Ice, Ice Baby

Position  N  60 d 21.81
         W 148 d 13.52


The smog cleared and we decided to head out.  We ended up picking a great day.  The ice was getting a little thick as we entered Nassau Bay but the view of Chenega Glacier was pretty awesome so we threaded our way through.  Lots of ice and lots of baby seal and seal pups on the ice so we kept our distance but got some awesome scenery in.  Eventually we decided to turn around and sneak back out and work our way further up Icy Bay to head for Tiger Glacier.  The ice in the lower part of the bay was much easier to navigate as we worked our way up.  This part of the bay must have about a gazillion huge water falls and eventually we made it to the glacier.  We had planned to anchor for the night in Tiger Bite but decided that we had been extremely lucky with the views, so we set a course for Jackpot Bay.  We are tucked into 7 fathom hole, which all of our charts said was not navigable.  But our guidebook told us different.  This guidebook has been fantastic and true enough, they led us into a beautiful and well protected bay.  Plus it is the hottest day of the year so we sat outside and enjoyed our martinis made with glacier ice and decided life is good.  We will probably sit here for a day and rest up before heading further into the Sound.

that small opening is the entrance to 7-fathom hole, our very protected anchorage

martinis with glacier ice

Tiger Glacier

Ice berg

ice berg

ice berg closer up

Chenega Glacier

Another view of Tiger Glacier

Humpback Cove, Whale Bay

Position   N  60 d 12.46
          W 148 d 17.26

We had been noticing a bit of fog over the last couple of days but today it was pretty thick.  The visibility was about 2 miles but we decided it was not too bad and we would leave anyway.  We crossed over to Chenega Island rather quickly to get out of the way of Knight Passage.  We cannot go ashore on Chenega Island without a special permit but that didn't bother us as there is enough to see in the sound anyway so we were heading toward Whale Bay.  As we rounded the south western tip of Chenega we saw some white objects in the distance.  Pauline joked that they were ice bergs.  Mark seemed to think they were small pleasure boats.  Well as usual Pauline was right and Mark was wrong as we got closer we discovered there were some bergy bits floating in the open water.  We passed one that was about 20 feet long and stuck out of the water about 3 feet.  Our guide tells us that 9/10ths of them are submerged so they are rather big.  By the time we got the camera ready we didn't have such a good shot of it but we got a good photo of the next one we passed though it was a little bit smaller.  But with the fog it felt kind of like the Titanic.

not as big as the one we saw but we thought it was cute with the birds sitting on the berg

Humpback Cove has a moraine to cross over but once inside opens up to a lovely bay.  With a large meadow area beyond the tidal flats and views of the ice fields.  It is supposed to have the largest concentration of Black Kamchatka Lilies in the Sound.  So we loaded ourselves in the dinghy and went ashore.  Not expecting much but soon we had a lot of yellow flowers then some wild daisies, then some purple flowers (it looked like it might be the early stages of fireweed) and then we hit large concentrations of the lilies.  Neither of us had seen them before and we were quite impressed.  A little further into the meadow we stumbled on some more salmon berry bushes but unlike the ones on Knight Island just fifteen miles away these were just dropping their blossoms.  We do not know how fast these ripen but clearly they are a few weeks behind the ones on Knight Island.  

When we got back to the boat we got a radio forecast and found out the fog was actually smog caused by a forest fire near swan river that has engulfed the Kenai Peninsula.  It is supposed to get better tomorrow but we will wake up and see how it is before we leave for Icy Bay.  We want good views for the areas inside of Icy Bay as we cannot anchor there and we want to take in the great views as well as pick up some glacier ice for the martinis!

More Drier Bay

Position   N  60 d 18.90  Barnes Cove
          W 147 d 45.97


We spent a couple of relaxing days in Mallard Bay watching the seal population.  We did this mainly from the main boat with the naked eye and occasionally with the binoculars.  Mainly because many of the seals had new pups and we had been told if they are disturbed the seals will abandon the pups and not return.  We are not sure if that is just in the ice fields or all over but we decided caution was a better approach.  Certain seals we begin to recognize especially the super big bull.

It was then on to do some more exploring. We anchored over next to the remains of the old cannery dock in Port Audrey Inlet.  It was founded in 1924 and closed during WW2.  The forest has reclaimed almost all of it but we think we found the clearing where the cabins and cannery were.  There were bits of large metal containers and pipes etc but not much else.  We took the the dinghy into the inner cover.  It is rather pretty and guarded by one of the largest sea otters we have seen.

ruins of the old cannery dock

After exploring this area a bit we upped anchor and swung through North East Cove.  This is really pretty but it looked a bit exposed to a westerly so we continued on to Barnes Cove.  Barnes has a large tidal flat and a bunch of water falls way up above the tree line and some below the tree line too, as Mark was later to find out.  After walking a bit around the tidal flat Mark decided to follow the dry stream bed to see if he could break though the tree line.  Since he failed so miserably in Mallard Bay.  Because we were worried about the tide coming in Pauline opted to stay near the dinghy and Mark promised to not hike for more than a couple of hours.  After a few hundred meters the dry stream bed soon was flowing with water.  The further up he made, the more water and faster the flow.  A lot of fallen trees and big rocks to navigate around.  And pretty soon he found some smaller falls he had to scale.  During one of these he fell down just shy of waist deep and got soaked including filling he XtraTuffs.  But now he was committed and was sure he could see the clearing and he kept going.  Of course the clearing turned out to be just a bid switchback in the stream.  He started to worry that the stream was going to break out into a small lake that he would have to circulate but he had his bear bell and spray and kept on.  He soon made it passed the falls and could hear no falls in front only behind.  He gave Pauline a call on the handheld as he had been going for an hour.  She heard him but he could not hear her.  After about another fifteen minutes the water source disappeared and the bed was dry again.  He tried Pauline again but did not make contact.  So he transmitted blindly that he would go another fifteen minutes and if he didn't break through he would turn around.  At the top of the stream bed were many large boulders and a lot of over growth so he finally turned around after scaling a couple and they just seem to be getting more difficult.  On the way back down he was skirting around one of the falls and he again slipped.  Not sure if it was the same place or not but this time he went in completely he was holding on to a tree branch and as he spun around the water went down his neck and he was more than waist deep but his chest and mobile phone stayed dry.  For those of you not familiar with Alaska these streams are fed via snow melt so when you fall in you suddenly wake up!  Anyhow after another fifteen minutes or so he was below the falls and finally made contact with Pauline.  Though he had spent quite a bit more than an hour climbing up he was back in a total of just over two hours.  

Pauline had been wandering down on or near the tidal flats looking for the ruins of a former copper penny factory that is supposed to be in this bay or one of the miners cabins but neither of these did we find.

We are taking the day off today just doing some small boat chores and hope to head off to whale bay tomorrow and get closer to the ice fields and glaciers again.

Drier Bay

Position  Outside Copper Bay N  60d 15.91
                            W 147d 53.79

         Mallard Bay        N  60d 17.41
                            W 147d 48.89

Well we stayed at Thumb Bay for one more day but decided to hit two anchorages today.  We wanted to see Copper Bay but it is a very treacherous pass in there so we anchored in a nook just outside of it (that was a little tricky to get in as well) and then took the dinghy for a quick look see.  Copper Bay is very pretty and surrounded by the highest mountains on Knight Island.  Very pretty inside but the anchorages are all more than 70 meters deep so even if we got in we couldn't anchor.    The passage in is very tricky and has to be done at high tide and slack water.  Even in the dinghy we were swept around a bit worrying we might find one of the many shallow rocks with the outboard.  The scenery didn't photograph well so you will just have to take our word that it was pretty.  We did get one pretty nice shot of a stream/waterfall.  We will add some pictures to the various blogs when we get somewhere with internet, probably Valdez, but that should still be a couple of weeks away.

After we left our anchorage outside Copper Bay we decided to go outside of Mummy Island rather than sneak the rest of the way up Long Channel.  We are glad we did as we got a spectacular whale display.  They were a bit away from us closer to Chenega Island than Mummy Island but they were bubble feeding in the grandest way.  Once we swear that one of them came almost entirely out of the water.  Too bad there was only us and one other fishing boat watching the show.

We are currently in Mallard Bay and will probably sight see from here for a couple of days.  There is lots to see in the Drier Bay area whether we do it via dinghy or big boat we are not sure.  This anchorage has snow down to almost sea level.  So we decided to hike to see if we could make it through the forest to the snow line and maybe take a picture looking down on Sari Timur.  Pauline gave up shortly after we bashed through the salmon berry bushes and a bunch of spiny plants.  Mark continued on through the forest and finally made it to a stream bed which he followed up well above the snow line but figured out he would have to bash through a lot more scrub and forest and make it through a fairly large valley before reaching the snow.  He did the manly thing and gave up and decided to follow the stream back to the bay.

Summer Solstice is beautiful here in Mallard Bay and we are taking the time to sun a bit of our old smelly laundry before putting it away for the next Laundromat.  We are sharing the bay with a bunch of harbor seals.

Mummy Bay, Knight Island

Position  N  60d 12.39
         W 147d 47.75

We are actually in a bay within a bay.  This bay, as many in Alaska, is called Thumb Bay.  Knight Island was one of the most important establishments before statehood and hence has some of Alaska's most unique history.  This particular small bay has the ruins from an old sawmill and a herring salting plant.  There are over 40 anchorages on the map we have that lead to important places like mines, canneries, villages, fishing spots etc.  There are lots of ruins and walking hikes.  We can fish in this bay, but though there is activity, there does not seem to be any biting today.  Maybe it has got to do with the fact that this is the best day we have had all year with regards to weather.  Mark even took off his shirt to get some color back on that pasty body.  And he caught a small hint of sunburn!

The passage over here was also lovely. Bainbridge Pass is pretty spectacular.  The current was assisting us along with a three knot boost.  We did have some whirlpools that like to kick the bow around but nothing like we experienced in Japan.  

There seems to be a difference of opinion if we will spend two days in this bay or move on to Copper Bay early tomorrow.  Guess you will have to watch the blog to see if we move or not.  Anyway there is no way we are going to hit more than 4 anchorages on this island so maybe it is worth slowing down one day.

Hogg Bay

Position   N  60 d 05.132
          W 148 d 11.457

Well the seas died down yesterday but the rain was still out so we decided to give it one more day to die down before heading around to Port Bainbridge.  No rain today!  We had heard a lot about Hogg Bay and since the tides were all wrong to go through Bainbridge Passage, we opted to check it out and spend the night. Are we glad we did!  You get some nice views of Bainbridge Glacier as you enter the bay.  We decided to anchor in Hogg Head which is a little nook at the top of the bay so we can no longer see the glacier but have a great backdrop of some majestic trees.  There was a sign as we entered the head that said no fishing but to be fair there is a seal that keeps swimming around the boat so we probably would not catch much anyway.  Shortly after anchoring the sun came out.  After about four days of rain it was cause to grab a beer and sit up on deck and enjoy the scenery.

view of Bainbridge Glacier

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next couple of days.  We will probably hit the pass early and head for an anchorage on Knight Island.  There are lots of anchorages but some are noted for williwaws with east winds or bad holding.  Almost everything in Alaska is deep so we have all our chain out and still only have a scope of about 4 to 1.  It is hard to leave such a pretty spot but we have been told they get prettier.  

On Wednesday night before departing, we had an after dinner gathering on Sari Timur.  And Mark made the statement that, "Over the last several months everyone is telling me how great the Sound is and their favorite spots.  I must have heard of a hundred must see places but no one ever mentioned a place some one had already told us about.  This is why we are planning to take several weeks to see it."

Happy Birthday Dad

We are still in Day Harbor.  The weather outside the bay is not terrible but it is blowing straight from the direction we want to go and 6-10 foot waves on the nose are not fun.  It would turn our 7 or so hour trip into about 12-15 hours and it would be miserable, so we stayed here.  The sea lions left but a couple of spotted harbor seals are keeping the salmon away.  That's ok they are cute to watch while they play around the boat.

Today is Mark's Dad's birthday as well as Father's Day.  We wished him well before we lost phone service but anyone else can wish him a happy 84th!

Bowen Anchorage (Our first night at anchor in about four years)

Position 60 d 00.913 N
       149 d 04.310 W

Well we left this morning.  We were about an hour later than we planned on, but we realized (a little too late last night) that we had forgotten to get a fishing license.  The one boat we might run into in Prince William Sound would likely be Fish and Game.  Since we are planning to supplement our larder with fish we needed to wait for the local store to open so we could get one.

Anyway the departure was uneventful.  We decided to head all the way to Day Harbor and leave Resurrection Bay behind.  This is a beautiful spot with a very scenic backdrop.  Hopefully we will add a photo later.  

We did have a small scare on the way over as our main Garmin interface unit quit working. This is our chart plotter and radar display so we were a bit worried.  Mark had just double checked it only a few days ago.  So he ripped out the ceiling panel to expose all the wires and went after the power lead which took a bit of work to get traced back to its connector.  We think it was the ground wire because after he pulled it out and squeezed the tape the thing popped to life.  We could not get it to fail again so after we anchored we put everything back together except now this splice is in the open and we can dissect it if we have a problem again.

We only made 37 miles today but now the boat is more sea worthy.  Amazingly when things start falling and crashing around, it forced us to either find a home or lash down the errant item.

We will probably stay here a day or two to continue to get things ready and to wait out a small low that will bring some rain and contrary wind.  When we first got here we had a bunch of salmon jumping around the boat.  But shortly after a family of about six sea lions showed up and started swimming around the boat.  So the salmon are gone right now but maybe we will have a shot again tomorrow.

We Think We Are Outta Here

The car is dropped off with friends, all the stuff we intend to take with us is onboard.  Some lashing still needs to be done, but we will make it a short trip tomorrow so can finish up under way.  The diver showed up at nine last night to grease the prop and change the zincs so that is done.  Not many places in the world would you be able to start a project at nine at night, and then go out with some friends for a couple hours of fishing.  Danny and Yvonne, whom we met in Palau, work summers in Talkeetna. They drove over to visit before we left.  The kings and red salmon are just starting their runs so Danny was keen to try his luck.  So two nights in a row we were up until after midnight.  But at this time of year in Seward it is not even twilight yet!

Not sure where tomorrow's destination will be.  Probably Anchor Cove in Day Harbor, but we are toying with going to one of the harbors here in Resurrection Bay, which would make a real short first day out.  We do want to leave early morning before the onshore breeze kicks in because we will need to do some fancy warping to get out of our little cubby hole.  When we first came our berth was pretty open, then they put a fifty plus foot motor boat in front of us.  We are at the inner most part of two arms that are meant for thirty footers.  So two fifty plus boats nose to nose is tight!

Getting Ready to Leave

We ran into a few more hitches.  Kind of expected after four years of idleness!  The generator was running too hot.  Proved to be a gunked up heat exchanger.  Had a leaky water pump and a leaky spare, got both of those fixed and one installed.  Leaky fuel transfer pump.  Replaced it.  We made the Anchorage provision run.  Changed all the hose clamps on the main engine.  Greased all the steering gear.  Only things left are to get a diver to grease the MaxProp and change zincs.  I have dove to change the zincs myself but with only a tropical wetsuit I get hypothermia by the time I finish the zincs.  I am sure I would struggle with both jobs so we will get a diver with a dry suit!  Finish stowing things and we are out of here.  That probably means Wednesday night which means we will probably leave at about 6 am Thursday as the afternoon winds would make getting out of our cubby hole pretty touchy.