Glacier Bay to Haines (Up the Lynn Canal)

We left Glacier Bay in heavy fog.  Basically we were relying heavily on the radar until about noon, that was when the sun finally burned the fog off and we had a beautiful afternoon.  It was a long day and zero wind so we stopped in Funter Bay which is at the base of the southern end of the Lynn Canal.  As the crow flies, it is just outside of Juneau but to get there it is probably an entire day so rather than head to Juneau now we decided to head up the Lynn Canal and visit Haines and Skagway.  Some of you may remember, Mark spent some time in Skagway last spring and early summer.  He convinced Pauline that she needed to see it.  This was important as it is a long trek up the Lynn Canal and the weather forecast said wind from guess where?  The North.  Anyway Funter Bay was beautiful but after a short night's sleep we were underway heading north before 0600 hours.

And as forecast the wind piped up from the north and we were fighting 22 knots of wind.  We were also facing current and so rather than tack all the way up we motored very slowly north.  Anyway after ten and a half hours we tucked in behind Sullivan Island into a small bight for a very quiet night.  The second day was more of the same for the first couple of hours but finally the wind relented and by the time we hit Haines there wasn't a ripple on the water.  Good thing too as it was probably the busiest and tightest marina we have ever been to., but it is also one of the friendliest.  We had heard this about Haines so were eager to go there.  We will do a seperate post regarding Haines and hopefully our side trip to Skagway.  But right now we are snugly tied up for guess what?  a long period of winds from the south!!!!!

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is the National Park Service’s largest marine park and part of the world’s largest world heritage site.

Since time immemorial, the Tlingit people lived in the area that is now Glacier Bay and sustained themselves on the abundant resources found throughout the Bay.  They were driven out of the Bay during the Little Ice Age when glacial advances overran the villages inside the bay in the 1700s.  In 1794, George Vancouver described Glacier Bay as a compact sheet of ice as far as the eye could see.  However, when John Muir came to Glacier Bay, he found that the glacial ice had retreated 40 miles into the bay.

All boats entering Glacier Bay need to apply for a permit from June 1 to August 31, plus they only issue about 25 permits per day.  We applied for a 7-day permit and were approved, so we left Hoonah on August 22 and headed to Bartlett Cove, where Glacier Bay park’s headquarters are located.  We also had to attend a mandatory orientation to familiarize ourselves on the regulations and restrictions.

So armed with all this new information and enthusiasm, we headed out the next day (August 23) to spend the night in Shag Cove.  We saw lots of whales, one even breeched in front of us.  As we were approaching the spot we were going to anchor, we saw a bear walking the beach in front of us but it disappeared into the bush as we got closer.

entrance to Shag Cove

beach in Shag Cove

 On August 24, we left Shag Cove and headed for Johns Hopkins Inlet, where we viewed Lamplaugh Glacier, which is one of the bluest in the Bay and Johns Hopkins Glacier.  We anchored in Reid Inlet, right in front of Reid Glacier.  On the way to Johns Hopkins Inlet we were hailed by another sailboat, who told us that they had seen 4 bears on the beach in Tidal Inlet.  We deviated over and on our way we could see the mother and two cubs leave the beach.  We followed the remaining bear along the beach to the stream where it caught a fish.

close up of Lamplaugh Glacier

Johns Hopkins Glacier with the mountains in the back

Lamplaugh Glacier

we anchored in front of Reid Glacier

The next day (August 25), we left Reid Inlet and headed to Tarr Inlet to view Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.  The weather the previous days had been cloudy but as we were headed out, the sun came out.  The ice was not too bad and we did not have to dodge many of them.  It helped that a cruise ship went ahead of us and cleared a path for us.  Margerie Glacier is awesome, towering pinnacles and flows directly out of the Fairweather Mountains.  We waited but did not catch any major calving.  The Grand Pacific Glacier was not so grand but it was the primary glacier that carved Glacier Bay.  We saw lots of seals in Tarr Inlet.  After that we headed over to Blue Mouse Cove and anchored for the night.

Grand Pacific Glacier, not so grand looking

Margerie Glacier

close up shows the pinnacles of Margerie Glacier

sharing Tarr Inlet with a cruise ship

another view of Margerie Glacier

We have heard that there was going to be some weather on Monday, August 26 so we headed for one of the better coves mentioned in the guidebook.  North Sandy Cove is one of the prettiest we have been to in Glacier Bay.  There were whales all over just at the entrance and a couple of seals greeted us as we approach our anchoring spot.

We are back in Bartlett Cove for the night and we will head out of Glacier Bay National Park tomorrow.

a baby grouse came to visit us at the Park headquarters!

All in all, Glacier Bay is a nice place and we are glad we spent time here.  We do however feel that it is a let down compared to the majesty that Prince William Sound presents.

Still In Hoonah

We are still in Hoonah but we got notice today that we have permission to cruise in Glacier Bay National Park.  We are so excited we had to post it.  If you are interested in why we are so excited, you can go to the Glacier Bay website and watch the 15 minute boater's orientation video.  Most people only get a glimpse of the bay as they do it in a a few hours but we have a whole week to check it out.  Hope the weather holds!  Right now it is looking a little lumpy for our arrival on Thursday and a little wind on Sunday but otherwise pretty good.  Our friends had some issues with fog and we can't forecast that too easy, so hopefully it will stay clear.  One of the problems with Glacier Bay is there are so many glaciers it does generate its own weather.  Of course with all the glacier exploring we have been doing, we are kind of used to that but this is even more concentrated than anything we have yet been to.

Angie arrives in the morning so we will be doing a lot of touristy things with her tomorrow and then depart Thursday at about 05:00.  Mark is taking his growler up to the local brewery which has one of his favorite beers on tap, Freeride APA,

Hoonah, Hiding From Weather

Position  N   58 d 06.41
               W 135 d 26.75

We have heard from several cruisers that Hoonah is a must see stop.  We were originally stopping here to hide out from a blow that is heading through before trying to race up to Skagway in order to catch up to the Norwegian Jewel and meet up with Angie.  The weather is supposed to be quite stiff, 60 knots are forecast in the Lynn Canal.  For those who are not in the know, 64 is a hurricane force.  So we definitely don't want to be there then.

Hoonah (Xunaa in Tlingit means "protected from the North Wind") boasts the largest Tlingit population in S.E. Alaska and also the world's largest Ziprider line.  The Tlingits are known for their totem poles and Hoonah has a few!  We got to see and talk with one of the carvers putting the finishing touches on one and the first bit of paint before they raised it on Friday.  He and another carver had been working steadily for six months to carve this ornate sculpture out of a tree trunk.

We found out that Hoonah also calls the cruise ship terminal here Icy Straight Point.  Hey guess what, that is a stop for the Norwegian Jewel.  We no longer have to be a racer cruiser.  So we can stay here and let the weather settle.

Hoonah is also the favorite stop for boats as they wait to go up to Glacier Bay National Park, which is probably how we will change our schedule before heading further.

The people here are extremely friendly and go out of their way to say hello and welcome you to their town.  We have had several people walk with us and pick up a conversation as we walk to or from some place. One of our neighbors even gave us a couple of big dungeness crabs a couple of minutes after we tied up to our berth!

a colorful totem pole

the Hoonah Indian Association

another beautiful totem pole

Elfin Cove

Position   N  58 d  11.73

                  W 136 d  20.82

Not sure if this village reminds us more of Rivendell or Lothlorien, maybe it is the land beyond the sea?  Who knows but it sure does seem like a magical place out of Lord of the Rings.  There is an outer cove and an inner harbor.  Most of the houses and buildings are built around the boardwalk, either on stilts on the water side or into the forest on the side of the hill that seems to rise straight up out of the water.  Several hundred people are here in the summer, either commercial fishing or chartering but the population drops to 6 last winter.  It is a bit remote!  Chances are, if you have bought salmon from Costco, it has a high probability of coming through this port.

As we were walking around we stopped to help a lady hang her specials sign over the top of her flower garden.  This turned out to be the local pub/restaurant, so after our walk we stopped in for a beer.  The conversation was so good we decided to come back for dinner and have a slice of that homemade and home grown rhubarb pie.

We are getting an early start today for Hoonah as the tidal currents are brutal.  There is supposed to be a big blow coming down the Lynn Canal in the next few days.  We are supposed to meet Angie, an old family friend, either in Juneau or Skagway as she passes through on a cruise ship.  Both require navigating the Lynn Canal.  Hopefully the blow will be finished and allow us to meet up.  It should, but who knows.

the inner harbor

view of the inner harbor and some of the houses

the boardwalk leading to the outer cove, where Sari Timur is tied up to the transient dock

Pelican, Alaska

Position   N 57d 57.50

                W 136d 13.70

A guy and some friends established a cold storage along the Lisianski Inlet and named it after his boat, The Pelican.

As we were coming up to Pelican we could not raise the Harbormaster since it was Sunday and they were not working.  So we came in slowly and found there was an empty end berth.  The wind was 20 knots, only wind we have seen in nearly four days but as we were coming along side a couple of guys jumped out and helped us with our lines.  Just as we were coming alongside we lost our tachometer.  Once we were safely tied up, Mark began investigating to find that the tach wire got snagged by a loose fan belt.  The fan belt had split a layer off and had a flappy piece of cloth, which snagged the tach wire and pulled it into the pulley.  We noticed a couple of missing cable ties on the wire harness so this probably left the tach wire a bit more exposed.  We fixed a new one and then decided we would stay two days in Pelican in order to change the belts the next day.  So off we went for a walk.  Pelican is a boardwalk town, most of the houses and buildings are built on stilts.  They are serviced by lots of floatplanes, so part of the entertainment is watching float planes take off, land and taxi right next to your boat.  The next day we checked in with the harbormaster and purchased a couple of spare Racor filters before taking on the task of changing belts.  Belt changes on this engine are never easy so we decided to do some changes to make it slightly easier.  It is still troublesome but a bit easier.  We then went up to have a late lunch at the café we were told about, that is run by Matt and Dana’s friend.  We were too late, she only does breakfast and lunch but we had a brief conversation with her and said we would be back for breakfast the next day before we departed.

Pelican is a really neat experience and well worth our small detour after crossing the Gulf of Alaska.

view from the dock

the main street boardwalk

another view of the main street

Crossing the Gulf of Alaska

This is not the first time we crossed the Gulf of Alaska.  The last time was 4 years ago, when we went from Homer to Seward.  The Gulf is known for nasty weather but if you time it well and find a good weather window, it is a piece of cake crossing.

Well, we found a perfect window!  Very light winds and no opposing seas.  The only problem is that we could not sail very much, even though we had most of our sails up.

Mark remarked once that he had not seen the Gulf so placid but then again, the times he crossed the Gulf were during the winter season.

We left Sheep Bay in the Sound on Thursday and got into Pelican in Lisianski Inlet on Sunday.

The trip over was not too eventful.  We did discover we have bad fuel or bad fuel filters.  We were trying to fill up our day tank when it stopped filling.  We saw that the Racor filter was dirty and changed that and were able to do a couple of fills before the transfer pump shut down again.  We found another dirty filter but unfortunately the spares that we thought we had did not fit.  Long story short, we made do without the filter and were able to fill up the day tank.

We encountered lots of wildlife.  Plenty of sea birds, Dall Porpoises, a pod of Orcas that swam really close to the boat and a couple of sperm whales feeding of a fishing boat’s long line.

We had sunny days and apart from the first night when it got really foggy and wet, the other nights were bearably warm.

So, all in all, we had a good Gulf crossing.

Heading Out

We have left Cordova and Sheep Bay.  Expect to enter the Gulf of Alaska by this evening.  Winds don't come from the right direction until Saturday.  But they are supposed to be light and variable until then.  At this time of year we will take it!

Our Spot position on the right side of this blog should keep updating our position about every 10 minutes so you can track us.

Arrived Cordova

We have arrived in Cordova.  Have some people coming over for a beer so we will post more later.  Happy birthday Matt!

view of Cordova Harbor from the Reluctant Fisherman (restaurant)

We Were Sailing!

Position.  N  60 d 41.79. Sheep Bay
                W 145 d 56.21

Once we got out of our Bay this morning we started clocking 13 knot winds.  We had to negotiate some shallows so we only put the main up at first.  But it jumped our speed up by a knot and a half and we were eager to get out of the shallows between Goose Island and Gull Islands so we could set the rest of the sails and give the donkey a rest.  We were going great for a little while and then we got in the lee of Hinchinbrook Island and our winds dropped.  We dropped back to just the main and got the engine going again.  Sahlin waterfalls is not that impressive.  Kind of pretty and would be stunning anywhere else.  But we are getting spoiled with the beauty that is Alaska.  We will probably hang here for another day and do some dinghy exploring before heading off to Cordova

Snug Corner Cove

Position.  N  60 d 43.87
                W 146 d 39.25

We had an uneventful motor out of Valdez.  There was seven knots of breeze but it was all on the nose so the sails stayed  stowed.  This harbor had a bunch of houses in it but we saw no sign of life.  We are off to Sheep Bay today to check out Sahlin Waterfall.  Doesn't appear to be much wind today either.  But we will see, it is about another seven hours away so hopefully we will get some wind to use.  But if not we just filled up with diesel so we can motor.