While we stayed in Ketchikan for two days, preparing for our next guests, the Gravina attracted attention from locals who recognized it as a Ranger boat.
From my journal:
June 29 Went up on deck and saw a man pacing in front of the boat, admiring it. He introduced himself as Bill & asked if he could come aboard. "Of course," I said. He was thrilled. "It's like Christmas!" he exclaimed.
About our age, Bill apprenticed when he was young with Walter Stensland, who built the Gravina (then Ranger 9). Walter's younger brother, Lloyd, who later skippered Ranger 9, is a friend of Bill's. Could Lloyd come see the boat? "Of course!" we said.
June 30. Lloyd and Bill came down. Unfortunately Lloyd could not come aboard (walks with cane), but no less gratified to see Gravina.
Rob and Peggy crossed paths at the airport with two of our next guests, Lisa and her husband Tom. Karen, our mutual friend and third guest, arrived on a later flight, bearing a new pump for our troublesome water maker.
July 1. Mark installed new pump with dispatch. Still doesn't work! He decided to override computer & switch to manual - eureka! Will do for now.
The second trip was characterized by serious imbibing of wine and viewing of, as Mark says, "charismatic megafauna": bears and whales.
Because it is illegal to transport much alcohol through Canadian waters, we shipped 12 cases of wine to Ketchikan (for about $40); this was chosen by Karen, who is in the wine business. She, Lisa and Tom (also in the wine business) had a discussion every afternoon about which wine would best complement hors d'oeuvres and dinner, and Mark took notes for future reference.
July 1, morning. Passed half dozen seiners, fishing close together. Slowly circled one from Wrangell & watched entire process. Beautiful! At start of haul, net looks like a Spanish lady with a veil hanging behind a conical hat. As skiff stands by, circle of buoy line shrinks, then they haul the pursed fish aboard in a flash.
Afternoon. Anchored in Anan Bay & hiked up Anan Creek to bear observatory, making loud noise all the way (recommended by forest ranger). Near top, encountered black bear on path! Paid us no mind & ambled off. We stayed in observatory about half hour, hiding in screened-in lookout over rushing creek, with "windows" you could unzip for taking photos. Oso humored us with two more leisurely, close-up appearances.
July 2. Anchored overnight last night in unnamed bay. In honor of New Zealand wine we were drinking, named it Momo Bay. Only boat there.
Stopped in Wrangell this morning. Saw pre-Tlingit petroglyphs on the beach, then bought groceries & crab pot.
Afternoon. Stopped briefly in Petersburg, where we saw the Masonic! (Fishing boat we owned for twenty years.) Mark talked with new owner for a while.
July 3. Anchored overnight last night in Scenery Cove, beneath the Devil's Thumb. This morning set crab pot & headed off in the Minnow across Thomas Bay toward Baird Glacier, hoping to walk up beach to glacier. Unfortunately mud flats too extensive & we couldn't.
Hauled the pot & we had one crab, in just an hour! But it was female & had to throw it back.
Soon neared a small boat hauling crab pots they'd set five days ago, all full. Family operation: couple, two young sons & dog named Spot. Sold us seven Dungeness crab for $25 & bottle of wine. Karen & Lisa butchering them now, crab feast for dinner.
Mark says we're entering whale country.
July 4. Moored overnight last night at dock in Warm Springs Bay. This morning Mark, Karen & I bathed in private galvanized steel tubs (cattle troughs, I think) that overlook the bay. Tom & Lisa walked inland a bit to a natural pool.
Afternoon. Spotted half a dozen humpback whale spouts about a mile away. As we got closer, saw that they were "bubble net fishing."
"Bubble net fishing" is one of the more inventive techniques in the diverse feeding repertoire of humpback whales. They form a circle (always in the same positions, I later learned) and sound almost in unison. Underwater, they blow a ring of bubbles, creating a visual barrier, or "bubble net" (basically deceiving the fish), confining the fish in an ever-tightening area. The whales then suddenly swim upward and breach together, mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp.
We watched them for over an hour. Each time they surfaced they looked like a plate of mussels, & we could hear their magnificent exhalations.
Late afternoon pulled into Tenakee Springs, where they were celebrating the Fourth as only Alaskans do: shut down town & have one big, widespread party with corny events & lots of drinking. Walked length of town, partaking lightly. Tom & I found cemetery in woods.
Evening. Anchored in Corner Bay across Tenakee Inlet. Headed for shore in Minnow, but held back when saw several brown bears feeding in the tall grass, at least two of them cubs.
Nightfall. Back on Gravina. Tenakee Springs twinkled across the inlet, lights strung along the shore like an amber necklace, made briefly ornate by little, silent bursts of color.
July 5. Continued up Chatham Strait into Icy Strait, then Cross Sound. Stopped for an hour in Elfin Cove, where Mark & I spent so many summers with our children. Bought lots of Patti's smoked salmon there!
Moored now at south end of Port Althorp. Around 8 p.m., witnessed an amazing event. A bald eagle dive-bombed the water, after a fish. But it didn't rise up immediately with a fish in its talons; it seemed to be struggling, thrashing about. Anxious, we all peered through our binoculars.
Then it began to swim, sort of a butterfly stroke. It lifted slightly & pushed forward with the curve of its wings, like oars, dipping it head in the water each time. It became evident that it wasn't panicked & was headed toward shore.
Mark calculated on the plotter that it swam about 200 yards. Once ashore it promptly started to eat the fish.
We thought we might be the only people in the world ever to see a swimming eagle, but that's not the case. Eagles swim when they catch a fish too big to lift. I have learned that the muscles that operate their talons freeze when activated and they can't let go - they must eat the fish away from their talons. Also, eagles' feathers are not as water-repellent as waterfowls' and they become heavy in the water themselves.
Still, it is a rare, Herculean event.
July 6. To Salt Chuck today. Very low tide, great beachcombing and photo ops. Arrived in Pelican, our destination, about 5:30. Holly met us at the dock.
I got off the Gravina after this trip, and returned to Seattle for the third and fourth trips. A woman named Holly Hughes replaced me as cook. She has much more experience on boats than I do, not only cooking, but fishing and running a boat as well.
Our next guests arrived - all men. The next day they departed Pelican on the Gravina with Mark and Holly, and an hour later Lisa, Tom, Karen and I took a seaplane to Juneau, where we'd connect to Seattle. As the seaplane droned over Lisianski Channel, I spotted the Gravina far below, plying its way toward its next adventure.
