We stayed here a few days, we needed groceries, wine, and wanted to take a look around.     The Old town part, where our marina was, is interesting to walk through, amazing how some of these houses have been built, against the cliff, held up by huge timbers, a road runs along the cliff, also built basically in the air, its all suspended,and held in place by the cliffs. We liked the old part, found a nice coffee shop, and watched life go by for a while. Then we walked to the cruise ship docks….there, it feels like you are in a totally different town, everything is “new” looking, all very clean, all very expensive, tons of advertising, the stores are for all the cruiseship people, apparently the cruiseship companies put them there, just for that purpose, these stores close again when the ships stop coming.  People everywhere, hordes of them, huge lineups for going back on the ships, no one would smile, or say hello, a different world……We watched things for a while, and took some pictures, then went back to “our ” part of Ketchikan. We chatted with a couple from the sailboat next to us,Steve and Ginger from  SV SEA JAY, they were on there way south, and thought we were totally crazy to go north at that time. But, they gave us the names of some very beautiful anchorages, and we went to most of them. They are from the States but keep the boat in Sointula B.C. for the winter. The weather was not too bad, a least it didnt rain.

I am sitting in the cockpit, in the sun(!!!!), apparently,its foggy and cold everywhere else up here, we are in  a wonderful little harbour, Myers Chuck, have been here before, but i am going ahead of myself, here we go. We anchored out in Pillsbury Cove, across from Prince Rupert, the day before we headed to Alaska.  Both of us are so happy with this dinghy, and a bigger motor, had to try it out , before heading towards Alaska.   Bert has become a speed demon, the try out day, he took me to P.R. for a coffee, so, i tried to look nice, did my hair….well!!!  here, he said, look at how it can plane!!!!   I have never quite looked the same after that run, amazing, i didnt catch a bug or fish between my teeth, remember, we only had a 4 horse motor all the time, so this is an 8, what a difference!!!! August 10, My friend Shendra’s birthday, we left for Brundige Inlet. Its the last anchorage before heading into U.S. waters.   There, we left the little houseplants, 3 ferns, and a bag of soil on the shore,  well protected behind a log. I was too worried about losing them. Two Sandhill Cranes were on the shore nearby, looking for tidbits, every time an eagle flew over, they made their amazing, very loud call. We watched them from the boat, preening their feathers, now these guys have a bright red head, so i thought…aahhh!! red feathers!!! Bert rowed me back to the beach, after the cranes left, i found 4 beautiful beige feathers, but no red. The evening became very still, and out came the black flies, not just a few, the whole population!!!   Poor Bert was attacked very badly, he walked around the next week, with a head and neck full of very red bumps. We had brought lots of sunscreen, which is a total joke, but no bug spray, so if you come this way, bring the spray, and buy a bug zapper, apparently they work very well. Next morning the weather was good, very calm, we left early, as we had to go through Dixon Entrance E. it can be very nasty there. Halfway there, the water turned bright orange from the (red), orange tide, we turned the water maker off immediately, not a good idea to take that in. It also smelled very strong of fish, which brought the cat out on deck. Arriving in Ketchikan  is quite something, very , very busy place, boats everywhere, cruise ships on the big dock, 4 of them, two dutch ships, the MV Rotterdam, and the MV Amsterdam. Its a chore to find the dock leave alone the slip you need to go into, the numbers are obscured by the numerous fishing boats, so you go around and around, trying to figure this all out. A lad on a bike hollered at us where to go, thank you!!!!     Once tied up, we called the U.S. customs,and we were told to stay put,. they would be there eventually. A  tired looking officer arrived after an hour, very flustered, she appologized for letting us wait, and we then filled out all the forms, and answered the questions, no problem with anything, she needed to check on Annie’s food, there cant be any lamb in it, and then joked with us for a while. We were treated very well, dont know why i was so worried.