Jellyfish Soup...
This probably looks like a gray/green amorphous picture of bad soup, but if you look more closely, you will see moon jellyfish all over the place. These range from about 1" to 12" in diameter. I'd never seen a moon jellyfish of this size before.
The boat swimstep is for scale. This big one is about 2' below the surface and I estimate it at over 12" in diameter.
OK, back this boat up. Let's start with our departure from Wrangell this morning.
The Seiners were out in force. There must have been 12-15 of them along the western shore of Wrangell Island.
We had to watch them closely to make sure they didn't have their nets deployed. Regardless, we stay well out of their way, if possible.
We left right on time at 0658 (6:58am).
This photo is looking back north at Wrangell from Zimovia Strait.
This photo is looking south in Zimovia Strait, from about the same location as the photo above, looking north.
This photo is looking west. Want to guess the name of that "head" at the north end of Woronofski Island?
If I said "Elephant's Nose" would that surprise you?
I was looking for our friend, Allen on Marathon, but I didn't see him out here.
Further down Zimovia Strait, looking south. Zimovia Strait is another shallow, twisty, rock-strewn, navigationally challenging passage. On a prior passage through here, I almost made a really bad error and lost track of where I was - I nearly ran aground. I've learned to be much more diligent through these passages. Take nothing for granted - even the charts!
Deep in the bay at Santa Anna Inlet. We are near the head and anchored in only 12' of water at MLLW (Mean Lower Low Water).
Looking back towards the mouth of Santa Anna Inlet. Where is everybody? I've never seen it so empty up here. Last time we were in Santa Anna Inlet, we had to hunt or an anchoring space as it was totally packed.
Ahh, my favorite (I was thinking of the food). Karen's spaghetti Bolognese, arugula & sun dried tomato salad, garlic bread and the remainder of the 2022 Long Cellars Savor we started last night.
This is a fire and Air Quality map of the WA State area. We are worried on behalf of many of our PNW friends from California, Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, and Montana. The stories we are seeing about the fires and smoke look pretty grim. I hope you are all OK. If there is anything we can do to help you, please let us know!
Ah, so we are not alone after all. This micro-cruise ship (maybe 12-14 guests) came in just a few minutes ago.
I've updated my charts with various annotations.
Still in Zimovia Strait, but past the nasty bits.
A line of ducks. These lines are fairly common. They don't bunch up, but they form nice clean straight lines. This line is probably near 100' long and I can only fit one section of it in the photo.
Navigation lesson. There are 2 tides/day (2 high and 2 low). Sea level as reported on charts is based on the mean of the lower of the 2 low tides. So, we should only see less than 12' if we had a negative (or minus) tide, meaning that the low tide is lower than MLLW. That happens about once a month when the moon and sun exert complimentary gravitational pull on the earth. Weren't you just dying to know that? You are now equipped to kill it in Trivial Pursuit.
I am really satisfied with my Coravin - We can safely drink 1/2 bottle and save the rest for another day without worry of spoilage. We've stored 1/2 bottle for up to a week with no adverse effects.
I think we are going to stay right here tomorrow and maybe explore in the kayaks a bit. We shall see what happens in the morning.
Good Night and Take Care, My Friends.
Just now catching up. Today is August 9. The did you posted this, air quality in Portland was really bad, due to the smoke from the wildfires. But today the air is crystal clear, warm and sunny. But the fires continue. The smoke is just blowing elsewhere. It’s pretty brutal. -CM
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