First Cruise of the Season (July 20 - July 29, 2020)

Location:  Seward, Alaska

At the end of the last blog, we were ready to launch and start our cruising season.

Lowering Seabiscuit into the water, Fuller's Boat Yard, Kodiak, Alaska

Monday, July 20, 2020 – Kodiak to Long Island (5 nm, 1 hour):  A nice sunny day today.  We checked out of our apartment and took our stuff down to the boat.  I headed to Safeway to get some “top-up” groceries, mostly fresh fruit and vegetables.  Dave headed to the hardware store for parts to repair the starboard shower.  We had lunch on board and prepared to launch.  Bill, the yard manager, had positioned the marine lift and the straps mid-morning.  About 15:00, Bill gave us the thumbs up, the tide was high enough and we were ready to go.

Lifting Seabiscuit off the blocks 

Backing out of the slot, Fuller's Boat Yard, Kodiak, Alaska

View of Fuller's Boat Yard from the water, Kodiak, Alaska

Dave enjoying happy hour on the stern, Long Island

Tuesday, July 21, 2020 – Long Island to Kodiak Fuel dock to Sharatan Bay, Kodiak Island (32 nm, 3.8 hours):  Fuel day today.  We heaved anchor at 7:30 and cruised into the Petro Marine Fuel dock.  We loaded 1500 gallons of fuel, topped up our fresh water tank and took out the trash.  

Departing Long Island

Dave fueling up from the boat deck, Kodiak Petro Marine

We headed northeast up the Kodiak  Channel and turned northwest into Narrow Strait toward Ouzinkie Narrows.  We saw a few whales spouting near the shore.  We went through the narrows, turned southwest and anchored up in Sharatan Bay for the night.  We anchored behind a small island that was full of nesting birds including kittiwakes and tufted puffins.  There were a few small rafts of sea otters in the bay and several approached the boat and did some spy hopping to check us out.  We had happy hour and supper on the stern and enjoyed the nice weather.

The small island in Sharatan Bay that we anchored behind.  It was full of nesting birds.

Sea otter in Sharatan Bay, Kodiak Island

Wednesday, July 22, 2020 – Sharatan Bay, Kodiak Island to Malka Bay, Afognak Island (48 nm, 6.6 hours):  We left the Sharatan Bay anchorage at 8:45 in order to catch slack tide at Whale Passage into Kupreanof Strait.  We saw lots of tufted puffins, a few whales spouting and a few sea otters.  

Departing Sharatan Bay heading toward Whale Passage

The wind picked up in the Kupreanof Strait and was blowing 25 – 30 knots from the west.  As we entered Shelikof Strait at the west end of Kupreanof Strait, the seas picked up to 7 feet and were steep and right on the bow.  Our original plan was to cross Shelikof Strait and go to Geographic Harbor on the Alaskan Peninsula to look for bears but we decided we didn’t want to beat up ourselves or the boat pounding across Shelikof.  So, we turned north up the west coast of Afognak Island and ducked into Malka Bay.  It was nice and calm there out of the wind and the seas.

Looking out at Malina Bay from our anchorage in Malka Bay

We anchored in about 40 feet of water and settled in.  Early evening, Dave spotted a brown bear walking along the shore line toward the creek.  We watched him for a while, had supper and spotted another bear strolling along the beach.

Thursday, July 23, 2020 – Malka Bay:  The weather prediction for Shelikof Strait wasn’t very good so we spent the day in Malka Bay doing chores and boat projects.  We printed our Alaska fishing licenses and shrimp permits, updated our inventory log, put our kayaks in their racks and got the dinghy ready to go.  Dave took the dinghy for a test run and all went well.  It was a rainy afternoon so we did some route planning and washed windows. 

Dave warming up the dinghy before he took it for a test run, Malka Bay

Dave out in the dinghy near the shore, Malka Bay

Friday, July 24, 2020 – Malka Bay, Afognak Island to Carry Inlet, Shuyak Island (39 nm, 5.2 hours):  It was raining and foggy when we got up this morning.  We couldn’t get the updated weather report on the VHF but it was supposed to be nicer out in Shelikof Strait.  We heaved anchor and motored to the entrance of Malina Bay and out into the Strait.  The seas were calm and the winds were light.  We cruised northeast up the west coast of Afognak Island and Shuyak Island and anchored in Carry Inlet.  The Coast Pilot describes the entrance to Carry Inlet as rocky and tortuous, but we found it to be ok in the calm weather.

Cruising through Dark Passage, between Dark Island and Party Cape on the north side of Shuyak Island.
There were thousands of sea birds in this passage (the black dots you see in front of the bow).

Looking east at the shoreline from our anchorage in Carry Inlet

Saturday, July 25, 2020 – Carry Inlet:  The weather forecast for crossing over to the Kenai Peninsula was better for tomorrow so we spent the day at anchor.  It rained most of the day so we did chores and boat projects.

A leak in our bilge piping.  We did a temporary repair with rescue tape.

Sunday, July 26, 2020 – Carry Inlet, Shuyak Island to Picnic Harbor, Kenai Peninsula (55 nm, 7.6 hours):  The sun was out when we got up this morning which was a nice change from the rain.  Anchor up and we headed north out of the inlet.  We could see whales spouting in the distance and lots of seabirds.  

Fin Whale feeding on the north side of Shuyak Island

Fin whale feeding in front of our bow, North of Shuyak Island

The winds were light and the seas were calm as we crossed Stevenson Entrance, cruised by the east side of East Amatuli Island and crossed Kennedy Entrance to the Kenai Peninsula.  We could hear lots of sport fishing boats out of Homer chatting on the radio.  We cut between Perl Island and East Chugach Island and into Rocky Bay.  We followed another boat into Picnic Harbor and dropped anchor.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we sat on the stern and watched salmon jump around the boat.

Sugarloaf Island and East Amatuli Island (part of the Barren Islands)

Entering Picnic Harbor

Monday, July 27, 2020 – Picnic Harbor to Midnight Cove (45 nm, 5.3 hours):  It was sunny again today.  The wind was blowing about 15 knots but the seas were calm.  We turned north after rounding Gore Point and saw three orcas feeding just south of MacArthur Pass.  We shut down the engine and watched them for a while.  Just before we moved on, we spotted two more orcas to the west of the first three.  

Orcas feeding near MacArthur Pass

We pulled into our anchorage at Midnight Cove mid-afternoon and settled in.  We had a few unfinished projects to work on before happy hour and supper.

The mountains surrounding our anchorage in Midnight Cove

Tuesday, July 28, 2020 – Midnight Cove to Crater Bay via Northwest Glacier (51 nm, 6 hours):  Low clouds this morning as we left the anchorage.  We headed east through MacArthur Pass and then northeast up the coast.  We entered Harris Bay then crossed the glacial moraine into Northwestern Fjord.  There are eight major glaciers from the Harding Icefield that flow into Northwestern Fjord.

Approaching the west side of MacArthur Pass

The mountains along the east side of Harris Bay

We took Polished Passage on the east side of Striation Island and cruised up through the ice field to the face of Northwestern Glacier.  The glacier wasn’t doing much calving, so we watched and listened for a while then headed back out.  We wanted to get some glacier ice for our ice chest so we stopped at the south end of the ice field and maneuvered a small chunk to the swim platform.  Dave chipped small pieces off and we put them in our cooler.  While we were doing that, we heard a loud roar from the glacier and watched as a slide came down from the east face.

Approaching Striation Island as we cruise north up the Northweastern Fjord

Waterfall coming down the steep granite cliffs

Approaching Northwestern Glacier

The east arm of Northwestern Glacier

Seals on the ice below the face of Northwestern Glacier

We cruised south through Northwest Passage across the glacial moraine, out into Harris Bay and to our anchorage in Crater Bay.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and we spent some time on the stern watching the marbled murrelets swimming around the bay.

The mountains along the north shore of Crater Bay

The south head of the east lobe of Crater Bay

Dave unlaxing on the stern, Crater Bay

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 – Crater Bay to Seward (41 nm, 5.6 hours):  Calm water, no wind and sunny as we left the anchorage this morning.  We could hear the fishing charters on the radio complaining about the fog and it wasn’t long until we were in it.  Dave turned on the radar and we cruised south through Granite Passage.  We cut through Pete's Pass in the Harbor Islands and headed north into Resurrection Bay.  We had heard a lot of chatter on the radio yesterday about two huge pods of orca in the Chiswell Islands and around Rugged Island and were hoping to see some of them today.  But with the fog and the poor visibility we didn't see anything.  We listened to the charter boats on the radio and they hadn't seen any either so the orcas must have moved on to a different area.  We docked in the Seward Small Boat Harbor early afternoon.  I went up to the harbormaster's office to check in and to the hardware store for a few things.  Dave got busy repairing our fuel transfer pump.  It had gone went belly up two days ago when he was transferring fuel.

Dave working on the fuel transfer pump

View from our stern, the mountains on the east side of Resurrection Bay, Seward Small Boat Harbor "F" Dock

 We walked into town and had supper at Woody's Thai Kitchen.  On the way back to the harbor, we stopped at an ice cream truck for a gourmet ice cream bar.

A gourmet ice cream bar with huckleberry ice cream dipped in chocolate and rolled in toffee almonds, Delicious!!!

Tomorrow we have a few town chores to do.  Our friend Bob is coming on board tomorrow afternoon for a trip to Prince William Sound.

Until next time...