Day 26-Oliver Inlet to Auke Bay

The exit from Oliver Inlet was easy, thanks to the track I had laid down on the GPS the day before.  The current was running a bit less today, but the water level was a few feet lower.

Since we hadn’t seen any bears yesterday, we decided to go anchor in Admiralty Cove for a few hours and see if any bears wandered out.  We anchored, but didn’t see any bears.  So it was off to Auke Bay for resupplying, laundry and showers, and sending Ben back to Seattle.

We arrived in Auke Bay around noon, filled up with gas (40.2 gallons at $4.36 per gallon) and moved over to Statters for the night.  We checked in with the marina and wandered around Auke Bay, but there’s not much here and we decided to take the bus into Juneau to get dinner and an anchor swivel.  On our way to the bus I ran into a couple I had met while waiting for weather around Cape Caution.  It turns out they tried to leave the same morning as I did, but quickly realized their transmission wasn’t working properly.  After 8 more days in Port Hardy, they finally got out of there with a newly rebuilt transmission and a much lighter wallet, I’m sure.

Juneau is like Ketchikan on steroids.  Even more cruise ships, more trinkets, and more random shops.  I wonder who goes to Alaska to buy Rolex watches?

I picked up an anchor swivel at a chandlery in town.  I’ve always been hesitant to use swivels since they introduce a weak point into the system.  The breaking strength of the swivel I picked up is 1260 pounds, compared to 1500 pounds for the shackle I currently use.  Still, I think I’ll be good up to winds of 65 mph or so, so I’m not too worried.

When we got back to the boat I discovered (I think) the source of a small leak in the window in the aft, port bulkhead.  It looks like some of the sealant receded on a corner, so I’ll pick up some sealant tomorrow and fix it.  A screw holding the VHF antenna cable in place also backed out, so I’ll get that fixed as well.

Coincidentally the owner of the local C-Dory dealer has his boat docked right next to us.  I talked with him for a little while yesterday and he gave me some good advice about places to go in the coming weeks.

26.4 nm today and 1,160.6 total