I know it's been a while.  Sorry about that.  Sometimes we just don't have internet. . . Imagine that!  Anyway, we left Sitka under cloudy skies but it wasn't raining.  That's a plus!  We headed for Sergius Narrows into Peril Straits (who comes up with these names??)  Who says you must go through Sergius Narrows at slack water?  Not Jon and not Holy Roller.  He told Jon that as long as you're going with the current then it's no problem, you just pick up a little speed.  Well, that we did.  We cruise at 8 knots and we went through Sergius Narrows at 16.5 knots!!  But we did it and Jon felt much better.  He didn't have to wait.  Patience is not his middle name!  Also along the way we met the Sitka ferry which goes through Neva Strait Narrows at 22.5 knots.  And he's big enough that he takes up the whole thing.  So we just pulled off to the side just before the narrows and waited for him.  He was appreciative and we didn't have to pull off into the rocks to avoid him.
It was a calm day on the Peril Straits and we stayed the night in Appleton Cove.  Still looking for bears.  The next morning we made our way to the east side of Baranof Island and then the fun begins.  We stopped by Kasnyku Falls on the way just to see

Then we made out way to Baranof Warm Springs.  What a place!!  We stayed two days.  The town of Baranof sits on a boardwalk alongside a waterfall and the hot springs feeds the town with continuous water and free hot water.

The highlight of the town for cruisers is the hot springs.  You walk up a boardwalk and trail to the actual hot springs

The hot springs are really hot! and the view from the springs is amazing!

Then further up the trail is Baranof Lake where Molly swam and swam and swam.  The only way to get rid of some of her energy.  But she loved it!

Then at the end of the day (or anytime) you partake of the public baths that are fed from the hot srpings.  Continuous flow of hot water to these tubs and private rooms make them very popular, along with the view from the tub of the bay.

We were sorry to leave Baranof Warm Springs.  But onward we went.  The next stop was Red Bluff Bay.  There we ran into a flotilla of 5 boats from Seattle, two of them from Tacoma Yacht Club.  Red Bluff Bay is also very beautiful.  We stern tied there because all the other boats were stern tied and this was the first time we got to use our new reel.  It worked flawlessly.  We looked like pros!  Narrow entrance opens up to a beautiful bay with a great waterfall.

We were told by people we met that Rocky Pass was easy to do, even though the book makes it sound ominous.  Just go through at high water. . . and that's no joke.  More on that later.  On our way to Rocky Pass we went back through Frederick Sound and saw more whales.  We had a feeding frenzy going on right next to the boat.  About a half dozen whales were swimming in a circle and then they all jumped straight up out of the water.  TWICE!!  We again, stopped the boat and just watched and listened for a while.  It was so calm in Frederick Sound that it was a very pleasant view.  Getting pics of whales is not easy, though.  

That night we stayed in Portage Bay just south of Kake.  Still in pursuit of bears, we finally found one.  On top of the dumpster!

 

Molly was off leash as we had just returned from a walk to the store.  But the bear didn't even pay us any mind.  He looked over at us and then returned to trying to get into the dumpster.  And he was doing a pretty good job.  Guess we won't be dumping our garbage just yet!

The next morning we left on a a rising tide to make out way through Rocky Pass.  The guidebook makes this sound so ominous but everyone we talked to said it's no big deal, including yacht club member Doug Johnson.  "Be careful, but dont' be afraid" is what he told us.  As it turns out, it's really well marked.  But we saw depths under the boat of 13.5 ft on an 11 ft tide.  You don't want to do this at low tide.  More great names, in Rocky Pass is Devil's Elbow, which they call the tricky part.  Again, it's well marked and we made it through, No Sweat!  Out into Sumner Strait on a very calm day, we made out way through the gilnetters, making sure we didn't get caught up in any fishing nets.  Quite the maze that morning.  We stayed that night in Exchange Cove where we ran into Firefly, another nordic tug from Sequim.  

We've now had several nice days in a row and we're feeling pretty good.  So we decided to change our plans and head up the Behm Narrows now instead of going to Ketchikan first.  We changed our plans probably 4 times that day but we ended up in Naha Bay.  Another wonderful spot.  There is a public dock there and waterfalls, protected bay.  We met Captain Kidd there and they were nice enough to invite us over for a birthday celebration for Jon, since it was his birthday.  Their friends on Misty Blue arrived also and we had a very nice evening visiting and eating a ding dong split 6 ways with some ice cream.  You make do.  Ken and Ruth on Misty Blue had been up here several times and gave us some good information on places to go in Behm Canal.  One of them was Margaret Bay where there is a Forest Service dock and a gravel road and trail that leads to a wildlife observatory.  We had missed Anan Bay Bear Reserve since we decided to change our route back south.  So we took advantage of Margaret Bay.  Turned out to be a great stop.  They have a platform that sits above the creek where the bear feed and wander through and so we got our fill of bears that day.

This was one of many bears that came through and he caught a salmon in the water and climbed up on the knoll right in front of us and ate it.  This place is not advertised anywhere but it's a great find.  Captain Kidd had gone into Anan Bay and said that it was a real pain to get into and that so many people go through there that the bears tend to disappear when the tourists arrive.  Margaret Bay is very small.  There was one tour while we were there but it was only 4 people.  You have to fly in or come by boat.  We were the only boat and the others came in by seaplane.  No schedules, no permits, just walk in, watch and leave when you want.  My kind of place!

From there we went further up into Behm Canal to Klu Bay where we met Captain Kidd and Misty Blue again.  We spent another nice evening together and then we headed for Misty Fiords.  Unfortunately the weather finally caught up with us and as soon as we turned the corner at Pt Whaley, we got slammed with wind and seas.  So we turned around and headed back the other way.  We spent one more night in Klu Bay where you would never know anything was going on outside.  Not even a ripple on the water while the wind is raging in Behm Canal.

There is one mooring ball there which was nice since the anchorage is 100 ft deep all around.  The next morning we got up early and headed down Behm Canal back to Ketchikan before the winds really got bad.  We pulled into Ketchikan yesterday with some wind but we are stuck here for a few days.  Forecast calls for 20-30 knot winds in Dixon Entrance through Tuesday.  So time to do laundry and grocery shopping.  Once the winds subside, we will make our way across to Prince Rupert and continue heading south for home.  I don't know that there will be much more to say since we will just be backtracking.  We're going to go home through the Broughton Islands so maybe we can find some sunshine.  We seem to have missed most of it this year but it's been a wonderful trip and we wouldn't have missed it for the world.  Between the whales, almost every day, the glaciers, the huge eagles, the otters and the bears, not to mention the beautiful scenery and the towns with a lot of character (and characters), this has truly been the trip of a lifetime.