5/28

There are 2 ways into the cabin:

• The standard access is the back door, which is a normal home sliding glass door.
• Then there's a hatch on the fore deck.

I reported a long while back that i'd accidently learned DO NOT store stuff behind the 1 seat, because if it falls down and lands in the door track, i can be locked out.

Today i learned another way disaster could occur: There's a standard little lever mechanism on the inside to lock the door, like you'd see on any sliding glass door. If this should be inadvertently bumped when the door is open, then when it shuts, the door is now locked.

OK so i've been leaving the front hatch unlocked, just in case. Except in sketchy ports, i'll lock it when i leave. AND, after that native man told me about the wave breaking over his bow, i lock it when in heavy sea, just so it isnt popped open by some breaking wave.

In either case, i could accidently lock myself out while the hatch is purposely locked, or when i've forgotten to unlock the hatch after it was locked on purpose.

There's so much that can go wrong.

This morn, again my engine wouldnt start. It was firing, trying, but it wouldnt catch/keep-going. Finally i sprayed in starting fluid, and after some tries it did start. This makes me very nervous.

It was blue sky when i woke, but very soon it clouded low and in fact out on the water it was almost fog, land obscured. I turned on the nav lites, and navigated by the GPS display (which for 3 days has performed flawlessly, excellent).

Partway thru the Wrangell Narrows the ~fog lifted to low solid clouds, visibility much improved.

But it was 'clear' that this was no good day to go view glaciers. Because there'd be no 'view'.

So i stopped at Petersburg, filled up fuel and sought a berth at the marina.

I radioed the Harbormaster with my request. She assigned me slip#139 in North Harbor, then gave me a very long series of location directions involving compass directions, port, starboard, building and vessel descriptions, they were no doubt exceedingly precise, and meant nothing to me. Fumbling around, i saw no numbers anywhere, til in 1 empty slip i did notice a small number plate afixed, visible only if the slip was empty. With that bit of intelligence, it was easy to work my way in the right direction.

I docked perfectly.

Unlike Wrangell, Petersburg has a productive optimistic thriving look&feel. The Harbormaster office, perched with a commanding view of its zone of responsibility, is a model of organization, efficiency, and tech. They distribute Chamber of Commerce brochures and directed me to the nearest internet cafe'.

At the museum, i watched a 20-minute film about the town. It was settled by hard-working Norwegians, who, after some false robber-baron corporate starts & failures, finally vested ownership in the fishermen and cannery workers themselves, keeping the money local instead of flowing it off to millionaires in Seattle.

(So is that capitalism, socialism, communism, or just a good idea? Looking around, it seems to have worked out. Indeed, the Harbormaster told me she's 4th generation here.)

At the cooperatively funded city & US Forest Service Visitor Center, i ~fished for information about visiting glaciers in my boat. The nice lady had fielded the question before. She told me i shouldnt do that, its dangerous. The glacier might calve, falling on me or creating a tsunami wave. The ice mite close in and trap or crush the boat. I mite strike an iceberg. Etc. I should just sign up on a commercial tour run by folks who know what they're doing. "But", she added, "you're going to do it anyway, right?"

Well, we'll see.