Southeast Alaska - Hoonah to Petersburg

Location:  Petersburg, Alaska

At the end of the last blog, we were in Hoonah, a town we always enjoy visiting.  From there, we anchored a few nights before cruising into Juneau, then anchored a few more nights before coming into Petersburg.

Seabiscuit at anchor, Dundas Bay, North Arm

June 12, 2021, Saturday - Hoonah to Dundas Bay, North Arm (46 nm, 7 hours):  We did a few chores before leaving the Hoonah transient dock this morning at 9:45.  We cruised out to the crab trap hoping for a big haul, but there was nothing inside.  The seas and the winds were very calm, like a mill pond, which I always find eerie, especially with the white cloudy colorless sky; it's like you're drifting along in nowhere land.  We stopped to fish on the east side of Lemesurier Island but didn't catch anything.  

Dave preparing bait so we could stop and fish on our way to Dundas Bay

B picking up the crab trap - empty again

We saw a humpback whale, sea lions and sea otters along the way.  We turned north into Dundas Bay, watching the shoreline for wildlife as we cruised along.  We finally spotted a black bear feeding in the grass at the head of the North Arm just as we were getting ready to drop the anchor.  Another black bear came out later in the evening and we watched it graze along the creek while the other one dug clams along the shore.

Black bear digging for clams along the shore at Dundas Bay, North Arm

Sunday we launched the dinghy and went out looking for wildlife.  We spotted a mother brown bear and a small cub on the west shore and a large black bear on the east shore, plus a few sea otters near a rock close to our anchorage.  

B driving Dave around in the dinghy, Dundas Bay 

The mountains surrounding Dundas Bay, North Arm

Sea otters swimming near our anchorage

For our afternoon project, we cleaned the galley fan and housing.  They were filthy and full of grease and we found an old mud dauber nest inside the cover... ugh!

The galley fan and housing - before cleaning

B cleaning the galley fan and housing

The galley fan and housing - after cleaning

The rest of the afternoon was spent unlaxing and enjoying the views and wildlife around the bay.

June 14, 2021, Monday - Dundas Bay to Swanson Harbor (55 nm, 8 hours):  Anchor up at 7:00 this morning; we spotted a bear on our way out of the bay.  We had the current going with us as we cruised south out of Dundas Bay, then had it in our face once we turned east into Icy Strait.  It finally changed and was with us again as we passed along the north side of Lemesurier Island.  We stopped to fish in two different spots along the way but didn't have any luck.  We dropped off the shrimp trap outside the entrance to Swanson Harbor, then dropped off the crab trap and were anchored up by 15:30.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we sat outside on the stern and soaked up the warmth.

Dave comtemplating life as we cruise from Dundas Bay to Swanson Harbor

June 15, 2021, Tuesday - Swanson Harbor to Juneau, Harris Harbor (60 nm, 9 hours):  This morning was just the opposite of yesterday afternoon.  The wind was blowing in the high teens, it was raining and we had an ebb chop as we left the harbor.  The crab trap was empty; the shrimp trap had one starfish and two sea urchins in it.  We bumped our way across Chatham Strait toward Auke Bay.  The wind and the seas died down as we made our turn around Point Retreat at the northwest tip of the Mansfield Peninsula.  We got to Auke Bay about 13:30, but six Grand Banks boats had arrived about 30 minutes ahead of us and filled up all the available dock space.  We could see them looking for slips in Statter Harbor, then come around to the outside of the breakwater to tie up, which meant there was no room inside.  We called one of the boats on the VHF radio and he confirmed that there was no space available.  

Rather than anchoring in Auke Bay, we decided to head south, around Douglas Island to the Harris Harbor near downtown Juneau.  Downtown Juneau is about 12 miles south of Auke Bay by road, but 30 miles by boat.  Of course, by the time we turned south, the current was against us and we averaged 6 knots instead of our usual 7 knots.  We found a space at the transient dock in Harris Harbor and were tied up and walking into town for supper by 18:30.  A long day.

It rained most of the day Wednesday so we cleaned the soot out of the boiler tubes.  Late afternoon, we walked up to the Devil's Club Brewery for a beer, then had pizza at a small Italian restaurant.

Dave cleaning soot out of the boiler.

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day.  Our hydraulic pump for the Wesmar system has been leaking so Dave changed that while I walked along the waterfront into town to shop at the bookstore and to get a few groceries. 

The Humpback Whale statue along the Juneau waterfront

Overnight we had a change in the weather and it was cold and rainy when we got up Friday morning.  Dave finished his work on the hydraulic pump.  We tested it and got the air out of the hydraulic lines.  I did a few boat chores and went to the grocery store for fruit and vegetables and some last minute items.  By late afternoon, the rain had stopped so we walked into town for happy hour and supper.

Hydraulic pump replacement in progress

A raven, downtown Juneau

We were docked at the north transient dock in Harris Harbor near a boat ramp.  Late Friday evening, a small fishing boat came in and cleaned their fish before loading their boat on their trailer.  Three eagles on a nearby rooftop watched as they left their fish scraps near the bottom of the ramp.  Once they pulled their trailer up the ramp, the eagles swooped in and plucked the fish scraps out of the water.  
This picture shows an eagle flying away from the boat ramp with a large fish scrap in his talons.  He flew about 20 feet, another eagle swooped in and the fish scrap got dropped in the water.

June 19, 2021, Saturday - Juneau to Tracy Arm Cove (43 nm, 6 hours):  The sun was out this morning when we got up.  We walked up to the gas station to fill up our dinghy gas can then left the dock at 9:00.  The tide changed at 9:05 and there was a parade of boats headed south down Gastineau Channel getting a push from the ebb slack.  

Passing by the Humpback Whale Statue on our way south out of Juneau.

A group of nine jet skis zoomed by us heading south down Stephens Passage - we think their destination was Petersburg.  We turned into Holkham Bay and dropped off our shrimp trap outside the entrance to Tracy Arm, then crossed the moraine and made our way into Tracy Arm Cove where we anchored for the night.  Before turning into the cove, we spotted an orca swimming near an iceberg.

 

Iceberg outside Tracy Arm Cove

Our neighbors while we were hauled out in Port Townsend earlier this year, James and Steve on High Slack, turned into the Tracy Arm Cove just before us.  We talked to them on the VHF and after we anchored up, James came over to visit in his kayak.   We were all planning to head up to Fords Terror on Sunday and we agreed to travel up Endicott Arm and transit the narrows together at slack water tomorrow morning.

June 20, 2021, Sunday - Tracy Arm Cove to Fords Terror West Arm (29 nm, 4.8 hours):  We were up early this morning and ready to heave anchor at 7:00.  We went out and checked our shrimp trap - empty.  High Slack came out of the cove and we followed them up Endicott Arm.  The Dawes Glacier is at the head of Endicott Arm and ice bergs and bergie bits were drifting throughout the channel.  According to our guide book, Fords Terror is named "for a crew member of the Patterson who entered the narrows and spent a terrifying six hours until the tide reversed".  The rapids at the narrows leading to Fords Terror can form waterfalls of 2 - 3 feet during a spring tide, but most boats can transit the narrows at high slack.  This article by Slowboat provides a good overview of transiting the narrows and has some great pictures of the mountains surrounding the area.

The granite mountains lining the coast north of the Fords Terror narrows.

A dinghy from a boat anchored on the south side of the narrows was just getting ready to go through the narrows when we arrived.  They called on the VHF radio, then went over to talk to James and Steve.  They said it was near slack water and, since they knew the course, they agreed to lead us through the narrows.  High Slack followed them and we followed High Slack.  The current was still running about 1.5 knots but we made it through with no issues.  We dropped off our shrimp trap in the middle of the tee that connects the east and west arms.  We tried to make our way to the anchorage in the east arm but couldn't find the deep channel and turned around after seeing only two feet of water under our keel.  We cruised into the west arm and anchored just north of High Slack.

After lunch we launched the dinghy and explored the east arm.  A mother brown bear and her cub were out feeding in the meadow north of us and we spent most of the afternoon watching them.  James and Steve invited us over for supper and we had a fun evening telling stories. 

The fog settling over the entrance to the west arm, Fords Terror.

It was raining when we got up Monday morning and we spent the most of the day doing boat chores and watching the mother bear and her cub.

Mother brown bear and her cub, Fords Terror, West Arm.

June 22, 2021, Tuesday - Fords Terror to Snug Cove, Gambier Bay (54 nm, 7.5 hours):  We had light fog this morning but no rain.  The mother bear and cub were out walking the shore line and we watched them swim across the creek at the head of the bay.  The cub got caught in the flow of the stream and went downstream a ways before he found his footing to get ashore.  James and Steve had put their shrimp trap out near ours yesterday and we agreed to help them pick it up using our windlass on our way out.  We heaved anchor at 11:15 and headed out of the arm while James and Steve followed us in their dinghy.  Once we got to the traps, they came on board and pulled the trap - there were more than 30 shrimp inside.  We reset their trap and then moved over to pick ours up.

James, Steve and B counting shrimp, Fords Terror.

We only had 5 shrimp in our trap so we added those to James' and Steve's haul.  They were planning on staying in Fords Terror another day so we said our goodbyes and turned south toward the narrows.  We arrived there about 45 minutes before high slack and had 3 knots of current against us as we went through, but made it through with no issues.  Endicott Arm had a lot more ice in it than it did when we came up two days ago.  We exited Endicott Arm and turned south into Stephens Passage where we had a pod of Dall's porpoises come over and ride our bow wake.

Dall's porpoises riding our bow wake in Stephens Passage

We had a weak cell signal just before turning in Gambier Bay so we picked up our e-mails and the weather on our way in.  We dropped off the shrimp trap and the crab trap and turned into Snug Cove.  Commercial crab fishing season started on June 15th and the cove had traps lining the shore.  We tucked into a side cove with the fishing boats and dropped the anchor for the night.

June 23, 2021, Wednesday - Gambier Bay to Windfall Harbor (34 nm, 6 hours):  We checked the weather report and it looked like today was a good day to travel before a low moved over the area bringing wind and rain with it.  We had a starfish come up on the anchor chain and the crab trap wasn't empty this morning, it had a huge many armed starfish inside.

A many armed starfish inside our crab trap.

The shrimp trap only had two shrimp in it so we let them go.  We cruised north up Seymour Canal to Windfall Harbor.  We dropped off the crab trap on our way in and spotted one brown bear on the shore before we anchored up in the southeast corner at the head of the bay.  Other than one crab fishing boat,  we had the bay to ourselves.  We haven't had any RPMs on the main engine for the last two days so Dave went down to the engine room to investigate while I went out for a paddle in my kayak.

The shoreline and mountains at the head of Windfall Harbor

Crab fishing boats setting out pots along the shoreline in Windfall Harbor

Dave was scanning the shoreline for bears later that evening and saw a person coming out of the woods with a backpack and paddles heading for a hut on the southwest shore.  

The 12' x 10' three sided Forest Service shelter on the southwest shore of Windfall Harbor

The rained started late evening and we hunkered down for the next few days and waited for it to move through.  Another two hikers/kayakers made their way down to the cabin and we watched them paddle their kayaks around the bay during a break in the rain and then paddle out of the bay on Saturday  evening.  We're not sure where they came from or where they were going.

June 26, 2021, Saturday - Windfall Harbor to Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay (51 nm, 7.5 hours):  It was foggy this morning when we heaved anchor but it wasn't raining.  The crab trap was empty which surprised us since the commercial crabbers have pots set through-out the bay; their bait must be tastier than ours so we'll have to try something different.  We turned the radar on and off a few times as we cruised south down Seymour Canal but once we got down to Stephens Passage the skies were clear.  We turned into Pybus Bay, dropped off the shrimp trap, motored into Cannery Cove, dropped off the crab trap and anchored up.  The tachometer for the main engine still wasn't showing any RPMs, so we went down to the engine room to investigate.  We checked for loose wires, checked the wiring harness on the engine control panel, etc.  What we finally found was that the fuse holder and fuse from the Perkins alternator to the batteries was melted but the fuse wasn't blown.  We did a few tests and decided it was best to head into Petersburg in the morning to figure out what was going wrong and it get it fixed.  

The shoreline and mountains surrounding Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay

Sunrise Pybus Bay

June 27, 2021, Sunday - Pybus Bay to Petersburg (54 nm, 8 hours):  Anchor up at 8:15 this morning so that we would arrive in Petersburg at slack water.  The crab trap had one tiny crab in it.  Dave checked the alternator on our way out to the shrimp trap.  We stopped and drifted for a while so he could make some adjustments.  We picked up the shrimp trap and were surprised to find 14 large spotted prawns inside.  As we cruised out of the bay and into Stephens Passage, Dave stayed down in the engine room to monitor temperatures, voltages, amps, etc.  Everything seemed to be ok and we set up a schedule to take readings every 30 minutes.  After the batteries reached full charge the readings stabilized and we took readings every hour.  Everything seemed to be fine and we felt confident we would make it to Petersburg with no issues.  About three miles north of the entrance to Wrangell Narrows and Petersburg, we shut down the stabilizers and did our normal end of the run wide-open-throttle (WOT) to burn the carbon out of the main engine.  That was a mistake - the batteries no longer had a load on them and the alternators took it as a signal to push as many amps out as possible.  Dave noticed smoke coming out of the engine room so we shut down the engine and drifted while he investigated.  The cable, fuse and fuse holder from the Perkins alternator to the batteries had burnt up.  He disconnected the positive cable, taped it up and secured it and we continued into Petersburg.

The burned positive cable, fuse and fuse holder from the Perkins alternator to the batteries.

We tied up in the South Harbor about 16:15, walked up to the harbor master's office to check in and went to the hardware store and the grocery store before they closed for the night.

We spent all day Monday walking around town to the marine supply stores, repair shops, electronics stores, etc. looking for parts and for a recommendation for an electrician that could help us with repairs.  It was a beautiful sunny day and some of our walking was along the shore of the Wrangell Narrows.

Looking across the Wrangell Narrows from Mitkof Island to Kupreanof Island at low tide

An interesting gate in Petersburg

We spotted High Slack in the South Harbor and we walked over to check up on them.  Unfortunately James' mom is having some medical issues so he flew home to be with her while Steve is staying on the boat here in Petersburg.  

Tuesday we had breakfast with Steve then checked with the Harbormaster to see if we could ship parts to the office.  Dave finalized our parts order - a new alternator, regulator and harness plus an alternator open circuit protection unit/high voltage alarm.  All of the parts were in stock and the distributors agreed to ship them this week for arrival early next week so that was good news.

Wednesday while Dave worked in the engine room, Steve and I went over to Kupreanof Island to hike up to Petersburg Mountain.  This Trails Guide from the City of Kupreanof (full-time population = 7) gives a good overview of the trails on the island.  Dave and I launched the dinghy and I went over and picked up Steve and Eloise (Steve's dog) for the short ride across the channel to the Kupreanof City Dock.  We tied up at the dock and walked along the shore and through the forest until we got to the junction of the mountain trail.  We climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed and then we climbed some more.  We passed a few people headed down the mountain and asked them how much further to the top.  They told us we were about 3/4 of the way up and a little further up we would come to a snow field.  We would need to cross it and then could bushwhack our way to the top  By then we had been out for over three hours and thought we were further than 3/4 of the way up.  We climbed some more and finally reached the snow field.  Eloise had a great time in the snow, catching snow balls and running and jumping around.

Steve and Eloise playing in the snow, Petersburg Mountain, Kupreanof Island.

Looking up at the summit from the snow field.

We took a break while studying the view of the summit and decided to head back down the trail.  At one point on the way down, I missed a step on the very narrow trail and did a somersault down the hill.  I tried to convince Steve that I had found a shortcut but he told me I had to climb back up to the trail.  Thank goodness, other than my ego getting bruised, I wasn't injured.  Further down, we missed a turn and lost the trail and had to climb back up to find it again.  Eloise flushed a porcupine along the way and we watched it scurry off the trail and up a tree.  We finally made it back to the dock about 20:00.  From start to finish it took us 8 hours and we logged over 9 miles; the information we had read prior to the hike said 3.5 miles each way (7 total) and to allow 6 - 7 hours for the trip; so don't believe everything you read - did I mention we had to do some climbing.

B coming back to the boat in the dinghy after hiking up Petersburg Mountain

Thursday, July 1: Hard to believe it is already the first of July.  We did our monthly maintenance and budget updates, then walked up to the hardware store for a few things.  The fisherman whose slip we were in came back into the harbor and we had to move the boat over one slip.  It rained most of the afternoon so we did indoor chores then walked into town and had pizza for supper.

Friday was another chore day.  We cleaned the engine room fan and housing and did some work on the alternator project.

The town of Petersburg had "an action packed weekend planned" for the 4th of July weekend.  Over 20 activities were scheduled downtown and in the middle harbor.  Saturday morning we walked up to the library book sale and then wandered around downtown and watched the axe throwing contest and the messy BBQ wing eating contest.

The axe throwing booth.

The Messy BBQ wing eating challenge downtown Petersburg. 
The girl on the right won the ages 4 - 8 contest.

Saturday night we walked over to High Slack and had supper with Steve then came back to Seabiscuit and watched some of the fireworks from monkey island.  Here is a youtube video of the Petersburg Fireworks.

Dave up on monkey island waiting for the fireworks show. 
It doesn't get dark up here until ~22:30 and the fireworks didn't start until after 23:00.

Sunday was the town parade down Main Street then more games and contests.

The Petersburg 4th of July Parade.

An antique firetruck in the Petersburg 4th of July Parade.

Late afternoon we watched the blind-fold row boat races, the herring toss and the log rolling contest in Middle Harbor.  It was a fun weekend and we enjoyed all of the activities.

The blind-fold row boat races in Middle Harbor. 
The person rowing was blind-folded and the person at the front of the boat was giving instructions. 
The goal was to row from the dock (at the top of the photo), around the buoy (at the bottom of the photo) and back to the dock - more difficult than it sounds.

The kids herring toss.  

Like a bean bag toss but with herring (bait fish).  

If the fish went through the center of the ring it was worth 3 points;

 if it hit the edge of the ring it was worth 1 point.

The end of one round of log rolling.  

This was a semi-final with last year's women's champion and 

the woman who eventually won this year's women's competition.

Back to work on Monday, well at least for some of us.  Steve and I decided to hike the Raven's Roost trail on Mitkof Island while Dave worked on the alternator project.  The Raven's Roost trailhead starts at the east end of the Petersburg airport runway, about 2 miles from the harbor, and then climbs ~1800 feet over 3.5 miles.  The trail has recently been upgraded and they are in the process of building a new cabin at the top.  Although the overall distance was further than the Petersburg Mountain trail (we logged 11 miles today), it wasn't as steep and didn't take us as long to hike.  It was a beautiful day for a hike and the view of Petersburg and the north entrance to the Wrangell Narrows was spectacular.

Steve climbing a set of stairs on the Raven's Roost trail.

The view of Petersburg and the north entrance to Wrangell Narrows.

By Tuesday Dave had finished installing the new fuse, fuse holder and positive cables along with our spare alternator and we were ready to do some testing.  We spent most of the day testing the spare alternator, the regulators, the aftermarket Balmar alternator and the wiring harnesses.  We finally concluded that both regulators were good and the aftermarket Balmar alternator was good but we were still getting voltage readings on the spare Perkins alternator when we should have been seeing zero.  After talking to the Balmar technical support group, we tried some different tests but still weren't getting the results we expected.  Very frustrating.

Later that evening, while I was on a Zoom call with some friends, Dave went back down to the engine room to check for loose wires and found that the negative battery cable was disconnected.  He had removed it while installing the new fuse and positive cable and had forgotten to reconnected it.  We repeated some of our earlier tests and everything looked good.

Wednesday morning, Dave reinstalled the original alternator, the one we assumed had burned up, so we could test it.  We found out that it was good and concluded that the positive cable and fuse/fuse holder were the only things damaged which was good news.  The new alternator, regulator, wiring harness and circuit protection unit arrived early Wednesday afternoon.  After studying the new equipment, we decided it was going to be a bigger project than anticipated to install and realign everything and since we are operational with the exisiting equipment and new wiring, we'll save that project for another day.

This morning a mechanic come aboard to look at changing the alignment for the alternators that we have in place.  After discussing the set-up, he gave us some ideas to eliminate the interference between the two alternator mounts that is causing a lot of belt dust so we added that to our future alternator project list.  Bottom line is that after we get the main engine reassembled and the engine room cleaned up later today, we will be ready to start cruising again.

We made a list of the things we want to finish up while we are in town and plan to leave early tomorrow afternoon to catch the currents going south down Wrangell Narrows.

Until next time...