To our pleasant surprise when we docked, we were greeted by Doug, from Shaman, as we tied up at the docks. We had not seen Shaman since they departed Ketchikan to go south to the Misty Fiords, while we headed further north. Unfortunately Ann has some eye problems and needed to fly to Juneau to see a doctor, but we have since learned she will be ok and back in Petersburg in time for the 4th of July. It also sounds like they too are interested in heading to Sitka, so there is a possibility that we’ll be cruising together again for another leg of our adventure.
Another pleasant surprise is that the sun is out in Petersburg and we are now experiencing some delightful summer weather in SE Alaska. Here is an update on what we’ve been up to since our last blog update.
Saturday, June 28th Petersburg to Snug Cove, Gambier Bay, Admiralty Island 52 nm
Before leaving Petersburg we stopped at the fuel docks to take on 57 gallons ($272). Currents were pretty strong so needless to say docking was interesting.
Heading north, out into Frederick Sound, we saw glacial ice on the East side of the sound. Weather was drizzly, with calm seas for most of the cruise. Brad pointed out water temp was 44.8 degrees.
Snug Cove is another delightful anchorage that one could spend quite a bit of time at. We also saw crabbers tending their pots, so it looks like this is great place to do some crabbing. We just didn’t have time to set out our trap.
Here is a photo of a midden, which is where natives (First Nation) would shell their clams and the result, many years later, is a sand of shells on the beach that stand out at quite a distance.
While I may want to have a larger boat, this little boat definitely proves you can have fun cruising in Alaska on a small boat.
Sun., June 30th Windfall Harbor, Admiralty Island (Pack Creek Bears (40 nm)
Our time at Windfall Harbor was definitely a highlight of our cruise and a place that we highly recommend that others try to visit. While the cruise books advise of anchorage in the south end of the harbor we anchored at the north end, south of the bar, but close to the haulout provided by the rangers. The haulout is a circular line linked to shore and buoys in the water. This allows you to get to shore, yet pull your dinghy back out to water, to avoid bears doing any damage to your dinghy.
We had just started rowing to shore in our dinghy when we spotted a good size brown bear on the shoreline. Brad rowed us closer and we had fun taking our time and watching this bear. It poked around, looking for clams, and crawling under a tree hanging over the water’s edge. It eventually plopped into the water and seemed to sit there, with his head just poking out above the waterline, for quite sometime. I later learned that the bear was cooling off, as it was quite hot for bears when the sun is out.
Once we got to shore we were greeted by a ranger who gave us an overview of Pack Creek and safety tips. The bears here are not tame, but are habitized to seeing humans in certain areas and will go about their business if humans stick to a regular routine. Following this insight, we walked the designated trail to a meadow at the base of the creek that the rangers have set up for an observation area.
There was a nice size brown bear eating grass in the meadow and it was quite fun to watch. This was a serene area that was a perfect movie setting: Snow topped mountains, forest, meadow with bears, stream.
We also did a short, 45 minute, hike to an observation tower, with a well maintained trail through the forest. As the fish were not running upstream, there were not any bears at this observation tower, but we did see two deer sunning themselves on a sandbar in the middle of the stream. And there was a nice beaver dam nearby.
But our highlight was the next morning when we watched three bears on the shore at low tide, while we enjoyed hot coffee. At one point, one of the bears had another running off, as if to ensure the larger bear could claim the entire low tide area. It was the larger bear whom we watched dig for clams and how he used his upper body strength to pound on the clams, to break them open.
Brad had also caught some crab in this bay. While we could have spent a few days in this beautiful bay, we needed to move on to try to see more of SE Alaska before we need to start cruising South.
Here are photos of the hiking trail to the observatory tower, which overlooks the stream. As we began the hike we noticed a very mauled sign, which was a traditional park trail sign that had been damaged by the bears. Hymm...is this going to be a safe hike?
There are two deer in this photo. You may want to "click" on the photo for a larger view.
Here we are at the viewing area overlooking part of the very large grass meadow where the bears like to come eat "sedge".
This photo shows the low tidal area, north of the spit. No, this is not an area a boat would anchor in, but a great place for the bears to clam.
Brad proudly showing off a very large crab he caught.
Mon., June 30th Hobart Bay (original plan was Tracy Arm Cove (42 nm)
Just like the weather, cruising plans need to be flexible when cruising in Alaska. While I had hoped to visit Tracy Arm, it appears this leg of the trip it wouldn’t be the best time. Earlier in our cruise we had heard rumors among boaters that Tracy Arm had been closed, but when we checked with various authorities they all said there was no official closing and boats were going into Tracy Arm. But while in Windfall Harbor we heard two boaters in Tracy Arm on the VHF, one was entering and the other was exiting. The boat that was leaving said they had to turn back ~2 miles from the glacier due to the volume of iceburgs in the water. While there is still a lot to see in Tracy Arm, even if you can’t make it to the glacier, we opted to bank the days and fuel for that leg of the trip, for other opportunities down the road. Clearly there are more great places to see in SE Alaska that we’ll have time to this summer, so we view this choice will just give us an opportunity to explore some other great place.
Our trip from Windfall Harbor to Hobart Bay was great fun. We had Dahls purpose bid us good bye as we departed Windfall, staying with out boat for ~45 minutes. We saw quite a few whales while underway, and we were greeted with more dahls purposes as we entered Hobart Bay. In Hobart Bay we tied up on the famous “docks to no where”, off of Entrance Island, which are 100 foot docks that do not link to shore. These docks are located inside of a beautiful cove that is well protected. The weather was quite good so we enjoyed having lunch on the dock, as well as some reading time, while enjoying an outstanding view.
Here is a photo and quick video clip of one of our Dahl's porpoise experiences:
Tues., July lst Hobart to Petersburg (49 nm)
The cruise from Hobart to Petersburg had very flat seas, where we saw a few more whales. When contacting the harbormaster for slip assignment they remembered us and offered to put us back in the same slip we had had previously, or take a slip in North Harbor, as well as advising Brad’s package had arrived via “overnight” FedEx. We opted for the same slip and were soon tied up on the docks. Brad quickly set off to pick up his cell phone and I began to give the boat a good scrub. Doug from Shaman came over for cocktails and pupus and gave us an update on their cruise leg through the Misty Fijords and we shared insight on our cruise leg to Pack Creek. I’m hoping we have time to visit Misty Fijords on our final cruise leg, before leaving Alaska later this summer.
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