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.