Braesail was anchored near the tiny, charming village of Meyers Chuck (“chuck” is Chinook for “waters”) by Monday evening (July 18) after a lovely trip from Ketchikan that included over an hour of SAILING and no rain–wow! Seas were generally in a relaxed mood and skies were relatively bright despite the overcast, and the mountain and island scenery was marvelous, as always.
Meyers Chuck used to be home to about 100 people when fish processing was in full swing there, but now the pretty cove, surrounded by islands, rock clusters, and a diverse collection of structures, old and new, has only about 20 year-around residents, some docks, a post office, and a small crafts/gift shop. It’s a very attractive little place with two “sea windows,” and our stay was quiet and restful.
Today (Tuesday, July 19), we made the eight-hour motoring journey from Meyers Chuck to the town of Wrangell, where we are docked and where we’ll spend Wednesday and Thursday. (The town’s name has nothing to do with cowboys, horses, or jeans–it is named after one Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, a Russian explorer and the administrator of the Russian-American Company from 1830 to 1835). There was almost no wind and skies were puffily gray, but again we enjoyed viewing the surrounding islands, hills, and mountains, some draped in heavy green dressing gowns of trees with silver waterfall chains peeping out from among the folds. As we traveled, we saw some splashings near a shore, but no marine mammals (during Monday’s trip we did see the spouts of spray that confirmed the presence of whales, but none surfaced). Watching rocks and shores and our charts for navigation markers of red and green that guide skippers through a narrow, winding channel provided good practice for our three-hour transit of the famous Wrangell Narrows on Friday (where there are some 60 buoys, lights, beacons, and range markers “directing traffic” over 20 miles of busy waterway).
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 