Boat Data

I’ve always been comfortable working with data and computers. It turns out that boating generates gobs of data that provide me ample opportunities to do both.

When, in August 2021, we replaced our lead-acid house bank batteries with lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) batteries, their cost, the desire to maximize their longevity and the associated monitoring equipment we installed gave me the impetus to try “up my game” on the analysis of data.

To help me along, I installed a Raspberry Pi (RasPi) microcomputer that connects (and is powered by) the NMEA 2000 (N2k) data bus (installed when the boat was built) running through the boat. The bus cable connects lots of the devices (e.g., inverter/chargers) and sensors (e.g.., voltage and current sensors) onboard.  To collect all the data on the RasPi, I installed the SignalK server software. Fortunately, I was able to use this very helpful blog post from another boater (far more skilled than I am) to work my way through the process. .

The first goal was simply  to display all of the data being harvested. I ended up using the WilhelmSK app on a used second generation iPad Mini. After a few false starts, I created four screens, one for each operational state of the boat (i.e., “At the Dock”, “Cruising”, “At Anchor” and “Generator Running”).  In each screen, I try to display the most relevant boat data for that state that isn’t already being shown elsewhere.

After running the SignalK system for the 2022 cruising season and finding it to be very reliable, I added data logging to it by installing the InfluxDB timeseries database. To keep that data logging manageable, I identified 22 data fields (e.g., wind speed, battery voltage, battery state of charge) to be logged.  The raw data is retained for 24 hours but every 5-minutes is downsampled to summary data (i.e., means and max’s).. Again this is to keep the data manageable. The 24-hour raw data from just 22 data elements is about 800,000 observations. The 24-hour downsampled data is about 6,000 observations.

I load the downsampled data to my laptop computer into a database (PostgreSQL). From the database I can further analyze it with Excel. I even installed the Grafana software which allows the creation of “dashboards” that can graphically show large quantities of data on one screen.  In my usage, It isn’t a real time data but it does give insight in the relationship between various measurements and any trendlines.

The example in the graph to the right is from our June 26 departure at anchor in Bartlett Cove to go further up Glacier Bay.  It is the raw data (i.e., not down sampled to 5-minute increments) so the 2-hour period shown in the chart has several thousand data points for each parameter. After the engine starts, the alternator output is limited to what it can produce at idle, about 90-100 amps. After the anchor is pulled and we increase the engine speed to normal cruising (~1500 rpm) the alternator output goes to a little above 150 amps (about 4KW of power). The alternator temperature goes up from an initial 70°F to a little over 170°F. Our Balmar 624 regulator is now operating in “bulk” mode where it is trying to output as many amps as the alternator or battery can handle. Because our house bank batteries are LFP chemistry, the battery voltage hardly budges (most lead-acid batteries have a fairly linear voltage response in bulk mode) until we reach a 93% State of Charge (SoC) at which point the battery voltage begins rising more quickly..

When the voltage reaches the absorption voltage, the regulator switches to “absorption” mode and holds the voltage relatively constant adjusting the alternator output amperage to accomplish it. As soon the alternator output begins to decline, the alternator temperature begins falling. Our Victron battery monitor (BMV-712), also detects the falling output and the 99% SoC and decides to says “close enough” by jumping the SoC to 100%..

To protect the battery from being over charged, the alternator is programmed conservatively and only holds the absorption voltage for about 12 minutes before transitioning to “float” mode. It gradually drops its target voltage over a 6-minute period from 28.4V to 27.2V.  Because the battery has been “stuffed” full of electrons at 28.4V as soon as the alternator lowers its target, the batteries actually deplete slightly. Our normal cruising load (e.g., electronics, fans, furnace) is about 30 amps, so as the voltage drops, part of that is provided by the alternator (e.g., 24A) while the remainder is provided by the battery (e.g., 6A).  Once the final float voltage of 27.2V is reached, the batteries settle down and the alternator takes on the full boat electrical load.  The alternator temperature also reaches its normal cruising temperature of about 110°F, down 60°F from its highpoint only 20 minutes earlier.

Fortunately, I don’t have to analyze the data to this level every time we operate the boat. While at the helm, I’ve stared at the display screen I described at the beginning of this post for two years now. At least at the gross level, I think I can see what is normal operation and any variation from the expected (famous last words). 

All-Years Cruise Totals (through 2023)

The table below shows the end-of-cruise numbers from our log sheets for the thirteen cruises through 2023.  Most of the tallies are self explanatory but some comments about the methodology of my logging:

• As a practice, I don’t include the last travel day of our cruise back to our home port in the “@ Dock” numbers for where we spent the night. Consequently the sum of where we spent the nights is generally one less than the length of the trip. The year 2020 is an exception because we did an overnight run without stopping to speed our transit through British Columbia during the Covid lockdowns.
• The engine hours are taken from hour meter at the lower helm and reflect the time from starting the engine in the morning until the it is turned off at the end of day.
• The distance is captured by the Coastal Explorer (CE) navigation app running at the navigation computer at the lower helm which records our position every one-tenth of a mile.
• I started recording our “Time Idling” in 2014 when we started to do more fishing activities that required us to idle while stationary or while trolling.  I did this so that my “average speed” calculations (distance traveled divided by engine hours) weren’t distorted by the time we were fishing or sightseeing (e.g., in Glacier Bay).and not actually trying to go somewhere. It is guestimate and not recorded with any rigor. Time anchoring or docking are not included in idle time.

	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
	Total	1,602	1,028	527	32	45,219	7,686.8	507.1	421.0

The map below shows all of the places we have stopped overnight during all our cruises. It is similar in style to our yearly cruise maps 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.

2023 Cruise Summary

Fortunately, we do not suffer from “Triskaidekaphobia” otherwise we might of skipped this year. The cruise was without mishaps and relaxing.  We changed our fishing strategy by moving the salmon fishing the until the southbound BC portion of the trip.  That freed up days which we spent on additional port days or days at anchor while reducing engine hours and miles traveled.

The cruise was 139 days/138 nights long from Saturday, April 29 until Thursday, September 14.  We spent 84 nights at anchor (61%) and 54 nights at a dock.  Of the nights at anchor, for 46 nights we were the only boat in the anchorage (55%).  During the cruise, we traveled 3023.6 nautical miles and put 510.4 hours on our engine.  We ran our generator 22 times totaling 36 hours.

By coincidence, last year’s cruise, 2022, was also 139 days/138 nights.  Compared to 2022, in 2023 we spent 7 more nights at the dock, 103.2 fewer hours operating the engine, traveled 560 fewer miles and operated the generator 18 additional hours.  These numbers document our slower pace and more time spent on docks or multiple days at anchor.The additional expense from days on the dock is offset by the reduced amount of fuel burned.

We still manage to find new (to us) places to visit and anchor. In 2023 we used 14 new places to anchor (alphabetically -  Baker Cove, Chichagof Village, Dorothy Cove, Fancy Cove, Forit Bay, Kah Shakes Cove, Kinahan Islands, Lake Anna, Luck Dragon Cove, Otter Cove, Russell Island Passage, Sundew Cove, Sunny Bay, and Waterfall Cove). We also visited one new marina, Mill Bay Marina on Vancouver Island.

Below is a map of our stops in the 2023 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.

Ketchikan to Bainbridge Island – Back to the “Barn”

We ended up staying four nights in Ketchikan.  While we did a few chores (e.g., laundry, oil change) and picked up our forwarded mail, mostly we just hung out.  We did hoof it out along the busy Tongass Highway north of town to try A.J.’s a highly rated hamburger joint. They even had passable milk shakes.

We finally left town Friday, August 4, stopping at Petromarine on the way out to take on an additional 360 gallons of fuel. This was our first refueling since leaving Anacortes in April.  We probably could have gotten back to Puget Sound on our estimated 450 gallons remaining in our tanks but this way there was no worry about running out and we would have enough fuel for our furnace to operate over the winter.  We’ll fuel up next year ahead of our 2024 cruise.

After an overnight stop just north of Dixon Entrance (which was a mill pond when we crossed it), we arrived in Prince Rupert on August 5. We returned to the Prince Rupert Rowing & Yacht Club (PRRYC) for the first time since 2019.  We stayed at the nearby Cow Bay Marina last year and we simply cleared and immediately departed Prince Rupert during the Covid years of 2020 and 2021.  Prince Rupert is a lovely town with complete services and we enjoyed the two nights we stayed there.

We departed Prince Rupert on their holiday “BC Day”, celebrated in 2023 on Monday, August 7. Since Marcia wanted to start fishing for salmon, south of Prince Rupert we turned first into Ogden Channel then Petrel Channel finally anchoring the night in Newcombe Harbour. As forecasted the winds picked up on the coast that afternoon.  While Newcombe appears to be somewhat protected from southeast winds (the forecasted direction in Hecate Strait), winds get channelized by the terrain and it blew straight in the entrance.  We had sustained winds in the low 20’s and gusts in the upper 20’s but the bottom held the anchor well.

The next morning, 8/8, we continued down Petrel Channel, joining Principe Channel then turned into Otter Channel at the south end of Pitt Island. We  headed to Hawk Bay on Fin Island for the night. While it did shower some, the winds had calmed and it was a quiet night on the hook. The next day, we headed back to Otter Channel.  There was some action (a pink salmon and a few perches) but nothing worth keeping. We returned empty handed to Hawk Bay for the night.

Deciding to cut our losses, we left the area by heading south down the east shore of Prince Royal Island (this is the more popular route).  As we passed the NW corner of Gill Island, we made a few passes along the shore and Marcia was able to hook and land a nice Coho (aka Silver) salmon.  Marcia’s dry spell was broken and she was very happy. For the night, we anchored in Bottleneck Inlet.

The next day, 8/11, we transited the NE corner of Milbanke Sound and entered Seaforth Channel.  This area is usually pretty popular but the number of cruising boats (as opposed to sport fishing boats) seemed few and we anchored in Wigham Cove on Yeo Island by ourselves for the night.  The next day we started fishing near Idol Point along Seaforth Channel. It has been productive in past years but not this year and we returned to Wigham Cove for another night.

The next day, 8/13, we again decided to move on to a new area rather than fishing where there were no fish.  We followed Return Channel then Johnson Channel to where it joined Fisher Channel and fished south of Georgia Point. This proved worthwhile and Marcia caught two Coho salmon. For the night we anchored in Gosse Bay along Gunboat Passage. The next day we tried a little further south but this time the action was less and nothing was caught. On a positive note, we anchored the night in Forit Bay, a new anchorage for us. It has a narrow entrance encumbered by underwater rocks but going in dead slow with a bow watch made it doable.

The next morning Marcia caught a couple of Coho before we headed up to Ocean Falls. It is a small community that once had an operating paper mill and is dominated by a large dam looming over it.  The moorage and power are cheap and the water to refill the tanks is good. It gave Drake an opportunity to play on shore and even splash around in a stream that feeds the lake behind the dam.

On 8/17, after two days on the dock in Ocean Fall, we headed south down Fisher Channel then Fitz Hugh Sound to fish south of the small community of Namu. Marcia caught one salmon before we headed to Sea Otter Inlet on the east shore of Hunter Island for the night. The next morning we returned to the spot south of Namu but struck out and proceeded to fish outside of Goldstream Harbour on the northeast corner of Hecate Island. The afternoon winds were too strong for our taste so we aborted and anchored the night in Gold Stream Harbour.

The next day, 8/19, the winds were light when we fished the early morning bite. The fishing was productive and Marcia caught two Chinook salmon.  We spent another night in Gold Stream and the next morning a Coho was brought aboard before we headed to Pruth Bay on Calvert Island.

Pruth Bay is one of those “must do” stops along the BC Inside Passage. On the grounds of a former fishing lodge, the Hakai Institute has a research site. They are kind enough to allow boaters to use their dinghy dock, and cross their properties to some of the finest sandy ocean beaches along the BC coast.  We spent two nights here and made three trips ashore to walk the beaches and play ball with Drake.

On Tuesday, 8/22, we departed Pruth Bay, crossed Fitz Hugh Sound towards Fish Egg Inlet.  Along the way, Marcia caught two Coho near Addenbroke Island and we set prawn pots to soak overnight.  We anchored the night in the far SE corner of Fish Egg Inlet at the Bitter End Cove.

The next morning we harvested the last prawns of the season then fished unsuccessfully near Philip Inlet before heading to Fury Cove on Penrose Island for the night. With an excellent forecast in hand, the next morning we headed south and rounded Cape Caution, the most exposed portion of the Inside Passage route from Puget Sound to SE Alaska.  Conditions were as forecasted and we did not have to used our stabilizing “fish” to dampen the light ocean swell. We arrived in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island around 4 pm on 8./24. 

With almost no chores to do, our three nights in Port McNeill focused on ball play with Drake, walks and eating.  In the last several years, two new eating establishments, Lata’s Kitchen and Devil’s Bath Brewing have opened up near the harbor.  Both are excellent.

For a slow boat like ours, transiting from the north half of Vancouver Island to the southern half requires timing the currents at some key points.  When we left Port McNeill on 8/27, we did a relatively short day to Port Harvey on Cracroft Island.  This positioned us well the next day to follow Johnstone Strait southeast with a favorable current and then transit through Upper Rapids on Okisollo Channel near slack and anchor in Wiaitt Bay on Quadra Island. We spent three nights in Wiaitt Bay and hiked the very pleasant trail three times from the west end of the bay over to Small Inlet in Kanish Bay. On one of those times, we continued up to Newton Lake.

On Thursday, 8/31, we timed the rapids at Beazley Passage for slack and continued to Gorge Harbor on Cortes Island for the night. The original plan was to break the next section, transiting the Strait of Georgia to Nanaimo into two portions but conditions on 9/1 were good and we decided to do a long day.  We anchored the night in the serviceable but not scenic Percy Anchorage at the northwest end of False Narrows about a 1/2 mile east of Dodd Narrows. We transited the Dodd Narrows, early the next morning and were anchored in Montague Harbour before 10 AM.

In recent years, we’ve spent multiple nights at a time in Montague Harbour despite it being very crowded. It is large enough and its bottom flat enough that, so far, we have always managed to find a spot to anchor.  Its features are the dinghy dock associated with the Montague Harbour Provincial Park, its walking trails, its grassy patches for ball play and the facilities of the Montague Harbour Marina. It is a a good place to reassimilate into the busier cruising waters of the Gulf and San Juan Islands.

From Montague Harbour, after three nights, we headed to Mill Bay Marina on the west shore of Saanich Inlet for two nights.  It is a lovely marina which we had never visited before. We were a a little disappointed, though, by the absence of any good area for dog play.

Upon leaving Mill Bay Marina on Thursday, 9/7, we headed back to the US.  We did run afoul of CBP import rules with some produce (citrus, tomatoes and NZ apples) and had to detour to Friday Harbor (at least we saw a pod of orca on the way there) to dispose of them with the CBP before being allowed to proceed to Garrison Bay on San Juan Island. Similar to Montague Harbour, we find Garrison Bay fun because of the dinghy dock and network of trails associated with the English Camp portion of the San Juan Island National Historical Park (SHI-NHP). The next day we walked over to the Westcott Bay Shellfish Company and had lunch (something that is becoming a tradition).

From Garrison Bay, on 9/9, we went to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island.  Our yacht club leases about 120’ of dock space there and we are able to moor there at a very reduced rate over normal moorage. The marina store serves up very generous scoops of Lopez Island ice cream which is another appeal to visit.  After four nights, we headed to Griffin Bay at the southeast corner of San Juan Island. While there is no dock there, the beach is gravel and not too steep for landing a kayak. On shore is a very fine walking trail system associated the American Camp portion of the SJI-NHP.

The final day of our 2023 cruise, Thursday, 9/14, started shortly before dawn at 6:30 AM.  We shot threw Cattle Pass between Lopez and San Juan Islands on the building ebb current then worked our way over towards Whidbey Island.  We had favorable current until we entered Admiralty Inlet at which point we fought it for a couple of hours until the building flood current gave us a boost the rest of the way to Eagle Harbor. 

Engine was off at 4:12 PM after 139 days and 3024 miles traveled.

Juneau to Ketchikan – Our Alaska Bookend

This last Alaska leg of our trip had us departing Juneau on Friday, July 7 heading to Tracy Arm Cove.  Tracy Arm is a popular destination for cruising boats like us and cruise ships. One of its appeals is that, unlike Glacier Bay, there is no permit necessary for entry.  If seeing ice closeup is one of your cruising goals, Tracy Arm is the simplest way to check that box.

It is a 25+ mile long glacial carved fiord that ends in two subsidiary arms, the South and North Sawyer Glaciers. The North Sawyer Glacier has receded in recent years and is no longer a tide water glacier.  We visited the South Sawyer Glacier which still calves ice off its face directly into seawater which eventually work their way out of Tracy Arm into Holkham Bay and Stephens Passage. Besides a tour boat from Juneau at the ice, there were Zodiacs carrying passengers from a National Geographic small (~250’) expedition style cruise ship anchored nearby.

From here we traveled to Pybus Bay at the SE corner of Admiralty Island.  As we were heading south, we saw a cruise ship approaching north towards us, nothing unusual about that.  This cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean cruise line Ovation of the Seas, had this appendage sticking out from the top deck.  It turns out it was this entertainment feature, a gondola-like bubble at the end of a long boom, called the North Star featured on some of its newer vessels.  Apparently not a new feature but it caught our attention.

We spent five nights in the area, alternating between anchorages at the West Brother Island and the San Juan Islands.  Both are “fair weather” anchorages (i.e., not the best place to be in a storm) but that was exactly the weather we had.  Temperatures were generally mild and winds were light (<10 kts). Marcia fished for halibut in a variety of spots that had been successful and we put out our prawn pots several times. Marcia caught a 34” halibut and we were able to harvest a respectable number of prawns each time we set the pots.

Also in the Pybus Bay area was the 260’ yacht Artefact.  While Artefact is the largest yacht we’ve seen this year, mega-yachts are a common sight in SE Alaska during the summer.

After we left the Pybus Bay area we did an overnight stop in Honey Dew so that Drake could play ball on the beach. The next morning we headed to Gut Bay on the east side of Baranof Island, part way down Chatham Strait from where Fredrick Sound joins it. We set prawn pots as we went in.  We were not impressed with our catch the next day when we retrieved them so we decided to cross Chatham Strait and head over to Tebenkof Bay on the west shore of Kuiu Island.

Tebenkof Bay is very large with many anchorages spread around its many islands and smaller bays.  Our first night was in Shelter Cove which we’ve used several previous times. While in Petersburg earlier in our trip we spent an evening with Kathleen & John off our sistership Laysan and Carlene & Ed off of Luck Dragon, a classic Diesel Duck.  They visit Tebenkof Island and showed us on a chart their favorite anchorage there.  It is scantily charted so we first explored it with our dinghy (it was only about 3 miles from Shelter Cove).  After determining its depths were adequate and the entrance not too tricky, we returned to Alpenglow and moved our anchorage to it. The weather, deteriorated slightly and we spent two nights in the cove while a weak wave of rain and wind passed through.

From Tebenkof Bay we traveled first to Security Bay, a little ways north along the west shore of Kuiu Island, in order to try for halibut at an area outside of it the next morning.  We were unsuccessful so continued north around Kuiu Island back to Honey Dew for a night and more ball play with Drake.

The next morning we headed to Cleveland Passage, a little north and east of Cape Fanshaw on the mainland. Again the goal was halibut fishing but we had no luck there.

We departed mid-morning the next day in order to time an afternoon transit of Wrangell Narrows.  A brief and vigorous squall rolled over us just as we passed Petersburg, bringing 20+ knot winds and pouring rain. Fortunately, it let up as quickly as it had started and the transit went fine.  We stopped for the night in Deception Point Cove at the southern entrance to Wrangell Narrows.

The following morning we headed to Wrangell, mooring in Heritage Harbor about a mile south of town. We spent three nights in Wrangell (we had a “3 for 2” coupon) and Drake got two play sessions a day while we were there.

When we left Wrangell, we went around the north side of Wrangell Island and down the Eastern Passage.  Our first night was in Fools Inlet, the second night was Santa Anna Inlet and the third was in Sunny Bay.  We prawned near each location and were very satisfied with our catch.  Enough said.

Before heading to Ketchikan, we stopped in Meyers Chuck and found space on the public dock there.  The wind in Clarence Strait kicked up a bit shortly after we arrived and was still blowing a bit the next day so we decided to spend two nights there.  Drake offered no objection as there was a place for him to play ball. With better conditions in Clarence Strait on Monday, July 31 we arrived at Bar Harbor in Ketchikan and were assigned the same slip we occupied in May when we first arrived.

Ketchikan has always served as the “bookend” to the Alaska portion of our summer cruises. It is the first place we tie up at in Alaska on the way north and the last place we cast off from on the way south. In a nod to symmetry, besides occupying the same slip coming and going, this year we arrived in Ketchikan northbound about six weeks before the Summer equinox and will depart about six weeks after the equinox.

From here we will head south to Prince Rupert to clear customs.  From there we intend a leisurely (at least compared to the northbound journey) trip with the goal of salmon fishing along the way.

Sitka to Juneau via Glacier Bay

We departed Sitka on Monday, June 19 with a forecast for generally settled conditions in SE Alaska through the next 4 to 5 days. We decided to take advantage of it by going up the west coast of Chichagof Island and visiting areas we hadn’t seen since 2011.

The initial route took us up the protected waters of Olga and Neva Straits into Salisbury Sound at the north end of Kruzof Island. From here we had to travel about 12 miles of open waters about 1-2 miles off shore of Chichagof Island. For this section we elected to deploy our stabilization poles and drop the “fish” which are towed through the water.  As the waves roll the boat, the fish (essentially weighted boards) resist the pull and dampen the rolling motion. They improve the ride and make everyone on board more comfortable.

Our first night was in Waterfall Cove along Slocum Arm. There is a water fall but it is about a mile from the anchorage and only visible as you come in.  The marine air and fog that accompanied us from Salisbury Sound along the coast disappeared at the anchorage but did lurk right outside in the channel.

For the next several days, we puttered along in protected waters along Chichagof Island’s west coast. We spent one night each in Lake Anna (not a fresh water lake), Klag Bay and Baker Cove.  The Klag Bay anchorage was in the cove outside an abandoned gold mine with some relics of the effort.

This area is quite lovely and not often visited. The only detraction was the persistent marine air that brought fog in the morning and low clouds often with drizzle.  Looking ahead at our summer schedule, we decided to push on towards Icy Strait and position ourselves  to enter Glacier Bay.. A long day of travel, first outside along the coast, in at Lisianski Strait, through South Inian Pass, then east in Icy Strait to anchor in Flynn Cove on the north shore of Chichagof Island.

We obtained a 7-day/6-night permit for Glacier Bay National Park starting June 25 but were unable to obtain a one-day permit to transit to Bartlett Cove on the 24th so after some fruitless halibut fishing, we returned to Flynn Cove for a second night.

At this point, the settled weather with which we left Sitka the week before had departed. The forecast called for clouds and rain although modest winds of 10 knots or less. After our first night in the park at Bartlett Cove, we decided our best course was to get up near the popular Margerie Glacier at the head of Tarr Inlet quickly. We anchored the second night on the east shore of Russell Island in a shallow cove partly sheltered by an island. We were entertained by a humpback whale that was doing lunge feeding along the shoreline.

The next day, while not glorious sunshine, was not bad and we had good views of the ice. Positioning ourselves the night before works well because we were able to spend over an hour drifting with the engine off out in front of the glacier before any other vessel showed up. From here we tried a new (to us, anyway) anchorage, Sundew Cove before spending two rainy nights in North Sandy Cove. For out last night, we returned to Bartlett Cove.

On July 1, we departed Glacier Bay and headed east in Icy Strait towards Funter Bay. As we approached Point Couverden, we saw boats stopping and lingering for a period of time before proceeding.  We recognized this as a common boater behavior when humpback whales are around. We were not disappointed when, as we approached the area, we could see many spouts and tails suggesting a group of 15-20 whales actively feeding.  We stopped a respectable (and legal) distance away and watched two bubble-net feeding events. We’ve seen it before but this was one of the best positions we found ourselves in.

An early start the next morning got us to Statter Harbor in Auke Bay (~10 miles NW of downtown Juneau) about 8:30 am on July 2. The transient moorage in this harbor is not assigned and is a bit of a free-for-all but ultimately we were happy with the spot we found.

Contributing to the “buzz” of Auke Bay are the whale watching boats, carrying mostly cruise ship passengers, departing from the harbor. There is a steady stream of buses arriving to a recently completed purpose-built parking lot dropping off and picking up visitors.  A fleet of tour boats pickup and drop off their guests from another recently completed purpose-built pair of docks.

Sitka Soggy Sitka

Keeping with our 2023 “style” of cruising, we’ve been staying in the Sitka area the last two weeks. The first five days after we arrived on June 3, we were on the dock.  We did lots of walks around town and on the nearby trails.  Drake was able to get two play sessions a day at the dog park a short distance from the harbor.

We did leave on June 8 with the intent to poke around south of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island. Our first night was at Dorothy Cove in Necker Bay a bit over 40 miles of cruising from Sitka. Most of that distance is actually protected by islands from direct ocean swell. We had one exposed section of about 5 miles for which we put our stabilizing “fish” in the water to lessen the roll from the incoming waves hitting us on our starboard side.  They did dampen the boat’s motion and improve Drake’s experience and, hopefully reduce his anxiety.

Unfortunately, about that time the weather became a bit colder and drearier. After two nights in Dorothy Cove and with a forecast for windier conditions, we decided to get back north of the exposed open coast section.  We stayed one night each at Jamboree Bay and Sevenfathom Bay before heading to Leesoffskaia Bay, a few miles south of Sitka.  The temperatures remained cool with highs in low 50’s and low’s in the mid 40’s.. Winds were generally 10 to 20 knots with occasional rain showers.  Not exactly the weather for lounging on deck.

After two nights in Leesoffskaia, we traveled the short six miles to Sitka Harbor and tied up at the transient dock on June 14. Since arriving, a strong front has passed by dropping over 1.5 inches of rain and bringing high winds with accompanying heavy seas off shore. We’ll stay a few more days on the dock waiting for a forecasted period of fine weather then head north.

Petersburg to Sitka – Soaking it all in

Besides our goal this year of attending the Petersburg Little Norway Festival, we had a goal of slowing down our pace and spending more time along the route. Part of the reason is to give the third member of our crew, Drake, our ship’s dog, more time ashore. The other is that Marcia has decided not to pursue a chinook salmon this season. The last couple of years we’ve invested considerable time and effort in their pursuit. At least for this season, we’ll see if we can get comparable enjoyment traveling more leisurely.

Certainly we started off on the right foot by spending 9 nights in Petersburg.  It is a lovely town with wonderful trails for walking,.but we finally cast off our lines early morning on Thursday, May 25. While we had good conditions when we left, deteriorating conditions were forecasted. We headed towards Henry’s Arm in Pybus Bay, an anchorage we find more comfortable in stormy conditions than the nearby Cannery Cove. We did drop several prawn pots in the bay before anchoring.

The forecast proved to be correct and the next morning was a windier and a bit drippy.  We checked the wind reports at nearby automated stations and conditions were consistent with the forecast, about 15 knots.  We knew we were going to spend a second night in Henry’s Arm but decided to retrieve our prawn pots rather than having to do them the next day before moving to a new anchorage.  The wind was out of the south as was the current from the incoming tide. We approached the pots from the south to keep from “tripping” over the line as we pulled the pots in.  With wind and current boosting us along, we approached the floats pretty fast and Marcia had to work quickly to snag the line and bring it aboard. Once Marcia snags the line, I come down from the flybridge upper helm to help retrieve the line.  We don’t have a pot puller so we retrieve the line by hand which was quite a workout in the conditions. The first two pots had poor results the last one made all our efforts worthwhile.

The next morning conditions were similar but the wind direction was forecasted to be more easterly. We hoped it would be more of a quartering wind rather a pounding head-on.  We angled across Fredrick Sound towards the NE corner of Kuiu Island. The winds were 15-20 knots but the seas were not too bad (although Drake did not agree with that assessment). Our destination was Honeydew Cove which is tight to shore with a couple of sea stacks protecting it.  The wind abated in the last quarter mile as we approached the anchorage.  One of the features of Honeydew is its gentle (by SE Alaska standards, anyway) sand and gravel beach.  In addition, there are some flattish spots with grass-like vegetation between the shore and the forest, a perfectly acceptable ball play area for Drake.  And it was a perfectly acceptable anchorage in which to spend a second night, so we did.

Our next stop was to Warm Springs Bay on Baranof Island.  It is a popular destination because of its scenic nearby cascade from Baranof Lake, the secure dock and the access to hot springs fed tubs or a lovely pool next to the river. Because it can get quite “zoo-like” during the summer, we had not been here since our first cruise to Alaska in 2010.  The current from the cascade can make docking a challenge so we came in near low tide when a rock spit at the cascade’s mouth bared itself and redirected most of the current away from the dock.

The dock, now managed by the Sitka Harbor Department, was replaced sometime after our 2010 visit and is in good repair.  A small community of homes are nearby and serviced by a board walk that connects to the dock. There are anchorages nearby but we wanted the easy access to shore of simply stepping off the boat. We even found a flat-ish patch of ground covered by grass-like vegetation that served as Drake’s ball play area. We spent three nights on the Warm Springs Bay dock, walking the 1/2 mile or so to Baranof Lake once or twice a day, taking the occasional soak in the hot tubs, watching the other boats that came in, and relaxing (not sure what from, though)..Several mating pairs of harlequin ducks were foraging along the shores nearby. 

From here we continued up Chatham Strait then Peril Strait and tucked into Baby Bear Bay just east of Sergius Narrows for a night.  Our last night before Sitka was in the outer cove of DeGroff Bay on Krestof Island.  On June 3, we made the short 11-mile cruise into the busy Sika Harbor.                

Ketchikan to Petersburg and the Little Norway Festival

Our Ketchikan stay ended up being a couple of days longer than we had hoped when some pretty stiff winds came up which push the forecasted in seas in Clarence Strait beyond our comfort range. Drake didn’t complain because he got a few extra walks and play session (when it wasn’t raining, anyway).

We left at first light on Saturday, May 13 with 15 to 20 knot winds on our stern.  Fortunatey, the seas were following and not annoying at all.  By the time we turned off of Clarence Strait into Ernest Sound, the winds were down to around 10 knots.  Before turning into Santa Anna Inlet for the night, we dropped some prawn traps to soak over night, our first fishing effort of the season.

We were the first boat in the anchorage that day (another boat came in later) and we went close to its head and dropped our anchor. The winds were light but there were clouds which ultimately unloaded a good dose of rain at night.

The next morning we went out and pulled the pots, harvesting a sufficient number of prawns to warrant resetting them. We then returned to Santa Anna for a second night.

While in Ketchikan we learned that the Alaska Fish & Game Department had moved the commercial prawning season from beginning on October 15 to May 15.  When we went out to retrieve our second set, we could see several commercial prawn fishing boats preparing to drop pots at the official start time of 8 AM.  As we retrieved our last pot, a commercial boat came by and confirmed whether we were resetting (we were not), then proceeded to drop a string of its own in the area we had just vacated.

Our original plan after retrieving our pots near Santa Anna Inlet was to travel a bit further up Ernest Sound to reset prawn pots in an area we had fished last year. After seeing the activity by commercial boats we decided to not get in their way by putting our meager three down.. Instead we headed directly towards Berg Bay, an anchorage in Eastern Passage (east of Wrangell Island). As we headed towards it we saw two other pleasure craft coming from the other direction head in and anchor.  Deciding the “two’s company, three’s a crowd” we elected to bypass Berg Bay ending up in Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island. This also allowed us to arrive in Petersburg a day earlier.

The next morning, May 16, we departed our anchorage and timed our entry into Wrangell Narrows so that we arrived in Petersburg at “high slack” (the slack current accompanying high tide).  The harbor in Petersburg is infamous for the amount of current that flows across its docks.  It can be a humbling experience to dock when the currents are strong. Our docking was uneventful and we tied up just near where our sistership Laysan, owned by Kathleen and John Douglas, has a permanent berth..

The main reason we left Puget Sound as early as we did was to arrive in Petersburg before the start of the Little Norway Festival. Petersburg was established by Scandinavian settlers and has an annual festival held on the weekend near May 17, the Norwegian holiday of Constitution Day. It had been about five years since we had last attended.

Besides ourselves, we were expecting Kathleen & John, who were returning on 5/17 to their boat, Laysan, and our friends Natala & Don Goodman. Natala & Don arriving on 5/18 in their float plane.

All of us had an excellent time at the festival, attending many of the events (especially the ones involving food). Marcia even joined Kathleen & John on a 4-1/2 mile run/walk working off some calories.

The main events of the Little Norway Festival ran from Friday, May 19 through Sunday, May 21. Don & Natala flew off on Monday to stay at a US Forest Service cabin on a mountain lake SE of Juneau. John & Kathleen returned to their list of chores to get Laysan ready for anther cruising system. We continued to fritter our time ashore in Petersburg and targeted to leave later in the week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(The good photos are courtesy of Kathleen and John Douglas, the others are mine)