Twofer

There was no blog yesterday and no pictures either.   Not much went on that was shareworthy.   We spent the day in Wrangell attending to minor repairs with mixed success.   I got the forward sump working again - the culprit(s) was a combination of a faulty float switch and a blown fuse.   I was not able to change the engine oil as there were no spare filters aboard and no filters to be had in Wrangell.  My engine is fairly common on the fishing boats, and the fishermen had consumed all of the filters before the next shipment was scheduled to arrive.   Lastly, my fuel transfer pump is dead.   This is the same conclusion I'd come to, but having another professional render the same opinion makes me feel better.

Karen & Ross both garnered about 17,000 steps walking into town twice yesterday.   I only walked into town once, and then I stayed aboard and washed the inside and outside of the boat and replaced the wiper blades.   Note that saltwater is not conducive to wiper blade longevity.

So, today you get two days covered in one blog; a twofer.   You may see this again...

This morning, we went back into the main harbor at Wrangell to the fuel dock to fuel up.   The main picture, above, was taken as we passed the fuel barge and entered Wrangell.   The fuel dock master told us that the fuel barge had just arrived, and they were closing.   I had just enough time to squeeze in 300 gallons; I could have used another 700 or so.   No problem, this puts me at just over 1/2 tank and will cover us comfortably until we reach Ketchikan on 8/20.

Back south through Zimovia Channel again enroute to Fool's Inlet via Anan Bear Reserve.   We wanted to scope out Anan's anchorage (or lack thereof) to see what we are going to do tomorrow.   We are not anchoring as it is 245' deep until it's about 12' and then you are on the beach.   So, we anchored across the channel in Fool's Inlet, where we will drop the tender and take that over in the morning, leaving the big boat right here.

While underway this afternoon with Ross and Karen driving, I was doing work; editing some documentation for a customer and responding to requests for help from people in my Vistage network.  I'm failing my retirement, but I really am enjoying my work with Rick...

And I got this cool picture looking back north towards Wrangell.

I also made my semi-famous chili.   I've altered my recipe over the years and my chili is now pulled-pork-based rather than beef-based.   I find that pork takes to the spices better.

In addition to ridding us of horseflys (they call them mooseflys here), Ross tries his hand at fishing.  Ross was way more successful with the flies than he was with the fish.   The fish were having none of it, not even a bite.   We would like some king salmon, please! 

Here are a few parting shots of our anchorage tonight.   The shot off the bow is interesting in that our boat is pointed almost directly north (note that the sun is setting just to the west of north).  That is very disorienting as I'm used to the sun setting mostly in the west and rising in the east.   For what it's worth, the sun rises just east of north up here.   Think about how you orient in the world and what it would be like if the sun rose and set in the north...   Interesting, eh?

Good night and I'm hopeful to regale you with bear stories and pictures from Anan tomorrow.