We stayed in Coffman Cove for two nights, its a nice place to go walking, when we set out on the road, we ended up being followed by the local dog population, every driveway had a dog, who came out to greet us, then figured,Heh!!! these guys are going for a walk, i think i’ll come too!!! All the dogs were nice, all were very big…….There is a very well built , brand new ferry dock here, never used, a beautiful building for waiting for the boat is open to visit, but no ferry…. the boat to be used is being refitted we were told, for a long , long time now, and basically its all politics the local people explained. . Prince of Wales Island is large, and there is another port, Hollis, with a ferry, which takes people to Ketchikan for shopping. The people from Myers Chuck, which is across the way, come over here by boat, their cars are parked here, then they drive to Hollis in Kasaan Bay, where the ferry is. Everyone is very laid back, very relaxed, the main passtime is fishing and then hunting in the fall. Early the second morning, i was woken up by the “big” sound of a whale blowing, it felt like he was right next to me, rushed up to the cockpit, and there he was, a big humpback, all i could do was stare at him, never thought about my camera…….These whales come right into this bay, even though there is a lot of little boat traffic. On August 22, Charlie and Rita’s birthday, we went to Thorne Bay, also on Prince of Wales Island, it is a challenge to come into this bay, when you approach it, there is just nothing to see, a very small entrance leads you to the inside, and then it goes on and on, until at the very end so to speak, there is a town, a beautiful dock, and very friendly people.  They have the best grocery store yet so far on our trip, everything was available, gluten free products, fruit , vegies, very good meats, fun to shop there!!    The young harbour master told us all about the town, he is the harbour master, christian counselor, fixer upperer of just about everything, plus he is going to school to study theology, we liked him a lot, and he was very interesting to chat with. In Thorne bay we decided to go to Anan bear Observatory, it would mean to double back a bit, but heard so much good about it, plus the King salmon were still running there, so here would be bears.  Anan creek (or rather river), has the largest King salmon run on the whole coast here.

August 19 was a beautiful sunny day again, we kept thinking we maybe should have kept going, but heard on the VHF that it was blowing like crazy north with rain…. so ok, we keep going as we are, in Kashevarof Passage we were greeted by a pod of Humpback whales, they were everywhere, mostly close along the shore, they kept going back and forth, and we figured that they churn up the water for food, we couldnt come too close, so many reefs there, but we watched them for a long time, several loners swam here and there. At Mabel Island we turned the engine off, it was dead calm, and Bert did some fishing, while i watched for the whales. They never did come very close, but when they come up to breathe, a big pod of them, its looks wonderful. We were heading to Coffman Cove as we were told that there was a lot of wildlife there, bears,whales,wolves, so we wanted to anchor there.

Sometimes we travel for 10 hours, usually always motoring, cannot remember when the sails were up last, but its not good to sit, stand, sit all the time, so we go on deck, and run in place, (always keeping an eye out for other boats…), or jump up and down, put some good music on, and use those muscles. Bert has not managed to capture me on film yet, but i got him!!  here he is!!!

Everything has been working well, we bought fuel when we left Prince Rupert, and record We have a day tank in the engine room, for the diesel, and we fill this up every time its half empty,  which means we burned 24 litres, that way we can keep an eye on the amount.  So, one day tank full is about 48-50 litres.  Once we were back in Ketchikan, we had filled 9 and a half times, so a total of about 475 litres. The fill up totalled 488 litres, so we did pretty good. Dont forget , we have the Dickenson stove going every night, sometimes all day too, depending on the weather.We also use the Hurricane heating system for making hot water, which also uses the diesel.  There has only been one night that we didnt have the Dickenson stove on!!!!!  We cook on propane and have 2 ,30lbs. bottles, which lasts us 4 months. Slowly but surely we are getting into a  smooth  way of doing things on the boat, dont forget, we were only together on the boat on the weekends, for 5 years, and now its all of a sudden 24/7, two people in a small space, trying to get everything done.  Bert takes care of the engine and everything else that goes with it, all the mechanical stuff, i keep the boat clean, cook, buy groceries, do the laundry, when we can, take care of Annie, and keep a close eye on things. Overall every thing is working very well.