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…