It is another typical Alaskan day with overcast skies and 50 degree temperatures as we exit our stall in the North Harbor and work our way out into Wrangell Narrows. Our first stop is the Petro Marine fuel dock to top off the tanks. While down in the engine room, Jeff discovers a small water leak on the water pump for the main engine. We aren’t going anywhere until that is fixed. The current has started running at 3 knots, which makes for re-docking in our stall somewhat challenging. Piston and Rudder, the local marine mechanic shop in Petersburg , is just beyond the fuel dock and their dock is wide open. So after getting fuel we tie up there for a few hours with the owner’s permission to change out the pump.
Luckily, we have a brand new spare water pump aboard. Being in these remote waters of Alaska, one needs to be as self sufficient as possible. Our spare part’s list is extensive! Within two hours, Jeff has our old pump off and the new one installed. After ordering another spare pump from Piston and Rudder, we are again on our way with only a small delay.
The sea buoy is quiet today with only two sea lions lounging about.
We find Frederick Sound calm as we work our way west. It is a 60 mile trip to Pybus Bay. With our delayed start, we won’t arrive until late evening. While doing our routine engine room check, Jeff discovers that the new water pump now has a small oil leak where it joins the engine…..Uggh. It’s not catastrophic but still a leak and it needs to be addressed. It may be that we just need to adjust the alignment of the new pump. We will deal with that once we are at the anchorage.
The seas kick up briefly as we near our destination but nothing that Idyll Time can’t handle and we are soon in the protected waters of Pybus Bay. We are surprised to see the large raft of Sea Otters at the entrance. We have seen a few otters here every year but not in this quantity. The commercial crabbers hate the sea otters as they wipe out the Dungeness Crab population.
They sure are cute and they do provide some benefit as they eat sea urchins which helps restore kelp beds.
Our anchorage for the next few days is Cannery Cove. Pybus Bay Fishing Lodge, located at the entrance, looks to be operating in full force.
Several other boats are already in the anchorage but there is plenty of room for many more boats. This is one of our favorite spots with beautiful mountain scenery and hopefully some great crabbing also.
Our two crab traps are soaking overnight and we look forward to having crab for dinner tomorrow. We are joined this evening by a group of ten other boats from the Waggoner Guide flotilla. Each year Mark leads a group of individual boat owners from Anacortes, Washington to Juneau Alaska on a “Mother Goose” type flotilla. Having never made the 1000 mile journey, these boaters feel more comfortable to pay an experienced guide to lead them up through the inside passage. Listening to them on the VHF, they all seem to be having a great time.
Tomorrow we will pull crab traps and hopefully fix our leaking water pump. Thanks for following along!
