Glacier Bay to Sitka

June 2, 2012

Departing South Fingers Bay at 1130 to minimize the impact of the flood tide into Glacier Bay we departed the park at 1330 and headed into North Inian Passage riding a large ebb tide, which at times hit 5 knots.  The swirls were not too bad until we came to Cross Sound where eddies and whirlpools were intense for a few minutes.  Spirit took several large rolls and large course changes as we headed out Cross Sound and turned south towards Elfin Cove.  There was another patch of eddies at the outflow of South Inian Passage, but these were easily negotiated.

Sea Otter in Glacier Bay

Troll in Elfin Cove

We were fortunate that there was room at the public float for Spirit and Serena to raft, leaving room for “Cosmos Place”, a 42 foot Nordic Tug from La Conner travelling several hours behind us.  We had seen and talked to “Cosmo Place” in Blue Mouse Cove.  Elfin Cove is a quaint boardwalk community with a fuel dock, the Coho Bar and Grill, a post office, store (open M-W-F), a gift shop and lots of fishing lodges.  Diesel fuel was more than $5.00 per gallon so we were glad we did not need any fuel.

Miriam and I fixed dinner on board from leftovers and afterwards everyone from the three boats gathered on both Spirit and Serena to exchange stories and talk about the outside passage to Sitka, our goal over the next few days if the weather window remains open.

June 3, 2012

Moonrise over Pelican Harbor

Humpback Whales near Elfin Cove

Pelican Harbor

Pelican Boardwalk

The Pelican Library Entrance

Celebrating at Rosie's with Colin and Donna

After a leisurely morning and lunch at the Coho Bar and Grill (the burgers were pretty good) we all left Elfin Cove a little after noon for the short run to Pelican on Lisianski Strait.  We stopped to watch humpback whales and tried to find the elusive halibut for several hours, with no luck fishing.  The afternoon westerly’s piped up as we approached the transient docks at Pelican, but we managed to find one that was bow in to the wind and waves.  After docking we wandered the wide boardwalks of Pelican and ended up at Rosie’s Bar and Grill, a Pelican fixture for 39 years.  Patrick and Colin both wrote their names on the ceiling and endured the ritual that Rosie imposes on those brash enough to try!  We went back to our boats for dinner and a quiet evening and were enthralled by the full moon rising over Lisianski Strait with calm winds as the westerly wind faded in late evening.

June 4, 2012

Outdoor Pool at White Sulphur Hot Springs

The Lisianski Café was our destination for breakfast where we were served enormous quantities of food.  There were several local residents present who gave us useful tips on negotiating both Lisianski Strait and using the “inside passage” going south towards Sitka, minimizing our time in the Gulf of Alaska.  Departing Pelican at 1010 we arrived at Davison Bay after taking the “shortcut” behind Esther Island where we dropped the anchor for our shore excursion to White Sulfur Hot Springs.  Spirit launched a tender and Patrick, Colin and Donna headed out into the approach to Mirror Harbor and West Arm where they found the trailhead to the hot springs.  Leaving the tender tied to a rock they made the one mile hike on a boardwalk (a loose description) to the springs where they found a US Forest Service cabin and another couple already there.  We took out turns in the pleasant hot water, only slightly sulphurous and then returned to the boat.  By this time the afternoon westerly’s had increased to over 25 knots and we had an exciting time getting the tender back on board in the wind and swell penetrating Davison Bay.  Heading back out into the Gulf of Alaska we continued south to Imperial Passage where we ducked back inside and then followed a circuitous route into Khaz Bay and then Klag Bay where we anchored for the evening.  Part of our approach into Klag Bay was through an area called “The Gate”, for good reason, since the current and shallow water are challenging and no current tables exist for the channel.  We have deduced that slack water is 30-45 minutes after slack tide in Elbow Passage.  During our approach into upper Klag Bay we found that the charts are inaccurate and the water is far shallower than either the charts or guidebooks indicate, looking like the streams have created sand bars that extend several hundred feet further into the bay than expected.  We had hoped to explored the deserted remains of the town of Chicagof where gold mines produced millions at the turn of the century, but a large grizzly bear on the beach convinced us that was not wise.

The moonrise in the evening was just as spectacular as in Lisianski Inlet.

We have now covered 1486 nautical miles on our 2012 SE Alaska Trip.  Tomorrow we challenge the Gulf of Alaska once again as we head out of Khaz Bay towards Salisbury Sound and Kalinin Bay where we hope to fish for salmon.

June 5, 2012

Leaving Klag Bay at 0910, with Serena in the lead, we retraced our path through “The Gate” and across Khaz Bay into the Gulf of Alaska for the 15 mile crossing to Kalinin Bay.  There was only about 10 knots of wind, but a 4-6 foot NW swell on our starboard quarter meant the stabilizers had difficulty keeping the roll angles to less than 10 degrees.  We had to slow down or stop occasionally to avoid numerous humpback whales.  Arriving at Kalinin Bay at the north end of Kruzof Island we dropped the anchor in 25 feet of water and then discovered we had no reverse gear, something had gone wrong.  Using the tender as a tug, we got the anchor set and began troubleshooting.  A call on Colin’s sat phone to Mill Log Marine, the transmission distributor in Kent, gave us some hints on troubleshooting and the problem turned out to be corrosion on an electrical contact on the reverse solenoid.  We now know how to identify this problem!  The contacts were cleaned and dielectric grease applied and the problem was solved.

After lunch on Serena, we took the tenders fishing, but had no success.  The rain began as we left to fish and continued all night.  The good weather of the last few days has departed for now.

We have now travelled 1504 nautical miles since April 29, and have now circumnavigated the “ABC” islands on our different trips, Admiralty, Baranof and Chicagof.

June 6, 2012

The rain disappeared overnight, but the wind was gusting to 20 knots into the entrance of Kalinin Bay.  Nonetheless we raised the anchor and headed out into the “Shark Hole” for some fishing before we headed to Sitka.  As we were exiting the bay we were hailed by “Wild Blue”, another Selene owned by Alex and Pat Benson.  After about 1 hour, Patrick hooked a fish but lost it.  Just a few minutes later we had another one on the hook which we landed, a 14 pound Chinook salmon.  After another hour of no action we headed to Sitka, docking at 1500.

We have now covered over 1530 nautical miles and this phase of the trip is complete as we spend a few days in Sitka resting and cleaning the boat.

Our plan is to go out for a few days of fishing and return to Sitka periodically until Jon and Suzanne Liljegren, longtime friends, arrive on June 28^th to join us for 10 days as we slowly return to Ketchikan.