Seabiscuit and Beyond: September 2019

Location: Seldovia, Alaska

Approaching the Tiger Glacier

After cruising in Prince William Sound for 8 weeks, mid-June to mid-August, we have now moved west and are cruising the Kenai Peninsula.

August 10, Saturday, Valdez to Northwest Arm, Wells Bay (46 nm, 5.5 hours): We pulled out of the Valdez New Harbor at 8:00 and headed west down Port Valdez then southwest down Valdez Arm.

Following a tender out of the Valdez New Harbor

We saw lots of purse seiners on the move as well as with a lot of sport fishing boats fishing in the bays and along the shorelines. On the northeast corner of Glacier Island, we encountered a lot of bergie bits and brash ice from the Columbia Glacier.

Bergie bits from the Columbia Glacier in the channel on the northeast side of Glacier Island

We cruised through Fairmont Passage and north into Wells Bay where we anchored up in the northwest arm at 14:30. We spent the afternoon reading up on monkey island and unlaxing on the stern.

Dave unlaxing and reading on the stern

A view of the shoreline from our anchorage, NW Arm, Wells Bay

August 11, Sunday, Northwest Arm, Wells Bay: This morning we launched the kayaks and went for a paddle around the bay. There weren’t many fish on the west side but we found a creek filled with humpies (pink salmon) on the north side with bald eagles in the trees along the shoreline. Dave had the fishing rod and did some catch and release.

A bald eagle flying towards us as we approach a creek in the kayaks.

Dave doing some catch and release fishing for salmon.

Back to the boat for lunch and then afternoon projects. Dave finished splicing a four-leg bridle for our flopper-stopper – a device we can attach to a paravane pole and lower over the side to dampen our roll while we are at anchor. We connected it to the starboard pole then the two of us shuffled back and forth across the boat deck to simulate a rolly anchorage. The flopper-stopper seemed to dampen the roll some but we will have to give it a proper test to see if it really helps.

The flopper-stopper on the fore-deck with the bridle attached.

The flopper-stopper in the water off the starboard side.

We re-arranged the stuff in the freezer and counted our halibut packs – 19 one-to-two pound packs -- enough halibut to last us the rest of the season – then had salmon fillets for supper.

August 12, Monday, Wells Bay to West Twin Bay, Perry Island (27 nm, 3.6 hours): It was another beautiful sunny day today. We heaved anchor at 8:30 and headed south towards Perry Island. Both a seine fishery and a gill net fishery were open and we passed both types of fishing boats along our route. We pulled into West Twin Bay on the north side of Perry Island and anchored in a small nook on the east side of the bay. We had lunch and did some reading then launched the dinghy and went ashore for a hike to the nearby ponds. We found both low bush and high bush blueberries along the path so snacked on them along the way.

The dinghy along the shore and Seabiscuit at anchor, Perry Island.

A pond on Perry Island.

Blueberry bushes on Perry Island.

August 13, Tuesday, Perry Island to West Finger Inlet, Port Nellie Juan (25 nm, 3.6 hours): We left the anchorage at Perry Island at 9:00. We picked up the prawn trap, 4 inside, and headed south down Perry Passage then west into Port Nellie Juan. We followed a purse seiner along the coast. He was looking for fish but didn’t find enough to put out his net. He turned around just as we made the turn into West Finger Inlet. We anchored near the head of the inlet and spent the afternoon unlaxing on the stern.

The view of the mountains and the glaciers as we cruise into Port Nellie Juan.

August 14, Wednesday, West Finger Inlet, Port Nellie Juan: It was overcast and rainy this morning and we decided to spend another night at the anchorage in West Finger. Dave did maintenance chores. He found a leak in the Wesmar stabilizer pump so he replaced it and changed the belt on the Balmar alternator with one that was 3/8” shorter. We haven’t had any hummingbirds at our feeders for the last few weeks so I took those down, deflated the paddleboard and did a few other outside chores. We did some voyage planning for our upcoming cruise from Seward to Seldovia and Kodiak and I finished reading my book – The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford, an historical account of Scott and Amundsen’s race to the South Pole, an excellent book. Early evening, we spotted a black bear walking along the creek at the head of the inlet.

August 15, Thursday, Port Nellie Juan to Ewan Bay (37 nm, 5.1 hours): We saw the black bear walking along the creek again this morning. We heaved anchor and got underway at 8:00; eight prawns in the trap. Both the seiners and the bow pickers were fishing along the coast near the entrance to Port Nellie Juan. We cruised south down Dangerous Passage (which isn’t dangerous) and north into Ewan Bay where we anchored among the islands near the west shore. We launched the kayaks and paddled up to the lagoon at the head of the bay. A reversing tidal falls is located at the entrance to the lagoon and it can only be entered or exited near high tide. High tide today was forecast to be at 14:48. We paddled up close to have a look, decided the current was flowing at a reasonable rate and rode the tide into the lagoon.

Dave riding the flood tide into the lagoon at the head of Ewan Bay

There were several creeks that drained into the lagoon and lots of fish. Dave did some catch and release. There were two seals inside the lagoon who followed us as we paddled counter-clockwise around the shore.

The salmon swirling around the kayaks as we paddled near.

We spotted a river otter near the shore in the sea grass looking for a fish and Dave was able to sneak up close.

A river otter in the sea grass catching a fish.

After it sees Dave, it scrambles up the hill with its fish, followed by two pups.

By the time we got back to the lagoon entrance, the tide was ebbing and we rode the current back out into the main inlet. For supper, we made a Mediterranean stew with halibut and reindeer sausage.

Leaving Ewan Bay. The waterfall in the center of the photo is the tidal falls coming out of the lagoon at the head of the bay

August 16, Friday, Ewan Bay to Orca Cove, Whale Bay (36 nm, 5.2 hours): Anchor up at 8:00 this morning. There was only one prawn in the trap and he escaped down the hawsepipe as we were trying to get him out of the netting. We cruised south to Icy Bay then turned north into Nassau Fiord and through the glacial ice to the face of Chenega Glacier. We turned off the engine and listened to the glacier crackle and groan.

The Russian catamaran, Iskatel, working its way through the ice at Chenega Glacier.
The link takes you to an article about the sailboat arriving in Homer, Alaska in 2018.

The Chenega Glacier

Tiger Tail Glacier.

Back out into Icy Bay, we cruised south to Tiger Glacier. We stopped along the way to watch two black bears on the north shore near the mouth of creek. After admiring the glacier and the numerous waterfalls flowing down the granite cliffs, we turned around and cruised back north to Whale Bay. We dropped off the prawn trap then motored into Orca Cove and anchored up for the night.

Waterfall down the rocks at the face of the Tiger Glacier.

August 17, Saturday, Orca Cove, Whale Bay: A cold front started moving through Prince William Sound late last night. The weather forecast predicted that the wind would continue to blow most of the day, so we decided to sit tight and enjoy our cozy anchorage in Orca Cove. Just after breakfast, we spotted a black bear with two cubs at the head of the cove and about 30 minutes later spotted another bear wandering up the creek and into the trees. We spent the day doing boat chores, reading and unlaxing.

The view from our anchorage at Orca Cove.

August 18, Sunday, Whale Bay to Fox Farm (23 nm, 3.4 hours): We checked the shoreline for bears this morning but didn’t see any. We fired up the engine at 8:15 and started to heave the anchor. Our anchor chain was wrapped around a rock (we did a lot of swinging while the winds from the cold front were blowing) and we had to do some maneuvering to unwrap the chain. The prawn trap only had 5 inside which was disappointing since it had soaked for an extra night. The wind was still blowing 15 – 20 knots as we made our way out of Whale Bay, into Knight Passage and south down Prince of Wales Passage. We saw a lot of purse seiners anchored in the coves along the way, hoping for a fishery opening tomorrow; later that afternoon, we heard on the VHF that many of the fishing areas within Prince William Sound would be open for a 12 hour period tomorrow. We saw a whale spouting near shore just before we dropped off the prawn trap near the entrance to Fox Farm Bay. The wind from Elrington Passage was whipping across the top of an isthmus (tombolo?) on the east side of the bay where we planned to anchor for the night; we were able to tuck in close to shore, just south of the isthmus and mostly out of the wind.

I put a roast in the crockpot, did some voyage planning for the rest of the season, started a new book and prepared line and fenders for going in to Seward tomorrow while Dave repaired a crack in his kayak cockpit. We heard an otter pup loudly bawling for its mother while it was being swept out into the bay in the wind and current, then, off in the distance heard the mother respond and watched the two reunite and swim towards the calmer water near shore. The wind finally died down early evening. After supper, we watched a group of 15 mergansers swimming and feeding along the shoreline.

A chart snapshot showing where we dropped off the prawn trap, the marker at the top middle inside the yellow track-line circle, and where we found it the next morning, the marker at the bottom right.

August 19, Monday, Fox Farm to Seward (54 nm, 6.9 hours): We heaved anchor at 7:15 and headed out of the bay to pick up the prawn trap. We searched for it in the area where we had dropped it but couldn’t find the float. Dave did a scan and finally spotted it nearer to shore 0.4 nm southeast from where it should have been; the wind and current in Prince of Wales Passage must have dragged it out of position. We picked it up. It had a few hairy tritons on the top of it but no prawns inside. Prawn fishing is closed to non-residents along the Kenai Peninsula so we won't be putting out the trap again until we get to Afognak and Kodiak Islands.

We cruised out of Prince William Sound and started our journey along the south shore of the Kenai Peninsula. We had the current behind us most of the voyage and made good time. There were a few purse seiners fishing in the bays and a lot of sport fishing boats bottom fishing offshore and salmon fishing near the coast. As we turned north toward Resurrection Bay, we cruised through the passage between the southern tip of the Resurrection Peninsula (Cape Resurrection) and Barwell Island. This passage is "known for its sea birds including large colonies of black-legged kittiwakes and common murres".

The view of Barwell Island from the stern as we turn north into Resurrection Bay

We passed through El Dorado Narrows, a “4.5 nm passage dividing the Resurrection Peninsula mainland from Fox and Hive Islands”, then across Resurrection Bay and in to the Seward Harbor. We tied up alongside the “F” transient dock, checked in with the harbor master, bought a new boat hook at the marine store and settled in for a few days in town.

August 20 – 23, Tuesday – Friday, Seward: Seward is a thriving and busy port town. There is a cruise ship dock, a train station, a good grocery store, lots of RV parks and a road inland. The harbor is filled with sight-seeing/whale watching boats and sport fishing boats and mornings and afternoons are busy with boats coming in and out of the harbor. We spent our time doing typical town things like laundry and provisioning. We ate at many of the local restaurants, enjoyed the tourist attractions including the Sea Life Center and the Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center, walked along the shoreline and met some interesting people. Overall it was a great stop.

A tufted puffin at the Sea Life Center.

The Mile 0 sign post of the Iditarod National Historic Trail

One of the seasonal businesses along the Seward waterfront, The Snagg'n Wagon, Rent Poles and Waders Here.
There were fishermen all along the beach fishing for silver (Coho) salmon.

Exploring Alaska's Kenai Fjords is the cruising guide that we are using for the Kenai Peninsula.
The statements in "quotes" are from this book.

August 24, Saturday, Seward to Thunder Bay (50 nm, 7.5 hours): This morning we started the main engine and got away from the dock at 8:30. Our plan for the next few days was to cruise up and down the fjords along the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula and to check out the glaciers and wildlife along the way. Today’s destination was Aialak Bay with Holgate Glacier on the west side and Aialak Glacier at the head of the bay. But, we changed our plans. There have been forest fires burning on the Kenai Peninsula, particularly the Swan Lake fire, for most of the summer. For several days while we were in Seward, the wind was blowing from the north and the smoke from the forest fires engulfed the areas around town. Some days it was so bad that you couldn’t even see the mountains on the east side of Resurrection Bay.

Looking back at the Seward shoreline after exiting the harbor.
You can just barely see the outline of the mountains through the smoke.

Today was one of those days. On the VHF radio, we could hear the tour boat operators complaining about the visibility and the kayak touring companies debating whether or not to go out paddling. On Purple Air, a website that provides real time air quality monitoring, Seward’s rating was 480+ on a scale with a maximum of 500, meaning the air was hazardous, with the entire population likely to be affected. If we went up Aialik Bay, we would still be in the smoke, so we decided to try going further west in order to get out of it. We went south down Resurrection Bay then through the Harbor and Chiswell Islands and west along the coast of the Kenai Peninsula. The Chiswell Islands are part of Alaska’s Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and are the home of numerous seabirds. Beehive Island and the unnamed island to its east are “two 500 foot tall sea stacks [that] provide ideal nesting habitat for more than 30,000 tufted puffins: the largest nesting population of tufted puffins on the entire Kenai Peninsula.” Needless to say, we saw a lot of tufted puffins, horned puffins and other sea birds as we cruised through the islands.

The steep seacliffs at the entrance to Thunder Bay.

We decided on Thunder Bay as our anchorage for the night. It was out of the smoke, we had heard good things about it and it had a good write up in our guide book. We entered the bay and we were not disappointed. It had a wild, remote feel to it with steep seacliffs at the entrance, beaches in the coves along the shore and a waterfall high up in the cliffs at the head of the bay. We anchored up, settled in for the night and watched the wildlife in the bay.

The head of Thunder Bay.

We spotted a mountain goat in the alpine meadows above us, watched a pair of oyster-catchers chase a bald eagle, watched some magpies on the beach, saw a black bear feeding along the tide line and watched a Kittlitz's Murrelet feeding in a school of small bait fish.

Kittlitz's Murrelet feeding in a school of bait fish, Thunder Bay

August 25, Sunday, Thunder Bay to Sunday Harbor (51 nm, 5.9 hours): Another day of rearranging our voyaging schedule. Our original plan was to go up Harris Bay and Northwestern Fjord to look at the Northwestern Glacier. We passed both yesterday on our way to Thunder Bay so our plan for today was to go up McCarty Fjord to see the McCarty Glacier. We heaved anchor at 8:00 and cruised down the east shore of the McCarty Peninsula. The wind was blowing 20 – 25 knots and we had some waves and swell so we put our “secure for sea” straps on the cabinets. We turned west and cruised through McArthur Pass which cuts between the mainland and the Pye Islands. Once we got through the pass, it was like we were in the inside passage, with very little wind, no waves and no swell. We turned north up McCarty Fjord and encountered a thin haze of smoke. It looked like the smoke got thicker further north, so we turned around and headed towards Nuka Bay. We cruised the Nuka Passage on the north and west side of Nuka Island and decided we would anchor in Tonsina Bay for the night. We listened to the weather forecast on the VHF; the wind was going to pick up and blow from the north east later in the day.

A beach in Tonsina Bay

We cruised around the anchorages in Tonsina Bay, decided that they were too deep with not enough protection from the northeast winds, and cruised back out again. We went south around Gore Point then north into Port Dick and anchored in a small alcove in Sunday Harbor. This anchorage was very well protected. We settled in and watched the sea otters playing and feeding in the bay.

August 26, Monday, Sunday Harbor to Port Chatham (32 nm, 4.1 hours): The wind was supposed to blow hard from the north all day and our original plan was to sit tight and wait for the weather to pass. When we got up this morning, it was dead calm in the anchorage and we decided to take our chances and continue our journey west. We cruised south out of Port Dick, turned west and cruised between the Chugach Islands and the mainland. It was a good day to be out on the water; the winds were light, less than 10 knots, and the seas were calm, less than 2 feet. We got a push from the current in the Chugach Passage and made good time. We saw lots of puffins and other sea birds along the way. There was a small fleet of purse seiners fishing in Rocky Bay and we listened to them talk on the VHF radio, which was very entertaining. We turned east into Port Chatham and anchored east of the sand spit near the north shore in 20 feet of water. We spent the afternoon doing projects, boat chores and voyage planning for our trip to Kodiak.

Looking east from our anchorage towards the head of Port Chatham.

August 27, Tuesday, Port Chatham: We launched our kayaks and spent the morning paddling up to the head of the bay and back.

B paddling up the creek at the head of Port Chatham.

A sea otter, Port Chatham.

Just after lunch, we saw a black bear come of the woods, walk along a small creek, grab a fish and saunter back into the woods. We spent the afternoon doing boat projects, chores and some more voyage planning.

Sunrise, Port Chatham

August 28, Wednesday, Port Chatham to Seldovia (29 nm, 3.2 hours): We heaved anchor at 8:00 this morning and cruised out of Port Chatham and north along the coast to Kachemak Bay. We had the flood current behind us and made good time. There were two purse seiners cruising up the coast at the same time and we listened to their chatter on the VHF radio. We turned into Seldovia Bay Inlet ~11:00 and hailed the harbormaster for a slip assignment, then cruised into the Seldovia Small Boat Harbor and tied up alongside the main dock. We walked up to check in and had lunch at one of the restaurants along the waterfront.

A carving from 2017 chainsaw carving competition at the entrance to Seldovia City Park.

A view of the Small Boat Harbor looking north from Seldovia City Park.

For our afternoon adventure, we explored the historic boardwalk, checked out the visitor center/museum and did a loop around town. There is a chainsaw carving contest here this weekend and we checked out the work in progress.

August 29, Thursday, Seldovia: We started our day with a walk along the Otter Bahn, a trail through the woods to the shoreline north of town and Outside Beach. We came back into town along the road. The chainsaw carving competition was in full swing and we stopped to watch the artists at work. This is an annual competition and there are interesting chainsaw sculptures from previous year's competitions all around town.

B at the start of the Otter Bahn Trail.

The bridge across the marsh on the Otter Bahn Trail.

B walking along the shore at Outside Beach.

On the way back to the harbor, we stopped to check out the chainsaw carving competition. There were three carvers, all invited to participate: Jordan Anderson from Turnagain Arm, Alaska; Chris and Porter Foltz from North Bend, Oregon; and Jacob Lucas from Bonney Lake, Washington. Each day of the competition, they have a "quick carve" event, where the artists carve a small sculpture in ~ 1 hour. Below are photos of some of the quick carves and also of work in progress on the large carvings.

An owl, one of Jordan Anderson's quick carves.

Jordan Anderson working on his large sculpture of an owl in flight.

A small bear, one of Chris and Porter Foltz's quick carves.

Chris and Porter Foltz working on their large carving of a mosquito.

The raven, one of Jacob Lucas's quick carves.

Jacob Lucas taking a break from working on his large hummingbird sculpture.

August 30, Friday, Seldovia: Today we did a few boat chores and enjoyed the town. We walked up to the cafe and bakery for lunch, stopped to bid on a few items at the clinic's silent auction (we didn't win anything) and enjoyed the wildlife around the harbor. It rained here most of the day which everyone in town was thankful for. It has been a dry, hot summer and the town is having a severe water shortage. There are conservation measures in affect all around town: the harbor water is shut off completely, the restaurants are using paper plates and plastic silverware for breakfast and lunch so that they don't have to do dishes and the library is on restricted hours.

A crow sitting on Dave's kayak. They have been dropping their shellfish on the boat deck to crack them open.

River otters on the docks in the Seldovia Small Boat Harbor

August 31, Saturday, Seldovia to Homer via fast ferry (15 nm, 45 minutes): This morning we rode the Seldovia Bay Ferry across Kachemak Bay to Homer. The ferry docks in the Homer Small Boat Harbor at the south end of the Homer Spit. We walked the trail north along the spit to the Homer Farmer's Market where we bought fresh vegetables and a few other things.

The Homer Small Boat Harbor, much larger than Seldovia's. The purse seiners at the dock were rafted 3 - 4 deep.

Our veggies from the farmer's market: beets, leeks, chard, daikon radishes, green peppers,
tomatoes, green beans, ground cherries, spicy peppers, a bag of braising greens and rhubarb jelly.

From there, we checked into our hotel, then rode the trolley downtown for lunch, a visit to the Homer Bookstore and a tour of the Pratt Museum. We rode the trolley around town and down to the spit and back then got off at Grace Ridge Brewing for a beer. Back to the hotel to put our feet up after all of our walking (7 miles total). We had supper at the hotel restaurant and called it a day.

A pair of sandhill cranes near the hotel, getting ready to migrate south for the winter. Their baby was also with them.

September 1, Sunday, Homer to Seldovia via fast ferry (15 nm, 45 minutes): We took a cab down to the Homer spit and had breakfast then caught the ferry back to Seldovia. Today was the final day of the chainsaw carving competition and the large sculptures were finished.