Another beautiful day! You can see how big Portage Bay is.

Arriving in Petersburg

And picking up Chuck at the fuel dock!

Then onto

and a quick walk to town.

This is a travel day as we make our way to Petersburg to pick up Chuck on Saturday. Karlyn and I have decided that we can drive the boat so we have taken our hour shifts (we are always pleased that Kelley or Tim stay with us).

We anchored in Portage Bay. It is a huge open area but shallow so there is good holding everywhere. After a sunny day, one would hope for this

we were not disappointed. In fact, it was so clear, we could see the moon and that doesn’t happened often on this trip.

Kelley was driving after we left Appleton Cove and all of a sudden he stopped – we thought it was a whale, but no, a deer. The Sitka deer are smaller than the ones we have in California – and here was this little head onto of the water. He was swimming to wards this steep rocky wall. Sure enough he got out of the water and began climbing and jumping his way up. We didn’t see if he made it, but after the long swim from one island to another, we are optimistic that he has the will to make it.

This is the Warm Springs fall. Loud and powerful.

We climbed the trail and arrived at the warm springs. The water in the first pool was so hot, but the second one was like a hot tub, or so we heard.

Note that the last pool is near the fall…

We then climb up more and went onto the Barnoff Lake. Beautiful.

Onto Red Bluff Cove for the night. This is a gorgeous spot -

and here is the reason for the name.

And of course, there has to be one of these

We toured the cove after dinner! Too bad Chuck isn’t here!

Karlyn and Chuck rented a van when their family was here. So, because there is maintenance on the boat that still needs to be done, Kelley and I took off for the Fortress of the Bears. This is a sanctuary for rescued bears, their mothers had die or they were found in neighborhoods. There are 2 huge pins and the owners have plans to expand it.

The bears appear happy and healthy – Alaska does not allow captured bears to be returned into the wild; the way this Fortress is set up now, these bears would not make it there.

And then there was a

We returned the van with Karlyn early and then went to Larksburg Cafe for dinner. It is a charming spot where the locals go – tonight was music night: a Russian folk group. They were great (at least Karlyn and I thought so).