Airship | South Arm of Kelp Bay

We said goodbye to Dan and Eileen this morning as they de-rafted from Airship in Gut Bay. We hope to meet up with them later in the summer! Super fun time buddy boating down the outside of Baranof Island! Chatham this morning was nice and calm (no photos) and by the time we turned off into Kelp Bay the wind had picked up just slightly creating less than a one … Read more

Airship | Puffin Bay to Toledo Harbor

After the winds died down yesterday afternoon, we had a serene, completely calm overnight in Puffin Bay. We pulled the anchor this morning around 7am and headed for Cape Ommaney. We were hoping the fog would burn off by the time we got to the cape so we could at least see what it looked like. Pretty soon we were definitely feeling the drama of our 3+ knots of current … Read more

Airship | Scow Bay to Redfish Bay

We left Scow Bay a little early this morning (7am) since we had a longer day than the past few (a whoppin’ 33nm to Redfish Bay). I wish we had just a bit more time to slow down and pop in and out of more anchorages, but I guess it leaves us more to see the next time we do this leg. It’s interesting…the west side of Baranof Island is … Read more

Airship | South from Sitka to Redoubt Bay

Finally, a good weather window lined up with our plans to get on the outside of Baranof Island for a few days! We got up at 5am in Baby Bear to transit Sergius Narrows near the 5:30am slack, which meant (a) we got into Sitka before 9am, and (b) we were tired, so immediately after getting settled in our slip, we took a nap. 🙂 We’d been in touch with … Read more

Airship | Juneau, Funter Bay, Pavlof Harbor

We spent a week or so in Juneau after the flotilla ended…visiting with friends and family (Laura’s brother Jason flew down from Anchorage with a friend for a visit), and made good use of the rental car we reserved (used the Turo app for the first time…will definitely do that again!) We took a couple trips to Western Auto & Marine, Jerry’s Meats & Seafood (smoked salmon, double smoked bacon, … Read more

Day 44 | 2023 Flotilla to Alaska | Tracy Arm Cove to Juneau

Once again, everyone wants to know what time Airship is going to leave, so we say 6am, and when we get up at 5:30am, two of the other three boats are long gone and one is pulling its anchor. Fine then. 🙂 Conditions in Stephens Passage were calm and even glassy for our cruise north into Juneau. We watched a humpback breaching to the left of a cruise ship (hope … Read more

Day 40 | 2023 Flotilla to Alaska | Taku Harbor to Tracy Arm Cove

Every summer during the flotillas, almost every evening, there’s discussion about what time people want to leave in the morning. Sometimes we have a reason to need to leave early (weather, timing for current and tides, things like that), and when we don’t have a reason to leave early, we leave it up to the individual boats. We’ll put in the written plan, even “Leave whenever you want today!” Inevitably, … Read more

Day 38 | 2023 Flotilla to Alaska | Pavlof Harbor to Couverden Island Cove

We never did see the sow and teeny tiny new cub that our friends saw at Pavlof, but before we left this morning, this one came out and was munching some sedge grass on shore. There definitely will be more bears here later when the salmon are running. See last year’s post from the end of July. Left to our own devices with a comparatively short day (30nm) and a “leave … Read more