Petersburg to Sitka

After four days in Petersburg, we headed out on June 14 with plans to rendezvous with John & Kathleen (MV Laysan, sistership to Alpenglow) in four days at Tracy Arm Cove.  Until then, we were going to hit some anchorages we had never stayed in before.

First on the list was Cascade Creek in Thomas Bay.  John & Kathleen visit it often because of its proximity to Petersburg (<20 miles away).  In our past visits to Thomas Bay we've stayed in the Ruth Island Cove, just across the bay from Cascade Creek. Two other boats were already there but we followed John & Kathleen's instructions and found a fine anchorage nearby.  We launched our dinghy and motored over to the beach in front of the Cascade Creek Trail head. We only hiked a half-mile or so before coming back.  While the trail goes all the way to Swan Lake, it reportedly hasn't been maintained regularly and has blockages from tree falls.

The next day we stayed in Thomas Bay and motored 6-1/2 miles to Scenery Cove near the northeast corner. We arrived near low tide so took the dinghy to shore to see if the "sandy beach" we could see was suitable for Drake ball play. Sadly it was not suitable, being too water saturated. We were sinking several inches with each step and the sand clinging to our rubber boots. When we got back to the boat, it took many buckets of salt water to clean sand off and pump it mostly out of the dinghy.

After two days of relaxing, it was time to start fishing.  We traveled north around Cape Fanshaw and headed to Hobart Bay.  During our only visit to Hobart Bay in 2018 as we were going in, we noticed a float for a presumed prawn pot.  I noted its location on our electronic chart and this was going to be our chance to see if there was anything there.  We dropped two "test" pots as we went into the very protected NW Cove where we anchored for the night.

The next day, we went out to retrieve our test pots (hoping for good results) and then head to the Windham Bay, the next bay north.  As we exited the protected portion of Hobart Bay into the outer bay we noticed some pronounced waves buffeting us.  Retrieving the two pots became a real and unpleasant challenge but we were rewarded by a good number of prawns in one of the pots.  We proceeded north in Stephens Passage but it was clear that the conditions were not as forecasted (North 10 kts, Seas 2 ft or less).  A quick refresh of the National Weather Service forecast showed that it had been updated to North 20 kts, Seas 5 ft!  At the same time as were getting beat up, about 6 or 7 miles south of us, John and Kathleen were exiting Port Houghton and starting north with the intention of going to Holkham Bay to anchor in Tracy Arm Cove.  We were to join them the next day after we pulled the test prawn pots we were going to set in Windham Bay.  We both decided that it made no sense to bash into short steep heads so each of us turned around and went back to our previous anchorages, declare a "weather delay", and slide the schedule one day later.

Conditions were dramatically improved the next day and we did proceed to Windham Bay, drop two test pots and anchor the night in the "nook" on the south side of the bay's entrance. We retrieved them the following morning, harvesting a fine collection of prawns.  We then continued to Tracy Arm Cove in Holkham Bay, just inside the entrance bar to Tracy Arm.

John & Kathy had guests with them and they wanted to show them one of the supreme sights in SE Alaska, Fords Terror off of Endicott Arm.  We had never been there before, being intimidated by the name, the poor charting and its tricky entrance timing.  We jumped at the chance to tag along behind John & Kathleen who had been there five times previously.

The Juneau high tide time plus 50 minutes is the time John recommended for being at the entrance of Ford Terror. With a cushion so as not to be late at the entrance, for June 20 we agreed on 0540 departure from Tracy Arm Cove (an excellent description of entering Fords Terror is at the Slowboat web site). Having done it several times before, John went first and I followed.  The timing was excellent as neither the currents going over the shallow or at the 90-degree elbow were an issue.  I did have alarms from the some of my instruments that receive GPS signals when they temporarily lost their fix due to satellites being blocked by steep cliffs.

The hype about the scenery in Fords Terror is not overblown. There are an abundance of waterfalls and cascades over the rock faces which soar over the glassy waters. We were anchored in the West Arm and used our dinghy's to explore the East Arm. We spent three nights there and were fortunate to have all to ourselves the first night.  Four additional boats came in the second night and four more the third.

While our entrance to Fords Terror went smoothly, we felt a little more pressure when exiting as seven other boats were exiting on the high tide of June 23.  Though we weren't the first boat through, we did have six other boats, all faster than our stately pace, behind us.  Fortunately, everything was fine and once out of the narrow entrance channel any faster boats that needed, passed us by.

At this point, we parted ways with John & Kathleen as they needed to take their guests to Juneau where they would fly out while we were heading to Sitka. The timing of our exit meant that we had a late arrival to our anchorage in the West Brother Cove we like so much.  We spent two nights there so that Drake got to play on both of the gravel beaches bordering the cove.

We had lovely weather in Fords Terror, but after our second night in West Brother it began to change to clouds and chances of rain. We continued our journey towards Sitka stopping in Ell Cove on Baranof Island for the night.  During the low tide cycle, we got to watch a brown bear working the shoreline and looking for a meal.

From Ell Cove we traveled to Ushk Bay on Chichagof Island for one night then continued to Sitka the next morning.  It was raining in Sitka when we arrived but the winds were calm, making for an uneventful docking.  It didn't take long for Drake to have his first (of many) play session in Sitka at the nearby dog park.

Ketchikan to Petersburg

After the grind getting to Ketchikan, there was unanimous agreement to spend four nights at the dock. We had no big projects but we've gotten pretty good at letting little tasks expand to fill the time available for them.

One daily task was playing with Drake since it had been two weeks since he got to go to ashore at all. The most convenient place we've found near the Bar Harbor Marina where we were moored is a lovely neighborhood park about 3/4 mile away. We'd also take Drake on walks with us when we went shopping.  At the local hardware and outdoors equipment store, Drake comes in with us and gets to meet people and often gets a treat.  He has learned that people standing behind counters (pretty much any counter) often have biscuits that they'll give him if he stands on his hind legs and puts his front paws and muzzle as high as he can on the counter.

One trip Drake was excluded from was a bus ride to Saxman about 4 miles SE of the marina. The motivation was to visit the Three Bears Alaska store we've seen from the boat as we come into Ketchikan along Tongass Narrows.  It is a warehouse style store like Costco and actually does carry quite a number of Kirkland brand (Costco's house brand) products.  It even sells bona fide Costco rotisserie chickens (but at Alaskan prices).  We had already provisioned at the two grocery stores near the marina so we didn't actually buy anything.  While in Saxman, we visited the lovely totem park lovely totem park there.

On Wednesday,June 4, we got an early start in order to maximize the northbound flood current and calm conditions in Clarence Strait. After about 30 miles we headed east into Ernest Sound. As we neared our anchorage for the night, Santa Anna Inlet, we dropped prawn pots in locations that had been productive in the past. 

The next morning we pulled the pots but we were a bit underwhelmed with the catch.  The commercial prawn season started on May 15 and only recently ended.  That may have decreased our catch or it could have been the prawns were simply somewhere else.  We dropped our pots outside Thoms Place, our anchorage for the night.

The next day, when the prawn pots were pulled, we were pleasantly surprised. We considered resetting in the same location and spending another night at Thoms Place but decided not to be greedy and moved on to another nearby anchorage.  Once again, we dropped our prawn pots before heading into our anchorage for the night in Fools Inlet.

The next morning's pot pull was the biggest disappointment so far with blanks in all three pots.  Even though Fools Inlet has produced good results in the past, we accept that sometimes the "prawn gods" do not reward our efforts. We put away our prawn gear and headed to Berg Bay.  Two other boats were anchored there but we found room near the head of the bay.  We spent two nights at Berg Bay and actually had the whole bay to ourselves the second night when the other two boats left as did the group that was staying at the USFS cabin on shore at the head of the bay. Drake got a brief play session in Berg Bay when we went to shore and played in the clearing in front of the cabin.

We chose our last anchorage before heading into Petersburg, Roosevelt Harbor, especially for Drake.  In Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island the USFS has a dock connected to shore.  The ramp had been damaged in a storm during the winter of 2022-23 but we were pretty confident the ramp had been repaired sometime in late 2023 or early 2024.  As we approached the harbor we could see the new ramp connecting to the floating dock but it was only after we were anchored that we saw that the connection from the top of the ramp to shore had been severed by a tree dropping across the elevated section, presumably during the last winter.  Fortunately, there is reasonable beach access so we dropped the dinghy and provided Drake with two ball play sessions.

After our last play session on shore, we retrieved the dinghy on board and on June 10, we departed Roosevelt Harbor, transited Wrangell Narrows and docked at the South Harbor in Petersburg.  We were fortunate to get a slip next to our friends John & Kathleen Douglas, who own Laysan, a sistership to our Alpenglow.

John & Kathleen lease a slip in Petersburg and, while they return to their home in Hawaii at the end of the cruising season, Laysan spends its winter in Petersburg.  John had some residual tasks to complete to get everything shipshape for the season so we had a front row seat to his very efficient replacement of the radar dome and mast mounted wind sensor on Laysan.  In the evening we gather on one of our boats for pū-pū (i.e., appetizers), and catch up on things and make plans for the cruising season.

Our plans from here are to leave on Saturday, June 14, and try some new (to us) anchorages then meet up with the Douglas's in a few days. They are waiting for guests to arrive and will leave a couple of days after us. We will part ways with the Douglas's when we head towards Sitka while the Douglas's drop their guests off in Juneau.

An Odd Start to an Odd Year

Our 2025 cruising season hasn't gone as we planned or hoped.  First some background and then a recounting of our trip so far.

Towards the end of last year's cruising season, we decided that it was time to replace our still functioning but very heavy 10' Bullfrog dinghy with something lighter. The 350 lb dinghy/motor combination was always a workout to launch using the topping lift on our boom.  Additionally, when the dinghy is beached, there is no way we can drag the it back to the water if the tide recedes very much (Alaskan tides routinely swing more than 20' on a cycle).  Our solution was to order a carbon fiber dinghy and substitute an electric outboard for the gas outboard we have now.  The combined weight would fall by over 60% to something like 120 lb.

Through the winter, Marcia worked with the builder on a schedule that would have it arriving in Washington in time for us to depart on our usual timeline of Late April/Early May.  Unfortunately, as is common, the timeline slipped and it became apparent that it would not arrive until well after the target date.  We resigned ourselves to not having a new dinghy until our return in September.  Once that decision was made, we prepped ourselves for departure but we were about 2-weeks later than we hoped.

We cast off from the dock on Friday, May 16 and headed north.  The tide cycle was such that we ebbed out of Puget Sound, crossed the Strait of Juan De Fuca to Cattle Pass and then flooded through the inner channels of the San Juan Islands to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island.  It started to rain shortly after our arrival so we didn't bother to launch a kayak or dinghy to go to shore.

The next morning, we started across Boundary Pass into British Columbia.  We have Nexus Cards (a US-Canada trusted traveler program) and we chose to clear at Port Browning on North Pender Island, which is a permitted Nexus entry point.  We did run into a glitch, however, when the Canadian border agent with whom Marcia was talking on the phone (and who was in a office back in Ottawa) asked us to go to the dock at Port Browning for a short time to be available for a border agent visit.  This is typical and most times an agent doesn't come and we are free to proceed after the short wait.  Unfortunately, the Port Browning Marina was full-up on account of it being Victoria Day Weekend and there wasn't a dedicated customs dock.  After some phone calls to and by the Port Browning Marina Harbor Master with Canadian Customs, we were cleared after the Harbor Master attested to our hovering offshore available for inspection.  We then dropped our anchor (which we could not do until being cleared for entry), and went to shore.  There is a full grocery store a short walk from the Port Browning Marina and we provisioned with those produce items we weren't allowed to bring with us to Canada.

Rather than remaining anchored in Port Browning, we proceeded to Montague Harbor on Galiano  Island and in its large harbor.  While very popular, Montague Harbor is so large that even on holidays, you can find a spot to anchor which we did.  An attraction to Montague Harbor is the presence of a provincial park with a dock for dinghy tie-up.  There are walking trails in the park and a nice field on which we can play ball with Drake.  Montague also has a small marina whose store serves up ice cream which is the whole family enjoys.  With a forecast for high winds in the Strait of Georgia the next day (May 18), we decided Montague was the place to wait until it lessened.

On the morning of May 19, we got an early start and rode the dying flood current through Dodd Narrows into Nanaimo Harbor.  Since the southeast winds had not totally died down in the Strait of Georgia, our destination was Northwest Bay about 15 miles beyond Nanaimo. This required us to travel for a short time along the edge of the Strait of Georgia which was a bit rolly during the times when the route put our beam to the wind driven waves.  The aptly named Northwest Bay proved to be a haven from the southeast winds in the strait and we spent a quiet night there.

With the southeasterly winds lessened the next morning, we continued on towards Campbell River.  We had decided to use Seymour Narrows as our route through the collection of islands separating the Strait of Georgia from Johnstone Strait.  The ebb current was still building at Seymour Narrows so we took the conservative approach and dropped the anchor in Gowlland Harbour, 6 miles short of Seymour Narrows, and waited for the ebb current to start dropping to a more comfortable speed (from 5-6 knots to 2-3 knots).  After the pause we continued through Seymour Narrows and made our way to Otter Cover behind Chatham Point in Discovery Passage.

The weather continued to be acceptable and the next day we travelled along Johnstone Strait, into Queen Charlotte Strait and anchored in Blunden Harbour.  We've stayed in Blunden many times over years as it is a convenient point from which to start the passage of Cape Caution.  The morning of May 22, was a little windy and there was an unpleasant chop but it did not go beyond that.  As we made our way past Cape Caution, the angle of the waves striking the boat changed to a more comfortable aspect and they never exceeded 2-3 feet in height.  We ended up not needing to put our stabilizing fish in the water.  We anchored the night in Fancy Cove, on the south side of Lama Passage about 8 miles south of Shearwater.

The next morning, with acceptable but worsening weather we continued north.  We elected to avoid the exposed portion of Milbanke Sound west of Ivory Island by cutting into Reid Passage east of Ivory Island, transiting Perceval Narrows, then rejoining Findlayson Channel via Jackson Passage.  We then avoided Heikish Narrows by using Sarah Passage into Princess Royal Channel.  That night we anchored in Khutze Inlet on the bar partway into the inlet.  One of these years we'll after seek permission and try the docks on Butedale, which is only few miles further.

The morning of May 24, with a forecast of upcoming storm force winds across the North Coast of BC, we decide we need to start looking for a safe haven to wait it out. Lowe Inlet, about 50 miles further along seems like a good choice and we anchor the night there.  After one night we decide it wasn't quite as protected as we were hoping for.  It wasn't unsafe but the chop from the wind interacting with the runoff coming from Verney Falls was unpleasant. 

The next day, May 25, we decided to look for something a little less open and went 17 miles further along Grenville Channel to Klewnuggit Inlet.  We anchored at the head of the East Inlet.  There are anchorages further along Grenville but they are not as well protected.  We ended up spending four nights in Klewnuggit Inlet.  The worst weather was the afternoon/evening of May 26 when we had a gust of 40 knots and sustained winds in the mid-20's.  Klewnuggit Inlet is long and there was enough fetch to give us 2-foot chop at anchor.  The other days were not that windy but the continual rain was impressive (Ketchikan had 9.76 inches of rain during the 5 days we spent in Lowe Inlet and Klewnuggit Inlet).

There was a weather window in which we could have gotten to Prince Rupert but, via AIS and the Marinetraffic website, we were able to see other pleasure craft heading into Prince Rupert.  We are a slow boat, not able to beat other boats in a "race" and we didn't want to go to Prince Rupert without a place to dock.  Finally on May 29, with a brief weather window and remotely observing some boats leaving the dock, we left Klewnuggit and headed into town.

We spent two nights in Prince Rupert, a very welcome respite. Drake got his requisite play sessions on nearby grassy public areas and we all got to walk on solid ground again.

We left the dock early on Saturday, May 31 with a forecast that was improving but was still not totally settled.  We started with the hope to get across the exposed Dixon Entrance portion, the channel of water that separates British Columbia from Alaska and is open to the Pacific Ocean, but were prepared to change the goal based on conditions.  In the BC waters of Chatham Sound, the winds were generally 10-15 knots and on our stern and pretty comfortable.  As we approached Dixon Entrance, we thought it would be rougher so we put our stabilizers in the water well before we needed them.  We were so glad we did because it was definitely "bouncier" than any of our 28 previous crossing of Dixon Entrance.  The SW seas were probably about 2 meters (6 to 7 feet) and were hitting our port stern quarter which would some times cause rolling and sometimes a corkscrew motion. Fortunately the winds were mostly in the 15-20 knots. The seas followed us up Revillagigedo Channel to within a few miles of Mary Island and over 20 miles from when we entered Dixon Entrance just north of Dundas Island. We didn't find conditions calm enough for us to stop and pull the stabilizers out of the water until we were within a dozen miles of Ketchikan.  Finally, at 1625 Alaska time, we pulled into a slip in Bar Harbor North and finished our 16 day, 683 mile journey from Bainbridge Island to Ketchikan.