Juneau to Ketchikan via Glacier Bay – July 2 to August 2

We did it all on this leg, sightseeing, fishing, short and long travel days, and waiting for weather and dock congestion. During that time, we ended up spending 13 nights within the borders of Glacier Bay National Park (five of those nights in peripheral areas not covered by the permitting system).

We left Juneau on Thursday, July 2 ahead of the Independence Day long weekend and anchored in Sawmill Bay, far up Excursion Inlet. While within the borders Glacier Bay Nation Park (GBNP), entry is not controlled like the waters of Glacier Bay. With a cool and damp weather forecast, we ended up staying in Sawmill Bay for two nights.

On July 4, we traveled west along Icy Strait past the entrance to Glacier Bay and made our way to the northern end of Dundas Bay (also a non-permitted portion of the park). We settled in for 3-nights of damp and unsettled weather. While outside in Icy Strait, winds rose to 20-30 kts, we saw less than 10 kts.

Upon leaving Dundas Bay with better weather, we headed across Ice Strait for some halibut fishing in Mud Bay. After Marcia caught a couple, we went closer to shore an anchored for the night. The next morning, we returned to the same location and caught an additional halibut. For the night we went east in Icy Strait and anchored in Flynn Cove, where we launched the dinghy, went to shore so that Drake could get some ball play.

Several months earlier we obtained an “advance-notice” permit of 7-days/6-nights for Glacier Bay starting on July 11, but in a few days earlier we also obtained a “short-notice” permit for two days entering on July 9. With those 9-days, 8 nights in the permitted portion of Glacier Bay National Park, we visited both the west and east arms as well as spend both the first and last nights in Bartlett Cove so that Drake could get some ball play and shore time (dogs are prohibited from the shore in GBNP except in Bartlett Cove and then only in limited areas).

In Tarr Inlet, at the head of the west arm, is the tide water Margerie Glacier, which calves ice directly into the inlet, and the Grand Pacific Glacier, whose terminus is several hundred yards short of the water. The Margerie Glacier leads quickly up towards the steep summits of the Fairweather Range, which separates Glacier Bay from the Gulf of Alaska, The Grand Pacific Glacier leads north about 16 miles into British Columbia. We spent about an hour drifting in front of the glaciers just enjoying setting. While drifting, a car size chunk of ice “joined” us. We gave it a push with a boat hook sending it away before we restarted the engine and departed.

We took advantage of our extra days in the park by spending time in the east arm and traveling to the very end of Muir Inlet. It is a lovely section of the park but doesn’t get as much recreational boat traffic as the west arm. It too, has glaciers, such as the Muir and the Riggs but most end before reaching the waters of Glacier Bay.

While returning to Bartlett Cove, like many boaters up and down the coast this summer, we got to share the waters with the 390’ mega yacht Launchpad owned by Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook. Our encounter was in Sitakaday Narrows, a few miles NW of Bartlett Cove. I did my best to get out of the way as it was doing 19 knots and throwing a large wake. We spent our last night in Bartlett Cove and gave Drake his last play session in the park.

Since Glacier Bay is the furthest north we go, it has become our turnaround point and we are now heading (more or less) south. We decided to take Stephens Passage on the east shore of Admiralty Island into Frederick Sound. For our first night after Glacier Bay, we used Colt Island, about 8 miles SSW of Auke Bay near Juneau. While not particularly scenic, it was convenient and it allowed us to reach the next day one of our favorite anchorages on the west shore of the West Brother Island in Frederick Sound. While in the area, we were going to try some fishing for prawns and halibut. After a couple of days of mediocre results, we decided to head into Petersburg. Along the way, we experienced some strong winds. Even while in Petersburg we had winds in the mid-20’s with gusts in the low 30’s (knots). Fortunately, we were securely tied to the dock at the time.

After two nights in Petersburg, we headed through Wrangell Narrows and made our way into Ernest Sound. We spent a few days in Ernest Sound trying some new prawning areas. While we got prawns in most of them, the hauls weren’t great and we decided to head towards Ketchikan.

This final section, about 60 miles, took us a remarkably long time to travel. From our last anchorage in Ernest Sound, Santa Ana Inlet (photo on left of spectacular BC wild fire smoke enhanced sunset while in Santa Anna), we went first to the public dock in Meyers Chuck (photo on right of float plane shortly after takeoff from public dock in Meyers Chuck). We spent two nights here, one of which was on account of weather. Drake didn’t object because he got to play with another labradoodle who belonged to one of the community residents. While talking with them we learned that one of fishing areas near Ketchikan, District 1, had not opened for commercial fishing as expected and the harbors were full. Many boats were anchoring out in Tongass Narrows, the channel passing in front of Ketchikan. Subsequently, we also learned that because of construction on the Bar Harbor floating breakwater, some permanent boats were being relocated to slips that would typically be available for transient boats. Rather than risk having to anchor out in the very busy Tongass Narrows, we headed over to Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales (PoW) Island. We spent three nights there, doing lots of walks and play sessions with Drake.

Finally, on August 2, after hearing that commercial fishing had reopened in District 1, we left Thorne Bay and headed into Ketchikan, where we were able to get a slip.

Leg 4 – 24 Travel Days, 787.8 NM, 140.3 Engine Hours