Sailing SE Alaska

July 17, 2012 Klag Bay

     Woke up to light fog and gusty winds so decided to wait until later in the day to see if the wind calms and will catch the later slack tide to exit The Gate. Had a leisurely morning eating breakfast and reading, when another sail boat showed up (Jaca) and anchored near us--we hailed them and were able to get the morning weather report from them (we can’t get the report in here). We’re still tentatively planning on leaving later in the afternoon, but we’ll see how the weather looks then. (wind is from the NW today)
     Rowed ashore to explore the old Chichagof gold mine. Built in the early 1900s, the peak of production was in the 20s. As the quantity of gold found declined, it was shut down in 1943.There was some renewed exploration in the 1980s, but when the camp burned down, operations ceased. (lots of pictures)
      It was fun walking in the forest looking at the ruins. Pete has been here numerous times and when he was here in 2005, found an old piano with ivory keys undulating in the moss. We were able to find where the old piano was in the woods. The ivory was gone, but we found the hammers, and some old strings. In a few years all that will be left is the wire. The forest reclaims things very quickly here.We saw lots of bear scat and otter tracks in the sand.
     As we rowed back to Privateer, we were able to get the updated 4pm weather forecast and decided stay put tonight and we will leave here tomorrow on the morning slack tide.