July 24 - Baranof Warm Springs, Baranof Island

A real "bathing beauty" in a spectacular setting

The "old salt" getting the salt off do I look happy?




There are three metal hot tubs in sheds just above the docks fed by the springs as well

Here is the sign crafted by our friends at BYC immortalizing Shaman II, Oceanaire I and Sambuca

This is what the boardwalk up to the springs looks like

We left Appleton Cove a bit early which was not well received by the first mate as insufficient advance notice had been provided. The tide was rapidly receding and all boats in the cove with one exception, us had already left. As it turned out we would have been fine with the original schedule but you are never 100% certain in a new anchorage.

As we proceeded down Chatham Strait sea conditions were OK but visibility was very limited so we were watching the radar carefully. The closer we came to our destination we saw stretched in front of us what looked like the entire Alaskan fishing fleet. There obviously was an opening that day and everyone in the area seems to have a net in the water.

Most of the boats were purse seiners on which the net is close to the boat and well visible so we were running a bit of a slalom course when suddenly we noticed floats on the water right in front of us. To our port side a fisherman in his dory was standing and waving his arms to get our attention. Turns out we were heading right for a gill net which stretches some distance astern of the main fishing boat. All things ended well as we stopped in time and got a nice thumbs up from the fisherman although I am certain he thought of perhaps giving us the upended finger.

We found a place at the crowded docks at Baranof Warm Springs and headed up the boardwalk to the famous hot springs. What a surprise when we saw right at a branch in the trail, a well crafted sign from our Burrard Yacht Club gang who had preceded us pointing to the springs. It looked really cool, well done you guys.

The springs at the top of the boardwalk are fantastic. They are stone pools of hot sulphur water lying adjacent to a waterfall rushing by. This is the most scenic hot tub we have ever been in and one which is very popular in the area. As we enjoyed it a gang arrived from the yacht Parafin which is about 175 feet and had been chartered by some wealthy Russians for an Alaska exploration. Nance tried to speak to them but the man thought she was calling him Canadian instead of the other way around so I don't really know how well the conversation went.

When we returned to the docks we were advised that the fishing fleet would all return to the docks that night. They would be rafted 10 deep or so and it is not unheard of for them to party. Lacking the stamina of our prior BYC group, we left the docks and anchored in one of the quiet bays across the harbour from the docks. In the morning as we were leaving, we looked back into the bay and you could not see land for fish boats. Quite the place really.