July 3, 2017

We talked last night about options, and one was to go to Juneau. For one thing, we were so close, it seemed just odd not to go. But we also decided that if we went, we could fuel up too. Although all our various calculations plus added conservatism said we were fine, well, it's just nice to have fuel.

The dock kept rocking all last night and the boat would occasionally slam against the lines, so Greg did not get a great sleep. We went out in the morning to talk to and meet the "AirShip" folks. Kevin and Laura run a flotilla and a Blog called slowboat.com with another person/boat Sam on "Safe Harbor". The flotilla officially ended in Sitka some time ago, but 3 of the boats including AirShip were still cruising around SE Alaska buddy boating. We knew "of" them but had never met them so had a nice chat. They were leaving to go south to Tracy Arm, Endicott, Fords Terror area. We confirmed that it was probably better ice wise to go that direction. We decided to go to Juneau at the last minute and left about 9:30.

It was really crappy leaving the harbor and we had to dodge some gill netters. It was pretty crappy out in Stephens Passage too but the wind and the swell were behind us so we just cranked up the speed and had a relatively OK cruise up towards Gatineau Channel. There were two cruise ships behind us, and then there were in front of us. We listened to them conversing on the radio for some entertainment.

We arrived at the fuel dock which is right across from the transient "Harris Harbor" around noon, and then pulled into our assigned slip around 12:45. We got all settled and then headed up to the Harbormaster's office to check in. It appears to be in the other direction from town though. We asked about the fireworks tomorrow, and found out that they were actually tonight, at midnight, right in front of the boat. Oh great. We thought about leaving on the 4th so we didn't have to deal with Bella and the fireworks, having no idea that some places to them early. Yeah, apparently it's a thing.

When we left, surprise, it was pouring rain. We walked towards a recommended coffee shop and got soaked. We were of course wearing full complete rain coats and boots, but our legs got completely soaked and of course Bella did too. Greg went inside to order coffee and lunch while I sat outside with her. But they offered to Greg that Bella could come inside if she would just sit there quietly. YES! We were able to warm up and dry at bit and use their free WiFi. Can't ask for more than that.

We walked over to the Foodland Grocery Store to pick up a couple things (milk) and to check and see what their hours were for the holiday tomorrow. Fortunately, they did not appear to recognize it

Back to the boat to warm up and dry off and clear out email. We thought about having a nap and decided that we shouldn't. Greg suggested going into town and going to the Red Dog Saloon and having a beer. A much better idea. So I put on my very fashionable rain pants (not!) and we called a cab. It was only raining and not pouring now but we were unsure exactly how far it was. Our cab driver told us that he said we were smart to go early as it was going to be busy later. He also said there were 7 cruise ships expected in tomorrow for the 4th, and there would be about an extra 20,000 people in town. He had taken the day off and wouldn't be working and was quite happy about it!




A small lineup to get in the Saloon that went quickly. The hostess spends the off season in Bellingham! They make sure that everyone has a seat in there so it was very comfortable. They had a singer / guitar player that was entertaining and certainly catered to the cruise ship crowd. It was very entertaining to sit and drink beer, have appy's, and watch. We left and walked around town for a while to case the place. It was just drizzling and fine now. We thought about having dinner but eventually just walked back to the boat. We saw people who had setup little tents to watch the fireworks and set off their own on the way back. Some folks had already started as we were walking. When we got back to the boat, Bella was listening to Enya and sleeping fine. We grabbed a light dinner and put a loud action James Bond movie on to watch. It seemed to drown out the fireworks for Bella.

I fell asleep only once in the movie, and it ended before midnight which was the main event. So we went to bed and played Enya off the computer as loud as we could. Bella was uncomfortable for some of the time when the booms happened between songs, and the main event fireworks were really loud. Then ended around 12:30 or so and so we were able to all get to sleep by 1:00.