June 14, 2018 - Day 13: Meyers Chuck to Thoms Place

Another nice, short day: just 30 miles cruising in 4.3 hours.

What better way to start a new day in SE Alaska than Famous Meyers Chuck "Homemade Sweet Rolls" delivered right to the boat?

Examples of seeing more because Moxie's "business" demands that I get off the boat early and late.  Here, the early morning low tide reveals eerie jelly fish glowing in the early rays of the sun and a beautiful red sea star; and again the dock pilings tower over the boats with 24' vertical feet of water gone.  Think about that volume of water....gone!

A last look at Meyers Chuck, I marvel at the hard-working, industrious, and creative talent of its residents that seem to embody the frontier spirit that is at the heart of what we love about Alaska.  Scouting out the local "industry" (aside from fishing), the Meyers Chuck Lumber Company with sawmill, tools, skids down to the shore, and a stack of remarkable finished planks.

A hole in the clouds portends nicer weather ahead as we head to our next destination of Thoms Place...

We took a "short-cut", the spectacular narrow and lush Canoe Passage.  The Garmin chartplotter and iPad Navionics did NOT want to compute this passage due to restricted depths and widths, but with favorable tides we were able to snake our way through some 5’ depths and 90 degree turns.  Absolutely stunning, but hard to capture by camera.  

Here's what the chartplotter looked like:

Caring for Nicole aboard Seaquel: below Nicole gets her hair washed and also gets her teeth brushed.  The new cabin space that we created for Nicole has worked out even better than expected.  In customizing a special bunk raised up in the original mid-ship location, we achieved the following:

1. Diesel heat ducted directly into her space, at her feet, blows warm air both over and under her berth.  Nicole has the warmest cabin on the boat (the opening closes off with canvas and snaps to provide privacy).
2. Storage space is preserved with Nicole's bunk raised up: we can still fit large tubs underneath her bunk.
3. Replacing a 2nd light (mounted to port) with a 12V outlet, Nicole has power for her own DVD movie player (as well as for charging her hydration pump that is connected to Nicole during the night).
4. Access for caring for Nicole, as shown in these pictures, is convenient and easy.  Peggy says it is far easier to conduct these types of chores, including diapering, cleaning, etc., in this space than when we had Nicole in the forward V-berth.
5. Peggy & Mark get the V-berth, which compared to sharing the small bed converted from the dinette, seems absolutely palatial.  For comparison: the dinette conversion is 3' wide (yes, we slept two adults there the past three years aboard Seaquel); the forward V-berth (at the shoulders) is DOUBLE this at 6' wide.  Nicole's new mid-berth is about 32" wide, more than enough for her (and nearly as wide as what Peggy and Mark previously shared!).
6. Moving Nicole from the bow to the aft section of the cabin, Nicole's ride in rough seas is very smooth, no bouncing or tossing, much more safe while underway.

Note: out of respect for Nicole's privacy, I don't want to share with the whole world all of how we care for her personal needs including toileting, incontinence, bathing, etc., all of which are a challenge aboard a boat.  So for those interested to know specifics as this may help with your own planning if you are dealing with special needs, please feel free to email or PM me and we would be happy to provide particulars).  As of this posting, we have completed our 22nd day of this Alaska journey - exactly double the previous longest trip we attempted with Nicole aboard Seaquel - and we could not be more pleased with how this new set-up is functioning.  Nicole is comfortable and happy, and we have also been able to get her off the boat to see the sights in some of the historic towns of Alaska: Wrangell, Petersburg, and Sitka.  Pictures of Nicole's "field trips" off the boat to be included in subsequent blog postings for those days.

Exploring the pristine waters and surroundings of Thoms Place by dinghy.  As has become the norm, the three Ranger Tugs of our small flotilla have this remote anchorage all to ourselves.  That is one of the striking aspects of cruising SE Alaska: the vastness and distances are so great, that there never seems to be a crowd, at least away from the homeports where the commercial cruise ships call home.  But by private craft, if you want to "get away", SE Alaska cannot be beat!

These Great Blue Herons posed for us near the mouth of the river at Thoms Place

Pam & Ollie exploring by dinghy...

Glen tries his hand with fishing, with the primary goal of catching some "bait fish" to use for crabbing…

Success!  Glen's first catch is a small flounder, but very sufficient to be cut into strips for the bait traps as we will try our hand with crabbing for the first time in Alaska at Thoms Place...

Moxie loves to explore too, including a kayak paddle to check out the river that feeds the Meyers Chuck bay.  And how can you turn down a face like this?

Next up: we pull up the crab pots in the morning, but first we continue to take lessons in anchoring with tidal changes of 24' (more than three times what we are accustomed to in the San Juan Islands of the PNW).  We also visit our 2nd Alaskan city, the historic town of Wrangell.

~Mark