After making the decision to park the boat for the time being, we are much more relaxed. The weather has improved, too. While we intend to leave on the Alaska State F
erry for Juneau on Monday, we find it impossible to locate any accommodation in Juneau until the weekend, so we change our ferry reservations to Thursday night (actually Friday morning at 3:00a.m!). In the meantime, we enjoy the quaint town of Petersburg and its environs.
Petersburg was founded by Norwegian immigrants and still retains some of its Scandinavian flavour sporting tidy waterfront homes, some on pilings, ma
ny decorated with traditional rosemaling. In the harbour there is never a dull moment, with fishboats, cruising boats, ferries, and large yachts coming and going. Children fishing on the dock pull in buckets of herring
to be used as bait for catching bigger fish. A delightful book store, several chandleries, “Locks by the Docks” where Orma gets a hairdo, a popular library which offers free internet, good grocery and hardware shops, mediocre restaurants, and very friendly people all help to pass the time.
On a rare dry day we take the boat south down the island to the mouth of the LeConte Glacier, the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. We encounter chunk
s of ice (“bergy bits”) floating or hung up on the shore all along the way, and as the sky clears we catch views of the glacier in the distance. The entrance to the bay is very shallow and too clogged with ice for us to get close, although aluminum jet-drive tour boats from Petersburg seem to have no difficulty. Across Frederick Sound we enter a quiet anchorage at Ideal Cove, then take the dinghy just outside the cove to jig for halibut. In five minutes we have a fish up to the boat, but it gets away just as we are about to net it. Many nibbles and forty minutes later, we have a halibut in the boat! By this time, the wind is biting and so are the small flies, but Cliff toughs it out, filet
s the fish on the deck of the big boat, and we have our first halibut dinner of the trip. There is enough fish in the freezer for several more meals, too.
Returning to Petersburg Harbour the next day, we find the current challenging and docking is difficult, but with a little help from neighbours we tie up again. We meet new cruising friends, Cindy and Darren, on Orion, from Port McNeill. Next morning we manage to paint the canvas with a new coat of waterproofing (60F and no rain at the moment is as close as we are going to get to the label’s instructions for 70F and no moisture for 24 hours). The day is quite lovely – we go for a long walk and have fish and chips outdoors for dinner—but by the time we leave for the ferry in the middle of the night, it is pouring out again.
erry for 
ny decorated with traditional rosemaling. In the harbour there is never a dull moment, with fishboats, cruising boats, ferries, and large yachts coming and going. Children fishing on the dock pull in buckets of herring
to be used as bait for catching bigger fish. A delightful book store, several chandleries, “Locks by the Docks” where Orma gets a hairdo, a popular library which offers free internet, good grocery and hardware shops, mediocre restaurants, and very friendly people all help to pass the time. 
s of ice (“bergy bits”) floating or hung up on the shore all along the way, and as the sky clears we catch views of the glacier in the distance. The entrance to the bay is very shallow and too clogged with ice for us to get close, although aluminum jet-drive tour boats from 
s the fish on the deck of the big boat, and we have our first halibut dinner of the trip. There is enough fish in the freezer for several more meals, too.
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