Monday May 27th, 2024
We left Meyers Chuck this morning in the rain around 6:30 heading north to Wrangell. The seas just outside Meyers Chuck were actually better than predicted. We thought we would encounter choppy seas but it was smooth all the way up and we had a lovely 6.5 hour cruise. We only saw fishing boats.
On our way into Wrangell as the tide was changing we encountered the very visual effect of the colder glacier waters moving through on their way south through the sound. When you see it up close it’s kind of spooky.
Most stores were closed in Wrangell because of Memorial Day but we were able to get a spot at the in city dock, take a walk, buy groceries, do laundry and return to our warm cozy boat. We are off to Petersburg tomorrow around 6:00 am to time the tide change in Wrangell narrows. Having done this before, planning this out was far less intimidating this 3rd time around. Hopefully tomorrow’s cruise will be as easy as today.
A final post note about Wrangell. This is our third time here and unless we really need a safe harbor or supplies, it will probably be our last. The people are nice enough but the guest marina space is, from our perspective, very poorly run. Last night we decided to stay “in town” at the Reliance dock which is a city owned and managed dock and is “supposedly” for guest Moorage. In reality it is filled with derelict boats that had tow away notices posted on them from last summer! Also and a large “house boat” is on the dock. Now we absolutely understand that this is a “working harbor”. There are fishing boats with people trying to make a living and they need dock space. However, this large fishing vessel pulled onto the “guest dock” in front of us right about dinner time, but after the harbor master had strolled by to ask us if we had paid for the night, and of course we had. As you can see he has a very loud generator which ran all night. Think of having a large scale diesel generator running next to you and that’s what sounded like. He is not supposed to be docking here, but he, and other vessels do. I approached him about his generator and kindly asked if he was planning on running it all night. “Damn right, I need it to make dinner and take a shower.” I bid adieu and told Marlene “It’s gonna be an earplug and Advil PM night.” Part of the problem with this dock in particular is that it is a known “homeless boat camp” but the city doesn’t seem to care. Well, they care enough to lock up all the electrical outlets so that when a true guest comes in one has to beg to get ahold of someone to unlock the outlet. Fortunately—sort of—I was able to find one open. However, an hour before we left this morning they turned off the power. Par for the course. If you need to stop in Wrangell we recommend the Heritage Harbor dock. It’s about a mile out of town but the docks are far nicer and they have 2 true guest docks. If you are coming this way to Wrangell Narrows and you want to anchor out Anita Harbor is your best bet and we will definitely put our hook down there on the way home.