7/21/2023
We departed Merrifield Bay relatively late - around 9:30a - so we could pass by Point Baker at max ebb (currents flowing the hardest) in the hopes that it would make for good whale watching. We were successful and there were quite a few whales and they were very active. We even saw them doing bubble net fishing - which is where one whale blows bubbles underwater to corral the fish for the other whales to eat. I have seen picures of this - but seeing it in person I didn’t realize quite how fast the whole thing happens. The ocean starts to bubble and foam and then it builds for maybe 15-20 seconds, and then the whales emerge mouths/fins/etc at the very end for a second. We saw probably 4 or 5 bubble nets as we watched. Unfortunatly, and quite maddeningly, the inside of my DSLR lens fogged up when I brough it up from the warm cabin into the cold cockpit and it refused to clear while we watched. After about 30 min, the wind started to build and an uncomfortable chop developed - which caused us to turn north for the pass.
We are getting good wind - enough to make the 20 nm crossing of Sumner Strait on sail power alone. We arrive at our lunch spot - Kayak Cove - about 3 hours before we planned on entering Rocky Pass. Kayak cove - named for the kayak campsites around the cove - was beautiful, but very exposed. It turned out to be a great place to spend a couple of hours, but not a place you would want to stay for the night.
We take turns exploring the cove - Sara and I took Oakely ashore to explore. We found a very cool tidal bridge - a narrow stretch of land that went underwater at high tide. We hiked across and a large gathering of porcupines on the other side - at least a dozen moving in and out of the grass. I kept Oakley close but she is thankfully scared of most things - including these porcupines. After poking around a little bit on the other side - we headed back across the land bridge which was notably narrower as the tide was coming in - as narrow as 5-6 feet in some places.
Rocky Pass is a 20 nm long pass that is both very shallow (5 ft deep at low tide, and our boat has a draft of 6 ft!) and very narrow (less than 20 feet wide in parts). It’s also very difficult to navigate - with sections where multiple 90 deg turns are required in quick succession to stay in the channel. Our guidebook talks about this pass being one of the most difficult navigational challenges in SE Alaska. I was both apprehensive as well as excited to take on the challenge. Here was a blurb out off the guidebook:
At around 4p, we weighed anchor and headed up into the pass. One of the things I realized very quickly that made the pass even more challening is that many of the channel markers were missing - inspecting where they should have been I found several foundations for markers, which made me think that winter storms must take them out regularly. The most challenging part of the pass is a place called Devil’s Elbow, which we reached about an hour after departing our anchorage. You need to take this one at high water because of how shallow it is - which unfortunately means that there is still some meaningful current flowing through the pass, around 1-1.5 knots. We zipped right through, maintaining enough speed that the current wouldn’t push us off course and hitting the turns right on time. I was watching the depth guage the whole time and we never dropped below 17 feet - I think I did it right. Feeling very proud of myself, I finish the last couple of miles to our anchorage for the evening - a place called Baidarka Anchorage - a small cove about halfway across Rocky Pass with enough room for anchoring. Angela proceeds to tell me about the book she is reading (Alaska Blues) where the author runs through Rocky Pass at night - I suddenly feel less proud of my accomplishment… :)
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7/22/2023
The following morning we pull anchor at 4:30a to hit high water at The Summit - a 2 nm channel with a depth of 5 feet at low tide (18 feet at high tide when we were passing). The channel is only about 15 feet wide, but it’s mostly straight and fairly easy to follow. The biggest challenge here is, again, the currents which maxed at about 1.5 knts against us as we entered the channel - waining to slack (0 knts) as we reached the other side. It required constant attention to keep the boat straight in the channel, but as long as you were watching closely it was fairly straightforward. The biggest challenge of the last 7 nm was the kelp beds - trying to avoid crossing through them or slowing as you crossed through them was critical to avoid fouling the prop (getting the kelp wrapped around your propeller).
One of the coolest parts of Rocky Pass was the magnitude of sea otters that we saw in the pass. I probably saw 100-200 of them at various points going through the pass. They seemed very interested in our boat, usually popping up 30-40 feet away and then swimming along side us for a minute or so before diving back down. I expect this is a great place for them to congregate as I don’t expect Orcas can prey on them in here given the depth.
We pulled into Kake around 10a - first pulling into the wrong dock thinking it was a city dock and then finding the marina just outside of town. The marina was fairly empty and we easily found a slip - the harbormaster hopped out of her boat and canoed over to us to give us a form to fill out and collect our nightly moorage fee - $17… The least expensive marina yet - especially when you consider it included electricity.
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We chatted with a heavily bearded local (Forest Gump style!) who was living on his sailboat in the marina with his two large huskies about the town and got to hear all about his experiences with living on a sailboat in the winter in Alaska - which was extraordinary. We were about a mile from the grocery, mile and a half from the grocery, and 2 and a half miles from the town’s biggest attraction - the largest totem pole in the world. The man looked no more than 40, but he had 3 grown children - the oldest being 26. He was the winter caretaker in Warm Springs (our next stop) and his eldest daughter came out to spend 3 of the 7 months with him - It sounded both sweet, that they got to spend quality time together, and absolutely horrible when the temperature heads into the negative for months on end…
The grocery store was well stocked and included a large hardware store/general store selection as well. We bought some fun stuff - fresh food for the next couple of days and some bright red sweatpants for dad (who lost his pajamas on the boat somewhere). Lots of berries along the way - salmon berries and thimble berries, our staples on this trip. We found a fun coffee shop and then passed by a small creek where we saw some salmon swimming. Just looking upstream from the road, we saw 3 eagles feasting on their individual salmons and 1, then 2, then 4, then 6 black bears either feasting on a salmon right in the creek or popping out to grab one and then jumping back into the woods. Several bears had small cubs with them and all seemed very healthy… which is not surprising given how easily they were able to run out and grab a snack.
We headed up to see the totem and it was quite impressive. We learned about it online afterwards - carved in the late 60s and raised in 1971, it replaced the totems that were destroyed in 1913 by the tribes under pressure to modernize the village. The base is a man tearing a sea otter in half and there is clearly a shapeshifter changing from a man into a salmon - not sure about the rest. The totem has cracked several times visibly and the top broke off and is set on the ground nearby, but it is still standing and very cool to see.
It was quiet a tiring walk - likely 6 miles in total. Naps were in order.
Overall we had a great day in Kake - and we made it back to the boat just in time to miss the heavy downpour in the late afternoon. Very cozy way to end the day!
7/23/2023
We woke to torrential rain the next morning - we flipped on the VHF and listened to the forecast which called for 4-5 foot seas. No thanks. I guess we are spending another day in Kake. Sara and I take off early for a walk (in full rain gear) - we head all the way up to the coffee shop and get there just in time for it to open (at 10a). Grocery store is closed and there are no hours posted, but fortunately they were open by the time we came back through. No bears out at the salmon creek today - so back to the boat we go. It rained for most of the day - not letting up until 3-4pm. We did board games and read after we got back from our walk - trying to make the best of our rest day before make way again tomorrow.
7/24/2023
We had a later start this morning - 7:30a. We wanted to get swept out of Fredrick Sound by the last of the ebb and rounded the corner into Chatham Strait to catch the flood current going north. The early morning was very foggy - visibility of less than a mile - making me again very glad for the AIS. After about an hour, we came out of the fog into a bright sunny day! Amazing!
The next 4 hours were calm and relaxed as we came out of Fredrick Sound. We even saw some whales in the distance. It looked to be a large group and they were diving - almost every viewing resulted in a fluke up dive as they dove for whatever food they were eating.
We also found another boat that we were familiar with - the NatGeo Seabird. This was the ship that my parents went on several years ago when they explored the inside passage. We were pretty far from them, but I tried to get a picture.
Unfortunately, we rounded the corner into Chatham Strait to find 30 knt winds coming down the strait. Wow! I thought that pulling out the jib would help stabilize the boat in the wind waves that were starting to rock the boat. It worked well, and we picked up some real speed, but we started to heel quite a bit to the point of being uncomfortable. I tried to pull in the jib, but unfortunately I didn’t do it fast enough and the jib started whipping as I freed the jib sheet. By the time I got the furler all pulled in, I could see that I had damaged the back of the sail - likely irreparably… Super bummed. Another one of those learning opportunities - a pricy one. Oakley was not a huge fan of all the commotion and rocking boat.
After getting the sail in, I turned down a bit and we made for the other side of the strait - hoping the wind would be lighter over this. The new sail angle (motoring angle) was more comfortable and we made it to the other side of the bay in a little over an hour. The winds were better over there (10-15 knts) and we made quick progress up the coast for another hour before turning into Warm Bay where we wanted to stay the night.
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As we turned into the bay, we saw one of the most spectacular waterfalls we have seen to date - a flood of water at least a hundred feet wide streaming into the ocean. The amount of water coming into the bay was noticably pushing the boat.
Warm Bay was the best of the hot springs we had visited on this trip. There are 3 private soaking tubs that overlook the bay right at the docks or you can walk a mile and a half up to the natural pools - which overlook a waterfall coming out of Baranof Lake. It was amazing. After taking Oakely ashore for a reconoiter, we grabbed our swimsuits and towels to head up to the natural springs.
The natural springs were very hot - We didn’t have a thermometer, but it had to be over 110 deg. We spent most of our time with just our feet in, but we did go all the way in for a few minute. The view was amazing - and they even had a changing room - just off to the side surrounded by thick blueberry bushes for privacy.
Taking the trail a little further, we arrived at Baranoff Lake. The lake was huge on the map and it must have been fed by a large number of glacial streams to create the waterfall we saw. It was really cold - I considered doing a cold plunge after the very hot springs, but decided against it.
On the way back down, we picked blueberries and put them in a little tupperware to make blueberry brownies when we got back to the boat. This took a while, but we finally filled our little tin with probably a half pint of blueberries. Unfortunatley, there were little bugs in the blueberries and that didn’t sit well with Sara/Angela. We put them in boiling water and picked out the bugs, but that took so long that it was time to start making dinner - so blueberry brownies will have to wait.
Tomorrow we leave for Tenakee Springs!