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Petersburg
Petersburg, the small Norwegian community on Mitkoff Island, will be Idyll Time’s home for the winter. So why are we leaving Idyll Time in Alaska? By doing so, we won’t have the 1000 mile trip back to Anacortes, WA and also won’t have the return trip next spring. This will give us lots more time for cruising in SE Alaska. We visited here last year and liked what we saw. The small community of about 3000 people has a strong sense of identity and pride arising from its Norwegian heritage. The marina is one of the best run marinas in Alaska. There is an active fishing fleet of about 1000 boats and the marina operates 24/7 365 days a year. The harbor is very well protected from winds and the water does not freeze. When we arrived this spring, we did not plan on staying over the winter. But…a slip in the North Harbor had just become available. After spending a few days here, Petersburg felt like home. With three other Krogen’s and several other trawler friends in the Harbor, Idyll Time will be in good company.
We have a busy few weeks getting Idyll Time ready for the winter. First on the agenda is a haul out to check the bottom paint and replace zincs. Travel lifts in Alaska are few and far between. Piston and Rudder the local marine dealer in town does have a marine railway.
We have never hauled out on one of these before so this is a first for us. At high slack tide, the cradle is lowered into the water. Jeff eases IT between the upright posts. Things go smoothly and Idyll Time is soon high and dry.
In just a few hours the prop is cleaned and repainted along with some touch ups of the bottom paint. Zincs are changed and IT is ready to go. At the next high tide, we are lowered back into the water and are soon secure in our slip in the North Harbor.
Winterizing all of the systems on our boat requires several days and 25 gallons of pink antifreeze.
Our next task is to install our cover…..
The cover comes in four sections which make for a relatively easy install. Within three hours she is all wrapped up.
Earlier this year we installed “Siren”, a boat monitoring system. Through the app we can monitor various systems remotely. We will know when shore power is lost, if someone opens a door, and also temperatures inside. We also installed alarms for high water in all of the holds. In addition to having the Siren, Jake, one of the marina staff , will come inside once a week and do a thorough boat check. Idyll Time should do just fine until next spring. We will be back several times this winter to check on IT and also to enjoy Petersburg during the winter.
I will post some statistics from this years cruise in the next blog…..stay tuned.
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