Winds, Rain and Currents ( The trip to Sitka)

We left Baranof at six am trying to catch the last of a north bound current.  Shortly after leaving the dock, the rain started but we did catch the current and we decided to pass our planned anchorage for the night and keep on trucking to get closer to Sergius Narrows.  Sergius Narrows is a dredged pass at the bottom of Peril Strait.  One has to time the tides just right as currents can be over 6.5 knots and it is a narrow pass.  We made it all the way to Annie's Pocket, which is a small bight about three and a half miles up from the Narrows.  Just after we anchored for the night we heard a tug boat calling securite warnings.  We also knew the Alaskan Ferries use this pass so we had to time ourselves plus watch for traffic.  We knew high water slack was about 1400 the next day.  But after looking at the chart we decided the currents would be  slow enough and with us that if we left an hour before morning slack we could make it all the way to Sitka in one shot.  So this became the new plan!  Of course mother nature decided to give us the heaviest rain of the year and some wind opposing us to make the ride a bit miserable but the currents were as calculated and we made it through before any opposing traffic.

At Salisbury Sound we were exposed to the system out at sea and we caught the waves broadside.  After spending a few weeks in the inside passage we had become a bit slack and several items below started to shift but no catastrophes to report and we soon slipped back into cover and the narrow passes that lead us to Sitka.

We are currently tied up in Sitka but are in a bit of a bind.  Sitka received a bunch of money to rebuild one of its harbors.  This means they are discouraging boats from staying this winter.  Apparently we may be shifted to somewhere without power on short notice.  Of course we have two trips planned, one next week to go pick up the car and one in early November back to Singapore.  Not sure how it will play out but we will see.