This summer has been filled with love and laughter shared with close friends.

We had a crew change in Sitka with Deb and Jim Fields leaving and Tom and Dina Butt (high school friends of Paul’s from Virginia) joining us.  We were able to spend the 4th of July in Sitka which included a very fun, small town parade and various food and gift booths.  The coast guard did a fly over during the parade in three helicopters.  That was a very exciting addition to the parade.

Several of our new friends from last year’s flotilla were also in Sitka.  It was such a joy to turn a corner or go into a store and find our friends.  It added to the small town feel of belonging. We enjoyed planned and unplanned get togethers during the several days we were there.

We left Sitka after several days and headed to the Bairnoff Hot Springs.  Dina, Tom and I walked to the lake and then back to the Hot Springs while Paul stayed on the boat and cooked a great dinner of pork loin. Getting to the Hot Springs is partly on updated boardwalks and partly a scramble over roots, rocks and dirt path.  Once there, the top pool was WAY too hot for us so we sat in the lower one which was still hot enough to turn our skin pink.  I freaked out Tom and Dina by crawling down to a very small one-person spot down by the waterfall.  It was perfect temp and I could have stayed there for a couple of hours.

We continued on the Ell cove and the Lost Falls fish hatchery just around the corner.  There we watched several bears with cubs catching fish as they swam up a fish ladder.  The eagles waited on shore cheering them on and taking the leftovers. We anchored out in many different beautiful, peaceful bays where we all were relaxed and heading to bed fairly early.

We then did a long push heading to Tracy Arm and made it to Ford’s Terror just before low slack.  We made it through with no problems.  Another boat and sailboat watched us go through to make sure it was safe to transit. Ford’s Terror is a beautiful place with high cliffs and calm waters.  The sun came out to make it even better.  We discussed staying there for a couple of nights but decided to press on and let Tom and Dina see the glaciers up Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm.  Being from Virginia, they were entranced with the views of seals and glacier calving.

Anan Creek Bear Observatory was our next stop.  You walk about 1/2 mile on a boardwalk to enclosed platforms where you can watch bears catching fish.  One mother had 2 very small cubs who kept trying to get her to sit down and let them nurse.  She was more focused on catching fish.  It rained the whole time we were there so there were not as many bears as we have seen in the past but still so awesome to watch.

The final adventure was when we got back to Ketchikan.  We surprised Tom and Dina with the arrival of another of their good high school friends Jim Reid who would be joining us for the next two weeks trip to Haida Gwaii.  It was a great surprise for both of them and great for us to have Jim join us.  He has such good energy.  We walked around Ketchikan for a day and then went our different ways.

It is such a blessing to have so many good friends to hang out with all summer!!