Monday June 24th, 2024
Neither I nor Marlene got a good nights sleep. The major cause was the foreboding, shadowing feature of the big fishing boats, rafted three deep in front of us. Clearly we were boxed in and there was NO WAY we would be able to exit the harbor unless two of them moved. Remember also, that we only had 2 feet in back of us to try and get out. We got up around 7:00 am this morning and discovered that one of the large fishing boats had left—but wait—about 9AM there was another one coming to raft on in its place. I opened the starboard side of the pilot house door to discover that not only was there the new boat but there were literally five more swarming to enter the dock. OMG!!!! Panicked I called out to the captain in the second rafted boat.
”Captain, is that boat going to raft on to you?”
”Yes.”
“But I thought you were leaving this morning.”
”We are probably going to leave sometime today but we are not sure when.”
“Well my problem is that I cannot get out.”
”Yea, I see that. Do you want to go now?”
”We were planning on leaving tomorrow.”
”Well, if you want to leave let us know.”
I consulted with Marlene. She had already looked at the weather and it was clear in her eyes. “Greg, let’s leave now, Both of the captains of the other boats are here and they are willing to move, so let’s go! .” The Admiral had spoken.
”Captain, we decided we want to leave now. Can you help us?”
”Sure, what do you need. Would you like us to get a guide boat to tow you out? Actually, thinking about it, we will all move and let you out.”
”Great, we will prepare now.” And so we did. Within 5 minutes Marlene and I were suited and booted ready for action. Our cocktail friends from the night before saw the commotion and came out to help.
”What would you like us to do?”
”We need to move the boat behind us so I can get a run at backing out,” I replied. And so we moved the boat back and tied is securely. Our friends assured us they would return it to its original place once we were out.
With the small fishing boat in back of us moved, I put our boat into hard right rudder mode. My plan was to get the bow of the boat out far enough to clear the enormous hull of the fishing boat. I would then use our stern thruster to keep us off of the dock. Marlene was at the stern of our boat, headsets on, getting ready to announce when I was clear. “Greg, you are clear” and so I kicked the engine forward, the bow went out and I begin to clear the fishing boat in front of me. However, I made one mistake. Instead of going back to center, I kept the rudder in hard right position now putting the stern dangerously close to the hull of the fishing boat. “Greg, Greg, get the stern away from the boat, use the stern thruster to move the stern to starboard NOW”. By then I realized my problem and centered the rudder and proceeded to exit the dock when I realized there were literally—and I kid you not—at least five huge fishing boats waiting to come in. They were like swarming bees. Thankfully we made it out of there and said to ourselves, “OK, we got out.”
We originally planned to go to Prybus Harbor but with the weather being rainy and overcast and the seas extremely calm, we decided to continue on to Portage Bay. This meant crossing both Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound in one shot. Not usually something that we would usually try, especially when we didn’t get underway until about 10AM, but the weather apps looked good, so off we went. The primary reason for this change in plan is that we are still being plagued with electrical problems. Something is awry and we don’t know if it’s minor or major. Long story short, we decided to get to Petersburg where we could get help. I was able to contact an electrical mechanic who will meet us at the boat in the next couple of days and help us run this problem to the ground.
We now sit in Portage Bay. The water looks like glass with no wind predicted for the night. We are the only boat in this huge harbor and looking forward to a couple of well deserved “wee drams” of Balvenie. Things are starting to look up. It SHOULD be an easy 3 hour cruise into Petersburg tomorrow.
Calm seas of Frederick Sound.
Portage Bay.