Safe Harbour | Le Conte Glacier, Brown Cove, Scenery Cove

When I first came to Alaska, I was unprepared for the scale. Even Southeast—the relatively small portion of the state where I’ve cruised—is truly vast. Somewhere around 70,000 people inhabit an area that stretches more than 300 miles south to north and a hundred miles west to east. Even a few miles from the population centers, it’s easy to find solitude. By solitude, I don’t just mean a lack of … Read more

Safe Harbour | Round Islet, Hobart Bay, Farragut Bay

Soon after the flotilla arrived in Juneau I had to leave the boat and return to the lower 48 by air. Juneau is a great place to do this since there’s first-come, first-served open moorage available (rather than hot-berthing), reasonable rates (~$230 for a month, with power!), and good airline service (Alaska and Delta fly multiple flights per day to/from Seattle). Leaving the boat in a strange port can be … Read more

Day 34 | Flotilla to Alaska | Taku Harbor to Juneau

Our final cruise of the flotilla was a short, twenty-mile hop up Stephens Passage from Taku Harbor to Juneau. Once again, we felt the slight jar of a return to civilization from the wilderness. Like Ketchikan, Juneau announces its presence early with giant cruise ships visible from miles away, and a sudden increase in all kinds of boat traffic going in and out of Gastineau Channel to Juneau. Arriving at … Read more

Day 33 | Flotilla to Alaska | Ford’s Terror to Taku Harbor

We pulled anchor a little after 7:00 a.m. in order to arrive at the entrance (exit) to Ford’s Terror by about 8:00 a.m. We were a little early but knew from our experience coming in that the tidal swing was low and that meant a longer-than-usual window for transiting the rapids. Airship went through first and only noted about a knot and a half of opposing current, so the rest … Read more

Day 32 | Flotilla to Alaska | Ford’s Terror

Ford’s Terror is probably our favorite anchorage ever. There’s something about the challenge of getting in, the fact that you can only transit the entrance/exit once every twelve hours (knowing that the current at the entrance can run to 12 knots with large overfalls during non-slack) that makes it an accomplishment. This challenge is rewarded heavily by the enormous unspoiled majestic landscape that surrounds you once inside. Everywhere you look, … Read more

Day 31 | Flotilla to Alaska | Tracy Arm Cove to Dawes Glacier and Ford’s Terror

**Warning: this post has SO MANY PHOTOS** The Plan for Today: Leave Tracy Arm Cove by about 11:00 a.m. (so late!!), cruise up Endicott Arm to all the way to Dawes Glacier (or as far as we could get), spend some time playing in the ice, and then backtrack to Ford’s Terror so we’d reach the entrance about a half an hour or so before high slack in Juneau. As … Read more

Day 30 | Flotilla to Alaska | Pybus Bay to Tracy Arm Cove

Today’s cruise from Cannery Cove up to Tracy Arm Cove was just over 40 miles, so we headed out on the early side (basically, no different from any other day with this group). 🙂 Ralph got a nice humpback show out in Stephens Passage (he left a little earlier than the rest) and shared these two photos with us: We arrived and anchored in Tracy Arm Cove, and were the … Read more

Day 29 | Flotilla to Alaska | Portage Bay to Pybus Bay

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous for our cruise from Portage Bay across to Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island. As we left Portage the fog burned off and the water was glassy smooth for much of our transit. Enroute we saw humpback whales, a large pod of Orcas, seals, and sea lions. But, the big wildlife encounter of the day was Dall’s porpoises! There were so many of them, and … Read more