Prince William Sound to South East Alaska and Glacier Bay (August 9 - 23, 2020)

 Location:  Auke Bay, Alaska

Sunset, Yakutat, Alaska

Sunday, August 9, 2020 – Cordova to Sheep Bay (19 nm, 2.6 hours):  It was raining this morning.  We took a short walk then pulled away from the dock at 8:30.  A seiner salmon fishery closed last night and the tenders were anchored up outside the harbor waiting to get to the cannery docks to unload.  A tender is a vessel that supports the fishing fleet while they are out fishing.  They take the fish from the fishing vessels and transport it to the processing plants and provide fuel, ice, lubricants, etc.

Seabiscuit amongst the fishing boats at the Cordova transient dock

Nets for a net recycling program in conjunction with Grunden's

Tender unloading at one of the Cordova fish processing plants

Tenders anchored outside the Cordova harbor waiting to unload their fish at the processing plants.

We turned into Sheep Bay ~11:00 and made our way to an anchorage near a waterfall.  We could see sheep up on the steep mountain sides.  We untangled our shrimp trap line, had some lunch and settled in for the afternoon.

Calm water as we enter Sheep Bay

The waterfall near our anchorage, Sheep Bay

A black bear on the shore, Sheep Bay

Monday, August 10, 2020 – Sheep Bay to Garden Cove (40 nm, 5.4 hours):  It was overcast this morning but not raining.  We heaved anchor at 7:45 and cruised out of the bay and into Orca Bay, around Johnstone Point, south into Hinchinbrook Entrance and east into Port Etches.  We anchored up in Garden Bay near the head of Port Etches.  We saw a brown bear sow and three cubs come out of the woods to feed on salmon in the mouth of the creek.  While we were watching them, we saw two deer in the grassy area along the shore (too far away for any photos).    

Oil spill response barge in Port Etches

Dave tightening up the flange bolts on the forward bilge valve manifold.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020 – Garden Cove to Wingham Island, NE (85 nm, 12.9 hours):  Anchor up at 6:30 this morning.  West out of Port Etches then south out of the Hinchinbrook Entrance.  Wind was blowing 15 – 20 knots and we had combined seas of 5 – 6 feet (a combination of wind waves on top of a southwest swell).  We had a ½ knot ocean current against us for most of the voyage and only averaged 6.5 knots, our usual average is 7+ knots, so a long day.  We were planning to anchor up at Kayak Entrance, a small spot on the north side of Kayak Island, but there was a pretty good swell coming in to the anchorage so we decided to go to the northeast side of Wingham Island.  It was nice behind the island, out of the wind and the swell.  We anchored up at 19:00 and settled in for the night.

Departing Garden Cove and heading down Port Etches. 
You can see the oil spill response barge and tug on the left side of the photo.

Birds at "Bird Island" on the NW side of Wingham Island

Wednesday, August 12, 2020 – Wingham Island, NE to Icy Bay (119 nm, 17.1 hours): Anchor up at 4:30 this morning while it was still dark.  Overcast skies with winds 10 – 15 knots and seas 2 – 3 feet.  We came around Cape St. Elias on the west side of Kayak Island, then turned east for the voyage to Icy Bay.  We had some rain showers along the way but overall a good day for a long cruise.  We anchored up at 21:30 in a small cove in front of the Icy Bay Lodge.

Pinnacle Rock and the Cape St. Elias Lighthouse on the southwest end of Kayak Island

Departing Icy Bay on Thursday morning.

Thursday, August 13, 2020 – Icy Bay to Yakutat (64 nm, 9 hours):  Up at 6:00 this morning.  Coffee and breakfast and we checked into the Boater’s Net with Darlene.  Anchor up and underway by 7:30.  As we were entering Icy Bay last night, we saw a tug and barge loaded with logging equipment leaving the bay and heading south.  This morning a crane barge was retrieving the chain that must have been used for the log booms and loading it onto her decks.  The spit at the south entrance to Icy Bay is poorly chartered and juts out into the bay much further than indicated.  It would be interesting to do an overlay with Google Earth to see what the difference is.  Some of the coast line south of Icy Bay is marked on the charts as “uncharted”.  We watched our depth sounder closely as we cruise along about 2.5 nm offshore and saw 80 – 90 feet of water.  Just before lunch we saw a small pod of humpback whales feeding along the tide line.  We entered Monti Bay at 16:00 and anchored at the head of the bay near the Yakutat cannery.

If you look close, you can see a humpback whale tail.

 While Dave was transferring fuel, he decided to check the wye suction strainer for the fuel transfer pumps.  

This is what he found.  The red material is old RTV that was used as gasket material for the fuel tank hatch covers.  

We replaced the RTV with Buna N (nitrile) gasket material several years ago, but never thought to check this strainer.

The Yakutat fish processing plant.

Friday, August 14, 2020 – Yakutat to Graves Harbor (134 nm, 17.8 hours):  Another long run planned for today so anchor up and underway at 4:30.  Partly cloudy skies and we watched the sunrise over the coastal mountains.  The winds were less than 10 knots, there were no wind generated waves and the swell was 1 – 2 feet so great trawler cruising weather.  Our original plan was to go into Lituya Bay and we had planned our timing to reach the entrance just after ebb slack and ride the flood tide into the bay.  Somewhere along the way we decided that because the weather was so nice, we should do an extra +/- 30 nm in order to take advantage.  The weather forecast predicted that the wind and seas would pick up tomorrow and if we did the extra distance today, we would have a short run into Cross Sound tomorrow morning.  The weather remained good until about 20:30 when we rounded Icy Point.  As we crossed Palma Bay we had wind of 25 – 30 knots and the wind waves to go with it.  We turned on the radar and marked the Sugarloaf Island Shoal buoy as a target; that’s where we made our turn into Graves Harbor.  We anchored up in the dark, at 22:30, at the head of the south arm of Graves Harbor.

Sunrise over the Fairweather Range south of Yakutat

The red flashing light of the Sugarloaf Island Shoal Buoy.

Saturday, August 15, 2020 – Graves Harbor to Elfin Cove (20 nm, 2.8 hours):  We checked into the Boater’s net this morning then heaved anchor and got underway at 8:15 to catch the incoming tide in Cross Sound.  It was raining and overcast with winds 15 – 20 knots.  We tied up at the outer dock in Elfin Cove at 11:00.  It rained most of the afternoon but we had a good view of the trollers and sport fishing boats unloading their catch at the fish processing barge next to the fuel dock.  It finally stopped raining about 15:30 so we went for a walk along the boardwalk, bought a few things at the store and dropped of some mail at the post office.  The hamburger restaurant in town was open for take-out so we had cheese burgers and french fries for supper. 

The Cape Spencer Lighthouse at the north entrance to Cross Sound

The Elfin Cove inner harbor

B and a gnome on the Elfin Cove walking path

The fish processing barge moored near the Elfin Cove fuel dock.

Sunday, August, 16, 2020 – Elfin Cove to Hoonah (37 nm, 4.5 hours):  We left the dock this morning at 6:45 to catch the flood tide east.  It was overcast, but no rain, wind or seas so nice traveling weather.  We saw a few fishing trollers working near the shore and two humpback whales feeding along the tide line.  One of the whales breached out in front of us and made a mighty splash.  We pulled into the Hoonah harbor and tied up at the transient dock about 11:15.  We did some boat chores while an afternoon rain shower moved through then went for a walk through town.  We decided we would try to get a permit to go up into Glacier Bay for a few days so we watched the orientation videos and submitted our permit application.

Dave installing a new stabilizer cooling water pump

A panel from one of the new information stations that have been installed around the town of Hoonah

A coffee shop in Hoonah

The Gunts Totem Pole (see full description in the photo below)

Description of the Gunts Totem Pole

The Hoonah "eagle tree" with a bald eagle nest and a young eagle on the branch above the nest.

Monday, August 17, 2020 – Hoonah:  We spent the morning doing maintenance and boat chores then walked into town for a few things at the hardware store and a few groceries.  We stopped for lunch at the Fisherman’s Daughter and ate at an outside table.  Hoonah hasn’t had any Covid-19 cases and seems fairly normal, although they haven’t had any cruise ships this year and masks are required in most stores.  More maintenance and chores in the afternoon.  We got our permit to go to Glacier Bay so we did some planning for our trip up there.

When we tested the new stabilizer cooling water pump, the outflow was much less than expected. 
We inspected the heat exchanger and found it restricted with scale build-up.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020 – Hoonah to South Fingers Bay, Glacier Bay (39 nm, 4.8 hours):  We filled our fresh water tank, took up the trash and left the dock at 9:30 this morning so that we could ride the flood tide into Glacier Bay.  Partly cloudy, light winds and calm seas.  We saw a few humpback whales along the way along with lots of sea otters.  We dropped off our shrimp trap outside the entrance to South Fingers Bay and dropped off the crab trap outside the entrance to the cove where we anchored.  We settled in and watched the birds in the cove and scanned the shores for wildlife.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 – South Fingers Bay to Reid Cove via Tarr Inlet/Margerie Glacier (55 nm, 8.5 hours):  We heaved anchor this morning at 8:45 and cruised out of the cove.  We spotted a black bear on the shore as we headed toward the crab trap; it was empty except for one small flat fish.  We exited the bay to pick up our shrimp trap but it wasn’t where we left it.  We scanned the horizon and spotted it about 0.5 nm away out in the main channel.  We went over to pick it up and found it empty – very disappointing.  We cruised north up the main channel and then between Russell Island and the mainland looking for wildlife.  North of Russell Island, on the east shore of Tarr Inlet, we spotted a brown (grizzly) bear sauntering along the shore line.  About 3 nm north, we spotted another brown bear along the shore.  We cruised up within a ¼ mile of the face of Margerie Glacier and shut down the engine to enjoy the sounds of the glacier crackling in the sunlight.  There were two mega-yachts in the area with their jet skis and tenders zipping along between the bergie bits.

The Margerie Glacier

One of the mega-yachts near the glacier.  There is a helicopter on the stern deck.

The Grand Pacific Glacier is at the head of Tarr Inlet but it has receded a long way from the shore line.  On the way out, we used the boat hook to bring a piece of ice close to the swim platform and chipped enough ice off of it to fill our cooler.

Our cooler filled with glacier ice

We cruised south down Tarr Inlet to the entrance of Reid Inlet and dropped off the shrimp trap.  We dropped off the crab trap and anchored in the northwest corner of the inlet. 

Entering Reid Inlet.  Reid Glacier is at the head of the inlet.

Thursday, August 20, 2020 – Reid Cove to Blue Mouse Cove via John Hopkins Inlet and Glacier (38 nm, 4.5 hours):  Both the crab trap and the shrimp trap were empty this morning so we decided we wouldn’t set them out again while we were in the park.  We cruised west past the Lamplugh Glacier and into John Hopkins Inlet.  We had tried to enter John Hopkins last year but it was so choked with ice that we turned back.  This year the ice was manageable and we made our way to the head of the inlet and the face of the glacier.  On the way in we saw two kayakers along the north shore, breaking camp and getting ready to head out for the day.  

Passing by the Lamplugh Glacier on the way up John Hopkins Inlet

Two kayakers (inside the purple circle) on the north shore of John Hopkins Inlet. 
This gives you an idea of the scale of the mountains in the area.

John Hopkins Glacier

We spent some time cruising parallel along the face of the glacier and watched a few small ice chunks roll down.  John Hopkins Inlet is a major breeding habitat for seals and we saw a lot of them on the ice underneath the face of the glacier.  We cruised east out of the inlet then turned south and cruised down to Blue Mouse Cove where we anchored up for the night.  Dave spotted a black bear swimming across the southwest side of the cove and we watched him until he came ashore just south of our anchor spot, turned the corner and walked out of sight.

Friday, August 21, 2020 – Blue Mouse to South Sandy Cove (17 nm, 2.5 hours):  We dawdled this morning with plans to go kayaking in Scidmore Bay after the tide came up and covered the land bridge between Blue Mouse Cove and Hugh Miller Inlet.  There was a humpback whale feeding in the cove and we enjoyed watching it as it made laps around the area.  After lunch we went up to the boat deck to launch the kayaks when the wind picked-up and it looked like rain to the south.  We decided to abort our kayaking plans and instead heaved anchor and cruised across to South Sandy Cove.  We anchored up mid-afternoon and listened to the rain pattering on the roof.  For supper, we made pizza for the first time this year – one pepperoni with green chilis and one mushroom, artichoke and olives – both were delicious.

Looking out the entrance of Blue Mouse Cove at the mountains on the other side of the channel. 
There is a whale feeding near the point.

Saturday, August 22, 2020 – South Sandy Cove to Hoonah (44 nm, 5.5 hours):  It was foggy this morning when we woke up.  The tide was in our favor to exit the park so we heaved anchor and headed south to Hoonah.  We tied up at the transient dock just after lunch and settled in.  We did our laundry and checked e-mails and the internet.  For supper we walked up to the Icy Bay Lodge and had hamburgers.  We spent the evening doing some voyage planning for the rest of our time in South East Alaska.

A buck and a doe feeding on a hillside in Hoonah.

Sunset, Hoonah, Alaska

Sunday, August 23, 2020 – Hoonah to Auke Bay (42 nm, 5.5 hours):  We left the Hoonah harbor at 8:00 this morning and headed east to Auke Bay, just north of Juneau.  We tied up in Statter Harbor about 13:30 and spent the afternoon watching the sport fishing boats coming in with their weekend catch.  We'll do a few town chores tomorrow, then head back into the wilderness on Tuesday.

Until Next Time…

Prince WIlliam Sound with Bob (July 30 - August 8, 2020)

Location:  Cordova, Alaska

At the end of the last blog, we were in Seward waiting for our friend Bob to join us for a cruise in Prince William Sound.

Looking north towards the Chugach Mountains from our anchorage at Emerald Cove 

Thursday, July 30, 2020 – Seward:  We spent most of the day doing maintenance and chores including loading water and taking up our trash.  Bob came aboard mid-afternoon to join us for a week of cruising in Prince William Sound.  He settled in then we went out for a walk along the coastline and into downtown.  We had supper at The Cookery, then walked through town to the start of the Marathon Mountain Race.  On the way back to the boat, we stopped at the hardware store for bait and some fishing tackle.

An old pier on the Seward shoreline

Planter in the shoreside campground, Seward, AK

Marathon Mountain (top),
Description of the race to the top (bottom left), Start of the race (bottom right)

Art work, Downtown Seward, Alaska

Friday, July 31, 2020 – Seward to Fox Farm Bay, Prince William Sound (53 nm, 6.5 hours):  We left the dock this morning about 7:45 and headed south down Resurrection Bay.  Bob spotted some mountain goats on the slopes of Cape Resurrection.  We cruised east along the Chugach Coast and as we approached Cape Puget, Dave and Bob set up the fishing poles.  Bob knew of a great place to catch rockfish just south of the cape.  We stopped to fish for a while and caught some rockfish but didn't keep anything.  As we turned into Port Bainbridge, the west entrance to Prince William Sound, we saw four orcas swimming along the shore.  We anchored up in Fox Farm Bay and settled in for the evening.

Cape Resurrection

Barwell Island

Dave fishing for rockfish south of Cape Puget

Saturday, August 1, 2020 – Fox Farm Bay to Jackpot Bay via Chenega and Tiger Glaciers (58 nm, 6.5 hours):  It was overcast and raining as we heaved anchor this morning at 7:30 in order to catch the flood current up Bainbridge Passage.  Bainbridge Passage is narrow with steep cliff sides and lots of waterfalls.  We caught the current right and our speed over ground (SOG) exceeded 10 knots as we made our way north.  

Shoreline of Bainbridge Passage

Bob had some previous good luck shrimping on the east side of Verdant Island so we dropped off our shrimp pot there, then turned southwest down Icy Bay.

Bob setting out the shrimp trap near Verdant Island

Our shrimp trap buoys floating near Verdant Island, notice the bergie bit in the background

We cruised into Chenega Bay and got within 1/4 mile of the face of the Chenega Glacier.  On the way out of the bay, we stopped to collect some glacier ice for our coolers.  Further southwest, at the head of Icy Bay, is the Tiger Glacier so we went to check it out.  

Seals on an bergie bit near Chenega Glacier

Ice berg near Chenega Glacier

Panoramic view of Chenega Glacier

Waterfalls near Tiger Glacier

Panoramic view of Tiger Glacier

We headed back to Verdant Island to pick up our shrimp trap; there were eleven inside, enough for shrimp cocktails.  We headed to Jackpot Bay to anchor up for the night and dropped off the pot again just outside the entrance.  The wind was forecast to be greater than 25 knots from the east, then northeast so we anchored up in a small, well protected cove on the north side of the bay.

Bob recovering the shrimp trap near Verdant Island

Bob resetting the shrimp trap near the entrance to Jackpot Bay

Sunday, August 2, 2020 – Jackpot Bay to Waterfall Cove (43 nm, 6.0 hours):  It was overcast and raining when we got up this morning.  It was calm as we left the anchorage.  

The small island we anchored near in Jackpot Bay.  Fireweed is growing on top.  This photo was taken at low tide.

We only had two shrimp in the shrimp trap.  The winds picked up to 20 - 25 knots as we exited Knight Passage and we had some lumpy, 3 - 4 feet, seas.  We got a small break from the seas as we passed between Perry and Lone Island and were almost completely out of the wind and seas as we entered Esther Passage.  This was one area we didn't visit last year because both the south and northwest entrances were crowded with bowpickers (a bowpicker is a fishing boat rigged to fish with a gillnet deployed from the bow of the boat) .  There were no bowpickers out in the area today.  We dropped off our shrimp trap near Grommet Bay then went about 3 nm further north to anchor in Waterfall Cove.  

The waterfalls coming down the cliffs at the head of the cove were spectacular and the cove was full of life.  Gulls and bald eagles were gathered at the mouths of two creeks that drained into the cove, sea lions were catching salmon, curious sea otters swam up close to the boat to check us out and we saw a black bear come out of the woods.

The waterfalls at the head of Waterfall Cove

Monday, August 3, 2020 – Waterfall Cove to Emerald Bay (34 nm, 5.2 hours):  It was still raining when we got up this morning.  We watched a group of mergansers feeding along the shore while we had our breakfast and coffee.  We heaved anchor ~8:00 and headed south down Esther Passage to pick up our shrimp trap.  Only two inside.  There was a light fog in the area so we turned on the radar as we exited the passage and turned east.  It was a bumpy ride with winds in the low 20s and seas 3 - 4 feet until we entered the passage north of Glacier Island where we were protected from both the wind and the seas.  We had a break from the rain so we stopped to do some fishing.  We mostly did some catch and release but we kept one rockfish for ceviche.

It started to rain again so we pulled in our lines.  Bob stayed out on deck to fillet the rockfish and got a little beat up by the wind and the rain.  We motored into Heather Bay, dropped off the shrimp trap, then anchored up in Emerald Cove.  While we were doing some route planning for tomorrow, we noticed that we only had 6 feet of water under the keel.  The tide was at plus 10 feet with a negative tide forecasted for the early morning.  We were a little two close to shore, so we heaved anchor and moved out to deeper water.

Clouds along the mountains surrounding Heather Bay

Small waterfall near our anchorage location in Emerald Bay

Tuesday, August 4, 2020 – Emerald Bay to Landlocked Bay via Columbia Glacier (50 nm, 6 hours):  We woke up to a bright, sunny day this morning which was a nice change.  We heaved anchor and checked our shrimp trap, 8 large shrimp inside.  

Bob and B on the bow retrieving the shrimp trap outside of Emerald Bay

We reset it to try and catch more while we went up to the Columbia Glacier.  We had tried to go up and see the glacier last year, but the ice was so heavy in the moraine area that we couldn't get through.  This year the path was easy and we motored all the way to the head of the bay.  The Columbia Glacier has receded significantly from when the area was charted and most of the ice now comes off the face of the eastern arm.  We got within 2 nm of the face.  The area closer in was choked with ice and wasn't charted so we took a few pictures and headed south.

Heading north towards the Columbia Glacier

The Columbia Glacier

Picture of our chart plotter making it look like we are on top of the glacier

We picked up our shrimp trap and had 6 more inside, enough to make shrimp and grits for supper.  

Bob and B on the bow after the second pull of the shrimp trap, 6 were inside

We dropped anchor "a lunch hook" just south of Elf Point and Dave and Bob fished while I made lunch.  No luck.  We moved further east/northeast and tried a few places where we had luck last year, but didn't catch anything worth keeping.  We cruised south down the Tatitlek Narrows, tried fishing again near Bidarka Point - no luck, dropped off our shrimp trap and pulled into Landlocked Bay to anchor for the night.  We spotted a few mountain goats on the way in.

Bob fishing off the stern

Wednesday, August 5, 2020 – Landlocked Bay to Cordova (49 nm, 6.5 hours): It was partly sunny this morning.  We heaved anchor and got underway ~7:45.  The shrimp trap was empty which is what we expected based on last year's results; we didn't catch any shrimp on the east side of Prince William Sound.  We tried a few fishing spots on the south shore of Port Fidalgo, near Snug Corner Cove but didn't have any luck.  We scoped out a few places to try west of Goose Island, but the weather picked up as we headed out there.  The weather prediction for the day was winds: light and variable, seas: 2 feet; reality as we cruised from the west side of Goose Island, around Knowles Head and across Port Gravina was winds: 25 - 30 knots, seas: 3 - 4 feet, definitely unexpected.  Things settled down again as we came around Gravina Point and headed east into Orca Bay.  Mid-afternoon, we tied up at the transient dock in the Cordova Harbor.

Our view of the Cordova transient dock from the pilot house

We took a walk around the harbor to the Science Center and up the hill through downtown.  We ate supper at Baja Taco and spent the rest of the evening unlaxing.

View of the entrance to the Cordova Harbor at high tide (from the Science Center)

Thursday, August 6, 2020 - Cordova:  Bob took an early morning walk to The Little Cordova Bakery and brought back biscuits and gravy for our breakfast.  We took a walk around town to burn off some of our breakfast, then came back to the boat so Bob could pack his bags.  He caught the airport shuttle and flew to Anchorage on the early afternoon flight.

St. George's church, built in 1917-1918

Bob and Dave waiting for the airport shuttle 

A bowpicker at the dock in Cordova Harbor, you can see the gillnet reel on the bow.

It's been a very different summer as compared to last year.  Along with the issues associated with COVID-19, and the rainy weather, the commercial salmon fishery is experiencing the 4th lowest harvest to date in 50  years.  When we were in Cordova last summer, there were boats constantly in motion, moving from their slips to the haul-out grid, to the fuel dock, to the fish processing plants and out to the fishing grounds.  The harbor is very quiet this year and we saw very few fishing boats out working in Prince William Sound.

Cordova's response to the COVID-19 situation has been the best we've seen since we arrived in Alaska (our comparisons are Kodiak and Seward).  Masks are required when entering a business; many businesses are set-up for curbside or window pick-up only and many have handing washing stations near their front doors.  There are large signs posted at the harbor entrance stating that any boats arriving from out of state must quarantine for 14 days and when we ate at the Mexican restaurant, we were required to leave a phone number for contact tracing.

Friday - Saturday, August 7 - 8, 2020 - Cordova:  We have spent most of our time in Cordova doing chores and maintenance.  It continues to rain, but we have had enough clear weather to do some walking.  We've done some voyage planning for our trip to Southeast Alaska.  It looks like we will have a weather window to make the trip starting on Tuesday.  Our plan is to leave Cordova on Sunday and to spend two nights at anchor before exiting Prince William Sound.

Salmon berry picking on one of our walks

Sea otter in the Cordova Harbor

Until next time...