Alaskan Adventure: June 2008

Taku Harbor, an old abandoned fishing village near Juneau..

The sailing vessel, Talisman, enroute to Juneau. More about Diane and Dean later...he's a true fisherman!

You can't zoom in enough, but this is a Humpback Whale, before diving...

Eagle fishing from the shore, while we are enroute to Taku...

Note the contrast between the blue and the white. That ice from the glacier is blue, and the white has accumulated from snowfall, etc.

We played "guess what that looks like" many times heading up to the glaciers...

This is heading into Ford's Terror..

Waterfalls at the mouth of Ford's Terror near Endicott..

The icebergs to be avoided as we head up Tracy's Arm!

Wednesday, June 25^th:

We decided to leave Petersburg early, with the plotter showing 72 miles to Tracy Arm. Our experience so far has been that the actual mileage will be less by about 10% since we can cut corners, etc. At any rate, we woke up about 5:30 and were underway before 6am. We had provisioned at the store in Petersburg last night, and only needed food for a week or so, before we would arrive in Juneau.

We were out of the channel and into Frederick Sound where the first thing we saw were multiple white “boats” on the opposite shore. The binoculars showed us that they were all small icebergs, about 20 in number. We headed north, and about 2 hours later we began to see whales. At first, we saw only 1 or 2. Then Chris saw about 5 spouts and 2 or 3 surfacing. At one time, there were 7 spouts simultaneously! This was about the area called Stephens Passage, which has many beautiful islands such as Five Fingers, The Brothers, and The Twins. We passed several fishing vessels and two cruise ships as well.

I’m learning more everyday about everything to do with boating….including tricks on managing the systems on the boat. Scott Strickly (Strickly for Fun) has years of experience, years he describes as learning by “doing it wrong twice”. For example, never start your engine until you have disconnected the shore power cord (guess why….he knows someone who departed with the cord connected). He places an oil rag under the engine, not to keep the bilge area cleaner, but to see the exact location of any dripping from above. He has thought through almost every possible event, the causes, corrective action, ways to avoid, and the consequences of every reaction. He has refined the technique of changing fuel filters while underway….he points out that the only time it is critical is when it will be very hard. He has written the technical manual for the Nordhavn boat manufacturer and a chapter on anchoring.

I got a call yesterday from Marty and Linda Ellison of Tenacious. They were already in Juneau and described their trip from Petersburg as the most astounding so far. They anchored in Tracy Arm it NoName Bay. The books say that this area is among the most spectacular of Alaska. There are two “arms” after entering the mouth, Endicott to the south, and Tracy to the north. The names of the segments are revealing, for example there is Ford’s Terror in Endicott. Apparently there are currents in excess of 15 kts there, and it MUST be entered at slack water. In 1870 a Mr. Ford did not realize that, much to his terror. He was stuck for 6 hours, awaiting slack water. There is SumDum Island. But our plan is to anchor tonight and explore the glaciers, North and South Sawyer Glaciers, tomorrow. We will then stay in the “Arm” for 2 or 3 days under anchor before heading on toward Juneau.

Juneau:

In 1880 Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris discovered gold in the area, which led to the development of the settlement as a gold-mining town. While most gold mining ended in the 1940s, the early 1990s saw a renewed interest in this activity. Juneau was officially made the capital of the territory of Alaska in 1900, but government offices were not moved here from Sitka until six years later. When Alaska entered the Union in 1959, Juneau was retained as the state capital. In 1974 Alaskans voted to move the capital to a more central location; as of 1992, however, the interest in moving has declined. In 1970 Juneau's boundaries were greatly extended, making it one of the largest communities in area in the U.S. (land area 1990, 6716 sq km/2594 sq mi). Population 19,528 (1980); 26,751 (1990); 30,751 (2002 estimate).

Much of this area was explored by John Muir. I know everyone knows who he is, since so many areas, protected wildernesses, and trails are named after him, but I was not aware of his exploration of this area of Alaska. He did this in a Tlingit Dugout canoe in 1879 and 1880! He’s the man! His book, Travels in Alaska was published after his death in 1914. Here is a little biographical sketch:

Muir, John (1838-1914), American naturalist, explorer, and writer. He was an influential conservationist, who worked to preserve wilderness areas and wildlife from commercial exploitation and destruction. His efforts helped to establish Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park, both in California. Many natural sites have been named in his honor, including Muir Woods National Monument, a virgin stand of redwoods, near San Francisco, California.

Muir was born in Scotland in 1838. His family immigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old and settled on a farm near Portage, Wisconsin. Muir attended the University of Wisconsin from 1860 to 1863 but did not graduate. When he left college, he took extensive walking trips to study nature, especially plants. In 1867 he made a walking trip from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico to observe the plants, animals, and physical features of the country. During this trip Muir kept extensive journals, which were published after his death as A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916).

In 1868 Muir went to Yosemite Valley in California and explored and studied the area for the next six years. He was the first to conceive the theory that the Yosemite Valley was formed by glacial erosion. During this time he also studied glaciers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1879, while exploring Glacier Bay, Alaska, he sighted the glacier that now bears his name, the Muir Glacier.

As we approached the entrance to Tracy Arm, we were greeted by many ‘bergs that were freed from the glaciers grasp. Knowing little about how to avoid the dangers, we gave them wide berth. We entered the NoName Bay, with two sailboats already there. We anchored in 25 feet and let out 100 feet of rode…it felt right and we were “set”. Another boat entered, and anchored too close, and moved later on. This setting is the most beautiful we have seen. We are in a cove with steep fir covered slopes on two sides, a land bridge on a third, and open water with tourquoise icebergs floating by in front of snow capped peaks behind. By 9:00 PM we had 12 boats in the cove. We will head to Tracy Arm Glacier in the morning. Scott and Teri dingy’ed to our boat for drinks, and described their visit today as incredible. They motored at cruise speeds for 14 miles, and then were forced to slow to near idle, in order that they avoid the increasing number of ‘bergs. They said it was inevitable that they hit some, but tried to do that at a slow speed. There is little risk of prop damage, but hull damage to the gel-coat is possible (according to Scott).

This is a view from our anchorage at the mouth of Tracy's Arm entrance

Scott and Teri heading over for happy hour..

Scott is now laid-out while Teri returns him home after happy hour.

Thursday, June 26^th:

We pulled anchor at 8:00 this morning to head to the Tracy Arm and the North and South Sawyer Glaciers. All descriptions have been accurate….you cannot describe this. The glacier-carved fjord becomes narrower as you get closer, the waterfalls become more numerous, and the icebergs denser.

The glacier is 20 miles in, and the first 15 miles were at cruising speed. But as they get denser, they get larger, and navigating between them more difficult. Finally, as we approached the final entrance, we were alternately at idle and neutral. The sound as they bump the hull is unnerving, so we decided against pushing any further than the entrance, which is still about a mile from the glacier. Some of the pictures will show it.

We lingered there at idle for about an hour marveling at the beauty. Chris thought about trying to pull in one of the smaller ‘bergs, so I backed her into a few, and from the swim platform, she hauled them in…quite the picture! These are crystal clear, as the weight of the glacier compresses the air from the ice. We could turn our icemaker off for a few days! (As an after thought, we placed this 'berg in our cooler on 6/26 and now on 6/29 it is still quite large and unmelted in our cooler. They don't make ice like they used to!)

The trip back was much slower, as we circled many of the ‘bergs to get pictures and criss-crossed the channel to look at the waterfalls. This is Tenacious heading up after we depart the head.

This was quite an experience and tomorrow we plan to do the same thing toward Endicott Glacier.

Chris was fearful that this thing could break lose, but anything for a photo-op...

Eagle on the 'berg..

Friday June 27^th:

Late evening, while Chris and I were launching the dinghy to explore the cove, we looked up and Tenacious, the 55’ Nordhavn of Linda and Marty Ellison was cruising in to our little cove. Linda had apparently flown home to tend to business, write checks, etc and Marty had 2 of his old Navy buddies (Mike and Dave) fly into Juneau to meet up. They launched their dinghy as well, and after cruising around, I joined them on Tenacious for drinks and war stories. They have no schedule, except they better be at Gustavus in 6 days to retrieve Linda! We have secured all gear, and ready to look at Endicott… later on, another old friend, Wendy and Bob (and cute dog named Mallie) on the sailboat Celerity arrived. Mallie wanted to be on our dinghy rather than his own!! It seems like a reunion every day or two, even in the wilderness.

The cruise up Endicott was terrific. That channel was wider than Tracy Arm, and had fewer ‘bergs, but spectacular falls on both sides. Ford’s Terror was our destination, even though we could not actually enter the narrowest part. The currents there at ebb can be 15 kts against you, and the width is only 30 feet. Our high tide was at 8:00, so the high tide/slack would be shortly after that, and we didn’t depart the Cove until 8:30. We pulled into Ford’s Terror at 10:00 and it truly is unbelievable. As we got closer, the currents increased against us (we were 2 hours into the ebb) and the eddies were really swirling. We decided that, even at slack, it seemed too narrow to venture into. The walls are steep on both sides, giving in a foreboding beauty. After that view, we decided to return to the entrance of Tracy and begin heading north, to Taku Harbor. As we approached the inlet, we saw the best whale of the trip! This is Dawes Glacier, enroute to Endicott.

Very close, meandering slowly, and gracefully diving showing us his tail two times. Now on to Taku. It is small, but well protected from the winds. There are two docks there as remnants of a small community no longer in existence.

Docking in Taku was great fun. First of all, a Seaforth named Feisty we have seen many times before was already there. Additionally, a sailboat named Talisman owned by Diane and Dean Kreider was there. Dean is a “fishing fool” according to Diane, and he told Halibut story after story. He has seen boats come home with a Halibut of 100 lbs, and 2 crew members with broken arms, the galley destroyed, and the fish still alive. He was with the Coast Guard traveling all the way out the Aleutian chain and fished in the Bering Sea for months at a time. They stopped by the boat after cocktails on Feisty with Wally and Duane Olive.

Cocktails on Feisty...

Christy is most impressed with a Jacuzzi bath on Feisty! Marge and Howard Smith, from Hoona, AK, were there also. They have lived aboard Perseus, but are now cruising with Wally and Duane. He leads fishing expeditions out of Hoona on occasion so I was the only one there who knew absolutely nothing about fishing….but I’m learning fast. I showed him my rigs and got advice, but before he left, he brought us by about 5 lbs of Halibut that he had on board. I will have to catch some of my own, somehow.

The left is an otolith, the Cochlear apparatus from a Halibut. Dean has collected hundreds of them from the fish he has caught. On the right are two lenses from their eyes...they decay for a week or two, before stabilizing as "pearls"..

This Dungeness crab did not measure the requisite 8.5 inches in diameter to keep it. Note the triangular shape on the belly, which indicates a male. You can only keep males greater than 8.5 inches.

Saturday, June 28^th: We left Taku and arrived in Juneau, docking in the middle of town in Harris Harbor. I’m now going to post the past 6 days of pictures..