July 9, 2017

We had to go through Sergius Narrows at 6:00am so we left around 5:20 in the morning. Just leaving the cove we saw that "Seeker" the cargo boat from Warm Springs had spent the night in Bear Cove and was straight ahead of us. So we let him go first and just followed. The ferry Manuska called us on the radio and asked if we would stay at the north end to let him through first and we of course said we would - that was our plan. After that there is one spot for about 20 minutes that is open to the real ocean, and so we zag-ed a bit and sped through it. Otherwise, the transit was fine, however surprise - it rained the whole way. We saw that "Stella Maris" was just leaving Sitka too! We had assumed they would stay until tomorrow, but they had decided to leave and go south and seek some sun. (This is becoming a common theme). We talked for a short while on the radio and they re-iterated that this was the worst summer they had encountered.

Had to call and find out where the fuel dock was. Of course once you know where it is, it's obvious It was raining hard when we arrived and we were not able to plug the electrical in because the power box was locked. Greg walked to the harbormasters office but it was closed on Sunday. We called on the radio and the harbormaster said they would come down and see if they could un-lock the box, but he didn't say when. So we ended up just hanging out on the boat and then having some lunch. The harbormaster did make it down a couple of hours later. Turns out he really likes Grand Banks boats and said some very nice things about Spellbound.

The rain slowed down and sorta kinda stopped so we decided to head out for a walk. We hadn't gone far on the dock before we noticed a boat registered in Thunder Bay, Ontario - a 42 Nordic Tug. Don't see that too often. There was a woman standing on the back swim step who saw us walking Bella and said she had her own doxie inside the boat. We ended up chatting about dachshunds and Canada for quite some time across the dock, and so she invited us over for a drink later.

We continued walking as best we could, but Bella was not helpful. We walked all through town, looked in a couple of shops that were open on a Sunday, down to the library and cruise ship area, and over to the Totem Park. It was a longish walk out there but seemed like a good idea.



There were quite a few large personal boats in Eliason harbor with us, plus a few smaller cruise ships in the harbor closer to town. There is a permanent National Geographic tour office plus another named one, inside the visitor center. We stopped and talked to some other dog people along the way as people asked about Bella.

It was close to 6:00 by the time we got back, so we thought we might be too late to stop by "Potest Fieri" for a drink. Susan was there and said "no problem" and Danny was just on his way back from the liquor store. We met their mini black & tan short haired doxie, "Lowla" too. What a real sweety. Lowla had back surgery last October, and was still recovering somewhat. She could walk, but her back end was a little "loose" and she was slightly wobbly. But she sat on my lap and cuddled with me so she must be a good girl. We had a great time talking with Susan and Danny. They bought the boat new in 2005 and spent 10 years boating on the East Coast all over. They have done the great loop 1.5 times, have been to the Bahamas in it, and all up and down the Coast and through the Great Lakes and Rivers. They were retired the whole time and seem to have boated ever since. They had the boat shipped to Victoria in December 2015 and started boating on this coast, and this year is their first time to Alaska as well. They made it up to Glacier Bay and are meandering back down.

We ended up talking dogs, boats, American tourism as a Canadian and food. They even made me a Caesar. With rim spices. I was impressed. We didn't end up leaving until after 10:00pm and no one had had dinner yet. Ooops. Back to Spellbound for a quick sausage dinner and to bed.