We leave Glacier Bay after taking a day to wait on some weather. We make for Hoonah in case more weather comes in and then head for Juneau.
8/12/2023
Our origional plan was to head out in the afternoon for Gustavos and make for Couverden Island tomorrow, but after looking at the forecast we decide to spend the night in Bartlett Cove instead. Dawn/Angela immediately inquire about a room at the lodge and much to our surprise they have one available. We check with the park rangers about staying an additional night (since our permit expires on 8/12) and they seem ok with us leaving tomorrow or the next day. With that out of the way, we settle in to do some laundry and relax for the rest of the day. With a tremendous amount of rain coming down all the rest of the day, we spent most of our time in the lodge or our room. The lodge resteraunt is really the only game in town (Gustavos is a 15 min cab ride away) so we head down for dinner and find the food quite delicious.
8/13/2023
We wake this morning in the lodge room well rested and recovered from the day prior. The rain seems to have let up a bit, but the forecast in cross-sound and Icy Strait is not good. Leaving Glacier Bay requires timing two currents so our window of departure is either 5:30a or 6:30p. We missed the 5:30a and the 6:30p would have us getting in to an anchorage after dark, which isn’t really an option - so we plan on hunkering down another day and departing early the next morning. The weather started off very rainy, but it started to clear mid day and we even had some sun in the afternoon.
We did the one hike that we didn’t do in Bartlett Cove on the way into the park - the Bartlett River Trail. The description of the trail claimed that we might see moose - which was one of the last items on our Glacier Bay wildlife checklist. We unfortunately didn’t see Moose, but we did see a seal catch a salmon out of the water at the rivers mouth. The seals seemed to congregate there and were feasting on the salmon - smart.
Our hike took us right up to 5p - which was when dinner at the lodge opened and we were first in line. We ate our fill again - oatmeal breakfast and bars/fruit for lunch + hiking made for some hungry Woodards (Dawn was welcomed into the Woodard family earlier in the Glacier Bay trip). Sara was very tired and didn’t quite make it through dinner…
We headed back to the boat after dinner to sleep. We prepped everything for a 5a wakeup and got in our bunks to some very rocking seas at around 9p. At 10p, as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a sound that was clearly not waves on the boat. I jumped up and poped my head out to discover that we had drifted into another boat. Angela and Dawn were not long after me and we were able to use the boat hooks to fend them off without too much trouble. I checked the anchor drag alarm - no, we were not dragging… Then I went forward to look at the anchor rode - it was going straight backward and it was fully tentioned. I realized that somehow our anchor rode had wrapped itself on our keel - likely when the current shifted and started pulling us the other way. We had drifted away from the other boat (I’ll get back to that), so I had a few minutes to think. I tried to pull some slack in the rode and bring it around the back of the boat - but that didn’t seem to work so the rode must have been between the rudder and the keel, which happens to be right were our propeller is - so starting the engine was out of the question. My next thought was if I could get enough sack in the line and release it all at once, then maybe it would fall and that would unwrap it. That seemed to work - the boat spun around to the right direction right behind the anchor.
The next issue was this boat we had drifted into. This boat was an unmanned fishing boat, so we could not expect any help from them. We had to pull our anchor and move… Angela had the bright idea of just pulling up to the dock until we had to leave the next morning - given it was late at night and we were leaving the next morning. As we were pulling up the anchor line, we found ourselves right next to this other boat again. As far as we could tell, the boat had drifted into our anchor swing during the day and when the tide swung we were swept into them… What a terrible way to end the day.
We pulled into the dock and tied up for the night. Angela went on a walk around the dock to try to calm down a bit while Dawn and I tried to get to sleep as we knew the morning was quickly approaching.
8/14/2023
The morning did come around quickly, but we were able to get underway at around 5:15a (5a wakeup). Thankfully, I had timed the tides correctly and we had a 3 knot current at our backs leaving Bartlett Cove. As we moved into Icy Strait, we found low water slack and then the flood started - pushing us at 1-2 knots almost all the way to Hoonah.
About 2 hours into our trip, we passed by Point Adulphus and Dawn spotted 4-5 spouts all at the same time. Our first thought was Orcas since their were so many of them, but as we got closer we could see that this was a group of 10-20 humpback whales who were group feeding - The same bubblenet feeding we saw at Point Baker. This time I had my camera ready.
The process was very predicatble. First all of the whales would take 2-3 breaths - not in unison, but very close together so you could see 4-5 spouts at the same time followed by 4-5 more. Then they would all dive and we could watch fluke after fluke come up as they dove down. This is when we tried to count how many whales their were - we got to 11, but I think we probaly missed some.
Then about 5-10 minutes later, the ocean would start to boil and all of their heads would come up at once - eating the last of the small fish that they corralled into the feeding area with bubbles.
I had read that one or two whales create the bubble wall around the small fish and then the rest of them eat - and then they trade. They did this three times while we were watching.
After the third one, they seemed to move off - either to another area to do it again or to go their separate ways.
We were about 2 hours out of Hoonah at this point, and the tides continued in our favor all the way in. We tried to contact the harbormaster on VHF and cell, but no response. Sounds like it’s a “when the feeling strikes us” sort of thing when they decide to open. Unfortunatly, that meant we weren’t able to get a slip with power and had to settle with the public float without power - but at least it was sheltered when the weather came in that evening.
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Hoonah was a fun town - but very touristy. It was a 2 mile walk from downtown (which was less touristy) up to Icy Point where there are two gondolas, a long zipline, an adventure park, etc, etc. Lots of shops and restaurants and the tourist prices to go along with it. We even discovered that if we told vendors that we arrived on our own boat and not on the cruise ship that we got a “locals” discount - counter-intuitive, but I’m all for it. It was raining almost the entire time and I forgot to take pictures. We had lunch at the touristy crab shack and had dinner at the more local Fisherman’s Daughter takeaway restaurant. We also stopped at the artist studio for the Tlingit artisan we met in Glacier Bay (and Sara befriended) and bought a couple of things. We also found out that his daughter is the head writer for Molly & Denali which is an Emmy-nominated kids show that Sara loves. What a small world. We ate our takeout on the boat and went to bed early - Weather looks favorable for our trip back to Auke Bay tomorrow and I expect we will need to take a rest day there as the weather for the day after looks rough.
8/15/2023
Our departure time for this morning is 7:30a, so a bit of a late morning start. Weather is coming in late today, so we are hoping to get into Auke Bay by early afternoon to avoid it. Dawn’s flight is also tonight, so even more reason to try to get in early!
The day started off well - we made great progress across Icy Strait and the current was in our favor until about an hour before we made the turn up Lynn Canal (we miss timed it a little bit, but it turned out not to matter too much). As soon as we made the turn around point Couverden, we encountered some heavy chop and winds up to 25 knts - not the kinds of conditions you want to be out in. At first we thought we would keep going - we were making great time despite the sea conditions with the wind at our back - but we soon realized that these were not conditions we wanted to be out in. We made a quick turn for Funter Bay (where we stayed the night before heading into Juneau on the way in) and found the calm of a well protected bay. We tied up to the float and unclenched ourselves.
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Dawn was worried about getting back and realizing that tomorrow would probably be sheltering in place - she started to call sea planes (amazingly, she alone had service!) to see if anyone would pick her up here and take her back to Juneau. The weather was only supposed to get worse, so this was her window. After about an hour of trying, she got a call back and a plane was dispatched from Juneau to pick her up. Nobody was super excited to bid Dawn farewell, but she needed to get back to her job, her home, and her cat. We loaded up the dinghy with all of her luggage - including some stuff we sent back with her and made for the float plane dock on the other public float in the bay. About halfway across, we saw her plane land in the middle of the bay and shut off its engine - he did not appear to be heading for the float, so we headed to him. Turns out, taking your dinghy right up to the float plane is the preferred way to load (if it’s an option). We helped Dawn onto her plane and got clear of the plane so they could take off.
There was not a dry eye in the dinghy on our way back to the boat and we decided that a walk along the beach would help. We grabbed our boots and headed ashore for some beach combing. Sara didn’t want to stop playing on the beach - so we didn’t set a time limit and decided to get a nice long walk in, heading back for the cove at the southeast end of the bay - called Crab Cove. A small dog ran out to greet us from a nearby home and we met a woman on the beach named Anna. Turns out she and her husband were visiting a childhood friend of her mother (Joan). They were just starting a beach fire and invited us to join. They turned out to be an amazing group of people. Joan lives here all summer (she has a winter home in Vancouver) and Anna/Greg lived in Texas but have been coming up here for a few weeks every summer for years.
The home was a build onto situation with a main home and 3-4 separate cabins - which are apparently on AirBnB, but are still rarely used due to the challenges in getting here (there were numerous reservations over this summer but all cancelled so the place remained unbooked). We told them about the cruising guides and how helpful they were informing boaters about amenities that exist in bays like this one and promised to introduce them to the editors when we got back (we met them in our inside passage cruisers class we went to back in April).
Turns out Joan is a chef - having worked on numerous small cruise ships (of the Nat Geo ilk) as head chef and owned a restaurant in Juneau for over 20 years. She was making a twist on Paella - Funter Bay Paella - which included an assortment of fresh-caught seafood from the bay (halibut, crab), some sea grass called sea asparagrus, and peas from her garden - which Sara picked. They invited us to stay for dinner - an invitation we could not refuse. It took about an hour to cook everything up and it was a really fun process to watch. And glorious to eat and share with new friends!
After dinner, we took a walk along the beach and through a mostly abandoned homestead. Apparently the prior owner was an avid gardener and kept cherry trees and raspberries, but they have been growing wild for the last 4-5 years. The cherries specifically were amazing - I don’t know if it was the breed or some adaptation to the climate, but they were super juicy - very plump, almost engorged with water - and almost looked clear in appearance. We were all pretty full, but we partook anyway.
Joan taught us about sea asparagras, which looks like asparagras but tastes very salty - a taste of the sea. Apparently, you grind it up and use it like a seasoning. She also showed us a spot where they had harvested some sea urchins the other day. We were all way too full for something like that, but now we know how to harvest them if we see them in the future.
We headed over to Bear Creek - where they often see bears picking salmon out of the creek. We didn’t see any bears today, but we saw lots of tracks and signs that they were here - including the half eaten salmon they left behind. Funter Bay is on Admiralty island, which has the highest bear density of any place in the world - around one grizzly bear per square mile - so not surprising that they would be here.
Joan also gave Sara a present - a very old copy of the book “Curve of Time”, the book both Angela and I read on our way up here. She even wrote Sara a little note inside (Buddy was the name of the dog).
Our new friends walked us most of the way back to our dinghy - the sun was starting to go down and walking along the beach in the dark didn’t sound like fun. Joan was quite the beach comber and she/Sara played with bull kelp flutes, shell drums, etc the whole way back to the dinghy. We exchanged contact info and as we anticipate being stuck here tomorrow, we pledged to stop by again if we stuck around.
We all remarked about how amazing the evening was - none of us could have imagined in the morning that this is how we would be ending the day. If weather hadn’t hit like it did, then we never would have met Joan and gotten to know Funter Bay in the way we did. We were all in good spirits and were feeling better after Dawn’s bittersweet sendoff earlier in the day. We pulled out the projector to watch a movie - which lasted about 10 min before we were all asleep.
8/16/2023
We woke this morning and the wind started blowing. There was a fishing vessel at the float with us over night and it headed out early to go fishing - but it came back in less than an hour. There are some big seas out there…
We set off to have a little dinghy adventure and walked along the same beach we were on yesterday, only to run into a man who was none to happy we were on “his beach”. I can’t remember if tideland in Alaska is public or private - but we headed back to the dinghy to avoid confrontation. Off to the other side of the bay where we walked along the boardwalks (which are public) and over to an Aleutian cemetary. I won’t go into the sad history here - but there were several graves of small children from that time. Very sad.
It was a long dinghy ride back to the boat as the seas were starting to rise even in our protected bay. The rest of the afternoon was sunny - but very windy. Good for drying things out, but not much else. It’s funny to think about how we are only 20 nm from Juneau, and Oakley, as well as the contiuation of our trip - yet we are at least a day away.
Sara was fishing off the pier and asking questions of the local fisherman who were also hold up her - and one of them gave her a fish! It was small salmon, perfect for our dinner meal. Alaska is such a strange place for people - such overwhelming generosity from some (Joan/Anna/Greg, the fisherman) and such reclusive/rudeness from others (the man we met on the beach in the morning).
We felt back that we were not able to go visit Joan again - she was probably feeling lonely after Anna/Greg left this morning - but that trip back had killed our dinghy battery and it will take 12 hours to charge. Such is life.
8/17/2023
We expected to wake to calm/stillness this morning, but we can hear the wind howling outside and the boat is rocking in the waves still. It’s supposed to get better as the day goes on and we decide we will poke out to check at noon - which is sort of the last responsible time to go based on the currents. As we start heading out the bay, we get a call from Joan on VHF wishing us a safe trip. We promise to find her again - either here or down south when she heads out for the winter. What a fun bay this has been.
The waves are manageable and they get smaller as we continue to make our way north up the Lynn cannal. By the time we make it to Point Retreat, it’s calm and flat. Unfortunately, the tide is against us now but we are still makeing good time and comfortable. We make it to Auke bay just before 5p, which is enough time to pickup Oakely, get groceries, and make a run to Home Depot for some odds and ends. We blew the fuse on our battery charger and the best I could do is a 20a fuse - when I really need a 100a. So it’s working and save, but it’s charging quite slow.
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Tomorrow, we are going to try for Tracy Arm Cove - but we have a couple of fallbacks if that turns out to be too far. It’s going to be an early start to catch the favorable tide and we didn’t get everything done until 10p, so it’s going to be a very early morning…