Juneau to Sitka July 7, 2013 We Left Juneau about noon on the 5th and then we spent two nights at the docks in Swanson Harbor, which is at the eastern end of Icy Strait. A couple of nice floating docks in a very secure harbor made for a couple of comfortable evenings. The docks here get very crowded with locals from Juneau who come out to fish and camp. Nat and Linda and Glen and Liz were delayed in Ketchikan so they did not join us till the second evening. I took Luke and Pete out fishing and Luke caught two nice halibut off Hanus Reef. We got some local information on where to fish and crab and it proved to be good advice. Luke and I went out that afternoon to salmon fish and we caught 6 pinks and two nice silvers. I used the lightweight casting rod for the pinks and they were great fun landing on the light gear. I also caught one very nice Dolly Varden trout right off the dock and Chris and I had that for breakfast this morning. Today we are headed for Point Adolfus to see if we can find any whales. The rest of the group heads into Glacier Bay today and we can go in tomorrow after picking up a last minute permit for Monday for up to 6 days inside. 7/8/13 We were able to get a single day permit to enter yesterday with everyone else so we fished for a while off Point Adolfus catching one nice pink and releasing about 3 more before entering the park. You have to call the park when you cross the park boundary to activate your permit and they then give a bunch of regulations on how to travel, at what speed and where to avoid conflict with whales, seals and other sea life. You have to stop at Bartlett cove the park headquarters for an orientation. We all went to the 5 pm orientation and I think all 5 of the captains proceeded to nod off in the small, dark warm room. The park rangers were all very nice and answered any and all questions. It looks like were done shrimping until we get to the Sitka area and areas further south as there is an emergency closure of shrimping for the foreseeable future in the Juneau management area. We got down to about 3 feet of water on our stern that night at anchor, the wind shifted a bit and blew us sideways on our anchor and stern tie pushing Miners Debt into fairly shallow water. A bit of adjusting of the lines and anchors gained us a few feet until low tide. From Bartlett cove Pete, Linda, Dave and Mary and Chris and I headed out leaving Glen and Liz and Nat and Linda behind so they could pick up guests and take care of some business before leaving phone coverage for 6 days. We motored slowly down to North Sandy Cove and anchored in gray, drizzle. Not very spectacular scenery and it is hard to imagine a glacier covered this water just a little over 200 years ago. To me there is no sign of glacier activity as the hills around us are relatively low and the rock is very rotten, not like a smooth polished u shaped rock wall I associate with glacier carving. There was a bear sighting on the shore at North Sandy but as I took Linda and Chris over in the dinghy to see it up close it began to just dump rain on us so we retreated to the shelter of the boat. It rained hard for a short while then quit but by then the bear was gone. It rained very hard all night long, probably the hardest rain we have had the entire trip. 7/9/13 We left North Sandy in heavy rain and motored slowly up the Muir Inlet to McBride Glacier. Enroute we sighted a couple Grizzly bears on the shoreline and Pete’s boat sighted a female moose swimming across the inlet. McBride is recessed into the valley from Muir Inlet by about 2 miles. It has carved out its own little fjord protected by a shallow moraine that allows the tide water to flow in and out along with small and medium sized bergs. Glen anchored in 12 feet of water in the inlet allowing the current to pull his boat in towards the inner bay while small bergs floated past on either side as the tide came up. I was headed towards him to side tie while Nat in Reflections was looking for a spot to anchor nearby. He apparently did not realize there was a strong current pushing into the inner bay and for some reason positioned himself in front of Glen’s anchored boat while the pulled in their little boat Flec. We all saw what was happening as they floated sideways towards Glens bow and began yelling on the radio to move forward. Glen and Liz were on their bow hollering to move forward and at the last possible moment Nat realized what was about to happen and gunned his big boat into forward gear and missed a t bone with Glen but his tow line tangled with him and Flec wrapped around glen forcing Nat’s crew to cut the line to save both boats from further harm. It was exciting but no damage ensued other than damage to pride and some underwear. We took the No Debt and picked up Pete and Linda and their Daughter Katie and her husband Luke and cruised up to the face of the McBride Glacier using No Debt as an icebreaker moving small berg bits aside. Got some great photos up close to a large berg and got within a few hundred yards of the glaciers face. The big bergs that drop off McBride cannot get past the moraine at the head of the bay into Muir inlet. Glen and his guest Robert paddled kayaks into the bay. The tide changed direction while we were gone and when we got back to the big boats the entrance to the inner bay was plugged with bergs as they waited their turn to run through the opening with the outgoing tide to batter our anchored and waiting boats. We got back as the line of bergs was just approaching the boats and were able to get our two boats untied and un anchored to move into clear water. Nat and Linda got back but could not move because Mary and Dave were tied to them and were with Liz on her little inflatable. They got back with Glen and Robert in tow just as the bergs surrounded Magic Moment. All was well, the bergs were moving very slowly at this point and Magic just parted them to either side as they slid past him in the slow current. No repeat of the titanic this time. Did I mention it was raining? Still raining very hard all day today. We found a spot not on the recommended anchor sites in the park brochure part way up Wachusett Inlet. A small bight just outside the non-motorized line in the inlet that left us anchored alongside a beautiful green meadow and a small outlet creek. 7/10/13 The rain has stopped and we have blue sky! It is warm again and the water is a beautiful emerald green. We can finally see the mountaintops and go outside without rain gear. Took the small boats down to the end of Wachusett Inlet but could not get very close to the glacier. It is no longer tidewater and the river running out of it was dumping huge quantities of silt at the head of the bay, it was boiling up to the surface and very quickly the river was too shallow to proceed up it. Glen and Liz found fish floating on the surface trying to clear their gills and get some air because the silt was so thick it was killing them. We saw a grizzly bear ad two small cubs on the beach and were able to take some great photos, thought it was from some distance away. She would not allow us to get very close and moved her cubs into the brush as soon as we tried getting in closer. Pete had alternator problems, lost a couple belts so Glen helped them change and tighten them this morning and Pete reports all is running normal now. 7/11/13 Anchored in Blue Mouse Cove last night and Chris and I took out the Kayaks for the first time on this trip. Very pretty spot with high mountains surrounding us. Mt Fairweather at 15,000 feet is the most prominent of the peaks that we can see as we cruise up the West Arm of the park. Much more spectacular than with clouds and rain obscuring the views. Not at all what I thought it would be like. We all piled onto Glen’s boat today and cruised the 30 miles to the end of the bay to see Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers at the end of Tarr Inlet. Margerie was a bit active and released a couple of good-sized chunks of Ice into the bay while we idled a couple hundred yards away. We towed No Debt behind us so Chris and I went out for a bit in it to get a closer look at both glaciers while others took out Glen’s inflatable or the Kayaks. We motored out way back via John Hopkins Inlet and going by two other large tidewater glaciers, Lamplugh and Reid. It was just a short 7-hour cruise with 19 people on board Glen’s boat for the day. We left all the other boats anchored in Blue Mouse Cove and they were there right where we left them when we returned. Again the weather was spectacular making for great views of all the mountains and glaciers. We saw virtually no wildlife however; a few seals and eagles but no whales and no more bear sightings. We did see a small white spec up on a large rock wall that we believe was actually a mountain goat but to far away to get any kind of good photos. 7/12/13 Hard to believe but our 6 days in the park are almost over. Time is flying by. Today were anchored in South Finger cove and will try out luck at some halibut fishing of Willoughby Island which is reported to have some large halibut to catch. No luck. Luke had a big one on but lost it at the boat. He had the drag set too tight and one flick of the tail and the whole line parted with him. 7/13/13 Left Bartlett Cove about 2 pm headed for Inian Cove on the west end of Icy Strait. Amazing whale show. Hundreds of them spouting jumping and feeding but at some distance so no good photos. Just as we arrived at the mouth of Inian cove we had 5 whales swimming directly at us before diving not 100 feet away and once again no photos, my batteries went dead just as they dove giving us 5 tail flukes at the same time. Inian cove is a nice spot but windy and the neigbors are not very nice. A big sign on the shore where there is apparently a small oyster farm that said, “Tourism Rapes Alaska”? The wind never let up and for the first time we rafted in two groups, Nat, Dave and us and Pete and Glen separate. The wind seemed to blow right down the slope of a steep mountain and where you would think you had good wind protection it wasn’t. It blew so hard that during the night Pete and Glen drug anchor halfway across the cove. We tried fishing at the head of the bay with no luck. 7/14/13 We left Inian headed for Elfin Cove and got the show of a lifetime as dozens of whales were feeding just outside in Cross Sound along with a flock of sea lions. The were jumping, rolling nose diving and slapping the water with their tails and flukes and put on an amazing show for over an hour within a few hundred feet of the boat. You could not get past them there were so many at times simply surrounding the boat all the while ignoring our presence Elfin cove is a quaint Alaskan village, very cool and definitely worth visiting. A small inner basin well protected but tight and shallow except at high tide. We resupplied at the small grocery store and walked around the village on the boardwalk that connects all the homes and buildings. From Elfin cove we headed for Soapstone cove where we planned on spending two nights. Glen got inside where the Douglas book said there was a 2-fathom hole and ended up in 2 feet of water unable to turn around without waiting for the tide to rise. Decided this was not going to work. Will have to write Douglas to let them know this is not such a good anchorage. So while Glen extricated himself the rest of us motored down to Mite cove where we found a nice spot in amongst a fish buying operation. There were dozens of trollers and the next day dozens of purse seiners fishing just outside in Cross sound and at the head of the straits. That evening while sitting on the back or Magic having appetizers Linda Jung looked up and saw a young Grizzly in the grass just 50 feet behind the boats. She had a hard time telling everyone to look she was so excited. A few hours later he was back at the head of the bay on the beach and we got a decent set of photos of him. Did not seem to concerned about all the activity in the cove. 7/15/13 Glen and I went out fishing in Cross Sound and each of us caught ach a silver and two pinks along with a couple of nice black cod. Fresh silver salmon filet for dinner. We went back into Soapstone cove to explore the old secret military installation reported to be in there. Very unusual place for a military installation with an old concrete pier and the foundations for at least 5 small buildings and an underground bunker. The fish were jumping like crazy so I used the small casting rod and caught 5 different species of fish. Kept one nice pink. Back at the boats we tried our had at skeet shooting off the back of Glens raised deck. Shot up a lot of target load and got maybe 4 hits total. Not a very respectable showing of marksmanship but it was fun. The bear did not make a repeat appearance, wonder why. 7/16/13 Moved on today with a visit to… , Yikes, had to take evasive action, suddenly Flec was floating just in front of the boat, it had come untied from Reflections as we motored through Lisianski straits at one of the narrowest points and I was just a few boat lengths behind them moving at 8 knots. Good thing I looked up fro typing this entry or it might have been an ugly collision. Apparently the towline separated at a splice? Ok, back to the visit of Pelican. One of the best little villages we have visited to date, my favorite. Very nice people and quite a clean and well kept place with a boardwalk roadway all along the shoreline connecting all buildings and homes. We had lunch at the Café including a great homemade vanilla shake. The general store was closed so reprovisioning was not possible. The book said this was the best place to do that between Juneau and Sitka, but not now. We stayed for a couple hours and moved on to the next stop somewhere on the outside of the island overlooking the Gulf of Alaska. HO Boy! That was one hairy entry to Mirror Cove. High tide, narrow channel right through kelp that hides any rocks and in some cases looks like rocks with a wind blowing us sideways towards the island that you pass within 25 feet of and then a 90 degree dogleg through a 10 foot deep 30 foot wide channel that you have to pivot around. Holy crap batman!!!! Were here till high tide tomorrow. That was some excitement with Chris none to happy with me for taking her in here. She needs a stiff drink. Going out should actually be easier, I hope. More room to pivot going outbound than coming in. Neat spot once you’re in here though, has a feel of a mystical land with pointy peaks to the east and fog to the west. Feels like were anchored in a mountain lake. 7/17/13 Hiked to White Sulphur hot springs, about a mile hike on a decent boardwalk. The hot springs building is being rebuilt by the forest service so there was quite a building project underway with four guys working on the new foundation. We were able to soak in the 110-degree water anyway and had a great view out over the gulf of Alaska on a warm sunny day. Pete and the girls were done in and did not want to hike back so Glen and I hiked back in 20 minutes and got his dinghy along with No Debt and ran around the point from the anchorage to pick them up. Easy trip. Went exploring in the back bays behind the anchorage and found an unusual man made wall, no telling how old. It looks like it was built to put a fish net across a narrow and shallow opening. Nat and I went back at high tide and had a blast catching fish with almost every cast. I had two silvers and a couple pinks in less than an hour. Great fishing. 7/18/13 We left Mirror Harbor without too much trouble and went down to Klag Bay on Chichagof Island where there was an abandoned gold and silver mine village from the turn of the century. We explored the abandoned buildings and remains of the mining operation, which was quite extensive. Fishing was pretty good, I caught a large Chum on the light-weight casting rod which was a ton of fun. We explored the two connected bodies of water that are called lakes but they are very definitely not. We spotted a large grizzly and her cub at the head of the furthest lake and spent quite a while watching her and fishing for the spawning salmon. They were not biting. 7/19/13 We decided to finish the outside trip to Salisbury Sound since the weather report was good for going the 20 miles in the Gulf of Alaska to regain the inside protected waters. It was a simple trip with virtually no wind and maybe some 4-foot rollers. Anchored in Kalinin Bay where the fish are swarming waiting to go up the river. Not biting however so the catching is not all that good and they all seem to be chum salmon. We were going to hike a 2.5-mile trail to the outer beach through serious bear country but we could not find the trail. Found it after searching for an hour and decided it was too late. Lots of large bear tracks on the beach on top of human foot prints. Saw the bear off in the distance and he was big. May try it tomorrow with shotguns for protection. 7/20/13 Went fishing with Pete instead of hiking. I got a small halibut and Pete got a nice silver for two hours of trolling. Foggy and drizzle today. After cleaning the fish we upped anchor and headed for the Sitka area. Anchoring in a bay with no name on the south west side of Magoun Island. Nate caught a nice King just outside the anchorage, otherwise no one was catching anything. 7/22/13 Left after two days in the no name anchorage and headed for Goddard Hot Springs for a night then to Sitka for a couple nights. Will download photos once we get there and find some wifi.