Tenakee Springs to Red Bluff Bay

Purse Seiner in the fog leaving Takatz Bay

Setting Crab Pots in Takatz Bay

Patrick Enjoying Red Bluff Bay

Bill in Red Bluff Bay

Spirit peacefully at Anchor in Red Bluff Bay

Entrance into Red Bluff Bay Inner Cove


Outer Entrance into Red Bluff Bay



The Red Bluff

Bill & Ruth on a cocktail cruise

Takatz Bay

Kasnyku Falls

Departing Tenakee Springs in the rain, we motored over to our crab hole and pulled the pots. Only three large keepers, but we are running out of room for crab anyway. Chatham Strait was calm, with rain. The fishing fleet had left before us, and the eastern side of Baranof Island, from Kelp Bay to Takatz Bay was filled with purse seiners and tenders waiting for the opening the next morning, and staking out their positions.

We pulled into Ell Cove, hoping to find a place to anchor, but the cove was already filled with seiners. We kept going to Takatz Bay and pulled into the inner cove, passing several seiners already anchored in the outer bay. The inner cove was deserted, with a light ground fog swirling around us as we set the hook. After launching the tender, Bill and Patrick set the crab pots at the head of the cove and Bill and Ruth toured the cove and the twin waterfalls. The sheer rock walls, snowfields and the fog gave the inner cove a magical quality we had not seen before. The fog thickened at times to where visibility was only a few hundred feet, and the rock walls disappeared from view. Dinner was a stroganoff prepared by Bill and Patrick.
No other boats joined us, and the next morning we pulled the pots, only one large and feisty crab, plus one starfish. As we left the inner cove, definitely a place to return to, we ran into dense fog and seiners everywhere. Visibility dropped to a few hundred feet at times and we kept the shore on our right and dodged the seiners. The fog thinned out to about ½ mile and we continued down to Warm Springs Bay for a photo shoot of the falls. The docks and coves were full of boats, but the bay was free of fog.

After photos, we headed back out into Chatham Strait and set a course for Red Bluff Bay. The fog lifted more as we headed south, but the wind and seas increased with the ebb tide. The last few miles to Red Bluff Bay were wet and sloppy from the seas and the winds.

The entry into Red Bluff Bay was far easier than the cruising guides indicated and we headed up to the end, to find four boats already anchored in the best locations. We could not get the anchor to set in the middle, but found a shelf about 40 feet deep where the holding appeared OK. We launched the tender and took our shrimp pot out to near the ones we passed on the way in, in the rain and then took photos of the falls. Later we could see bears on the delta at the head of the bay, but too far away for photos. The last vessel to join the group was the mega yacht "Marjorie Morningstar", who ended up stern tying with two bow anchors out.

The rain continued all night, varying only in intensity, but was not hard enough to keep the no-see-um's away as Bill and Ruth prepared their version of steak Diane on the barbeque. (steak, asparagus, crab and hollandaise sauce). We watched a movie since the TV Satellite dish could not receive a signal in the bay.

The log now stands at 1987 Nautical Miles on day 55