Laura Domela

Day 2 | Flotilla to Alaska | Silva Bay to Pender Harbour, BC

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We awoke in Silva Bay this morning to coffee, pastries, and fruit provided by the folks at Silva Bay Resort and Marina. They were completely full (turning away many boaters) for the Victoria Day holiday weekend, yet still found the time to deliver fantastic service and hospitality. Thank you! The Strait of Georgia is one of the significant gates of the Inside Passage. Thankfully, we had an ideal weather forecast. Environment … Read more

Day 1 | Flotilla to Alaska | Roche Harbor to Silva Bay

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Underway at last! In the past, we’ve taken groups through the Gulf Islands in a couple of nights. This year, we’re spending just one night in the Gulf Islands. It’s not that there’s nothing to see—there are tons of neat communities, anchorages, and marinas—but there’s only so much time. Over the next month, we’ll cover about 1000 nautical miles. Everyone on this trip has already spent time in the Gulf Islands, so … Read more

The Case for Alaska

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“Can I call you right back? A couple orcas just surfaced right in front of the boat and I don’t want to hit them,” I frantically told the U.S. Customs officer as I eased the throttle back. “No problem, that’ll happen,” the officer responded. Welcome to Alaska. We were motoring north in Tongass Narrows, on our way into Ketchikan after a three-week transit through British Columbia. Anchored in Foggy Bay … Read more

Entering Ford’s Terror

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(Updated June 2026). Ford’s Terror  might just be the most beautiful place on the planet. Cliffs—absolutely enormous granite walls, really—rise from water’s edge to snowcapped bowls and peaks 5000 feet above. Countless waterfalls, some trickles, others torrents, plunge from these peaks. Bears forage ashore. Dolphins frolic around anchored boats. The scale of Ford’s Terror is difficult to comprehend and impossible to convey. It’s like Yosemite, but with water in the … Read more

Radioville, Alaska

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We left beautiful Klag Bay on Thursday morning (August 4), backtracking out Smooth Channel a little ways to see if we could locate the island where Radioville lived. Bill Pierre in Rose’s Bar in Pelican told us to look for a red shack, and in the Evergreen book Sam had, we managed to find reference to Radioville with a line from the description box to an island (lower left)… The Douglass guide, … Read more

The Outside of Chichagof Island

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We left Pelican on Tuesday morning. Lisianski Inlet was gray and drizzly and foggy. This fish boat was just in front of us out of the harbor: The trip out to Lisianski Strait and on to the outside of Chichagof Island was mellow and the weather gradually improved as we continued further west. Hey look! It’s the Gulf of Alaska! The wind was 10-12 knots with 3-4 foot swells, so not a … Read more

Airship | Elfin Cove and Pelican

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We left Glacier Bay National Park on Sunday (July 31) and headed to Elfin Cove (through South Inian Pass in Cross Sound). It was nice and calm as we left Glacier Bay, and we even got a little humpback breach on our way out. A humpback near shore, closer to Elfin Cove: We were excited to revisit Elfin Cove and Pelican this year with Tiffani and Deke and Sam and Anna. We tried … Read more

Glacier Bay National Park | Johns Hopkins Inlet

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After our Reid Glacier on-foot excursion (and brunch), we cruised around the corner to check out Lamplugh Glacier and then into Johns Hopkins Inlet. We took Airship, and Sam and Anna left Safe Harbour anchored in Reid Inlet and instead went in Sam’s dinghy. That way we’d have Airship as a base and could trade off passengers in the dinghy (able to go closer and be more nimble among the icebergs). The … Read more