Auke Bay to Sitka via Glacier Bay

This blog is all about glaciers and wildlife.  Even though Alaska continues to be 10^o cooler than normal and unusually rainy, we’re having an amazing adventure and have seen some wonderful sights.

     Donald and Dorothy Peterson, family from West Virginia, flew into Juneau on May 26 and rented a car so we could do some touring and shopping.  Since we were moored in Auke Bay, on the north side of Juneau, we had the opportunity to drive to Mendenhall Glacier and to the Shrine of St. Theresa, both on the north side of the island.

As you can tell, it was rainy, but it really didn’t matter since this view of Mendenhall Glacier is an easy walk from the visitor’s center.  The glacier, like so many others is receding and soon will no longer be a tidal glacier that reaches the water.  Right now it calves into a lake so the “bergie bits” never reach the open ocean.  Even so, it’s an amazing sight, and primed us for things to come.

     The Shrine of St. Theresa was in a peaceful wooded setting a few miles further north.  This little chapel was the centerpiece of the shrine, but there are also a retreat center, lovely gardens, a columbarium, and a meditation labyrinth.  Yes, me too…I learned what those things are!  The columbarium was a set of vaults in which ashes are placed.  Not to be sacrilegious, but I told Dorothy I thought it looked like high school hall lockers.  

The labyrinth was a big maze to walk through as one meditated and prayed.  The shrine overlooked a sizeable channel and as we enjoyed the view we watched a humpback whale spout and dive.  What a portentous beginning to the next phase of our journey!

     We spent Sunday, May 27, doing more sightseeing.  We drove to Douglas, the city across Gastineau Channel from Juneau to the site of the old gold mine that put Juneau on the map.  Gold was discovered here in the late 1800’s. At the height of the Treadwell Mine activity, five separate stamp mills were in operation and the mine employed over 2,000 people.  The mine was originally an open pit mine and eventually became an underground, tunneled mine.  Some of the shafts extended as much as 2,400 feet below the surface.  The only times the mills shut down were Christmas and the Fourth of July.  Apparently the noise was heard all over the channel.  One noontime, when everyone was eating, the mine collapsed.  End of mine!  We walked through the park on the mine site to see the building remains and the “glory hole”.

     Monday, May 28, we departed for Glacier Bay.  As we’ve experienced so many times in the past month, weather was a deciding factor in our travel plans.  Rather than making it a two-day trip to the park, we decided to spend a big day cruising and anchor at the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park in Bartlett Cove.  As we approached the entrance to the bay we were greeted by 50 or 60 sea otters, floating in a group.  Toooooo cute!   They had been re-introduced into the area in the 1930’s…perhaps too successfully.  We sure saw lots of them.  We also saw more whale spouts, but they are always too far away for a good look or a photo.  We arrived at Bartlett Cove about 5 PM and anchored there for the night.

     The starting point for any cruising boat in Glacier Bay National Park is the ranger station at Bartlett Cove and an orientation to the park.  On Tuesday, May 29, we tied up at the park dock and listened to the orientation.  The orientation was great and we learned a lot about the park’s history, but got a strong impression that they’re quite concerned about the changing ecology.  They’ve limited the huge cruise ships to two a day, and we had to get a special permit to enter the park, too.  We think they limit the number of small cruisers to 5 per day in the park. 

After our orientation, we headed up the east side of Glacier Bay to an anchorage in N. Sandy Cove.  We cruised by S. Marble Island, which has a huge sea lion colony.  Noisy, smelly, and very entertaining.  We chose an anchorage on this side of the bay because we arrived at Glacier Bay before June 1.   This allowed us to explore Muir Inlet and Wachusett Inlet, on the east side of the park.  After June 1, these two arms are closed to motorized traffic, to protect the wildlife.  During the summer, only kayakers and canoers can enter these to arms. 

     Wednesday, May 30, we were up bright and early to see the glaciers in the East Arm of Glacier Bay.  Although we did not see any tidal glaciers, the views were still amazing.  During the day’s cruise, we saw Muir Glacier (in the photo it is the smaller glacier on the left).  You probably already know that both the inlet and the glacier are named for John Muir.  He explored this area in the 1890’s.  According to the park records, his namesake glacier has receded 65 miles since he was here!  From what we could gather, some glaciers are receding, some are holding steady, and some are advancing.  Global warming really isn’t in evidence here.  The head of Muir Inlet was our northern-most point of this trip:  59^o05.25 N, 136^o22.01 W. 

     We anchored again in North Sandy Cove on Wednesday evening.  It’s a pretty little cove with room for several boats.  One of our neighbors was an older boat that provided support to kayakers:  “Sea Wolf”.  Every day we were in Glacier Bay, we saw this boat somewhere.  What a vacation it would be to kayak the inlets and fjords of this icy park!  I think I’ll keep my berth on Cosmo Place!

     Thursday, May 31, we were up early again to begin exploring the West Arm of Glacier Bay.  The day broke with glorious sunshine, beautiful blue skies, calm seas, and very little wind.  Yep, about time!  We saw “whale evidence” as we cruised…spouts and splashes…but no fins, flukes or tails.  We saw more beautiful inlets, glaciated valleys, and fjords…even a glacier or two.  One of the highlights was seeing a grizzly ambling along the beach.  We’d seen a black bear sow and her cub on the beach the night before at our anchorage.  Sad to say, I couldn’t get a good shot of either one of them because they were so far away.  

     In the afternoon we were able to pull into Reid Inlet and look at Reid Glacier.  This is a non-tidal glacier so, we didn’t have any “bergie bits” to dodge.  Supposedly there is an anchorage here, but we couldn’t find anything to our liking, so we cruised up to the face of the glacier.  We were within ¼ mile of the face before we discovered the bottom coming up fast!  We should have had 100 feet of water under us, but all of a sudden we only had 12!  Cap’n Jerry saved the day and got us out of there.

     We anchored in Blue Mouse Cove on Thursday afternoon.  You might think that the name of the cove has something to do with cold rodents, but not so!  It’s named for a famous restaurant in New York City.  We found a quiet little tucked in spot and were just settling in, when two boats we’d seen the night before in North Sandy Cove appeared and anchored there as well.  Patrick and Miriam from “Spirit” stopped by in their dinghy on their way to “Serena” and cocktails with Colllin and dona.  We discovered they plan to travel the same route we do, so we thought we’d no doubt see them again. 

     Friday, June 1, was our big day to go see the calving glaciers that all the cruise ships go to, Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.  Once again, we were up early and on the route by 7 AM.  Fortunately our company, Dorothy and Donald are tolerating all of this very well.  In fact, they cruised to Glacier Bay in 1984 and had lots of memories.  Donald is an avid photographer and Dorothy has the wonderful knack of seeing the minutiae on the shore.  Jerry took this photo of Donald and I when we showed up in the pilothouse wearing the same outfits!

As we travelled north we passed through a narrow channel and spotted mountain goats on the hillside high above us and eagles on the shore looking for breakfast in the tide flats.  Glacier Bay has an amazing variety and abundance of wildlife, and I think it’s too bad that the glaciers get all the press.  The wildlife is equally spectacular and intriguing.  This family of ducks were paddling in front of a beached bergie bit.

Approaching Margerie Glacier was a challenge.  There was lots of floating ice in the water so Jerry proceeded very slowly and I stood on the bow pushing the bergie bits away from us.  We were able to get within 2 miles of Margerie Glacier and somewhat further from Grand Pacific Glacier.  Two cruise ships came in while we were there, and one passed so close to our stern, we were able to shout back and forth with the passengers!  They wanted to know if we were cold.  Nope, we had a lovely sunny day and were out on the boat deck snapping photos.  I cannot choose between these two cruise ship photos!  We imagine that we will be in many cruisers vacation photos.

     We found a pool relatively free of ice, shut down the engine, floated and photographed.  We were there for probably 2 hours to watch and hear the glaciers calve.  We are lunch outside on the boat deck, not wanting to miss a moment of the action.  What a pretty place to sit and watch Mother Nature at her finest!  This was the farthest west we will go on this trip:  136^o57.79 W...just a stone's throw from Canada.

     Eventually it was time to leave so we picked our way back through the bergie bits and proceeded south down the West Arm of Glacier Bay.  We had decided that this day could not be topped and that we would leave Glacier Bay tomorrow, a day early.  To expedite that departure, we travelled all the way back to Bartlett Cove, near the park entrance, resulting in a 12-hour cruising day.  Because Donald and Dorothy are such avid game-players, we’ve spend the evenings playing Pitch or Mexican Train or Phase Ten, but not tonight.  We were pooped!

     Saturday, June 2, we had some time to kill to catch the outgoing tide so we moored at the Glacier Bay ranger dock.  Donald, Dorothy, and I went explored a trail through the rain forest, while Jerry did some boat chores.  We wandered through the Glacier Bay lodge and learned a little more about the flora and fauna in the area.  We were still in a rain forest, even here!  The native vegetation was fascination.  Dorothy and I found this Tlingit carving in the bark of a live tree along the path.

We departed about 1230 and headed for Elfin Cove.  We had to stop and wait in the channel for slack water so we could go through South Inian Pass.  As luck would have it we spotted a pod of humpback whales in viewing range, so we turned off the engine, floated and watched.  Not easy to get a good whale photo on a rocking boat but this one is my best effort.

     It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so Dorothy and I decided to break out the bergie bits we had collected and celebrate with gin and tonics on the bow.  What fun!  Yep, bergie bits make these drinks even better.

     Elfin Cove is just as quaint as it sounds.  This town of about 100 people is built around two small coves with no room for roads.  Rather, the entire town exists on 4-foot wide boardwalks.  I don’t think I saw a single vehicle!  Their winter road maintainer is a snow blower!  As you would expect, fishing is the primary industry, either commercially or sport fishing. 

     Two boats we had seen in Glacier Bay were already moored in Elfin Cove and invited to tie up forward of them.  We spent a delightful evening getting to know Patrick and Miriam on “Spirit” and Collin and Donna on “Serena”.  These two 55’ Selenes are cruising SE Alaska together this summer as Collin and Donna get acquainted with their new boat.  As you can see from the photo, they’re quite a bit bigger than the diminutive Cosmo Place!  Across the bay from us was Brady Glacier…a huge tidal glacier in the Fairweather Mountains.

     We wandered around Elfin Cove on Sunday, June 3, before we departed.  Dorothy and I visited with a lady cutting up salmon fillets for smoking…her specialty.  Their summer tourist season had not yet begun, but she’ll be ready with some delicious smoked salmon to sell.  Her husband was the resident welder and salmon-filleter and equally friendly as she.  It was obvious they loved living in this little community.  Her sign outside her yellow shop says "Patti's Smoked Salmon".

     We left Elfin Cove about 1215 on Sunday afternoon, June 3, and made our way down Lisianski Inlet to Pelican.  This route allowed us to dodge the ocean swells “on the outside” as we made our way south down the west side of Chichagof Island.  Pelican was another quirky little town.  Also built on boardwalks, it was laid out a little straighter and at one time had a cannery.  The once prosperous shops and houses were quite evident, as was the fact that Pelican had fallen on hard times since the cannery left several years ago.  Pelican’s claim to fame these days was Rosie’s, a rather infamous bar.  Even on a Sunday afternoon, this was the place to gather.  First time visitors were invited to sign the ceiling, as Jerry was doing here.  I cannot begin to guess how many thousands of others have already done this!

     On Monday, June 4, we had beautiful sunny weather to proceed south down Lisianski Inlet toward the Gulf of Alaska as we made our way “on the outside” toward Sitka.  Finally!  Sunshine, blue skies, and blue water!  The mountains all around us were still very much snow covered.  According to a young man in Pelican, the mountains will keep some of their snow this year.  Warm weather had come too late!

Monday evening we threaded our way through “The Gate” and up a narrow inlet to a pretty anchorage in Klag Bay.  At one time this “back of beyond” spot had a thriving gold mine and a community of 200 people.  According to our cruising book, $1,000,000 in silver and $13,000,000 in gold was taken out of the mine during the first half of the twentieth century.  The only evidence of that activity was rusting equipment, rotting pilings, and collapsed buildings lining the shore. 

     We had a perfect afternoon, so we got the dinghy down for the first time this trip to explore the shoreline, and spotted a grizzly wandering along the tide line, looking for a snack.  It looked like a dangerous place to beach the dinghy and walk the shoreline.  As we cruised and explored, we saw the two Selenes from Pelican arrive…Spirit and Serena. 

     Spirit was in the lead, entered the little back cove where we were anchored, and promptly hit bottom!  Yikes!!  Quick reverse and back out into deeper water.  What a shock!  Once Patrick had Spirit safely anchored in deeper water and had determined no damage had occurred, he put his dinghy down and did a little bottom surveying of the area where he hit.  We had passed through the same area but were about 5 feet further left of the opening so had no problem.  Of course these Selenes have a 6-foot draft as opposed to our 4.5-foot draft.  Patrick said the water was so clear as he surveyed in his dinghy that he could see the groove in the mud left by his keel! 

     Klag Bay turned out to be another quiet anchorage so we slept in a little.   The anchor was up about 0915 on Tuesday, June 5, just after low tide, the idea being to have a little current “in our face” to give us good steerage.  Well!  The passage out through The Gate and into deeper water was quite a white-knuckled experience.  We had a narrow channel, strewn with rocks, that we passed safely over the day before, since we’d entered on a higher tide.  I was on bow watch, trying to spot the rocks before they jumped up and bit the bottom of our boat.  We had our forward scanner on to help us spot the underwater rocks as well and made a safe exit.  It was very stressful for Jerry, though.  Fortunately he has developed superb piloting skills and certainly keeps us safe.

     Tuesday we crossed a little corner of the ocean is Salisbury Sound and parked outside of tonight’s destination…Kalinin Bay…to do some fishing.  Jerry and I both got fishing licenses this year and this was our first try at catching something yummy.  We caught three fish, but threw one back…too small.  We were fishing in really deep water so the fish we caught are interesting to look at.  The top one is a rockfish and the bottom one is a lingcod.  We filleted them both and had them for dinner.  Delicious!  We threw the fish parts over and certainly got the attention of several eagles on shore.  Donald has taken lots and lots of photos and we’re trying to convince him he needs to submit them somewhere.  He’s quite a good photographer and shots of eagles were quickly becoming his specialty.

     We anchored in Kalinin Bay for two nights, June 5 and June 6.  This turned out to be a lovely quiet anchorage so we thought we’d have a “day at sea” where we all had some down time.  We read and napped and played cards and took pictures.  It was very peaceful and very pretty.  We had a front row seat to all of the eagle performances...including this regal bird.

     Thursday, June 7, we hauled the anchor about 1130 and headed for Sitka.  We wanted to catch the outgoing tide and weren’t in any hurry since Sitka is only three hours away.  We cruised through Neva and Olga Channels and even had the “Fairweather”, the high-speed ferry pass us.  This ferry cruises to the major cities of SE Alaska at about 30 knots.  As you can imagine, he left quite a wake!

     Friday June 8 and Saturday, June 9, we hit all the tourist spots in Sitka.  We  explored the downtown shops, toured St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church, visited the Raptor Rehab Center, wandered through the totem park, taken photos of Mt. Edgecombe, and enjoyed the views from Castle Hill.  We’ve had a great two days here!  

     Donald and Dorothy flew out Sunday morning, June 10, and we’ll be here until probably Wednesday, June 13.  Jerry has had problems with his laptop this whole cruise and he has convinced Dell to replace his motherboard.  Yay!  That will happen Tuesday, hopefully!  When we leave Sitka, we’ll head toward Petersburg, through Peril Strait, where we’ll spend the fourth of July.  We’ll do a lot of wandering and exploring along the way.  There are still lots more to see!

As always, we wish you could join us.