks, just like his current relationship with folks like Bubba who keeps checking on us while on this trip. Dad is one of those all around nice guys that people simply like.  

After the guests left we started loading up the truck so we could run some errands before we had to take Wendy and Michael to the airport. Our first stop was the fish processing facility that prepared the salmon that we caught for the freezer. Then we stopped at the marine store so Dad could return a pump.

I was really sad as we headed towards the airport. Waving goodbye to Wendy and Michael was the most difficult portion of the trip. After the airport, we headed back to town to get a chart of Rocky Passage at Murray Pacific and then went to the grocery store. We stopped at the condo to pick up Susan who is the next door neighbor so she could bring the truck back.

Back at the boat, we fired up the engines and headed towards the fuel dock. There was a large tender at the fuel dock and the afternoon winds were blowing, making it a challenge to nestle Simby to the dock. Once fueled, we headed out of town. Thor was familiar with the passage so he helped navigate. Once in Salisbury Sound we were getting 4 -5 footers rolling in from the NW across the bow pitching salt all over our clean boat.

Sergius Narrows was far less challenging than our first passage. It is amazing how far a little local knowledge goes. We had originally thought that we would spend the night in Deep Bay but the evening was so beautiful that we made a course change to Appleton Cove.

As we approached Appleton Cove, a pod of Dall porpoises came and played in our wake. There were several boats and a sea plane in Appleton Cove so we had to pick an anchorage that was less than perfect. We had had a big night before so we decided that an early night was in our best interest. Frankly, it was the earliest that we had been to bed since we left Seattle. We had 150 feet of chain out.