After a rainy but fun stay in Hoonah (including a couple pints and some Thai food at Icy Strait Brewing, of course) we left Hoonah close to 11:00 a.m. for our short cruise (~10 nautical miles) around to Flynn Cove.
The three of us (Akeeva, Ceci Kay, and Airship) anchored in Flynn Cove, one of our favorite little spots on Icy Strait, and Kevin took the drone up for some aerial photos:
We went exploring by dinghy later on and watched a humpback hanging out just past Harry Island:
The sky wasn’t clear (at all), so our view across Icy Strait was a little less amazing than I know it can be, but this area is beautiful no matter the weather.
We had happy hour/dinner on Akeeva (the last of the crab, tossed in some pasta with an artichoke pesto, with lemon, spinach, and parmesan, and a nice variety of appys beforehand). Always so much fun with this group!
In the morning, we headed out into the calm waters of Icy Strait (yay, right!?) and cruised over to Funter Bay, on the NW corner of Admiralty Island. Funter Bay is a two mile long bay on the western side of Admiralty Island near its northern tip. We anchored easily in Coot Bay (in about 40 feet) and then went to explore. We’d heard of an Aleutian Islander cemetery in the next cove over, marked by a cross and a tunnel through the woods, after the last house with a lawn out front. It was easy to find, so we pulled our dinghy onto the beach and wandered into the woods (with bear spray).
The cemetery is at or near the site of a refugee/relocation/internment camp from WWII for Aleutian Islanders who were evacuated from their homes due to the Japanese invasion. It’s a very sad story, and you can read more about it here, but there are about 23 graves at Funter Bay.
Sigh.
After the cemetery, we dinghied around to explore the rest of the bay, and ended up back near the entrance to Funter Cove watching a group of 6-7 humpbacks spouting and diving.
At one point they surprised us with a little bubble-net feeding, but we neglected to capture any photos. Since we were in the dinghy, we opted not to get very close.
Last night we had dinner on our own boats, and then dessert (brownies, coffee, and irish creme liqueur) on Ceci Kay, and this morning we cruised up Lynn Canal, around Point Retreat, and into Auke Bay for the night. The wind never got above about 12 knots and the seas were calm. Just how we like it!
We all got spots on the inside of the breakwater float.
When we walked up to pay our moorage, we ran into Dave Borg, our friend and the Juneau harbormaster, who generously offered us his truck to run into town, so we returned to Airship an hour later with a new fish cleaning/prep table from Western Auto and Marine, and a whole lotta yummy stuff from Jerry’s Meats & Seafood — salmon spread, crab spread, jalapeno cheese spread, smoked king salmon, some double smoked bacon, and four containers of Jerry’s fresh salsa (their salsa is amazing, and we have a mini-flotilla to feed!)
Tomorrow we’ll either stop and anchor in Admiralty Cove, or head on around to Harris Harbor near downtown Juneau. We’ll figure it out tonight at dinner with the group!