May 24 - 26, 2024 - Santa Anna Inlet

May 24 - 26, 2024 - Santa Anna Inlet

With a weather window of calm and relatively dry conditions, we left Traitors Cove to transit Clarence Strait and turn inland before the front would arrive bringing rain and 20 plus kts of wind.  As we left the cove, we spotted seals lounging on the rocks, keeping a watchful eye on us as we passed.  A Bald eagle was on the opposite rock cropping, looking for his morning meal.  Turning south down the Behm Canal, we passed a pod of Orca which we estimated at seven, traveling north.  Turning up Clarence Strait, we came across Mystic Moon and had a nice chat with John Youngblood as he was moving his boat to Anacortes where it would be sold.  Soon we had a call from Jerry Nelson on Forever Young who had left Ketchikan and was headed to Kasaan Bay.  Dodging commercial shrimp pots in Ernest Sound, we made our way into Santa Anna and found anchorage at the head of the bay and the only boat for this first night.  Once at anchor we spotted Mew Gulls, Pigeon Guillemot and Burrows Goldeneye.  After a bit of studying, we realized we were also spotting Common Mergansers, quite interesting to watch and fast swimmers!


The next morning the rain showers began and are expected to continue for at least a week!  A deer was spotted roaming the beach area at low tide and a loon, sleeping, drifting nearby.  As the morning progressed, we were soon joined by four other boats, one of which was Liberty, Bill and Peggy’s boat which we had seen in Ketchikan.  Between rain showers, Geary got a 1 ½   mile row, soon to be joined by two other tow boats from the two nearby Nordic Tugs.    Rob and Kelly from Andromeda II stopped by to say hello – they had been travelling with Forever Young who had told them about us.


The next day we saw Liberty and one of the Nordic Tugs leave under heavy rain.  We stayed inside, taking care of various projects (Geary cleaned the shower sump box).  And we spotted the deer roaming the shore again at low tide.

 

It had been a pleasant stay in Santa Anna as we had the prime spot near the river outlet, but it was time to move onto something different.




Mystic Moon

Pigeon Guillemont

What is the story ....

Orca in Behm Canal

Sleeping loon

Santa Anna Inlet

Eagle looking for breakfast

Orca in Behm Canal

Stream from Lake Helen

Deer near the beach

Common Mergansers

Common Mergansers speeding past Barows Goldeneye

Trees grow on rocks

Old machinery

Roaming the beach

Raven at anchor

Seals lounging outside Traitor's Cove


Location: Santa Anna Inlet, Wrangell, AK 99903, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 11, 2023 - Van Isles, BC - On the hard

Image
January 11,  2023 - Van Isles, BC - On the hard Prior to arriving to Philbrook's we had started a dialogue regarding the work list, along with photos, to help with estimating and pre-planning.  This was useful as I was able to ensure that the parts (transducers and paint) were available and transported them with us avoiding any lead time issues or transportation cost associated with a border crossing. Our project manager, Ian, checked in with us first thing on Monday.  Ian promply started introducing us to the leads responsible for the work packages.  The whole process was very professional with good collaboration.  I was able to walk through each item of my list with the appropriate lead and discuss details.  Immediately after being hauled out we had people on the boat starting work on various projects. Servicing of the salon compressor was completed prior to haul-out with just a topping off of the refrigerant to account for the cooler NW climate, versus t...
Read more

August 25, 2025 - Everett

August 25, 2025 - Everett An uneventful return to Everett from Roche Harbor.  As we settled in we were soon greeted by Ron and Gretchen and Lois whipped up a nice meal that lasted well into the evening.   This competed 128 days. 3,580 NM of travel on Raven of which 88 days were in SE Alaska.   A good trip with, unfortunately, too much rain.   We had three boardings: US Coast Guard & Customs and Border Patrol Boarding ADFG Boarding CBSA Boarding   We only had a few minor problems: Windlass minor repair Failing transmission rocker switch Failed washdown pump   Our fishing was salmon focused: 17 Coho 22” – 30” 10 Halibut 20” – 31” 26 Dungeness crabs   We experienced some peripheral events: June 16 - Cruise ship breaking its mooring July 29 – Russian Tsunami Aug 10 - Landslide in Tracy Arm   We were gifted lots of wildlife: Humpback whales display Orca whales display Dahls porpoise Harbor porpoise Seals Sea lions Sea otters River ot...
Read more

August 18, 2025 - Gowland Harbour

Image
August 18, 2025 - Gowland Harbour We got a good start and made our transit through Seymour Narrows near slack, making our way to Gowlland Harbour where we found many boats at anchor, including  Hodor  and  Lonian  (owned by Lorenzo Fertittta).   Hodor  is the “supply ship” to  Lonian  carrying all sorts of toys.  The next morning, we exchanged greetings with  Harvest Moon  who had anchored late in the afternoon the previous day.
Read more