June 28 through July 10, 2023

June 28 through July 10, 2023 - Sitka

Russian history is seen throughout ...

We departed under calm conditions with a few wind gusts in Hoonah sound. The transit down Sergius Narrows was with calm winds and seas, making the rapid at slack as planned. As we moved toward Neva Strait Lois spotted a black bear roaming the shore and in Olga Strait, we spotted several eagles circling a school of fish and diving for a meal. Upon our arrival at Sitka, we are assigned a slip on float 10 that was available for the next two days. This will give us a chance to walk the town and make arrangements for Lois and John’s transfer to the airport after which Geary will need to reposition the boat. We had a surprise visit from Josh Hoffman (QCYC) traveling on the 90’ OA, Voyager. After a bit of chatting, he told us about SeaDaddy – a small fish-on-a-stick place. With airport transfer arrangements made, we took our walk in a light drizzle, stopping at SeaDaddy for a fish-on-a-stick, wandered through town (and the cruise ship crowds) to have a drink at Bay City Café and dinner at the Sitka Hotel.

The next morning it was an early departure for Lois and John leaving Geary to single hand reposition Raven to a slip on float 9 where the boat could remain until Lois’s return. After repositioning, it was time to clean up Raven and take care of laundry. Quite a few Selene’s were either in the marina, or arriving: Mystic Moon, Resolution, Ellipsis, Foreign Affair, and Sea-Pal. There were a few other familiar boats as well: Mirabella, Keeper of the Stars and Orion’s Star.

Friday, the 30^th, the drizzle stopped providing a chance to walk the town in warm sunny weather and visit the library (wi-fi) to perform software updates.

Festivities in the city started on Saturday, July 1^st with a Farmers Market, and a variety of performances. Geary met up with Carl and Melody at Mean Queen pizza for an early dinner then it was a rendezvous on Ellipsis to watch the 11:30 PM fireworks display in the harbor.

Sunday it was back to the library to finish up on software updates. I needed ~4 hours to perform an update to the computer!

Monday was a bike ride day with a stop through town to check out the Food & Carnival booths and then a ride out to the Sitka National Park, the Raptor Center and on to the LDS church for a total of 9 miles round trip. A trip back to the library to start updates to the blog wrapping up the day.

Tuesday, July 4^th was another trip to town to check out the festivities, lunch at the Bay View Café, and take in the “From Sea to Shining Sea” parade.

Wednesday the 5^th started off with calls to IMTRA to finalize the order for the Exalto wiper spring followed by another afternoon at the library to finish updating the blog.

The 6^thstarted off with a call to DirecTV to suspend the forward cabin service before moving onto boat maintenance. But first it was a stop at the Westmark Hotel for a haircut at Cedar’s Haircut before inspecting and cleaning the sea strainers and replacement of the water maker 5µ pre-filter.

Friday was spent giving Raven, and the tender, a wash. The shower floor grates were also given a good cleaning. The evening wrapped up with a nice salmon dinner on Ellipsis and watching another Star Trek episode!

The cruise ship visitors for Saturday were very low so it seemed the perfect timing for a 14.5 mile, round trip, bike ride to the Fortress of the Bear, the Alaska Raptor Center and a tour of the local parks. After the ride it was a walk up to the local grocery store for a few supplies.

Sunday was a long day of laundry. As Raven was only on 30-amp shore power, the 6 kW generator had to be run to operate the washer and dryer. While doing laundry, an engine coolant test was completed with good results: SCA 2.2 / Freeze Point -30º.

With Lois’s return to Sitka on Monday it was a walk to town for lunch at the Bay View Café, a visit to the post office, a walk through the Sitka National Historical Park where we viewed an educational video and totem poles, wrapping up with a visit to the Princess Maksoutoff’s grave site after passing the USCG and Geodetic Survey House.

Raven is ready to go, and with settled weather conditions, we are heading out north in the morning along the outside passage of Chichagof Island.