At Thoms Place, not your Neighborhood Speakeasy...

The picture, above, is of Santa Anna Inlet this morning.   There were 3 other boats there, but the sailboat up and left before I got this picture.   A picturesque little bay with a few waterfalls along the shore that generate a constant burbling white noise.   Very peaceful.

1800 miles, 250 hours on the engine, and about 800 gallons of diesel used on our entire trip as we sit here in Thoms Place today.   We still have 700 gallons of diesel in the tank.   At our standard cruising speed of 7-7.5 knots that give us a true 3,000-mile range.  We will fill up when we return to Ketchikan in a few weeks, but we could probably make it all the way home before needing to refuel.   In my car, I always look for the gas station when my tank hits half full - same for the boat...

Thoms Place is the name of the bay where we are anchored tonight.   Thoms Place is an undeveloped 1,200-acre marine park within the Tongass National Forest area.  It is situated about 25 miles south of Wrangell; 70-miles north of Ketchikan.  It is beautiful, tranquil, quiet, and peaceful.

Unlike most places we've been, this bay is shallow and rocky.  The shoresides are gently sloping grass beaches with rock outcroppings.   I can only presume that extends below water level.   My depth sounder reinforces that belief.   The bottom is mostly rock shelf with only a thin layer of mud or silt above it.  Every once in a while, the depth sounder jumps as we go over rocks (big, tall spires).   Normal depth is 40-50', the spires come to just below the water's surface.   We wouldn't want to hit one of those.  That combination makes for generally poor anchoring conditions.   The lack of mud or silt means that our anchor can't bite into the bottom, it just sits on top of the rock shelf, so it could drag.   The spires are problematic if we happen to drag as we could inadvertently hit one.   The forecast is for very mild clear weather, so I'm not worried about it for tonight, though I will be vigilant - I have my anchor watch alarm set.   I would move on to another anchorage, if a storm or strong winds were predicted.

Back it up...   A leisurely day of not really doing much.   We had a lovely breakfast on the back deck and then we took off for our 15-mile, 1:45 motor to Thoms Place.

Once at Thoms Place, we dropped the dink and went exploring.  We didn't see much animal wildlife (no bears, moose, elk, caribou, beaver, porcupine, otters, etc., but there were a number of jellyfish, some species of fish jumping around the bay (maybe salmon?), and at least one hummingbird who buzzed us a few times.

Here are some pics from our tour around the bay in our tender, Roe...   Captain Ross, at the helm.

And a few pictures of the bay from aboard Blue Redd...

That's not our boat in the picture.   That's a Northern Marine trawler.   Similar to our Selene, but a different brand.   A pretty boat, nonetheless.

I don't know why you all seem to be interested in what we are eating, but here goes.   Tonight's dinner was our customary spinach salad with my Goose Dressing, filet mignon on the grill, baked potato, and asparagus. accompanied by a Long Cellars 2018 Miolin.  Miolin is a lovely blend of 40% Cab Sauv, 40% Cab Franc, 10% Merlot, & 10% Malbec.   It's a lovely deep complex wine with oodles of dark cherry and pomegranate fruit over layers of cedar, mocha, and soft oaky goodness.   For a WA vintner, Jason Long of Long Cellars (www.longcellars.com) is one of my favorites.

And for dessert - frozen Peanut M&Ms.   Yumm!

Tomorrow, we head to Wrangell in preparation to be hauled on Tuesday for prop repair and other maintenance items.