May 15 - May 18, 2022 - Wrangell to Ruth Cove, Thomas Bay

May 18, 2022

We did the trek in five hours, traveling the Wrangell Narrows, bypassing Petersburg, and heading to Thomas Bay on Frederick Sound, anchoring in Ruth Cove.

We spent three nights at Ruth Cove and had it virtually all to our selves, only one sailboat dropped in for an over night stay. We were treated to spectacular views of snow capped mountains, clear skies, cloudy/rainy skies, calm weather and occasional winds gusting up to 40 knots.

Our first night in we dropped the crab pots and settled in for a quiet night. The next day, Monday, we pulled up both pots and the one that had a chicken leg had three crabs, cat food - zero. We reset the pots for another soaking, one with a chicken leg, and some meat scraps with the cat food.

That day turned interesting as we had two squalls blow through. We had clear sunny skies, and in the distant valley we could see a cloud bank approaching. As it approached the winds picked up, the wind waves kicked up (white caps) and we were hit with a 39 kt gust. And in 30 minutes it was all over and the skies were clearing. Later in the day I could see clouds boiling over the same valley and mountains. Suspecting we were into another round, we repositioned the boat so we could let out more anchor chain and hunkered down. And as expected, we were hit with another squall with a 40 kt gust! And in 30 minutes, it was settling down and the skies were clearing again.

We had a calm night and woke the next day to settled conditions. We took turns rowing around the bay and pulled up the crab pots. One had three crab and the other (chicken leg pot) had eight crabs. All legal size with one female. We kept four and released the rest.

A lovely stay with fantastic scenic mountains surrounding the bay!