We left Petersburg on the 20th and headed up Frederick Sound to Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island, which has the greatest concentration of brown, or grizzly, bears anywhere, reportedly one bear for every square mile.  We anchored in Cannery Cove where there is a fishing lodge.  We were really nervous about walking the dogs because of the bears, so we dinghied over to the lodge and they were gracious enough to let us walk the dogs on their beach.  We also had dinner at the lodge the next night, which was a treat.  Also fun to talk to their fly-in guests from places like Arizona and Virginia.
We then headed south down Frederick Sound to Warm Springs Bay.  We anchored in a pristine, secluded bay off the main bay.  See the pictures of our little bay as well as the falls.  Really spectacular.
We then went further south to Red Bluff Bay, which has another gorgeous waterfall.  This is where we saw the brown bear on the beach, 50-200 feet from where we were anchored (distance depends on whether you're asking Barbara or Dave)!!
From there we headed north and west through Sergius Narrows, then south to Sitka.  We will stay here 3 nights, then hope to head north again to some new territory.  We are anxious to get fishing, so stay tuned - maybe a king salmon story to come!

We have not been in cell/internet range since we left Ketchikan on the 13th.  We stayed one night in a small cove called Meyers Chuck that had a state dock, and was a good place to walk the dogs.  We moved on, north up Clarence Strait, to Coffman Cove.  This is a small fishing community also with a nice public dock.  Very friendly locals, all fishermen.  We saw some beautiful Coho salmon and smalll halibut (30 lb range) being cleaned on the dock.  We liked it so well that we stayed 2 nights.  Caught 10 crab in the back bay, but did not fish.  On to Petersburg yesterday.  We have friends who live here, and they had us for lunch today and gave us a tour of this wonderful community.  We are staying an extra night!  We plan to leave Wednesday morning and will be anchoring out for the next 6 or so days, arriving in Sitka around the 24th or 25th.  We may be out of range again, so will probably not update our blog until Sitka.  We are having a fabulous time.  Weather has been good, although may be changing, and the scenery is breathtaking.

We left Prince Rupert on Tuesday morning, June 11th, and crossed Dixon Entrance into Alaska.  We had fog, but calm waters, so we were really happy!!  Normally customs requires that once you have passed the border into either Canada or US waters, you cannot stop before clearing customs.  Like a lot of things, it's different in Alaska!  It is a 90 mile voyage from Prince Rupert to Ketchikan, the first port in Alaska.  That's a long trip, in our boat at least 9 hours.  So US Customs allows boaters, if we call ahead when we leave Prince Rupert, BC, to overnight in a place called Foggy Bay, which is about half way to Ketchikan.  So, we spent Tuesday night in Foggy Bay, and came into Ketchikan today.  What a busy harbor, with at least 6 cruise ships tied up in town and tons of cruise ship passengers in town!  Tonight we went out to dinner at a very good restaurant with two other boating families we have met along the way, so that was fun.  We are planning on staying here another night, then will head for an ancorage in a place called Meyer;s Chuck, then on to Petersburg the next day.  We are hopinng to get some fishing, crabbing, and prawning along the way.  Talked to a guy at the harbormaster's office this morning, and he said fishing was "not bad":  he had caught 5 king salmon last weekend during a fishing derby!!  I told him Dave would have "Fish envy"!!  Stay tuned!

After 4 days of travel from Sullivan Bay, we have arrived at Prince Rupert.  This is our last stop in British Columbia before transitting Dixon Entrance and entering Alaska.
We left Sullivan Bay on Tuesday June 6th and had a fabulous crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound.  We anchored that night in Fury Cove, just off Rivers Inlet.  It is a beautiful spot with white shell beaches.  The dogs loved it.  We then went to Shearwater Marina for one night, then headed northwest through protected waters.  We had read about a place called Butedale that is an abandoned cannery but has a caretaker and dock space.  It sounded pretty rustic, but was a good stopping point, so we planned to spend the next night there.  After a long day of traveling, we arrived to find the place was beyond description - reaaly bad!   Take a look at our photos in the photo gallery as a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say.  We took our life in our hands just getting ashore to walk the dogs.  Couldn't get out of there fast enough the next morning!  Our next stop was in Lowe Inlet, and we anchored just in front of Verney Falls, which is the picture you see here.  It is breathtaking and a photo doesn't do it justice.  We would have enjoyed it so much more if it had not been raining non-stop.  If the weather is better on our return trip, we will definitely stop there.  They say if the salmon are running, it is also a great place to watch bears feed in the falls.  Maybe not so great for walking the dogs, though!!
We will leave Prince Rupert Tuesday morning, when it looks like we will have favorable winds for making the crossing of Dixon Entrance.  So we have today and tomorrow to get some shopping done and exlore the town.  Next stop, Foggy Bay in Alaska,

We arrived in Sulivan Bay two days ago.  We had flat-calm water from Blind Channel, up Johnstone Straight, to Port Neville for one night, then we headed here via Tribune Channel.  Absolutely beautiful scenery, and again, calm waters. 
This is our jumping-off point to head up Queen Charllotte Straight.  It is about 60 miles exposed to the Pacific Ocean, so we have to time it right, and there have been strong winds the past two days.  The weather report for tomorrow morning looks good, so we are hoping to leave then.  Meanwhile, we are enjoying Sullivan Bay, which has been a favorite stop of ours for years.  It's not very busy this time of year, and the restaurant is not due to open until next week.  But Chris and Debbie, the managers, are so wonderful and accomodating that they opened the restaurant for us last night and we had a great dinner out.  We have had a crab pot out, and tonight we are having crab cakes.  Yumm!  Dave still has to check the pot again today, and I'm hoping for more crab.  It's hard to get your fill of fresh crab :).