July 7 - July 16; Juneau to Sitka

July 7 – July 16

Beth arrived right on time on Thursday, July 7, with supplies for plenty of gin and tonics!  We took her on a touristy walking tour of downtown Juneau, to those last remaining spots we had missed:  the Russian Orthodox Church, way up on the bluff, and Wickersham home.  Judge Wickersham was instrumental in Alaska’s becoming a state and had a lovely home even higher up on the bluff.  We were so glad to h=see her and talked and talked and talked!  We’d planned to take her dinner to a favorite spot downtown near the cruise ship dock.  We had had great grilled halibut sandwiches there with Jim and Chris.  Ironically, no cruise ships were in and no floatplanes parked in front of the restaurant!

     Friday morning we were off by 0900, which is good for us, and were bound for Swanson Harbor at the south end of Couverden Island.  As we approached the north end of Admiralty Island, near the Point Retreat light, we saw a pod of humpback whales.  We could see them spouting in the distance and could see them surfacing and diving.  We stopped the boat and just drifted as we watched them.  We were close enough to hear them blowing.  Totally cool!!!

     The name “Swanson Harbor” sounds like a developed marina…not so!  This sheltered cove has two Forest Service docks that are detached from the shore.  It’s a very popular stopping point for boats headed to Glacier Bay, which is basically just around the corner.  This was a good stop for us since we planned to go to Elfin Cove the next day.  Once again, we met several other boaters on the dock, including a couple from France in a beautiful sailboat.  They’d been many places that we had been and they were as impressed with the beauty of Alaska as we.  They also commented on how friendly everyone had been to them.  How nice!

     Soon after we were settled, one of the boaters came by in his dinghy and told us that they had spotted a pod of humpbacks out in the entrance to our little cove.  We quickly unloaded the dinghy and went whale hunting.  Our efforts were wonderfully rewarded.  We floated and watched for half an hour or so.  Again, we could hear them blowing!  Two amazing whale sightings in one day.  Beth is quickly checking off items on her Alaska to do list!

     When we pull in to one of thee little state run marinas, we are very conscious of tying up as close as comfortable to the boat ahead of us.  We are in prime cruising months and know other boats will probably come in after us, looking for moorage, too.  We had lots of help as we used the lines to pull Cosmo Place forward, snugged up to the fishing boat ahead of us.  We felt good about leaving enough space behind us for another good-sized boat.  We were soon to learn that maybe that wasn’t a good idea!  About half an hour later here comes a 65-foot cruiser coming in wayyyyyy too fast.  I thought he was going to beach his big beautiful boat before he got slowed down.  He did throttle back at the very last moment and then rotated the boat 180 degrees and headed back toward us…uh-oh; he’d spotted the open space behind us!  After a couple of fast, exciting passes, including almost hitting the sailboat across the dock from us, and barely missing our dinghy, we got him moored.  There were probably 10 people on the dock trying to help this guy and his frustrated wife get settled into the moorage.  He was clueless to the concern he caused!

     We awoke on Saturday, July 9, to winds upwards of 20 knots.  Marine weather did not sound promising and the other boaters on our little dock thought going to Elfin Cove might not be a great idea.  So, we decided to go whale hunting in Icy Strait.  According to our charts, this would be prime humpback whale sighting areas.  Cool!  We slugged (is that a boating term?) through the waves until we were abeam the entrance to Hoonah and decided to pack it in.  It was getting rougher and windier…no fun, even in a cruiser.  As we approached the entrance to Hoonah (or Port Richardson inlet, as it is called), we saw a pod of 15 orcas.  They were blowing and breaching and showing us their big dorsal fins.  Again we stopped to watch.  Unfortunately we didn’t get photos, but thoroughly enjoyed the show.

     The depth sounder was showing a lot of fish in the area, so, since we were already stopped, we decided to try some fishing.  Beth and Jerry put lines out and I stood watch at the helm (made sure we didn’t drift into anything significant!).  Beth had no more than got her line down than she caught a 30-lb. halibut.  Wow!  You cannot imagine the thrill of this!  The look on her face says it all.  Our professional boat pilot friends had given us specific instructions on how to deal with a halibut.  Primarily, don’t bring this big fish on the boat until it’s dead.  We had even bought a “club” specific for doing in the poor thing.  Jerry was assigned to the task, of course, and probably “beaned” the fish 5 or 6 times.

     We docked in Hoonah and chose to clean the halibut at one of the cleaning stations on the dock.  Jerry and Beth were both happy that I was interested in the dissection project.  Actually, Anita (an Annacortes friend) had given me good directions and so I felt like I knew what to do.  I thought it was interesting to see how the fish was put together.  Actually, I’d rather clean a fish than catch one.   We watched another fisherman clean some really big halibut and I learned a few tips.  Basically, I need a sharper knife!

     Hoonah is an Indian fishing village.  No cruise ships stop here.  There are about 600 residents and very little to explore.  The harbor, however, was great!  The docks were convenient and comfortable, althouth we did not have access to water or power where we were.  We saw lots of eagles, though.

     The next morning we took off for Tenakee Springs and intended to anchor in Saltery Bay.  As we approached Tenakee Inlet, we once again stopped the boat and Jerry and Beth tried their hand at fishing.  My job is to record the catches (photos) and watch the boat’s position, so that we don’t drift too close to shore.  Beth caugtht about a two pound rock fish, which we kept, and hoped to figure out how to clean!  Jerry caught a beautiful 55-60 pound halibut!  It was quite a struggle to get him to the surface and onto the boat, but Jerry loved every minute of it!

     We pulled into the little Tenakee Springs marina to clean this guy at a fish cleaning station and decided to stay moored, rather than pick up and anchor on down the inlet.  As you can imagine, we are making every halibut recipe we can think of:  halibut chowder, halibut cakes, halibut sandwiches, grilled halibut, even halibut ritz!  We’ve frozen a lot but have a lot to eat!  Yum!  The interesting part of all of this halibut catching is that Beth and Jerry have been using salmon lures…guess they should have told the halibut!

     Monday morning we entered Peril Strait, on our way to Sitka.  We had a lovely cruise down this wide channel, although the wind picked up in the afternoon.  Fortunately we were cruising into the wind and the white caps were not a big problem.  The afternoon brought us whales!!!  We even watched a humpback napping on the surface of the water.  One whale decided to make his/her presence known to us, about 15 feet off our port side.  Yikes!

     Monday night we were in Appleton Cove at a lovely little anchorage.  We were the only ones there in this beautiful little spot and wondered where everyone else had chosen to stay!

    Tuesday morning we up and off at our usual 1030.   We didn’t have far to go on this day, just about 15 miles further west in Peril Strait to Baby Bear Bay.  We did not go further because we had to wait to pass through Sergius Narrows at high water slack and the easiest time to go through was the next day.  So, we had another leisurely cruise and pulled into this beautiful little cove.  It was even smaller and more tucked in than the night before.

     Wednesday morning we had to get up and get with the program to be at Sergius Narrows in time for slack water.  This narrow part of Peril Strait, although not as exciting as the narrows and rapids we’d been through in Canada, could cause us some grief if we did not plan well.  We knew high water slack was at 1030 and we got there just before hand.  We had a parade of boats behind us headed west, as we were, as well as a parade of boats in front of us.  We made it through with no problems but did hear that out in Salisbury Sound it was foggy with a visibility of about ¾ mile.  No problem!  We flipped on the radar and continued to lead the parade.  Too bad we had such poor visibility because I think we missed some beautiful scenery.  We cruised through both Olga Strait and Neva Strait, two narrow channels with wooded, steep hillsides.  This is a major route for cruise ships, ferries, commercial boats, and pleasure cruisers like us.  This route avoids going out into the ocean and south along the coast of Baranof Island to Sitka.  We’re pretty sure we’re not ready for that!

     Always good to listen to the radio!  About halfway down Olga Strait we heard an announcement from the fast ferry “Fairweather” that they were enroute to Sitka and basically any traffic ahead of this big boat should get out of the way!  Yup, don’t have to tell us twice!  This ferry runs about 30 knots and has a considerable wake, as you could imagine!  That was the worst part…the rolling we got after he passed.  Nothing broke this time, but we had our Mexican Train dominoes all over the floor!

     Originally we thought we’d anchor in Krestof Harbor for a night or two and explore another pretty little spot.  We thought it might be nice to be in Sitka on Saturday and Sunday and attend church there…yet another Lutheran church!  However, our Ray marine auto-pilot all of a sudden quit working as we made our way down Olga Strait.  Jerry did some quick trouble shooting but could not find a reason for it to quit.  Although this piece of equipment is not critical to the safe operation of the boat, it sure makes life easier by allowing the auto-pilot to steer the vessel from one place to the next.  

     We arrived in Sitka without difficulty and parked at the transient dock.  Apparently this harbor is quite popular for summer cruisers and there were no berths for us.  So, while we waited for a slip assignment, Jerry called the Ray marine tech and they tried more trouble shooting ideas to no avail!  Lo and behold, the crazy thing just started working all of a sudden!  No idea why or how!  But……Yippee!!!  If it fails again I hope it’s closer to home.

     We walked to the center of town along the waterfront and were somewhat dismayed to see how poor the area looked.  The homes were small and ramshackle, the sidewalks were overgrown, and there were very few businesses along a busy route.  We learned later that when the Russians took Sitka from the natives, it was this area that was granted to the native Indians and they continue to reside in this area today.  All over Canada and Alaska we’ve noticed the disparity between native and non-native residents in terms of prosperity.  I don’t really know all of the politics behind this fact, but it is quite apparent.  On the other side of that sad conversation is the fact that the flowers here, in every yard, are amazing.  Look at these peonies!

     Thursday and Friday we explored Sitka.  We made our way to the Raptor Center, where raptors of all kind are rehabilitated after injuries.  The eagles that cannot be rehabilitated and returned to the wild are kept at the center and used as “educators”.  We listened to one of the trainers talk about “Hali”, a juvenile female bald eagle, who sat on her arm.  The eagle was perfectly calm and quiet until she decided she needed another piece of raw meat!  It was quite amazing to see how big these birds are.  In the photo you can see her deformed beak – the reason she won’t be returned to the wild.  She cannot feed herself.

     Friday we made our way to the totem park and museum, where we learned some more about the significance of totem poles.  The Tlingit and Haida people, first settlers of Southeast Alaska, carved many beautiful totem poles and each tells a story, although we did struggle to "get" some of them!   The park we walked through had lots of reproductions of the original clan totem poles along with an audio presentation at each viewing spot.  Not only interesting but we came away with a strong impressionof the complex society the native people developed thousands of years ago.

     We also visited museums, shopped downtown, and visited a salmon hatchery.  On our way back to the marina Friday afternoon, we took a shortcut through the Russian Orthodox church’s cemetary.  Quite a sight to see an old cemetary in the middle of a rain forest!  There must have been more than a hundred graves and some headstones were over 100 years old.  It was interesting and a little surreal…all these graves in this forrest, seemingly untended and forgotten.

     We left Sitka in the morning, Saturday, July 16, and will make our way back through Peril Strait and down the east side of Baranof Island.  We want to explore Warm Springs Bay and Red Bluff Bay before we turn east to take Beth to Petersburg.  We’ll arrive in Petersburg on July 19 and explore the town more on July 20.  Beth flies out of Petersburg on July 21.  We aren’t sure what our plans are after that until our reservation at Anan Creek Bear Observatory on August 5.

     Wish you could join us for these amazing adventures!