Southbound along Admiralty Island, through Rocky Pass to Thorne Bay

June 7^th – cruised slowly down along the shoreline to Windfall Harbor, still part of the sanctuary, and saw four more bears working the flats.  These are not so used to humans however and quickly moved off into the tree line, plus the tidal flat is so extended we were a quarter-mile or more away.  Would be a perfect spot to explore by kayak some year.  Dropped in at Mole Harbor which was not so promising; Pleasant Bay looks like a better spot. 

Worked our way into Snug Cove within Gambier Bay, a large complex of little islands and coves that can take a lot of boats, and were disappointed to see two others.  Had to anchor less than a half-mile from one of them -- boy are we getting spoiled.  Great beaches to walk (carefully).  No bears visible ashore and no “sign”, but this is still Admiralty Island so the other 1500 bears are out here somewhere.

June 8^th – lazy day in Gambier, and its all ours too.  Saw a river otter while ashore this morning, eagles fishing, etc.  Very quiet, you can hear the eagles and other birds a long ways away.  Spending the day catching up these notes plus fine-tuning the trip planning to get us home on time.  The original plan called for a stop at Red Bluff Bay on Baranof , but turns out Gambier is pretty spectacular so saved about 60 miles.  Real blue sky today (“sun breaks” as they say in Seattle), first since arriving Petersberg.  Spoke too soon about “all ours”; late afternoon three more boats arrived to park in the same area of Gambier.  Even with the closest anchored over ¼ mile away we felt crowded.  Still spoiled!

June 9^th – time to head south via Rocky Pass instead of repeating Wrangell Narrows.  Stayed close to the Admiralty shoreline until Pybus Bay – another spectacular spot to try someday – before crossing to Kake to wait for the high water slack at the Summit.  Kake was very quiet on a Sunday with few humans in sight, but many unteathered dogs in front yards that got excited about Popcorn, the newcomer.  One gangly puppy followed us back to the boat wanting to play. 

Left on time to transit the famous Summit,, a tight connect-the-dots course we did mostly engines idling to give time to check the marks versus charts and sounder.  Stopped at what the Douglass’ call "Baidarka Anchorage" for a pleasant night.  No other traffic in the pass today.

June 10^th – Left at 11:15, a compromise to put some water under the keel through the Devil’s Elbow while being able to make Thorne Bay before dark.  Devil’s Elbow was flooding a couple knots taking speed away from our dead slow pace, helpful since this is a more complex path and bottom than the Summit. Jan did bow watch too.  Passed a USFS boat waiting at the exit for high slack and a hustling sheriff’s boat but still little traffic today.  Rocky Pass is a very interesting transit as advertised, well worth the trip, but do follow the Douglass’ advice including not going through the Summit or Devil’s Elbow with the current – things would happen way too fast.

Nice run to Thorne Bay with a short Humpback whale show at Colpoys Point after a glimpse passing Pybus Point.  Popcorn having a rare digestive upset that caused some pauses to try her Astroturf box. 

Arrived at Thorne Bay at sunset, tied up and did a quick walk around the town to get our bearings.  Popcorn feeling better too.

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