South to Port McNeill

The journey south went smoothly with one pleasant surprise along the way.  We chose the “outside-inside” route from Prince Rupert along Petrel and Principe Channels.  Whale activity in Squally and Whale (I wonder how that name came about) Channels was brisk.  During one early morning start to reach a fishing area for the first bite of the day, three or four whales came vertically out of the water 200-300 yards away in a tight column with mouths open gathering their breakfast of herring and other bait fish.  Of course no photo was taken as it happened and ended so quickly.  Lots of whale tails, however.

While in this area, I received an e-mail from friends Don & Natala saying that they would be flying in their float plane (see Echo Bay Aerodrome) in the area exploring lakes on the islands and could I suggest a possible rendezvous.  After exchanging several satellite messages and phone calls we managed to work out a time and place.  Amazingly, it all worked perfectly as though we had planned and rehearsed it in advance.  It is a bit odd to look out the rear doors to the salon and see an airplane propeller 6 feet from your stern.  The weather was calm and Don & Natala spent the night flying off the next day while we continued south at a more measured pace.

We fished our usual places along the route and caught six nice silver (aka, coho) salmon for the freezer.  Our stay north of Cape Caution was abbreviated by a long range weather forecast for a period of windier conditions which would keep us from rounding Cape Caution.  While not having a rigid schedule we weren’t willing to risk a prolonged delay to our journey south.  Others had similar concerns as there were more than a dozen pleasure craft transiting Cape Caution along with us.

From here we’ll head into the Broughton’s for a few days before transiting the constrictions south of Johnstone Strait.

Some Cool Pictures

Getting a good action shot of our boat in a remote location can be difficult unless you’re as fortunate we were to have two kind people share their photos with us.

The first photo was taken by Deb from Anacortes who was on the Glacier Bay tour boat Baranof Wind entering Johns Hopkins Inlet as we exited.  Deb was good enough to hunt me down on the internet and share her photo with me.

The second photo was taken by Marge as we entered Windfall Harbor.  Marge and husband Jerry had been cruising SE Alaska on their vessel Dream Catcher and we had arranged to meet them in Windfall Harbor.

Breaking out of this narcissistic trend, the last photo is of a starfish wrapped around the bait and hook at the end of Marcia’s fishing line she had dropped to attract a halibut.  After Marcia pulled the starfish out of the water, it slowly unwrapped itself and dropped away.

A Busy Month

After a leisurely week of bicycling and milk shakes in Juneau (see Juneau 2018) our friends Debbie & John joined us on July 7 for 3-weeks of cruising.  We’ve known Debbie & John for about 30 years and have done climbing, kayaking and cross-country ski trips with them.  We felt like we could be confined in a boat together for 3-weeks and still be friends at the end.

After a major provisioning in Juneau with stops at Costco, Fred Meyers and Safeway, we left for Glacier Bay on July 9, spending our first night anchored in Bartlett Cove. The next day we rode the building afternoon flood current through Sitakaday Narrows and visited South Marble Island in the late afternoon.  The winds were calm and the seas flat so we were able to drift with the engine off as two whales worked along the shore of the island feeding.  Throw in the sea lions and the tufted puffins and it was quite an introduction to Glacier Bay.

Since John enjoys fishing as much as Marcia, we built in a few opportunities to drop the hook in search for a halibut.  Fortunately for Deb & I, halibut fishing usually involves slowly drifting with the engine off or sitting over mound with a deep anchor, both pretty pleasant when in Glacier Bay.

Similar to our 2018 visit to the head of Glacier Bay, the ice in the water was quite thin and sporadic.  Not only can you travel Tarr Inlet with only minor dodging of floating ice but we felt comfortable in anchoring the night about 1-1/2 miles from the snout of the Margerie Glacier.  John & I even snagged a couple of ice chunks floating by the anchored boat for ice in the evening beverages.

The next day we made another pass by the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers before heading into the Johns Hopkins Inlet.  The inlet is closed to motorized vessels until July 1 to provide harbor seals who birth on the ice the time to raise their pups undisturbed by the noisy human traffic.  Again, the ice was quite thin and we got closer to the glacier’s front than we have previously.  What ultimately stopped us was not the ice but a belt of ice with seals and pups. We felt there was no way for us to transit further without getting to close to the seals.  A conservative count of the seals on the ice was about 200.

While heading to our evening anchorage, we traveled past Gloomy Knob.  We had seen some mountain goats high on the ridge the day before but on our return trip the goats dropped down much closer to the water and were easily viewable.

After a couple more nights anchored out, we headed into Bartlett Cove for a hike along the Bartlett River and evening visit to the Tlingit Tribal House for a program.  We heard a fascinating talk by a Tlingit clan member explaining the relations between the Tlingits whose traditional home included Glacier Bay and the National Park Service.  He also brought some traditional Northwest native carved halibut hooks which are both functional and beautiful.

From Glacier Bay we headed down Chatham Strait and tried some salmon fishing.  The pink salmon (aka, humpies) were running strong and frequently caught and returned but only one silver (aka, coho) was caught (and not returned).

While the whale viewing had been excellent, we had not seen many bears.  So we headed to the Pack Creek Bear Viewing Area on Admiralty Island.  We also arranged to meet our former neighbors from West Seattle who were cruising SE Alaska on their own vessel.  While we saw about five bears, it wasn’t nearly as spectacular as our 2017 visit that included 16 different bears.  The Pack Creek stream flow was way down and the fish hadn’t really started running upstream yet.

Before heading into Petersburg and Deb & John departing home, we tried for halibut around Pybus Bay.  Despite pesky bottom fish stealing the bait off their hooks, both John & Marcia managed to hook halibuts on different days.

Debbie & John departed Petersburg on July 28 and we left the following day working our way south to Ketchikan (where this is being written).  From here we’ll cross Dixon Entrance, clear immigration in Prince Rupert and work our way south, fishing at a few sites along the way.  Before returning to our homeport in Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island, we have an appointment in Port Townsend for our regular maintenance and a few upgrades.