Elfin Cove to Lituya Bay

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Another 55 nautical miles and we’ll be in Lituya Bay today.

These long trips make for boring blog entries. That is good, because it means we have not had any issues or problems worth noting. Except for rounding Cape Spencer, the seas were kind to us.

Deception makes her way into the seas rounding Cape Spencer.

Rounding Cape Spencer

Deception had decided to brave a bit of gnarly seas in that area to get us to Lituya Bay at the right time to safely enter and still have time to enjoy exploring this rarely visited Bay. To put it in perspective, the Bay is about 125 nautical miles to the north of Sitka.  

Sea Caves populate the west coast as a tribute to the power of seawater erosion.

The Fairweather Mountain Range in all its glory.

In addition to the out-of-the-way location, the Bay has a deadly history that often keeps pleasure boats away. The entry “bar” has taken its toll on a wide range of boats and people over the years.  The potential of an ebb tide from the Bay developing standing waves as the ocean meets the shallow water can be epic. We planned for a high slack tide entrance, as per the Coast Pilot (“no stranger should attempt to enter except at slack water.”) Add to this, the entrance is small (150’ wide at maximum navigable water), rocky and visually not self-evident. Thankfully, to help the mariner, there is a range for the entrance.

The range for the entrance to Lituya Bay shows the challenge. NOT FOR NAVIGATION

The fleet spread itself among three anchorages in Lituya Bay.

The fleet spread itself among three anchorages in Lituya Bay.

The ranges were easy to see starting five miles out.

With the weather clear and the sun at our backs, we could visually pick up the range as soon as we turned on our inbound heading, five miles out. We were getting set to the south, but the range made this obvious and aided in making the needed correction.

The sea was following, so we surfed into Lituya Bay. We breathed a sigh of relief to have made it past La Chaussee spit. Karen had done a lot of research on Lituya Bay, and we knew once we made it through the entrance, all would be well (barring any tsunamis or earthquakes!)  It is part of Glacier Bay National Park, but does not require permits. The Bay is very large and seems to support its own weather system.

We headed towards Centotaph Island, thinking of the anchorage behind the island that might allow for fun exploring later in the day. To our surprise, clouds and rain greeted us. However, to the west of the island, it was still clear. Others in the fleet headed toward the glaciers in the rain. We decided to turn around and bask in the sun. We picked a spot on the south east shore, called “the Paps”, and while a constant breeze tugged at our anchor, the sun never stopped shining down on us. We spent a lazy afternoon relaxing, interspersed with installing a depth sounder on our dinghy and looking for elusive halibut. We were later visited by Brian and Rich in Deception’s dinghy. They couldn't believe the weather difference between their location and ours.

Brian, at the helm, and Rich on a mission.

The most interesting feature of Lituya Bay is the scarring of the tree line from the 1958 Tsunami. The wave was 1720 feet tall, the highest in recorded history. If you are a student of the marine environment and geology there is a wealth of information on the internet about this amazing event.

Klag Bay to Elfin Cove

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Today our destination is Elfin Cove, 55 miles from Klag Bay. The wind was cooperative, generally remaining less than 15 knots, and the skies were sunny and bright.

We weaved our way inside as much as possible because when we did have to go out into the ocean, the waves were 8-footers with a short period,  producing what I call “hard chop”. Not dangerous, just annoying.

A little bit of follow the leader as we sneak inside.

Nice ride and beautiful scenery up Lisianski Straight.

Elfin Cove is unique and charming and certainly worth the stop. But there is not much dock space in the outer harbor, and it is always busy. Deception went in first to reconnoiter the berthing situation. There was a cargo barge working adjacent to the dock, loading all kinds of refuse from Elfin Cove residents. There were fish-boats galore. Patos, Telita and OceanFlyer hovered outside for an hour in swells while Brian and Rich negotiated with the fishermen to move boats around and make some room for the “fleet”. Everyone was great. In the end, Patos rafted to Deception and Telita rafted to OceanFlyer, and several fishing boats were rafted together in front of us.

The docks at Elfin Cove.

There was a mad dash to the little grocery store thinking that, being Sunday, the shop would close soon. The store was just as we remembered, perhaps with the stock down a bit. After we made our stop at the store, purchasing what turned out later to be stale lemon cookies, we walked the boardwalk to see what has changed and what has stayed the same. The inner harbor was packed and quite active.

The inner harbor at Elfin Cove.

We were disappointed to find that the fish smoker had retired. Our hope was for some fresh-smoked salmon to add to our larder, but we were skunked.

The Elfin Cove Lodge and adjacent Coho Bar and Grill has been rebuilt since our last visit in 2010 when it was still smoldering from a devastating fire.  We were in the mood to relax on our boat rather than eat out (or drink out), although most of the fleet found their way at one time or another to the Coho Bar!

A little Elfin Cove humor. A lot of the "uphill" residences have a cart track alongside the stairs for getting groceries home.

A couple of Alaskan Amber beers onboard OceanFlyer were our reward for a long day of cruising. We had a peaceful night…and unlike our last trip in 2010, no naked men knocked on the hull at 2am!

Sitka to Klag Bay

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We’re off!

We’ve been contemplating this journey to Prince William Sound for almost two years now. We’ll be traveling farther north than we ever have before. We’ll have longer legs, some 24 hours long; that too will be a new experience. And we’ll be exploring areas that few pleasure boats visit.

We have lots of confidence in our boat and in our preparation. Now, with a little cooperation from the winds and seas, we should enjoy these new waters as they pass under our hull.

Heading north out of Sitka, we worked our way through Olga Strait and then through Whitestone Narrows. These “shortcuts” are well charted and well-marked, allowing you to cut off many less-protected miles in the ocean. The weather was gloomy with only 2 miles visibility and rain that vacillated between light to moderate.

Fresh fruit does not last long, so we "eat it up" in the first few days of the trip. Strawberry, blueberry, granola and Greek yogurt parfait for breakfast.

We passed the M/V Explorer, a National Geographic tour vessel.

The range in the Narrows was one of many well positioned aids to navigation.

Simple construction, but it gets the job done.

After making our way between Klokahef Island and Chichagof Island,  we emerged to enter the ocean which was confused to say the least. The seas, at four to six feet plus the occasional “surprise” wave, kept the boat in motion and gave the stabilizers a workout. We were truly grateful for the stabilizers!

OceanFlyer rode well, and our new GARMIN nav system was awesome, but as we turned into the entrance of Piehle Pass, it turned out we would be in for an interesting ride. Why does that always happen when you have the toughest navigational challenges and smallest fairways? We watched Deception and Patos ride the waves through the pass with no issue. But just as we crossed the bar, a roguish wave gave us a big roll and jog to starboard. Karen, sitting in the alternate portable (but quite sturdy) helm chair in the galley, was thrown out of her seat. The chair went flying, and she landed sprawled across my lap at the helm. No injuries, but what a surprise. Once we were inside the pass, the waters calmed just as fast as they rose. Karen’s pride, however, took a few more minutes to return fully.

Deception took the lead as we entered Klag Bay through “The Gate”. As we approached the head, suddenly, Brian came on the radio and said that they just “touched” bottom. We all noted Deception’s location on the chart using his AIS target, and modified our course to avoid going where they touched. It was not charted to be shallow there. Fortunately it was soft mud, so it was no more consequential than a rude wake up for the Deception crew.

Give the rock and shallows on the west side a respectful distance. NOT FOR NAVIGATION

Talking with Brian later, he was amazed they found a shallow spot as he had been to Klag Bay many times and traveled over that same “spot” without incident. It’s a good lesson on how the bottom can shift and change over time.

Klag Bay is very well protected and offers a good holding mud bottom in 15-20 feet. After we all set anchor and settled in, it was a short dinghy ride to explore the old abandoned gold mines with Emily and Rowan from Deception and the crew of Patos.  

Klag Bay landing party.

Emily, the naturalist, looking for gold.

Finding lots of derelict and rusty machinery, we enjoyed trying to determine what each piece of equipment may have been used for in the mining operation. Some of them were really interesting and would have made great “garden art”! As part of the shore party climbed a bit higher they reported some fresh bear scat so they quickly rejoined us at the lower mine entrance. After all, you only need to be able to run faster than the next slowest person, so we all found safety in numbers.

The abandoned gold mine site in Klag Bay.

We had appetizers and drinks on Deception to get to know everyone a little better and talk about tomorrow’s run to Elfin Cove.  We were too lazy to redeploy our dinghy, so we hitched a ride over to Deception with Lance on “Little T”. As the sun was “setting”, a term we use very loosely in these high latitudes (given that we did not stay up until 11:30 which is the time of official sunset!), the clouds started to break up. Maybe that’s a good omen for tomorrow.

Deception enjoying the "sunset" in Klag Bay.

Sitka Continues to Charm

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May 27 – May 30

It was 2006 when we last visited Sitka. Back then we found the town to be a great jumping off point for cruising Southeast Alaska. This time around, the town exceeded our fond memories.

The people are extremely friendly and helpful. There are great marine services and first class sources to provision; the latter being of most interest to us as we have to load enough supplies for five weeks of cruising. In fact, the only items we could not find were Canadian bacon and a broad range of interesting chutneys, two items not critical to the success of our trip.

Sitka is a contrst of historic and the not so historic. St. Michael's Cathedral is centreally located and plays an important role in Skita's history.

In usual fashion, Karen found a wonderful place to stay for a couple of days while we waited to board OceanFlyer. The Katlian Street Suites are large, very clean, comfortable, and centrally located. We had our own loft apartment, fully equipped with kitchen, washer/dryer and great views.

We made use of the full kitchen. Because we had a place to store groceries, we could shop before moving aboard OceanFlyer. We also were to do all our vacuum packing in advance of boarding, which took a lot of pressure of the whole process. This year we equipped OceanFlyer with a large Cabela’s commercial vacuum sealer. As soon as OceanFlyer docked in Sitka, we took the vacuum sealer over to our Suite and put it to work. All our protein, breads and even some veggies were bagged and frozen in hopes of greatly extending their useful life.

Bob busy prepping our provisions for the five week cruise.

You know you're in Alaska when the pen holder is from Xtratuf.

We split our provisioning between the two grocery stores in town. At Sea Mart, which has great ocean views from the parking lot , we bought so much they gave us free folding “camp chairs”. In fact, this happened again at our second visit, but we gave the chairs to a nice local who was behind us in line. The other grocery, Alaska Commercial Company, Lakeside was well stocked and provided the other half of our supplies. There are liquor stores next to each of the grocery stores and we shopped at both.

The Sea Mart grocery was an importent resource for us.

For fish, North Pacific Seafoods, also on Katlian Street, is a commercial fish processor that also has a retail operation that sells the local catch.  We bought salmon, halibut and ling cod.

For marine supplies, Murray Pacific Supply of Alaska, on Katlian Street again, is well stocked and that’s where I always get my fishing licenses.

When we had enough of grocery stores, we did a little exploring and shopping in town. We did not make it to the Raptor Center, but having visited there in 2006, we would put it on our “must do” recommendations if you visit Sitka. This time we did make it to the Sheldon Jackson Museum which contains the largest collection of artifacts from the many tribes in this area. You’ll find some remarkable examples of native culture, art and artifacts. If you spend any time cruising these waters, you will enjoy exploring the culture of those who came before you.

Lunch at the Larkspur Café was good, but make certain you get there before the cruise ship unloads because they are very close to the cruise ship landing dock. The café shares the building with the local radio station. So as you sit and eat, you can peer into one of the radio station’s studios. We also had dinner there our first night, and heard a local band.

The Larkspur Cafe was a good find on this trip.

Live music for dinner at the Larkspur Cafe.

The cruise ship tender dock at Sitka.

Breakfast at the Back Door Café is where you will run into the locals stopping for coffee and a baked sweet or two. The Homeport Eatery on the main street in town is a cooperative with independent purveyors sharing the same space; little confusing at first until you realize you must pay for each item at the respective station.

Karen strikes a pose in front of the Homeport Eatery.

Lot's of choice at the Homeport Eatery.

Breakfast with the locals at the Backdoor Cafe.

Talking about food (a passion of ours!),  we did find a new place what we enjoyed very much. The Fly In, Fish Inn is part of a small 10 room “hotel” on Katlian Street. The new executive chef, herself a native of Sitka, arrived only two weeks before our visit, and she is doing great things. I think we ate there three times - about half of all our meals in Sitka!

We made the usual dinner stop at famous Ludvig’s Bistro, but found it did not live up to our memories nor its reputation; except for its reputation as being very expensive. Our friends aboard Telita reported the Channel Club Inn, a few miles out of town, served a great meal.

Our ongoing quest to find native art for the boat was also rewarded as we found an awesome carving of an eagle in flight that now adorns our galley. As with most boats, space for art is scarce, so we have to look hard to find something that we like and that fits in the small and weirdly proportioned spaces. We found our carved eagle at The Fisherman’s Eye on Lincoln street, but there are many nice galleries. We especially enjoyed the Sitka Rose Gallery for its wide range of local artists.

The Sitka Rose Gallery in Stika.

The other resource we count on in Sitka is NorthStar Rent-A-Car. There is a national brand also at the airport, but NorthStar has always done a great job for us.

The docks at Sitka are large and filled with commercial fishing boats. We had quite a walk to our boat. I think we made a dozen trips or more to get all our gear and supplies aboard.

Eliason Harbor is always a hive of activity.

As prevalent as the fishing boats were, dock carts were scarce. Most of the time, we were lucky and did manage to find a dock cart, grocery cart or some wheeled means of transporting the “stuff” to our boat. But we also had many a long walk with multiple bags in hand, weighing us down as we trudged along the docks. We cannot complain because except for our last day, the rain held off. I think we made 90% of our trips in dry weather. That’s a rarity!

Friday Harbor to Bellingham

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Up at 5:30, a quick shower and cast off at 6:15. We used the “turning basin” adjacent to Dock D to get the bow pointed in the right direction and slipped out of Friday Harbor in the early light. Karen took the first watch and noted the rising sun in her eyes made it hard to see the electronic displays.

We traded watches in two hour intervals and the “off-duty” person used their time to finish up packing and cleaning the boat. It’s now 9:43 and we are 12 minutes out from the fuel docks at Bellingham. Karen reiterates that she does not want the trip to end. It was an indeed a great trip down the West Coast of Vancouver.  Pacific Northwest cruising never disappoints.