Glacier Bay – July 9-16

We have visited Glacier Bay National Park every time we’ve come to Alaska.  This was our 8th time (not counting the 1-day visit on a cruise ship in 2006) visiting the park and we still enjoy it.  It is a wonderful combination of scenery, wildlife, natural history and solitude that makes every trip worthwhile.

Different from past years was that we chose not to get an advanced notice permit (obtainable 60 days in advance) but rather a short notice permit (48 hours in advance).  That worked well this year on account of all of the disruptions we had to our typical cruise schedule (i.e., late departure and furnace repair).  By being prompt with our application we were able to get the dates July 10-16 for our visit.

We left Juneau on Sunday, July 8 and headed to Excursion Inlet on the north side of Icy Strait. The forecast we for increasing westerly winds and we thought Excursion Inlet better protected than Flynn Cove our usual pre-Glacier Bay anchorage.  When we checked the forecast on the morning of July 9, the forecast for the next day had deteriorated further so we phoned the Park Service and were able to get a 1-day permit to enter the park on July 9. This allowed us to anchor in Bartlett Cove (the park headquarters) rather than getting beat up in Icy Strait while entering the park on July 10.

We ended up spending two nights in Bartlett Cove but took advantage of the time to visit the Huna Tribal House and do the short forest walk around the pond.  The tribal house is just gorgeous inside and we saw a moose with her calf while on the walk.

At our N Sandy Cove anchorage we had quite a bear show.  It started with a black bear working the shoreline, followed up with a brown bear sow with two cubs and concluded with a confrontation between the sow and a male brown bear pursuing her.  All of this transpired a few hundred yards away. The sow chased off the male once but as the sun set, the male resumed his dogged pursuit and the drama was not resolved.

The day we went up to the head of Tarr Inlet and glacial ice, we had calm conditions and very little floating ice to deal with.  That gave us the opportunity to anchor in the small bight on the west shore of Tarr Inlet a mile or so south of the Margerie Glacier.  We were rewarded with a view of the glacial face overnight (along with periodic rumbles and crashes) and bits of ice floating by.  Fortunately, nothing large floated by to hang up on our anchor chain.

At South Marble Island we had the usual assortment of birds and sea lions. Unlike last year, we saw no goats on the cliffs of Gloomy Knob. Also not present in the numbers we’ve seen in the past were humpback whales.  Research indicates that the number of whales in Glacier Bay/Icy Strait have dropped by over 40% from their peak in 2011.  This is distressing news as humpback whales are such a key element to the Alaska experience.

Miles traveled this leg – 230.3; Engine hours – 37.1
Total miles traveled – 1489.9; Engine hours – 228.8

Hanging Around Juneau

Job number 1 upon docking in Juneau on Monday, July 2, was removing the failed Kabola dashboard and shipping off to Marine-Tec in Anacortes. While Marcia went to the post office to check on shipping options, I removed the unit. With Wednesday being the July 4th holiday, we quickly concluded that getting it to Marine-Tec before Thursday would be impossible or cost prohibitive. We took the route we’ve taken before and using USPS Priority Mail. Because we can have USPS packages sent to general delivery, it is often the only way when you’re a transient boater.

With the package on the way, we could turn to taking advantage of that rare Alaska feature, sunshine. The forecast was for hot (high 70’s) weather for Tuesday through Thursday. We also had the happy discovery that the road construction on the Glacier Highway from Auke Lake to Statter Harbor (where we are) was now complete and it had wide sidewalks and shoulders that were bike friendly. The new pathways now connects Auke Bay with the existing bike paths and routes that go all the way into downtown Juneau. It was obviously time to break out the folding bikes.

Twice we rode the 8 miles (16 miles RT) from the harbor to the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center 16 miles. In doing so, we rode past the Safeway which is the closest grocery store at 2-1/2 miles. Another 2 miles further along the bike route is the Fred Meyers. We now can do shopping for light-weight items, such as produce, meats or bread without renting a car or taking a bus.

Given the warm weather, we decided that the appropriate lunch after a bike ride was a milk shake from Hot Bites, a fast food restaurant in the parking lot at the harbor.

The Statter Harbor at Auke Bay is extraordinarily busy this time of year. First, the transient mooring area is totally open and mooring locations are not assigned by the harbor. You must go in and look around to find a spot to tie up. Second, it is heavily used by commercial fisherman (seiners, gill netters and trollers) while they wait for the fishing openings announced by the Alaska Fish & Game. Third, many of the excursion boats for the cruise ship passengers originate from here, lots of bus traffic and camera-toting tourists on the docks and in the parking lot. Fourth, many mega-yachts (>100 feet) stage out of here while they pickup and drop off their guests and reprovision. We’ve got six on the outer dock right now. Lastly, when the weather is nice, the view up to the mountains is quite spectacular.

All in all, if you have to wait for parts, Juneau turned out to be a pretty pleasant place to do so.

Watching the Digits Roll By

This occurred as we were traveling from Funter Bay to Auke Bay (Juneau).

Sitka to Juneau

While in Sitka, I had a phone conversation with Dave Nagle cruising on the Diesel Duck DavidEllis. He was in Chatham Strait headed towards Sitka and we agreed to rendezvous in Douglass Bay on our first night out from Sitka and the night before they went into Sitka, June 29. We’ve stayed in Douglass Bay numerous times, but it would be their first time. We both arrived about the same time and rafted together. The evening was spent catching up with boat projects and solving the world’s problems.

The next morning, we parted ways with the Nagles and continued east in Peril Strait, targeting Point Moses Cove in Hanus Bay for the night. We arrived early enough that I considered putting the kayak in the water and paddling near shore. The consistent 10-15 knot west wind persuaded me it would be more pleasant to stay aboard and listen to an audio book.

Our original plans when we left Sitka were to head towards Icy Strait, fishing for halibut along the way, with the goal of getting a last-minute permit to enter Glacier Bay National Park. Those plans changed when I went to turn on the furnace the morning July 1 and found the furnace control panel had failed. The furnace is the key to our comfortable Alaska cruising. Not only does it heat the boat, it heats the water while we are anchored and underway. Running the generator can accomplish some of those tasks but is a lot less efficient. Pretty quickly we decided our best course was to head up to Juneau and get the failed part repaired or replaced.

We had good speed up Chatham Strait, boosted by the flood current. The winds were light until we reached the junction of Icy Strait, Lynn Canal and Chatham Strait at which time they picked up to a steady 15 knots out of the south. Not long after, we anchored in Funter Bay on Admiralty Island. The anchorage didn’t provide much relief from the winds which stayed 10-15 knots all night long.

The anchor was well set by the wind the next morning, when we pulled it from the bottom for the leg into Juneau. We were fortunate that the commercial salmon openings had not closed yet so we were able to quickly find a space on the Auke Bay transient mooring docks without having to compete with the seiners, gill netters and trollers.

Miles traveled this leg – 156.6; engine hours – 24.9

Total miles traveled – 1256.9; engine hours – 191.7