Sandborn Canal
Today we cross Frederick Sound and enter the extensive bay of Port Houghton. Karen and Greg on Spirit Journey are traveling with us.
Our destination is Sandborn Canal. Gale force winds and rain are in the forecast for the next few days and this should be a great place to ride out the storm. We travel up the Canal as far as depths allow and anchor in forty feet. Spirit Journey is just beside us. Our crab traps are soon out.
At high tide we take a dinghy trip up the river. It is a beautiful sunny day with the snow capped mountains in the background.
The river seems shallower than when we were here last year and depths are only about one foot in places. Eventually the shallow water forces us to retreat. We spot a moose grazing on the sedge grass just as we are turning around but no photos.
Our dinghy has developed a small oil leak so Greg graciously offers to be the Uber driver for the daily crab trap retrievals. The crabbing is very good and our freezer is now full.
June 15th is opening season for the commercial crabbers and Rasclos out of Petersburg shows up right on time and sets out his crab pots. Our catch greatly diminishes with this increase of pots in the water.
Sandborn provides good protection for the high winds out in the sound. We have little wind but lots of rain over the next two days. It is good to have Greg and Karen as company and we share several good meals and conservations together. We also have to give a huge thank you to Starlink! It is amazing to have high speed internet in these remote anchorages. What a game changer for boating…. Thank You Elon Musk!!!
After a few days the weather improves and we are on the move once again. We follow Spirit Journey out of Sandborn Canal into the calm waters of Port Houghton. The rain and winds are gone and we have a beautiful sunny day for a boat cruise. Our watermaker is soon churning along filling our water takes with fresh water. We pass the commercial crabber Rasclos as he is heading back to Sandborn to check his crab traps.
Once out in Frederick Sound, we make a tour past the Five Fingers Light House. The lighthouse was originally constructed in 1902 and was Alaska’s first lighthouse. During a winter storm in 1933 it was destroyed by a fire. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1935 as part of the New Deal. In 1984 the light was automated by the USCG and it was the last lighthouse in Alaska to be automated. It is now denoted as a “ Historic Place”.
We say goodbye to Spirit Journey as they are heading back to Juneau. We will continue on exploring more anchorages in Frederick Sound. Thanks for following along.
