We head out of Juneau for some long days with good weather towards Petersburg - exploring Stephen’s passage & Frederick Sound on the way
8/18/2023
We left the dock at just after 5a - making our way down Stephen’s Passage. We will spend the next two and a half days in the passage heading south before we turn east into Frederick Sound and Petersburg. The weather is cool, but very calm - a welcome reprieve from the weather of this last week. We were treated with a beautiful view of the Mendenhall Glacier as we departed Auke Bay.
Our plan for the day was to make it to Tracy Arm Cove - a small cove right inside of Tracy Arm. The day was to be split into two pushes - the first was to a place called Taku Harbor, and abandoned cannery operation with a public float but not much else. We made good time in the morning, with the tide behind us the whole way. I was expecting the current to flip at 9:30a, but it didn’t and we continued to get a 2-3 knt push all the way to Taku. When we got there, we found one other boat at the public dock - a local from Juneau. I asked him about the current given my surprise and his reply was classic - “when you figure it out, let me know”. He was also expecting it to flip and was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t.
Taku ended up being a delightful stop. Part of this was because of the weather, the clouds broke and we got some real sun. Part of it was because we had a gentle wind for the last two hours before we pulled into the bay and were able to do some real sailing. And part of it was because of the efforts of the homesteaders to make the harbor a delightful place for visitors. After tying up at the dock, we headed off along the beach.
In one direction was a USFS cabin. There are a few dozen of these primative cabins all over SE Alaska in various states of repair. This one was in good shape and there was a fire pit as well as an outhouse nearby. There was also a swing - one of the biggest ones I have seen. It was anchored probably 75-100 feet in the air and one good push would result in a swing of at least 30-40 feet travelled.
Heading the other way, there were a variety of signs put up by one of the resident families describing the history of the area and helping you understand what you are looking at. It was clear that there was a lot of passion for Taku Harbor from this family and they had gone to great lengths to research and share this history - as well as to share it with transients. I didn’t see any benefit to them from doing this, other that the just the joy of sharing - another great example of the dichotomy of people up here, this family was clearly on the welcoming and friendly side.
I’ve been reading this book about a commercial fisherman in SE Alaska and one of his reflections on the area is that it is really hard for anyone to make any commercial endeavor work up here. The winters are so extreme and even the summers can have challenging weather to contend with. Combine that with the fact that many of these endeavors were a gamble to begin with (prospecting/mining, fishing) or subject to the whims of market forces/regulation (mills/logging). You can see the evidence of this in just about every bay, were the ruins of some enterpise are slowing being reclaimed by nature. The author had this reflection while walking through the remains of the old cannery in Taku bay in the early 70s. Fifty years later, I have the same reflection - as nature has surely advanced further but the evidence of days past still remains.
The local we met at the dock told us he has been coming here for years and told us what there was to see ashore. He mentioned that there was a cemetary from the turn of the century up on a hill past the last of the cannery ruins and that the last time he had been there was about a decade ago. I went off in search of it while Sara fished on the dock with Angela and Oakley. Oakley has not been herself since returning from boarding and she stayed behind on this trip that she normally would have followed me on eagerly. We hope that with a couple of days of rest and some reinforced meals (adding some fat/oil to her kibble) will bring her back. Anyway, after a bit of searching I found a single headstone that was completely covered in moss. I cleaned off some of the moss and found the date of 1905 at the bottom - almost 120 years later. I expect I’m one of only a few people who have been to this spot as it’s pretty hard to find (I never would have found it without help).
We left Taku Harbor around 3p to catch the favorable flood current down to Tracy Arm Cove. The weather became overcast as we progressed and cooled off considerably - by the time we made the turn into the harbor it looked like dusk even though it was over two hours until sunset. When we did turn around the point, we faced a considerable current rushing out of the bay and checking the charts we realized that there is a constriction and 6 knt rapids between us and the cove - new plans were needed. Eventually we decided on Harbor Island, a small island in the middle of Holkham Bay. It was relatively exposed to weather, but the forcast was calm for the evening so we expected it to work for the night.
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As we approached the island, we found icebergs - big and small with some of them sweeping very near the anchorage we had chosen, but with our anchorage outside of the main current channel we considered ourselves relatively safe.
The anchorage itself was quite beautiful and we took the dinghy ashore to take Oakley for a walk and found a slightly overgrown trail circling the island - great place to take a family walk. We scrambled over some rock walls and explored an island that - while likely frequented by people - we had all to ourselves for the evening.
8/19/2023
We got another early start today - I woke at 4:30a, took Oakley ashore by headlamp, and got us underway by 5a. The poor weather over the last week has resulted in our cutting it close for our Anan Bear Bay reservation and I was hoping to take advantage of the good weather to give ourselves a bit more of a buffer. We can’t afford another weather day, but hopefully after today we can afford a weather afternoon. Thankfully the mooring was calm once again and with the current at our back we make quick progress south to Portage Bay - our planned anchorage for the evening. We saw at least 100 whales today - around 8a we stumbled on a small group of a dozen or so and then around 10a we came into a huge group of whales just off our port side near Five Fingers Islands and lighthouse. As we continued, we realized just how many their were in this one spot - you really could not look in any direction and not see a blow or a fluke or a breach. Some were very close - less than 100 feet away. We slowed down to idle - the rule here in Alaska is that you slow down if you get within 150 feet but, in contrast to Hawaii, you don’t stop. I think this is because feeding behavior keeps whales in one place for longer and you might never be able to leave if you do stop. To be honest, most boats out here are fishing boats and they don’t even slow down for the whales - we saw a boat off Point Baker going at least 20 knts go right over a spot where a whale just dove. Anyway, we tried to turn away from the whales to give them some space and crawl past them - but it still took over an hour to get clear and back up to full speed. I took a couple pics with my phone but decided to just enjoy them rather than race down to get my DSLR.
Just as we cleared the whale area and got back up to speed, We got a call over the VHF from the Five Fingers lighthouse. They called to thank us for slowing down and let us know that they got some great pics of our boat with the whales all around it and offer to send them to us. I guess it pays to follow the rules!! I gave them our email and they promised to send us some pics once they cycle out in a couple of weeks.
Angela continued to see whales for the next several hours, in smaller numbers. I was relieved of my helm duties and promptly went down to take a nap. When I woke, we were only about an hour from the anchorage and so I got to play some games with Sara for a bit while Angela continued at the helm. We anchored in Portage Bay around 2p.
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It’s a fun little anchorage - there were several fishing boats when we arrived, but they all left soon after we arrived. We tied up to another USFS float and went on a walk along some old logging road for a little over an hour. We ran into two couples - both of them stopped to say hello and chat for a few minutes. The first couple was from Kake and they were staying at one of the two USFS cabins in the bay - “We are staying in the smelly one” they proclaimed,laughing the whole time. The second group was on these little fat wheeled dirt bikes and were just coming back from hunting with a couple of grouse. They take their bikes around on a small aluminum landing craft that we saw at the dock - if I were into hunting, this is the way to go!
We got back to the boat and I went to work. Dawn brought up some parts for re-ducting the heater so that we had some adjustable heaters in the bathroom and aft cabin (Sara’s room). Early in the trip, I pulled the heating duct out of Sara’s room as it was getting sweltering in there and we started just leaving the door open on cold nights so her room would stay warm. I moved the duct to the bathroom so we could use it as a drying room for wet gear, but Angela didn’t like the bathroom smell when gear was drying in there (it was pretty bad to be honest). With the new setup, we can keep Sara’s cabin warm to her liking since she can adjust it and we can keep the bathroom just warm enough to dry out without turning it into a foot sauna. Yah!
Sara, Angela, and Oakley went on a shore walk while I did some writing and reading - then movie night (Good Omens 2) and bed!
8/20/2023
We got to sleep in today - the current would not be in our favor until 9:45a so we caught the last of the dying ebb out of Portage Bay and then started to ride the flood east through Fredrick Sound. It’s a relatively short day today - 23 nm to Petersburg. Should take us 3-4 hours depending on how fast the current goes. We are excited to get into Petersburg and explore the town - and hopefully find a pet store to get a new bowl (Oakley’ old bowl was lost overboard) and some high calorie wet food to help bring Oakley back to life.
Angela took Oakley ashore for her morning potty while I refueled the boat from our jerry cans. This was my first time doing this operation and there were some lessons learned - but eventually I was successful. Oakley had a run in with a porcupine this morning and got a handfull of quills to the face. So unlike Oakley to not be totally scared of something new and hide… I wish I could say she learned her lesson, but she didn’t seem to mind the quills. Odd.
The morning had some chill, but after an hour or so of being underway we were treated with sun and blue skies. It was a crazy feeling to be sailing away in 70 deg weather - dodging icebergs.
The trip to Petersburg took us about 4 hours and we were pulling around the corner into the narrows a little after 2p. I called the harbormaster on my cell and found the most helpful harbormaster we have had yet - by far. He gave us a slip and provided us some coaching on how to get into the harbor. Petersburg is notorious for swift currents so I appreciated the coaching. As I pulled into the narrows, our boat speed slowly ticked up until we were going just under 10 knts with the throttle at half!
I appeciated his coaching at this point - I would have been worried, but just as he promised, as soon as I got within about 10 feet of the end of the peir, the current stopped and everything was calm. We had a very easy docking and got on about checking out the town.
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Petersburg it seems, is still very much a fishing town. Most of the waterfront is full of fish processing plants and the smell of fish is intense. Despite the industrial feel, we found a visitors guide and plenty of shops, hikes, and tour companies around. There is no cruise ship service here, but there is a full size airport so it’s more accessable that most of the towns we have been to on this trip. We toured around a bit and went on a short nature hike followed by an hour at the playground - Sara felt deprived so we were making it up to her. Angela also got her the husky puppy she has been asking about for the last week - what a happy kid!
We grabbed dinner at a food truck having accomplished none of the errands we had set out for ourselves - good thing we are leaving late tomorrow…