One very pleasant observation we've made is the lack of rubbish on the beaches here and it is certainly not due to a lack of boats. From massive cruise ships, ferries, commercial seine net fishing boats to recreational fishing and yachts these water ways are busy. Far, far busier than around the remote SW and W coasts of Tasmania yet beaches there are covered in piles of every sort of plastic debris.
So on our sixth day of paddling from Ketchikan we pulled up on Doug Leen's beach at Petersburg. We had been introduced to Doug via email by our friends Wayne and Nicole in Washington State. Geologist, Park Ranger, climber, mountaineer, Vietnam vet, dentist, conservationist, restorer of old wooden tugs and diesel engines - You name it Doug has been there and done it. Oh, and did I mention his GnTs in pint mugs!
Doug and his partner Martina were so incredibly hospitable, we were made to feel very at home for two nights in their lovely guest cabin surrounded by huge mature spruce trees and looking out over the Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg itself.
Doug and Martina's log cabin, which they had built themselves, was so cosy and comfortable yet cluttered with a lifetime of fascinating mementos and artefacts from their varied lives. From beautiful Indian rugs to paintings hung from pitons driven into the stone chimney to a small grand piano with pages of complicated (to me!) sheet music, a grandfather clock to the most amazing collection of classic mountaineering books I've ever seen in one place. All signed too!
The conversation over GnTs, wine with delicious salmon and halibut dinners roamed widely, stories were told and solutions found for all the world's problems!
We did the sights of Petersburg including according to Doug "the most exciting thing to do in a town with fourteen churches and three bars" - park on the public road right at the end of the runway when the daily flight comes in to land and goes over your head at about 50ft! Unfortunately we missed out as the plane was late and we had things to do.
The town itself looked a little like a maritime version of Queenstown in Tasmania. Many houses were a bit tatty and rundown in a homely way, their yards full of boats, buoys, ropes, skidoos, more boats, bits of boats and even more boats in every state of decay possible.
Despite offers to stay on another night, with clean clothes, bodies and the kayak stocked up with about two weeks' food it was time to keep moving towards Sitka.
We are now in a little bay on the western shore of Kuiu Island contemplating the 15km crossing to Baranof Island. It's the biggest crossing so far and after a dream run of three days'y calm and sunny weather since Petersburg, a front is due over the next couple of days. We've had amazingly settled weather the whole trip so far, only a couple of spells of rain, one night early on and during the day we were in Petersburg.
Baranof Island will be a big step forward as it's only a couple of days paddling south along its eastern shore till we round Cape Ommaney and greet the west coast of Baranof Is.
Us West Coast junkies will be happy then.
No comments:
Post a Comment