North Prince of Wales Island

A zero-tide window brings me to a remote part of Misty Fjords National Forest in Southeast Alaska, on Prince of Wales Island just west of Ketchikan. There are few airstrips and accommodations to support our field work in this area, so we chartered the 70' Georgia Lee to serve as our remote base. Her able skipper Jack Dawson is incredible to work with, as we learned last summer on a similar remote survey.



This is a narrow channel leading to Barnes Lake on the northeast side of POW Island. The changing tides rush in and out of this channel, creating tidal rapids that flow both directions.



Sean and me going ashore in the 17' aluminum skiff.

We chose several anchorages for the Georgia Lee, including Coffman Cove.


And Port Protection...

7/7/7

It is gorgeous and sunny in the Pacific northwest... the kind of weather that just makes everything feel and look great. I took a seaplane down to Seattle to unwind from my hectic 16-hour workday scene, spending the triple-7 weekend riding the motorcycle, boating on Lake Washington, having a big barbecue, meeting some of my friend Ken's buddies and family, and having a golf lesson.



Me with the honeybees and lavender (and a Sierra Nevada pale ale), enjoying the sunshine at Ken's house in Brier, just north of Seattle.



These kids belong to Ken's friend Jess... they are all beautiful blondes with blue eyes. The two boys both drove the boat and did great! The smallest one is 4 years old, not only cute as hell but hilarious! She is fearless and full of adventure. In the picture with the trailer, she is doing her tiger claw act that she uses to fend off her older brothers and anyone who teases or tickles her. She was also using it to scare ducks out of the way of our approaching boat. Jess even let HER drive the boat! She kept aiming for the buoys and pylons.



This photo is of Ken, me, Jess's daughter Jordan, and Mt. Rainier while we were out on Lake Washington... incredible day, beautiful to be on the water.

I leave for Alaska on Tuesday and will try to update the blog when I am in range of civilization. I will be working on North Prince of Wales Island, and my helicopter team will be using the ship Georgia Lee as a roaming base. These photos are of the ship and our helicopter from last year. The area I am working in this trip is so remote that having a land base for accommodations and refueling wasn't possible, so although the ship is triple what we normally spend for a low-tide survey, there was no other way to do it. Lucky me!





Hope you all enjoyed celebrating Independence Day and had a special 7/7/7!