June 12:  Wrangell is another fishing post, this industry is crab, not salmon or halibut.  Again, the harbor is nearly full since the season has not yet opened.  It’s a small town.  Two harbors a mile apart define the waterfront.  We are harbored in the south marina a mile walk to even pay the Harbor Master.  Trust is how it’s all done here.  The process requires hailing the harbor master on 16, then over to whatever channel they direct.  Most harbors ask for boat name, length and width and assign a berth.  Here, we were told to go and figure it out, then come and pay, a hefty good walk away.  So, we did and we did and here we are in this funny little burg of a settlement.  When we walked over to the other side of town to find the harbor master, the office was closed.  “Will be back at 3:30”.  It was 3:00. So we sat down and watched the crab pots being loaded off the docks onto flatbeds to be taken to the individual boats.  

     Big names are here, Trident, a Seattle based seafood company,  being the most visible.  Tens of thousands of commercial crab-pots, on boats, in the yards, on dock are the defining decoration of Wrangell.  

     At the appointed time, the office re-opened and we settled accounts. Exiting, we were welcomed by some friends from along the way, and off we all went to discover Wrangell.   This little town has several hardware stores, we went into each one just because.  Folks are friendly, and the culture is small town, posters encouraging locals to vote for their favorite “ Parade Queen” a contest of some sort, similar to homecoming queen, we guessed.

     We stopped into a restaurant for an early meal, asked the waiter what his favorite fish entre was, “Ahi Tuna Tacos”.  There we were, in the seafood bowl of Alaska and this fellow likes fish from the tropics.  Go figure.

     

      

Creative boat works