Cedar Bay Head to Eickelberg Bay

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Awoke to a nice morning. We were chilling out and getting ready to depart when we sucked a jellyfish into the 9kW generator's sea water intake strainer. It shut down immediately. It was totally gross and disgusting, a huge blob of gook in the strainer. Bob had a hell of a time getting the strainer out, and then once he did, we couldn’t dislodge the jellyfish parts. I had to work on it for a long time with vinegar and baking soda, which finally did the trick, and we were operational once more.

Karen say this is the culprit

We waited for the right tide, so we could see not only the charted rock but the marked rock, noted as "PA reported 2011" on the charts. We steeled our nerves and departed on Bob’s route…and it worked fabulously!

Another nice day in Prince William Sound

We meandered our way over to Eickelberg Bay, hoping to see critters but we were skunked. I chose this anchorage because it had white cobble beaches that were good for walks at low tide. As we approached Glacier Island, we started to see icebergs again.

The wind picked up a little in the afternoon creating a little chop

Eickelberg looks open and kind of uninviting at first but it does have great beaches. We decided to walk them when the tide was right in the morning and we enjoyed our solitude, relaxing well into the evening with the air conditioning running again!

Cedar Lakes Cove to Head of Cedar Bay

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A very sunny morning, calm with clear skies. We were excited to retrace our steps and avoid that 4’ shallow spot. We waited until the tide was a bit lower than yesterday so that the charted rock shown in the Lethcoe photo would be more visible.

Off we went. Karen stood on the bow… and we again hit a shallow spot, with the depth sounder down to 4.1 feet! That was not planned, as we hugged Block Island more than last time with the dinghy, but still passed over it. On the bright side, the actual charted rock was just visible.

After that, it was an easy entrance. Trinket, the maroon hulled boat from Whittier was still there. We much have been on stealth mode, because as we rounded the corner, we had a full on view of a young man with his pants at his ankles…taking a….well, you know what I mean. I think we scared the life out of him.

Trinket in Cedar Bay

Trinket was departing for the Meares Glacier, so they kindly gave us their spot. It was lovely, and we were settled in by 10:45. But, as was becoming a theme…it was really buggy.

Nevertheless, we went out in the afternoon and hiked up a grassy knoll to take some photos, and then we took the dinghy back out that entrance to see why we kept going over the shallow ledge when following the guidebook. This time we went right over the marked rock, because the marker was underwater. Bob decided that we should leave this rock to starboard on the way out despite the recommended path in the guidebook.

OceanFlyer in Cedar Bay

Karen celebrating making to top of the knoll

Good hiking around Cedar Bay but what out for the bogs

What a pretty anchorage

OceanFlyer enjoying the sun and view in Cedar Bay

Later that evening, it got really hot, with not a breath of air. We finally caved in and turned on the air conditioning when it got to 85 in the cabin. The M/V Columbia Queen came into the anchorage after dinner and anchored a good distance away, and spent their time cleaning halibut off the swim step.

It was still warm when we went to bed – 75 degrees outside!

Schoppe Lagoon to Cedar Lakes Cove

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Awoke to a beautiful sunny day. It was a good day for the “easy” hike to Mueller Cove that was written up in the guidebook. We waited for the right tides, and went back to the east side where we had seen the bear the night before. It was a great landing spot, but a very tough and steep climb to…nowhere. We couldn’t find the path over to Mueller Cove, and it was really buggy.

Nice anchorage at Schoppe Lagoon

OceanFlyer in Schoppe Lagoon

At low tide the entrance looks very narrow..it is

So, we changed plans and once again exited the lagoon, heading for North Anchorage. It was really nice and definitely a great place to kayak.

A word about the next photo. Dinghys range from utilitarian to luxurious. Ours is the fromer. It came with the boat and it does just fine. However, the seating is not very comfortable. I sit on a hard 4 inch bench and Karen has no dedicated seating. So we rigged one of folding "beach chairs" we have on board and secured it to the dinghy. Karen is in heaven.  A bit cobbled together looking; but it works. For me, my eyes dry out and tear when we go fast. And our 20hp Honda can push the dinghy to over 16 knots. So I found a pair of sky diving goggles to wear. Very light and very effective. So their you have it, the Geeked out dingy ready for long and fast exploring.

Geeked out dinghy

Once back at the boat, we saw a black bear on the west shore of the lagoon. The sun was shining on him and Bob got some great pictures.

Bear in Schoppe Lagoon

We left in the early afternoon on a high tide, and headed for Cedar Bay. There were lots of porpoises today, and they made a beeline for us and then played in our bow wake for about 15 minutes.

Karen plays with the porpoise on our bow

These guys make fast look easy

As we headed towards Cedar Bay, we saw the Mother Goose AIS signals back in Granite Bay, so we motored up to a good line of sight with Deception and chatted for a while with Brian, and talked a bit about how to change the fuel filters on our Onan generators.

From afar, it's easy to understand why it is named Granite Bay

Karen planned to overnight just outside the head of Cedar Bay in Cedar Lakes Cove, where we could dinghy over to the tricky entrance to the head of Cedar Bay and reconnoiter. This anchorage felt quite exposed, but was actually peaceful. You anchor in the middle in 30 feet, about 500 feet in from the mouth. It feels close to the rocks and reefs, but it’s fine. We watched gulls chasing an eagle, and stayed inside avoiding the late afternoon bugs.

After dinner, on about a +4 tide (which is the minimum the guidebook suggests for entering the head of Cedar Bay), we took the dingy over to the head entrance to check it out. Confusing! The rock in the Lethcoe photo didn't show except for the very tip, and we hit an unexpected 4’ shallow spot near a rock with a market on it.

The entrance otherwise was deep, not in the teens that Lethcoe notes. Inside was lovely and we found a maroon hulled sailing vessel Trinket from Whittier at anchor in the best spot. We circled Trinket, but no one came out to say hello. It was about  9:30, so maybe they were asleep. We agreed – we are definitely coming back with OceanFlyer in the morning!

Brave Harbor to Schoppe Lagoon

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We had a lazy start to the day, and watched as the bowpickers all departed about 8:30.  Each one moved slowly, coming close to take a good look at OceanFlyer. I don’t think they’re used to many pleasure boats up here.

Looking out from Brave Harbor

A small private fish boat called Jokemon came in shortly after, and the Dad and his son got off right onto the bow of a bowpicker and headed off for the day. From our anchorage, we could see bowpickers at the mouth of the bay putting their nets out to catch salmon. It was still overcast, and once again we didn’t go out exploring even though there would be good walks in the area, especially at low tide.

Clouds continue to kiss the mountain tops

Today’s destination is Schoppe lagoon. We searched high and low for critters on our journey, but to no avail. We knew there were anchorages outside the lagoon, but hoped to enter with a favorable tide. We timed it to enter at high slack to be extra cautious. It’s a pretty straightforward entrance, but the rocks and shelf noted in the Lethcoe guidebook are definitely there, and the clear water makes them seem closer than they are.

The lagoon is large and lovely, and we were all alone. We scouted out Lethcoe’s preferred anchorage, but didn’t like it, and pretty much dropped the hook right in the middle of the lagoon with great views all around.

It started to clear up after dinner. We saw a black bear on the east shore of the lagoon, and shortly thereafter hopped in the dinghy and exited the lagoon to check out the “South Anchorage”. There was great exploring, and some cute spots for future trips as well as some very shallow areas.

Another calm and peaceful night under the stars.

Disk Cove to Brave Harbor via Lake Bay Hatchery

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We couldn't leave until the tide rose, so we started our day with a great breakfast of pancakes and sausage. It was overcast today, after such a sunny day yesterday…and then it started to rain. It was no issue departing Disk Cove (we never saw below 19’), and we saw a humpback as we passed Passage Point.

Can't go out there at low tide

We’re crossing one of the deepest parts of Print William Sound. I saw 2532 feet as our deepest sounding today.  It was a long day for us, about 30 miles, and it continued to be rainy with low visibility. We had planned to go to Perry Island for the day, but the weather was a bit too icky for much exploring. We saw the Klondike Express both on AIS and as a hazy visual target, and the ever-present ferry Chenega.

Getting very deep

It was lightly raining when we entered Esther Cove to visit Lake Bay Fish Hatchery. Karen read in one of the guidebooks that they gave tours and that there was some great walking, and we were looking for something to do.

The problem with Esther Cove it that is very deep. We could handle the depth with our 400ft of chain, but there are many large moorings in the cove for the fishing fleet to sue. The boats on the moorings drastically restricted the amount of swing room we could have,  such that we never found a place to drop the hook after 45 minutes of exploring every opportunity.

As we were only going to be there a short while to take the tour, I would have gladly tied to one of the moorings ourselves, but every one was in use by the fleet. The next opening was not for another two days, so they were going nowhere.

The cove was full of salmon jumping about. As a result, the trees were full of eagles looking for some easy picking. If only we could have found a place to drop the hook and the rain had stopped, I could have spent hours taking photos of the eagles as they fished the cove.

Skunked at the Hatchery, we changed our destination for Brave Harbor in Squaw Bay. There were 2 bowpickers at anchor (Guinness and Nemo) when we arrived. It was a pretty cove, and very calm. There was a heavy downpour as Karen stood at the bow to drop the anchor.

We spent a quiet afternoon reading. The coolest thing we saw was an eagle that caught a salmon, and because the salmon was so heavy, it actually swam to shore using an Olympic-style breast stroke.

The rain never let up, and we had a peaceful night.