Wrapping up Alaska Cruise 2024

Our 2024 cruise bore a remarkable resemblance to 2023.  While we left a week later, we still managed to attend the Little Norway Festival in Petersburg, Alaska in the middle of May.  In both years we spent about 60% of our nights anchored and 40% on the docks. The miles covered were similar (3,091 in 2024 versus 3,025 in 2023).  The shortened trip was largely due to the 13 days in August for the haul out in Port Townsend.

Year	# of Days	At Anchor	At a Dock	On a Buoy	Distance Traveled	Engine Hours	Gen. Hours	Time Idling
2010	129	57	66	5	3,221	517.1	40.4
2011	115	81	33		3,465	577.4	31.3
2013	151	99	50	1	3,667	630.0	53.3
2014	141	86	48	6	4,052	720.8	34.8	48.5
2015	104	67	31	5	3,580	629.2	28.7	42.4
2016	141	99	39	2	3,979	700.0	51.9	68.6
2017	140	91	46	2	3,817	656.5	62.2	51.1
2018	112	71	40		3,170	528.6	33.9	38.2
2019	118	82	35		3,816	649.5	16.3	56.6
2020	63	42	12	6	2,527	399.7	32.8	11.5
2021	110	81	26	2	3,317	554.0	66.0	27.5
2022	139	88	47	3	3,584	613.6	19.5	42.9
2023	139	84	54		3,024	510.4	36.0	33.7
2024	122	73	48		3,091	529.8	24.8	26.9
	1,724	1,101	575	32	48,310	8216.6	531.9	447.9

As a footnote to the table above, if you add up the nightly stops (at anchor, at a dock or on a buoy), the total, 1,708, is 16 short of the total number of days, 1,724. The difference is the 14 days at the end of the trip when I don’t count the night we return to our homeport and two days in 2020 during Covid when we did an overnight passage and did not stop.

Below is a map of our stops in the 2024 cruising season. Clicking on one of the “dropped pins” will pull up some information about the stop. At the top right of the map is an icon which will open a separate window that may be easier to navigate.

The map below shows all of the places we have stopped overnight during all our cruises through 2024. It is similar in style to our yearly cruise map except that when the marker for a particular spot is selected, the data for the spot is the total number of times we’ve stayed and in which years.

Port Townsend to Bainbridge Island (via San Juan Islands)

Getting hauled out and having your boat worked on is always stressful. Since we have no land-based living accommodations in the area, we continue to “live” on the boat while it sits on stands in the boatyard. That means we can’t spill any water overboard, black (most certainly!) or even grey. We do have holding tanks for both kinds, but they are not so large that they can be used for much more than a week of “normal” use. Consequently, we try to put nothing in the holding tanks. That means no cooking beyond boiling water and using on shore toilet & shower facilities.

Boatyards are usually dusty because of the sanding and grinding, either on your boat or other boats in the yard. There can be lots of foot traffic from the coming and going of the workers doing the work. Each new foot brings a little more dust on board.

On our work list for the folks at the Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop (PTSC) were routine maintenance items (e.g., bottom paint, new sacrificial anodes), repairing failed/failing items (e.g., the anchor windlass), and upgrading components. We spent 11 days out of the water, being hauled out on Monday, 8/19 and launching on Thursday, 8/29. We spent the night after launching in Port Townsend before departing on Friday, 8/30.

The last several years we have spent 1 – 2 weeks at the end of our cruising season in the San Juans. While it is still crowded compared to SE Alaska, September, after Labor Day, isn’t quite as crowded as in July and August. Setting realistic expectations is the key to coping with the crowds. If you expect to share the anchorage with 40 other boats, you shouldn’t be upset if it turns out to be true. But, if there are only 35 boats, you’re ahead of the game.

The nice thing about San Juan Islands is how compact they are. Twenty-five miles is probably the furthest you’d have to travel to get from any two anchorages on any of the islands. With good shore access at the many parks, it encourages a slow pace. As a result, Drake gets frequent walks and ball play when we visit. This year we stopped at Reid Harbor (Stuart Island), Garrison Bay (San Juan Islalnd), Griffin Bay (San Juan Island), Deer Harbor (Orcas Island), Fisherman’s Bay (Lopez Island) and, Echo Bay (Sucia Island). We used Hunter Bay (Lopez Island) as our last stop before crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca and slogging down Admiralty Inlet on the way to our home port in Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island.

We arrived Eagle Harbor in the early afternoon on Sunday, September 15. In total, we were gone 135 days but I am going to attribute13 days as time in the boatyard and not count them. Of the 121 nights out on the cruise, 73 were at anchor while 48 days were on docks. We put on 3,091 miles in 503 cruising hours (we had an additional 27 engine hours trolling or idling while fishing (mostly deploying or retrieving prawn pots).

Ketchikan to Port Townsend

On the morning of July 24, with fresh oil from a routine oil change coursing through Alpenglow’s Lugger engine, we headed out of Ketchikan. First stop was the fuel dock at the south end of town where we took on a little over 290 gallons of diesel. We probably could have made it back to Puget Sound without taking on fuel, but we like the extra ballast a ton of fuel provides when we go around Cape Caution.

We stopped just short of the AK-BC border at a small cove in Sitklan Passage, which allows us to arrive in Prince Rupert around noon the next day even with the time change from AKDT to PDT. The weather was settled and crossing Dixon Entrance was comfortable.

We moored at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club (PRRYC) facility in Cow Bay for two days while we provisioned with the fresh produce that we couldn’t bring across the border. We also played with Drake several times, went for walks and probably bought more treats from the local Tim Horton’s than were healthy for us.

We squeezed our way out of the PRRYC marina (it required a 3-point 180° turn in the fairway) on July 27 and headed south out of Prince Rupert Harbor. Because of the timing of the currents in Grenville Channel, we elected to take the outer channels (Ogden Channel, Petrel Channel and Principe Channel) along the west shore of Pitt Island. Our anchorage for the night was the south end of Patterson Inlet.

The next day we continued south, crossing Estevan Sound, Laredo Channel and Laredo Sound then transited through Meyers Passage. We anchored on the west shore of Swindle Island at the elbow where Meyers Passage meets Tolmie Channel.

Often, we’ve travelled this section more slowly, covering shorter distances and stopping to fish, but with only 3-weeks before our haul out in Port Townsend we wanted to concentrate our BC fishing time in the Fitz Hugh Sound area. We made one more stop, Fancy Cove in Lama Passage, before arriving at Goldstream Harbor on the NE corner of Hecate Island.

We spent 8 nights in Fitz Hugh Sound fishing in a variety of locations. We stayed four of the nights at Pruth Bay where the Hakai Institute generously provides shore and trail access to the spectacular beaches on the west shore of Calvert Island. Drake enjoys his time on the beach where he often meets the dogs from other boats. Our final night before heading south around Cape Caution was at Safety Cove on the east shore of Calvert Island.

This was our thirtieth crossing of Cape Caution (15 round trips) but we never take it for granted. We always carefully monitor the weather forecasts days ahead of when we want to do the crossing and choose the best day we can find. This year the weather gods were good to us, and we didn’t need to put our stabilizing fish in the water. We headed directly to Port McNeill on Vancouver Island rather than turning into the Broughton Islands on the mainland side of Queen Charlotte Strait.

Drake reminded us that we needed to spend two nights in Port McNeill so that he had ample shore time to play ball. Because of that, we didn’t depart until the morning of August 9. With a forecast of strong afternoon NW winds in Johnstone Strait and adverse currents in Johnstone Strait (it was mostly ebbing north during the middle of the day), we had to do a stutter step approach to getting around Seymour Narrows. Our first night was in Douglas Bay in Forward Harbour where we shared the anchorage with about ten other boats. From here we did a very early start and traveled first to Otter Cove, south of Chatham Point, on the dying flood current, anchored for a leisurely lunch during the building ebb current then fought the dying ebb current down Discovery Passage to transit Seymour Narrow at slack before stopping the night in Gowlland Harbour on Quadra Island.

The next day, August 11, we again started very early and made the long slog down the Strait of Georgia. We anchored that night in Boat Harbour a couple of miles south of Dodd Narrows which made for an easy next day to Montague Harbour on Galliano Island. We slotted ourselves in among the many boats already anchored.

Our original plan was to spend two nights at Montague before crossing the border back into the US and the San Juan Islands. Unexpectedly, we added an extra day when we discovered that our anchor windlass had failed and would not haul the anchor up. After calling the US distributor for the windlass, we got some troubleshooting tips and determined that we weren’t going to be able to fix the windlass ourselves. Fortunately, the windlass can be operated by hand and the anchor was ultimately raised off the bottom and stowed at the bow.

On Thursday August 15, we got our anchor pulled up, crossed the border, and headed to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes for the night. The next day, Friday, we continued to Port Townsend and began to prepare for our haul out the following Monday. The failed anchor windlass becomes another item on the work list for the Port Townsend Shipwrights Cooperative who will be doing the work.

Sitka to Ketchikan

We had no significant boat chores to perform in Sitka so we did lots of walking around the town and on the nearby trails. We did meet up with our friends Dan and Marsha and toured their new (to them) Selene 53, Turnagain. Their previous boat was a troller on which they fished for salmon, often near Sitka or in Chatham Strait. Drake was excited to meet their standard-sized bernadoodle, Meaka. They played once or twice in the dog park near the Eliason Harbor marina.

We pulled out Sunday, June 30, after four days in Sitka. Since on the way to Sitka we enjoyed our walk to Lake Eva, but not the slog across the tidal flat, I noted that the high tide for July 1 was in the morning and would be covering the muddy tidal flat. The plan was to anchor in the same location in Hanus Bay as we had a week earlier and do the hike in the morning before proceeding to our next anchorage. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.

Peril Strait often gets snotty in southerly winds coming up Chatham Strait which pass through the low divide between Catherine Island and Baranof Island. It was a steady 15-20 kts head wind with steep 3-foot seas. While it was a bit better near the shore, we decided not to get beat up at anchor by the wind. We ended up anchoring in an open bight on the north shore of Catherine Island about 3 or 4 miles further. The small cruise ship Liseron was already there which gave us some confidence it would work.

The next day was calmer, and we proceeded to Takatz Bay on the east shore of Baranof Island where we anchored for two nights. Because of its size, Takatz Bay often gets charter mega-yachts with their attendant vessels. Later, kayaks were launched from the one we sharing the anchorage, adding another layer to the “turducken” nature of their crusing.

From Takatz Bay we traveled across Chatham Strait into Fredrick Sound and anchored in Honey Dew Cove at the north end of Kuiu Island for two nights. While there, we had a couple of furry animals roaming the beach, one more fearsome than the other.

After Takatz Bay we continued east further into Fredrick Sound. We were in “fishing” mode so we dropped prawn pots in a few areas and the hook for halibut. The halibut were elusive but we did manage to pull up some prawns as well as an octopus (which we released) in our pots.

When we left Fredrick Sound we cruised on by Petersburg and instead stopped in Wrangell. We stayed for 3 nights to give Drake some extra shore time and make up for the 13 nights at anchor since Sitka. While there, we crossed paths with our first boat, the Selene 36 Dragontail, now named Dancing Bear.

From Fredrick Sound, we spent 3 nights in the Ernest Sound area doing a little more prawning, two nights on the dock at Meyers Chuck and finally arrived in Ketchikan on July 21.

Our return to Ketchikan is about a  week earlier than normal as we have a yard date in Port Townsend on August 19 for a haulout. Mostly it is for maintenance but with a boat, the list often gets longer by the time your get there.

Juneau to Sitka

We spent 3 nights in Juneau and tried to make it as productive as possible. We did cross paths and caught up on our travels with fellow Queen City Yacht Club members, Wanda and Rico on Wanderer and Lynn and Dave on Willawaw. They arrived in Auke Bay from the south having stayed in Taku Harbor the night before, while we came from the north.

In past years, we have rented a car for a day to run our errands but have now decided that we can get by with riding our bikes, taking the bus or using a Lyft/Uber. The Lyft/Uber drivers are very accustomed to taking people from the Juneau Costco to the harbor at Auke Bay.

During the summer, the Statter Harbor at Auke Bay is very busy with locals coming and going, whale watching tour boats, commercial fishing boats and transient recreational boats such as we are. Another very noticeable presence are the mega yachts. It is common to see 2 or 3 tied to the breakwater dock at Statter Harbor with another anchored out in the deeper section of the bay. Most mega yachts abound with glamour and luxury in their appearance.

On this visit there was a yacht that stood out for its purposeful look. The vessel,180’ Power Play, is in the category of a “support vessel”. Its purpose is to carry the necessary accessories to a larger mega yacht, such as a large (e.g., 50’) tender, jet-skis, or helipad that might interfere with the appearance of the owners primary mega yacht. A little searching on the internet revealed that Power Play was built for Jan Koum, a co-founder of the company WhatsApp (later purchased by Facebook for a reported $19 billion). Sadly, the vessel supported by Power Play, the 241’ Mogambo was not present (its AIS position was in the San Franciso Bay area) at the time.

We departed Juneau on Wednesday, June 19 and headed back towards Chatham Channel. We anchored again in Cedar Cove in Freshwater Bay near the more popular Pavlof Harbor. We dropped our three prawn pots in Freshwater Bay as we went in. This time we were alone in the anchorage.

The weather deteriorated overnight and, while the anchorage was calm and protected, as soon as we poked our nose into Freshwater Bay, we had 2-3’ foot seas. It was a challenge to retrieve our gear, but Marcia’s sharp vision spotted all three pots bobbing up and down in the waves. All our efforts were wasted as we had zero prawns. We won’t be trying there again anytime soon.

We had arranged to meet up with our friends John & Kathleen on Laysan in Takatz Bay. They were coming north up Chatham Channel from Gut Bay and had the wind and seas on their stern making for a relatively comfortable ride. We slogged south down Chatham Channel in 15-20 knot winds and 3’ head seas. We breathed a great sigh of relief when we arrived at the protected entrance channel to Takatz Bay.

We joined John & Kathleen for a paddle in our kayaks to the head of the bay at high tide (at low tide it is a large mud flat). There was a brown bear feeding on sedge grass at the shore’s edge who was not bothered by folks watching him from a respectful distance.

That evening we were invited with John & Kathleen to dinner on the vessel You Dear, belonging to Peter & Gail who are John & Kathleen’s “neighbors” in Petersburg. Peter & Gail were buddy boating with their friends Doug & Karen owners of Peregrine. The meal was seafood recently caught by Peter, Gail, Doug & Karen.

After our second night in Takatz Bay, Alpenglow and Laysan both departed. The wind and seas had calmed down considerably from the day we had arrived. When we departed, John & Kathleen continued north up Chatham Channel with the goal of Hoonah where a haul out was scheduled two days later. We continued south towards Gut Bay.

During our two nights in Gut Bay, we dropped prawn pots which yielded satisfactory results. The salmon fishing, however, was not successful. We decided to return to Sitka for another visit.

Along the way we stopped in Hanus Bay and took our kayaks to shore to access the USFS trail to Lake Eva. The hike was fine, but our timing was poor because we landed on a following tide and had to drag our kayaks a long way across a muddy shoreline and even further after our hike. Not wanting a muddy dog, we carried Drake across the muddy parts of the beach.

After one last night at anchor in the outer cover to DeGroff Bay, we returned to Sitka the morning of Wednesday, June 26.

Sitka to Juneau via Glacier Bay

While we may blame Drake for our spending more time tied to the docks in towns, truth be told, we enjoy the time as well. We spend a lot of time during the day walking as we leisurely work through the few tasks that make it on to our project list.

After six nights in town, on Friday June 7, we headed north out of town along Olga and Neva Passages, retracing our earlier path into to Sitka. Our plan was to apply for a short notice (72 hour) permit for entry into Glacier Bay National Park then head into Juneau afterwards. For our first night, we headed into Appleton Cove on the north shore of Baranof Island. If the wind is blowing along Peril Strait, you don’t get much protection from it at anchor. It was blowing and we didn’t, but winds lessened as the sun dropped lower on the horizon. We did see two brown bears (widely separated) feeding on the ample sedge grass along the shore.

The next day, June 8, we exited Peril Strait and headed north along Chatham Strait. We had applied for our Glacier Bay permit for entry on June 11 earlier in the morning and received notice later that morning that it was successful (it is “first-come, first served”). So, we now had more structure to our plan. For that night we went into Cedar Cove in Freshwater Bay. This was a “new to us” anchorage and we used data provided by Lynn & Neal Parker on the Krogen 48, Navigator to enter this poorly charted area.

The next morning, we made an additional successful application to the National Park Service for entry into Glacier Bay for that day for the purpose of anchoring in Bartlett Cove and attending the mandatory annual boater orientation program. While an entry permit is needed to get to Bartlett Cove, you don’t need a permit to remain in Bartlett Cove. Pets are allowed on shore in certain areas, and we’ve found a suitable area for Drake to play while on a long lead leash.

While Bartlett Cove can be pleasant to spend some time, if the wind has a strong westerly component, it can come pretty much straight in, especially at higher tides, and be bouncy. With a weather forecast for west wind, on June 10, we made one more permit application to the NPS and received a one-day permit for entry into the park that day. That permit, combined with our original permit, allowed us to begin our trip to the upper bay a day earlier. We headed to North Sandy Cove, one of our favorite Glacier Bay anchorages.

The next day, we headed up the west arm and anchored in Reid Inlet. This is a dramatic anchorage with a glacial snout over hanging the beach at the inlet’s head. It feels like you are anchored in a high mountain lake. Unfortunately, the anchorage can be very cold and windy from the winds racing down Reid Glacier. We plunked our anchor down and quickly were blown back on to it, setting it firmly.

An early start the next morning got us to the head of Tarr Inlet and the face of the Margerie Glacier before the first cruise ship of the day. We ended the day anchored on the east shore of Russell Island, another stunning anchorage and without the brisk winds of the previous day. On paddle to a nearby island, I was “encouraged” to leave by a local oyster catcher who apparently had a nest nearby and didn’t want my size10 XtraTuff boots anywhere near it.

After Russell Island, based on the recommendations from another vessel (the small cruise boat Sea Wolf), we anchored in Sebree Cove. It is a fair-weather anchorage looking south across a vast expanse of Glacier Bay. The weather was perfectly acceptable but we didn’t see the extensive wildlife that Sea Wolf had the night before.

After one last night in Glacier Bay at Shag Cove, we made our way to Funter Bay on Admiralty Island. A very early start had us at the busy Statter Harbor Marina (Auke Bay) northwest of downtown Juneau shortly after 8 am, Sunday, June 16.

Petersburg to Sitka

Following our ten-day stay in Petersburg, on Memorial Day, May 27, we headed south with John & Kathleen on Laysan to anchor in Ideal Cove, about 15 miles south of Petersburg.

About ½ mile north of Ideal Cove is beach access to a trail that passes some lakes and eventually reaches one of the roads on Mitkof Island. Laysan launched their dinghy and graciously took Marcia, Drake and I over to the trailhead. By this time is was the afternoon and we only walked about a mile along the trail before turning around and returning to the anchorage.

The next day we parted ways with the Douglas’s who were still in shakedown mode and were planning to stay a few more days before moving on. We headed up to Pybus Bay where we dropped three prawn pots in our usual spot. Starting last year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had moved the commercial prawning season from October to May. While the commercial prawning season in the district encompassing Pybus Bay had closed we weren’t sure whether our pots would be able to harvest any prawns leftover from the commercial prawners. We anchored for the night in one of our favorite spots west of the West Brother Island.

The next morning, the weather had deteriorated a bit, and the anchorage was a little bouncy. We headed over to Pybus Bay to retrieve our pots. The wind and sea conditions made it a little challenging and while we did a respectable haul of prawns, we elected to not reset the pots but instead headed further west in Fredrick Sound to the Honey Dew anchorage. This is another favorite anchorage of ours as it has a lovely beach to which we paddle kayaks to shore and play ball with Drake.

The weather continued to be unsettled so we decided to repeat the route from 2023 in which we headed to Warm Springs Bay. In the early season, the dock there isn’t as crowded and finding space is easier. There is a small community of vacation homes along boardwalks leading up from the dock and three tubs fed by a piping from the hot springs up the hill from the dock.

We got our soak in the tubs after we arrived, but soon heavy rainfall and its runoff overwhelmed the flow of from the hot springs and the tubs became tepid and discolored by the tannin from the ground water. We decided to cut our losses. After two nights, we did an early start, rode favorable wind and current and made the 83-mile journey to Sitka, arriving the afternoon of June 1.

Petersburg

The annual Little Norway Festival in Petersburg honors the town’s and communities’ Norwegian heritage. It is Petersburg largest community event and held in the middle of May over a weekend close to the Norwegian Constitution Day, May 17.  Like many small town celebrations, there are parades, contests, demonstrations and many opportunities to eat and drink.

We arrived on Friday, May 17 which was the day of the parade followed by the very popular herring toss and street fair (crafts, food vendors and beer gardens).

I’ve red circled the herrings in flight in the photograph.

We made the extra effort to get to Petersburg in time for the festival in part to meet up with friends also attending. John & Kathleen arrived a two days ahead of us to start bringing their boat out of its winter hibernation. Not exactly intended, we ended up moored next to them on the dock.  Their boat was built at the same time as ours at the Seahorse Marine boatyard.

Also arriving ahead of us were Natala and Don Goodman accompanied by Dave Adams. Dave owns two aircraft that he built but neither are on floats. Don, Dave and I were on the successful 1981 Denali South Buttress climb. They had flown up on Don & Natala’s Cessna 182 equipped with floats.  The US Forest Service has many cabins in SE Alaska only accessible by float planes or boat available to rent.  Don & Natala have done several previous trips visiting some cabins and where possible we’ve met up with them along the way.

On Saturday, the highlight of the day was the Kaffe Hus. This is a fund raiser for the Sons of Norway in which homemade traditional Norwegian treats are laid out buffet style and you can fill your plate to your heart’s content. Bringing a container or ziploc bag to carry something back to the boat is always a smart idea.

Later that day Marcia watched intently while a 90 pound halibut was swiftly carved up into four portions by a professional from the local processing plant.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings we gathered as a group on the boats to have beverages, snacks and conversation. Weather permitting it was outside on the flybridge.

Don, Natala and Dave flew out on Sunday in a weather window ahead of an approaching weather front. Before leaving the area, Don flew east towards the coast range separating the SE Alaskan Panhandle from British Columbia.  They had beautiful weather for a flyby of Devils Thumb, a prominent peak visible from Petersburg.

The last Little Norway Festival event we attended was the Rotary Club Seafood Bake & Barbecue. The seafood served were ample portions of king salmon and black cod. The setting is at the Sandy Beach park which looks east out over Fredrick Sound.

We haven’t quite figured out when and where we’ll go from here.  Since we bypassed Ketchikan, we are “spending” those days we “saved” here in Petersburg.  There are places for Drake to play and for me to walk, so no hurry.