Today was the first day of Leg 3 and with a spread of snacks and drinks, we all hit it off with an orientational docktail hour. Sharing stories and time in meeting the crew of our fleet and our lead boat, Deception, we chatted flotilla details and introduced ourselves, giving everyone a chance to do the same.

The next morning, we all set off one by one, getting familiar with our vessels and leaning on both our crews aboard and the lead crew on the docks to get us off safely.

Excitement bubbling from boat to boat we share smiles and jokes here and there as we get to know each other, getting closer as a fleet, and preparing to head into Meyer’s Chuck for the evening.

After leaving Ketchikan we head north towards our next destination for the evening, making a stroll past Totem Bight State Park, eyeing a few restored totems from the water, and chatting about its history for the local indigenous people of southeast Alaska, the Tlingit.

With a final stretch under our belts, we throttle back and make our way into Meyer’s Chuck just as the sun is poking through and the grey cloud cover was dissipating. One by one we pull up to the docks or decided to anchor out in the cove.

“Chuck” is a jargon word in the indigenous Chinook language that describes an inlet that changes dramatically with the tidal fluxes in bodies of saltwater, and as we took off on our first forest adventure, we watched the tide come in all around us at a very impressive rate.

Just around the corner from Meyer’s Chuck is Union Bay, and this bay is fed by a larger river run off that made for an impressive score on some Dungeness Crab, good work Johnny and thanks for the meal!

Being tucked in by a strawberry sunset was a stunning way to end our evening, and we all went to bed watching the sky turn from pinks to reds to oranges.