On my last trip I had trouble starting the generator, and eventually determined that the battery charger that charges the dedicated generator battery had failed. And so, a new one was ordered, but as anyone who lives in Ketchikan knows, sometimes things take a long time to get here.
I could go out without the use of the generator, but then would not be able to use the stove and some other resources on board, so I really didn't want to do that.
After about 3 weeks of being grounded I finally decided to at least make a day trip where I would not need the generator.
My initial plan for today was to go to the mooring buoy in Thorne Arm near the Fish Creek forest service cabin. I had not been up that way for quite some time, and I wanted to see it again. But as I got under way I changed plans, which is unusual for me, and decided instead to head up into Carroll Inlet and find a place to hang out for the day. It costs me approximately $25 an hour for fuel when I am under way and Thorne Arm is a lot further away than Carroll Inlet. I'll go to Thorne Arm some time when I can stay overnight.
I left Bar Harbor at about 6:30 AM and made my way SE towards Mountain Point. That stretch of water right before you get to Mountain Point is open to Nichols Passage and it was a bit roly poly for that area.
I got to the Shoal Cove USFS dock at about 9:20 AM. No one else was there. Of course, the Shoal Cove dock is not actually in Shoal Cove, which is kind of strange. It is actually a mile or so North of the cove itself.
Here is a snippet of a map from Garmin InReach that shows my track for the day.
The Garmin InReach is an amazing device. It sends a tracking waypoint every ten minutes when I am under way and my family and friends can track me in real time to see where I am. It also allows sending and receiving text messages from anywhere, even outside cell phone service areas.
I flew the drone up on the landing and managed to get an aerial shot of the boat at the dock.
Once I got the boat secured, I grabbed my camera and took a short walk up the logging road. Immediately at the top of the ramp I saw a deer.
I walked a little further up the road and there was a deer laying down in the tall grass by the side of the road. She clearly saw me because she got up. But she had no fear of me at all because she just started grazing in the grass with her back to me while I was just a few yards away.
I didn't see any bears on my short visit here today, but I did see some sign that they had been there recently.
I saw what I think may have been the remains of a robin's eggshell. I remember as a kid being so excited whenever we found a part of an eggshell.
I left the Shoal Cove dock at about 3 PM and made my way back to town. I stopped at the fuel dock before getting into my slip and fueled up. Today I had the luxury of having someone there at my slip to help catch my lines as I came in. My friend Paul Downes from Port Angeles is in town on his boat, the 42' Nordic Tug "Reflection," and he came over to help me get into the slip.
I logged 41.3 nm for this day trip.
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