Alaska update 6-29-2013

Toni here:

                                                          

What a nice cruise we had from Icy Strait to Chatham Strait. The fog softly drifts down from the mountain tops and lightly lays on the water. We were told to stop off in Tenakee Inlet and go to Tenakee Springs. The book says, “ A popular getaway for Juneau residents, a quaint village best known for its hot springs.” We got a little excited at the description. Our walk through the village was a small trail between houses and not very friendly residents. I have a feeling a lot of them just didn't want to look at someone carrying a camera. Wonder why? Derelict boats and crab nets, garbage is burned on the beaches, even some old boats were burned on the beach! They let the tides clean it up. No roads, only 4 wheelers and bicycles. Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention the outhouses. They sit up on stilts and hang over the beach. The best thing about Tenakee was free ice cream! A resident makes ice cream along the trail and it's free. We met a wonderful couple on a unique boat, 65 foot, 1980 Willard called 'Irish Mist', Pat and Teri. They live in Tucson, Arizona, Mexico, and have a log home in Tenakee. Pat had caught crab that morning and gave us some for our dinner. Alaska crab, so good!! Oh, the hot springs were open for men from 10am to 2pm and women from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm, all nude. We decide to pass on that.

                                                       Tenakee Hot Springs

Alaska Crab

The next day we anchored in Crab Bay and I caught three fish and Russ caught one. Of course his was the biggest. I was so excited to catch my first fish in Alaska! We ate some great rock fish for dinner and froze the yellow eye. I know it looks orange but they do have yellow eyes. While in this cove we watched migratory birds and a nursery of baby seals. In the evening a mommy brown bear and baby cub came out but not close enough for a picture. In the evenings large horse flys come out and bite with a sting like a bee. We stay inside the boat and play cribbage, which by the way I am winning. Later they leave and the no see-ums come out. I don't know how people live here. If there is a breeze, they all seem to stay away but you can not go outside or you are covered.

Yellow Eye

We watch as logs are being lifted by a huge helicopter and moved from the side of the mountain to the loading areas by the water. It is fascinating how close they come to the trees. They were bringing one log every two minutes down the mountain. That takes skill.

As we cruise along, we are both watching for all kinds of wildlife. In one day we saw eagles, a brown bear, a Sitka deer with a fawn, a whale and dall porpoise. We have seen all kinds of ducks, crows and ravens. Sometimes I am looking so hard to find them, I picture them all jumping out from behind the trees and waving, after we go by.

Traveler

We anchored in Appleton Cove off of Peril Strait. We went for a hike and had a very nice evening. There were several boats anchored. This is a good place to wait for the slack tide before entering Sergius Narrows heading for Sitka, Alaska. The tides are very important in Alaska for cruising and anchoring. You don't want to enter a narrows when the tides are running fast and you don't want to anchor and end up on the beach during low tide. So I have learned to ask, several times a day, what are the tides and are we anchored deep enough. We have several charts and look at all of them before heading to a new location. Russ is a very good Captain. Of course, I am the Admiral.

We are up by 5:30 am to head for Sergius Narrows. Ahead of us is a large sailboat. What a wonderful morning it turns out to be. We are there at the perfect time for the tides and on to Sitka. 

We are excited and will update you on our stay there. Thank you for following us on our journey.

Alaska update 6/23/2013

                                                           Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is the capital of Alaska and has a population of 35,000 people. It's nestled in a beautiful valley between snow capped mountains that remind me of The Sound of Music movie with Julie Andrews. I read that half the population has governmental jobs, I think a lot of people are involved in the fishing industry too, but I'm sure the rest of them are involved in the tourist industry, at least in the summer. Three to five cruise ships arrive here every day and that is good for the local economy. From our boat, we watched eagles and saw a mountain goat with our binoculars.

                

We fit right in with the tourists, everyone is very friendly. We went to the state and city museums which were very informative. I also followed Toni into just about every cute little shop in town, so we got our exercise as well. One highlight was a 3 hour flight and Salmon dinner tour over five glaciers in a float plane. We landed in the Taku River and had dinner at the Taku Lodge looking right at Hole in the Wall Glacier. The BBQ Salmon was cooked in an open alder wood fire pit . We also went to the Alaska Brewery and sampled their beer, many times. Our friends Casey and Mary arrived while we were in Juneau and we enjoyed quality time with them for two days ending with dinner and drinks on our boat the night before we left. They will continue north to Skagway and we will wander south.

                                                            Casey and Mary

                                                                  Float Planes 

                                                                   Glacier

                                                                    Glacier

                                                                    Glacier

                                                                      Glacier

                                                                       Two Glaciers

                                                                  Taku Lodge

                                           Russ and Toni in front of Hole in the Wall Glacier

We cruised south out of Juneau then northwest up Saginaw channel where we saw, in the distance, the Mendenhall Glacier above Juneau. We then turned south in Lower Lyn Canal to Funter Bay. On this trip we saw eleven whale-tail waves and early Pink salmon jumping up out of the water. We think they were eating small herring. We tied up to the state dock and took the dinghy for a tour and then a short hike through part of the forest. We have not seen any bears here but have decided the berries are not quite ready and the salmon are not yet spawning. We were the only boat tied to the dock so we had a peaceful evening watching the eagles and river otters playing before turning in. The next day we went to the other side of the bay and tied to the state dock that is close to the ruins of an old cannery. During World War II, natives were relocated to this area, for their safety and were treated poorly. Many contracted diseases from the the white man, died, and were buried nearby. We hiked back to the small cemetery and paid our respects before moving on.

                                                               Lighthouse

                                                               Fishing Troller

                                                                Funter bay

                                                              Cemetery

We crossed lower Lynn Canal into Icey Strait but the wind made the seas pretty rough and Toni suffered for that, the Ranger Tug doesn't take beam seas too well or large head seas if you have a tender stomach. Three hours later we pulled into Hoonah, Alaska and I found out I could single hand the boat and lines pretty good when my first mate is ill, really ill. (No pictures!) She was fine by early evening and we took a leisurely walk through town.

Hoonah is a small, mostly Native Tlingit Indian community on the north side of Chichagof Island, the population is about 900. The next day we took a shuttle to Icey Strait Point. This is the location of a 100 year old restored cannery and tribal site, we spent nearly the whole day there. They have spent nearly 30 million dollars reinventing this into a popular attraction that brings in the smaller cruise ships. They have a cannery museum, a lot of exciting excursions, restaurants, shopping, and nature walks. We went to the tribal dance exhibition and learned about their history and traditions. 

                                                             Tlingit Tribal Dance

                                                                   Raven Clan Totem

                                                                      Eagle Clan Totem

Our Ranger Tug, Traveler, has performed perfectly with nearly 700 hours on the engine we have logged almost 6,000 miles since we purchased it three years ago this month. We marvel at all the fun and interesting places this small boat has taken us, all the people we have met along the way, and never take our blessings for granted.

                                                              'Traveler'

While sitting here on our boat and watching eagles flying over with fish they have caught for dinner, we have decided to bypass Glacier Bay as we have seen it before on a cruise ship years ago and the weather window isn't favorable. So tomorrow we will cruise south towards Sitka, with unknown stops along the way. We will post again when have internet service. Hope you follow along. 

 Russ and Toni on Traveler

Alaska 6-18-2013
Toni Here:

We are headed NW in Fredericks Sound, out of Petersburg. What a beautiful day for cruising. We are seeing snow capped mountains, eagles flying, and we have seen 28 whales.  We are moving at 6 to 7 miles an hour and this must be a whale's favorite place.  All we have to do is slow down and watch in front and beside the boat.  What a spectacular view. Keep your eye on the whale!  And remember, I am not a professional.

What a small world it really is.  We saw friends in Petersburg and now in route north, our C-Dory friend David McKibben. He and another guy are driving a boat from Juneau to Anacortes, Washington and saw our boat on the water and called us on the VHF, so we stopped and had a short visit.

We cruise into Houghton Bay and on into Sandborn Canal to anchor for the night. We are the only boat there. You can not imagine the clean sweet smell of Alaska.  If only I could bottle it and take it home!  The canal is teaming with Arctic Terns, seagulls, and ducks, all eating tiny herring.  The Arctic Terns nest in Southeast Alaska in the summer and fly south almost 12,000 miles to winter in the waters near Antarctica.  Amazing!

After sunset, hoards of knats cover our boat. Thankfully we are inside and have no intentions of going out for anything.  When I say sunset, I really don't mean "the sun goes down and it gets dark."  This time of the year Alaska has 18 hours of daylight. You can read a newpaper at 2am.  I look out the window and see fingerling herring jumping out of the water snatching knats to eat.  Their shiny little bodies look like diamonds on top of the water.  I did get a glimpse of a large black bear in the mud flats.  The mud flats are created when the tides change. And they do have some very low tides.  Before we anchor, we check the tides, making sure if it is going to be 12 feet low, we anchor deeper.  The tides are very important as well as the marine weather.  If they say there well be 25 to 35 knot per hour winds, you had better believe them.

Now cruising in Stephens Passage, towards Juneau, we are seeing Dall's Porpoises. They ride our bow for a while but you only see their backs.   Remember, I am not a professional!  We see a huge cruise ship that passes us like we are standing still.

As we head into Tracy Arm a lone wolf stands on top of a rock outcropping. Alaska is the home to the Alexander Archipelago wolf. The Department of Fish and Game of Alaska say that one wolf eats an average of 26 Sitka black-tailed deer a year.  They also eat beaver, mountain goats and dead salmon in the rivers.

 We are cruising up Tracy Arm, 15 miles, to see Sawyer Glacier.   As we enter the bay, Sumdum Glacier is in the distance. In front of us are two killer whales slowly moving up the channel and then disappear.   Iceburgs start to show and then there it is, South Sawyer Glacier.  Unbelievable!!  Hard to describe.  You just have to see it for yourself.  Breathtaking beauty! We are still using glacier ice from La Conta Glacier, though we were not able to get as close as this.  The wind picks up so we couldn't get in the dingy and take any pictures of our boat.  (To tell you the truth, I was too scared to be by myself trying to keep the boat in front of the glacier. Too many iceburgs!)  Then, what if Russ couldn't get back to the boat?  No Way!! This was good enough for me. The pictures tell it all.

                                                           Sumdum Glacier

                                               Hundreds of waterfalls

                                                           South Sawyer Glacier

We head back out Tracy Arm and anchor inside Tracy Cove with other boats.  What a beautiful cove.  Iceburgs passing by, headed out into the Strait. Tour boats going in and out and one large Cruise Ship headed to see the glacier.

This night we anchor in Taku Harbor. A Forest Service dock and old cannery ruins.  Beautiful wild flowers and eagles. We set out our crab pot and hike the ruins.  We meet some folks from Seattle and see them three more times in Juneau. Like I said, it's a small world in Alaska.   We caught one crab and had crab melts. Ummm good!

We are in Juneau for 3 or 4 days and well send another blog soon.   Thank you for keeping up with us. Wish we could bring you all along for the ride!  Our love to family and friends.