Alaska

After a calm, uneventful two-day Gulf of Alaska crossing, we arrived in Pelican, at the northwest corner of Southeast Alaska. When people talk about cruising Alaska, most are talking about Southeast Alaska. This is the part of Alaska that is easily accessed from Washington State via the Inside Passage--a calm-water route filled with sheltered anchorages, narrow channels, and relatively numerous settlements. Southeast Alaska is also an area where Don, Sharry, and I have spent a...

15 August, 2023 /

After a few days in Kodiak, the weather forecast for the 24-hour run to Seward looked nearly perfect. Along the way, many anchorages--particularly those in Kenai Fjords National Park--tempted us. Alas, the calm winds, gentle two-foot swell, pea-soup fog, and eternal daylight enticed us to motor onward to Seward. It's good to leave some anchorages unexplored so we have reason to return, we figured. And the fog would have made it hard to see any...

13 August, 2023 /

After leaving spectacular Castle Bay we headed for Geographic Harbor, about 170nm away. This is too far for a single day. We have no cruising guide for this area, but a place called Port Wrangell looked good on the chart--reasonable depths and good protection. It turned out to be a beautiful anchorage: After one night we continued towards Geographic Harbor. We could spend years cruising this coastline, exploring the many anchorages along the way, but we've...

18 July, 2023 /

The Alaska Peninsula stretches 500 miles from the mainland to the Aleutian Islands. Scattered along it are several small communities. We don't have time to stop at all of them, but wanted to see one. King Cove was closest to our route, so that's where we stopped. The harbormaster was friendly and the harbor facilities are good. On shore, there's not much--a boatyard to support fish boats, a grocery store, a single restaurant, and a...

18 June, 2023 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After a blustery day sitting at anchor in Bay of Islands, we took a break from overnight travel and made a "short" 75 mile hop to Atka Island. The weather was much calmer than the day before, but still moody: Along the way we passed Great Sitkin Island. We'd hoped for clear weather to see 5,710 foot Great Sitkin Volcano as we passed. The weather wasn't perfectly clear, but it brightened enough for us to enjoy...

16 June, 2023 /

The passage from Kushiro to Attu, the westernmost point in the USA, is about 1350nm, which takes about six and a half days. Our previous passages were in the trade winds, where the weather is generally quite stable. This passage is most definitely not in the trades and has potential for challenging, variable weather. We watched the forecast for weeks. Once or twice each week, a low pressure system with seriously bad weather--winds in the 50 knot...

05 June, 2023 /

It’s salmon season and the purse seiners are out in full force.  As we cruise down the east coast of Baranof we see the seiners with their nets out, and their sein skiffs noisily pulling in their nets in the process of closing the net into a continuous purse.  The fish tenders are standing by ready to offload the fish as soon as the purse sein skipper gives the order. While in Petersburg, next to where...

10 July, 2018 /

Red Bluff BayJuly 5&6, 201856 51N, 134 44WThe Land of PlentyWe ran down Chatham Strait after exiting Peril Strait with the current giving us a one and one- half knot boost.It is always a thrill to see the hundreds of streams cascading down the steep mountains on the East side of Baranof Island.  The snow is almost all melted off the tops.We pulled into Red Bluff Bay and dropped our 2 shrimp pots just inside...

07 July, 2018 /

Sitka, Alaska - Moored next to a 107 year old piece of Ballard Fishing History.Noodle and Lori flew back to Hawaii yesterday afternoon. Great crewmates and they will be missed. Sharry and I departed Sitka this morning at 12:30 today, the 4th of July. We found ourselves underway heading into a thick wall of fog as we entered Peril Strait. We were in a hurry to catch the 1600 slack tide at Sergius Narrows because...

04 July, 2018 /

On Saturday Starr punched out into the Pacific for the final time while Lori and I will be aboard. We had a twenty mile stretch at the southern end of Chichagof Island where there was no inside channel to protect us. Fortunately, it was another stellar day with light winds and nearly calm seas. After we cleared Chichagof we turned left once more and entered the narrow channels that run between Kruzof and Baranof Islands...

02 July, 2018 /
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