Petersburg and Le Conte Glacier

We left Wrangell on a sunny morning and headed out towards Petersburg, our most northern port on the trip. We decided against Juneau, Sitka, Skagway and other ports north of Petersburg so we wouldn’t have to hurry. Juneau is another 110 miles from here and others are farther. Constantly, moving from place to place is tiring and one anchorage starts to look that all the rest. Two- and three-day stops have been thrown in and a weather day here and there so we have the opportunity to enjoy our travels. We didn’t want to make this trip like work used to be.

Anyway, Ruthie Jeanne headed west through Sumner Strait to an open anchorage identified as Saint John Harbor, on Zarembo Island. The area around the harbor is US Forest Service land. They have a dock, so we tied up and went for a walk on a well-traveled road. A USFS truck with two passengers passed us and then we were met by a Forest Service guy who was walking to the dock. He and the other 2 guys were headed home to Petersburg and another crew would boat in to man the “administrative center” on the island. Seemed a little strange to have an admin center where the only occupants of the entire island were housed in the admin center, a total of 4 was my guess.

On our walk we noticed 5 or 6 cars by the side of the road that looked like they’d been there for a while. We asked him about the vehicles. Apparently, hunters barge them over to the island then go hunting in them. There are 48 miles of service roads around the island. When the hunters were finished  they'd leave, but the cars would stay until the next hunting seasons. They would then boat over to the island and off they would go in their vehicles on another hunt.

We had a couple of nice relaxing days there, caught 1 crab that was a keeper, and fished with no results except cornering 3 flounder in the crab trap.  We were joined by 3 other boats for the night in a calm bay. This is a stopover anchorage for boats waiting to catch the best tide up Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg since the Narrows can be a bit difficult to navigate. We left Wrangell far behind and I haven't quite figured out why they named the waterway up to Petersburg, Wrangell Narrows. It's nowhere near Wrangell. 

Our last evening in St. Johns Harbor.

Sumner Strait at 3:15 a.m. after leaving our anchorage in St. John's Harbor.

The next morning the alarm clock went off at 2:30 a.m. so the boat could be warmed up and everything stowed away. The anchor was pulled and we were on our way by 3:00 a.m. (I can't remember the last time I was up at 3:00 except to head to the bathroom.) Amazingly, it was light out at 3:00 a.m. with sunrise at 4:00 a.m. Meeting a high tide in Wrangell Narrows was important so there was enough water under us to alleviate the worry that we could bottom out. It is a relatively skinny and shallow waterway. There were plenty of buoys and range markers to keep us in the channel, one that is periodically dredged to allow for safe passage. Our map suggested we should not stray from the channel or risk mayhem to our boat’s hull.

A few fishing lodges dotted the shoreline and houses started to pop up on each shore the closer we got to Petersburg. Finally, we could see the town in the distance and were glad to pull into for a few days, close to land and somewhere to get a little exercise and do some hiking.

Petersburg Marina where they "hot birth" slips. 

The marina does something called “hot berthing”, which means the tenants leave their slip for a period of time and the Harbormaster rents out their slip while they’re gone. Unfortunately, the boat normally in our slip had a run in with a rock that poked a hole in her hull. She was taken out of the water for a fix to the fiberglass. Lucky for us because we got a slip, not so lucky for the slips tenants. Within southeast Alaska there are so many waterways and so many rocks and floating logs, that I’m always aware of what the consequences are of not paying attention. 

From the vantage point of a hike we took above the town. 

Petersburg is a great little town on Mikof Island that is surrounded by very tall snowcapped mountains and sits in the central part of the Alaska panhandle. The community prides themselves on family values, community support, and the independent Alaskan spirit. Most of the folks in Petersburg are fisherman or support the fishing industry. The fisheries include salmon, herring, halibut, black cod, and shrimp/prawns. Commercial fishing boats landed $52 million pounds of seafood last year with a value of $50 million. She ranks 20^th in the US in terms of value by catch. Not bad for a town of 3000.

Speaking of the independent spirit, here is a vending machine that usually houses food, 

pop or candy. When the marine store is closed you can get items for your chainsaw. 

Insert your credit card and get engine oil, chain oil, chain, and different types of spark 

plugs. Independence at it's best. 

The town was founded by a Norwegian immigrant named Peter Buschman, (hence, Petersburg) and is known as “Little Norway”. European explorers settled here and based their livelihood on, you guessed it, fishing, canneries, and sawmills. Icebergs from nearby La Conte Glacier provided the ice to cool the fish before canning.

This iceberg was so blue and so clear it almost didn't look real. 

Size was about 10 ft tall and 70 ft long.

Not so blue but bigger. 

They come in all shapes and sizes. 

This was a challenge for the pilot to move us closer to the glacier. 

As you can see there are thousands of little icebergs in the way.

An awesome sight up close.

Moon and I went on a 12-person tour to Le Conte Glacier with Scott and Shelly. The boat was an aluminum boat with two 400 hp jets. Wouldn't want a prop sticking down in the water with all this ice. The glacier is the southern most glacier in the northern hemisphere that calves into the sea. The bay is over 800 feet deep and is flooded with small to large icebergs. Harbor seals birth their young on some of those icebergs and we observed many of the mothers with their pups. We saw small areas calve into the water but not really anything spectacular. Not until we were about to leave did we see a huge sheet of ice the size of a building calve off sideways from the glacier.  It was so big it almost looked like it was falling in slow motion. We could hear it and feel it crash into the water and rode its wave up and down when it rolled our way. It was an awesome sight. We got our money’s worth. Seek Alaska Tours out of Petersburg is the group that leads this trip if you are ever interested.  

                                       

A mother and pup watching us closely. 

Hope you have enjoyed our travels so far. Terry took a video of a portion of the glacier calving that won't work in this blog. If you'd like us to send it to you respond with an email and we'll give it a try. That said, we're leaving tomorrow and won't be have any cell/wifi reception for another 10 or more days. We're headed for Craig, Alaska on Prince of Wales Island. If we come back to Alaska, it would be a pleasure to visit Petersburg again. 

We'll be losing some crew in Petersburg. Shelly left two days ago. She was our liaison to the folks in Petersburg and all boat people on the dock. She had her ear to the hum of the dock and passed that info on to us. She was my nemesis while we played Bananas. Scott left yesterday. He is my boat hero besides being a great crew. When stuff inevitably broke or stopped working, his approach was to solve a puzzle. My approach was to freak out and complain like a spoiled10 year old that swore like a stevedore. I hope I can learned to approach problems like he does at some point in my life. We will miss them both. 

Hope all is well with you and the problems you face are miniscule. 

Ed out.