July 21 – Anan Bay & Wrangell

A busy day today. While not as early a start as yesterday, we still managed to take our dinghy out at 5 AM and pull a crab pot we left soaking all night that contained one keeper crab and then get going from Santa Anna Inlet by 6 AM. We had about 15 miles to Anan Bay to cover.

Entrance to the Anan Wildlife Observatory is controlled and we got the last permits for the day when Marcia reserved them on Monday. Because we had an additional 30 miles to travel afterwards, we wanted to arrive not to long after they opened. We were anchored about 8:30 AM.

The anchorage in Anan Bay is poor and boaters are advised to not leave their boat unattended while ashore. That meant that we had to visit the observatory in two waves using a dinghy to ferry ashore.

While the weather had deteriorated and the rain began in earnest, at least the wind was pushing us in a fashion that kept our anchor tight. We use our GPS to monitor our position and it showed we hardly moved while at anchor.

The observatory was great! A half mile walk from shore leads to a viewing platform above the stream rapids. Bears are the main wildlife viewed and when the salmon are running, the bears are there.

Before leaving shore, a Forest Service ranger briefs you on what to do if you encounter a bear along the trail. Another Forest Service ranger at the viewing platform makes sure you follow the rules while viewing the bears.

Both black and brown (aka grizzly) bears frequent the area. During our visit, the black bears were hanging around the steeper drops and trying to snag salmon as they leaped from pool to pool going upstream.

The brown bear we saw had a different fishing style. Perhaps because of its greater heft, it worked the lower portion of the stream and would trap the fish against the stream bed. It would then pull them out to eat on shore.

Both the black and brown bears seemed to eat only the choice portions of the salmon (a surprisingly small portion) and leave the remaining carcass on shore. The many eagles hanging around would then swoop down and begin eating the remainder.

We retrieved dinghies, had a bite to eat and were underway about 2 PM. We covered the nearly 30 miles to Wrangell slowly because we had an opposing current of a knot or two almost the entire way. We were moored in Wrangell about 6:30 PM.

Today’s mileage – 44.1

Cumulative mileage – 1328.9

Current position