Category: Inside Passage

June 30 -July 2

Petersburg is known for its mix of Norwegian and Tlingit heritage and for harboring one of Alaska’s most prosperous fishing fleets.

Sea Anemones: Attached to the underside of our dock.

We enjoyed a delightful afternoon strolling through town and exploring the scenic Mountain View Manor Boardwalk Trail. Enjoy the pictures.

StarFlower’s journey began tragically. A bear attack left her without sight. Thanks to her owner Matt, she has become a local celebrity in Petersburg. You can hear her story on the local library podcast EPISODE 66.

Sons of Norway Hall: Bojer Wikan Fisherman’s Memorial Park

• ROUTE: Wrangell Narrows to North Harbor Marina, Petersburg
• MOORAGE: North Harbor Marina – Slip 114

In order to catch the flood tide on our way north we needed to leave our cozy little cove by 7:15 this morning. If we would have left from Wrangell we would have needed to leave before daybreak.

Following are just a few of the charts we will be using to navigate the Wrangell Narrows. The narrows are sometimes call Christmas Tree Lane. If you imagine over 60 red and green navigational lights shining for 21 nautical miles in the dark then you’ll understand why.

A small cruise ship glides across the entrance to Deception Pass Cove. Undoubtedly, it will reach Petersburg before we do. While small cruise ships can dock there, larger ones typically avoid it due to the harbor’s shallow depth.

Seagulls often enjoy hitching rides on floating logs. However, this particular log must be a letdown—it’s anchored to the cove’s bottom and serves as a mooring point for tugs and their barges. They will not be going far.

Eagles love the navigational markers.

The clouds are low today leaving us little opportunity to see how tall the mountains are.

We were surprised by the extent of development along the Wrangell Narrows. While most of it consists of private homes, at one bend in the narrows, we spotted two fishing lodges on the west side and another on the east side. Clearly, this area is a fishing mecca.

The clouds are lifting.

We had experienced a tranquil day on the narrows, with only small fishing boats in motion. As we continued toward Petersburg, we noticed a barge and tow about two miles behind us.. When it approached within a quarter of a mile, we slowed down further. We wanted it to pass before we entered a much narrower body of water. This turned out not to be necessary. As the barge passed, it turned sharply in front of us to enter a loading/unloading dock that we did not realize was there. We continued at our lower speed, observing the activity at the loading docks. We found it to be absolutely fascinating.

Wrangell Narrows was subdued today. Small fishing vessels and the barge and tugboat were the only vessels that passed us today.

Range markers consist of pairs of navigation marks, often with non-blinking lights. When you’re in the middle of a channel, these two markers (or lights) align vertically. They guide vessels on a recommended safe course. These are especially important for larger vessels.

By 2:00 pm we were safely tied to slip 114 in the North Harbor Marina.

June 29, Saturday

• ROUTE: Sumner Strait, Wrangell Narrows to Deception Point Cove
• ANCHORED GPS LOCATION: 56^o32.471′ N – 132^o59.251’W
• ANCHORED IN: 10.5 feet (24 feet at high tide)

Tomorrow we plan to take Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. Most all traffic in Southeast Alaska passes through this area which makes it a very busy and at times a very congested passage. According to our Douglas Guide “The Narrows can best be described as a ‘piloting’ challenge – one in which looking out the window and navigating with landmarks and navigational aids (and your depth sounder) is paramount.” With over 60 numbered navigation aids and a need to understand the currents in the narrows, the ebb and flood currents meet about halfway through, we decided that in order to be at our best we should anchor closer to the start of the 21 nautical miles from Point Lockwood Rock to Petersburg. Deception Point Cove puts us just a few miles south of Point Lockwood.

Views of the mountains from Wrangell to Deception Point. It is amazing how often the clouds and lighting changes during a short trip.

We only saw two boats on the way to Deception Point Cove. The fishing boat St. Lazaria and the unofficial log boat carrying four seagulls.

June 27, Thursday

Our first night in Wrangell we saw more than thirty small boats with adults, children and dogs leaving the harbor. We thought that they were going for a family outing because the weather was so nice. The harbormaster’s assistant set us straight, they were going out to practice for the big boat race on July 4th.

June 28, Saturday -We love watching the birds. This morning we had two blue heron and a juvenile eagle on the breakwater to entertain us.

Friday evening, families started leaving in their boats to go to their cabins on the Stikine River. We must have seen at least 20 of these skiffs leave the marina.

Triva: The Stikine River is known as the “fastest-flowing navigable river in North America.

June 29, Saturday – This morning it was the ravens and eagles that entertained us.

June 26, Wednesday

• ROUTE: Santa Anna Inlet, Seward Passage, across Ernest Sound, Zimovia Strait, Chichagof Passage to Wrangell
• MOORAGE: Heritage Harbor, Wrangell -Transient Dock 1

The hemlock and cedar trees that line the shores of the Inside Passage create a lush canopy, shaping the peaks and valleys of the magnificent, sometimes snow-covered Alaskan mountains. As we enjoyed this breathtaking tapestry we made our way through Zimovia Strait to Wrangell. This intricate passage kept us engaged in dodging crab traps and logs as we followed navigational markers that guided us safely though Zimovia’s narrow winding passage to Heritage Harbor, Wrangell.

About 2 miles from Wrangell the water in the passage begins to turn green. Where the Stikine River enters the various straits of the Inside Passage the fresh water rides atop the salt water and the result is a beautiful green.

Enjoy the views

June 25, Tuesday

• ROUTE: Meyers Chuck, Clarence Strait, Ernest Sound, Seward Passage, Santa Anna Inlet
• ANCHORED GPS LOCATION: 55^o58.676’N – 131^o56.066’W
• ANCHORED IN: 51 feet

Our plan for today was to travel from Meyers Chuck to Frosty Bay. Frosty Bay has been reported as well-protected and scenic, worthy of a visit if only to watch the seals that enjoyed the partially submerged rocks at the entrance. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Frosty Bay the best anchorage was taken and the seals had abandoned the partially submerged rocks for places unknown. We decided to backtrack 4.5 miles south to Santa Anna Inlet. This turn of events put us on the path to see our third humpback whale and our first bear of the trip.

As we were looking though the binoculars to find the entry to Santa Anna Inlet, we saw the whale emerge six times to give a mighty blow, then it presented us with its magnificent tail, dove down and we did not see it again.  Entering Santa Anna Inlet, we selected our anchoring spot and were preparing to drop anchor when we saw our first bear of the trip. The bear was taking a rest on the grassy bank and by the time we had anchored it was gone.

The lovely sound of a waterfall filled the evening. The only visual sign of the waterfall was a small brook that emerge at the edge of the inlet. As we were enjoying our evening on the flybridge Sella Luna entered the bay and anchored for the night.

Tomorrow we are headed to Wrangell, AK. Wrangell is one of the oldest towns in Alaska and the only Alaska town that has existed under three flags and was ruled by four nations: Tlingit, Russia, England, and the United States.

June 23-24, Sunday & Monday

Beautiful day on the water. Leaving Tongass Narrows we entered Clarence Strait and made our way to Meyers Chuck. The waves were 2-3 feet with winds from 10-15 mph. Since the waves were on our stern the ride was comfortable. The rain stayed in Ketchikan and the gray skies turned to blue with lovely white clouds.

Meyers Chuck is a very small fishing settlement with about fifty houses with less than two dozen year around residents. It has been a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of Ketchikan. The settlement sits at the edge of a rain forest and the forest trails have hidden gems of sculptures and art work. There is no grocery store or restaurant but if you are in the need of cinnamon buns or cookies you can call Cassy by 8:00 pm and she will deliver them to your boat by 7:30 the next morning. If you want some excellent Homemade Sourdough Bread call Carrie.

June 20-22, Thursday – Saturday

Around Town

Beautiful Jellyfish

Lost his fish, he looks so sad.

June 19, Wednesday

Kelly Calvert, one of the administrators for the “Boating the Inside Passage to Alaska” on Facebook wrote an article about “Gates of the Inside Passage” that was of interest to us.

Gates Of The Inside Passage by Kelly Calvert:

The “Gates Of The Inside Passage” refers to a sequence of navigational challenges along the Inside Passage that can be impassible depending on the conditions. These “gates” consist of either Tidal rapids, or significant bodies of water with ocean swells, high winds, or high currents (or even worse high winds or swell, opposing high currents).

The easiest of the two to plan for are the rapids. BC is home to the fastest tidal rapids in the world (up to around 20kts in some cases). Perhaps even more dangerous than the speed is the turbulence. For example Seymour Narrows, near CampbelI River, forms a 100’ whirlpool on max flood at spring tides that has capsized many boats over the years.

Fortunately, it is very easy to transit the rapids safely by following a very simple rule. Only transit at or near slack water. By “near” I mean plus/minus 15 min on spring tides, and plus/minus 30 min on neap tides. This requires careful planning to arrive on time. It is essential to have tide and current tables on board in one form or another (eg paper, or electronic, but you still can’t count on cell coverage for the vast majority of the trip).

Since it can be hard to predict how the current will affect your speed as you approach one of the rapids, I always plan to arrive an hour early, and if I’m ahead of schedule it’s a lot easier to slow down than try to make up time. If you follow this approach you will not have any problems with the rapids.

The gates which are bodies of water affected by some combination of swell, wind, and current are harder to predict and plan for. They’re all unique, and require local knowledge, and well beyond the scope of a single FB post.

For example, Johnstone Strait has practically daily afternoon gales in the summer as the prevailing NW , afternoon winds funnel down the strait. When these winds are opposing a significant ebb current it can create surprisingly large waves.

Northbound from Seattle I consider the gates to be (depending on your route):

• Deception Pass
• Strait of Juan de Fuca
• Swinomish Channel
• Dodd Narrows
• Strait of Georgia
• Seymour Narrows or The backwater rapids (Guillard, yaculta, Dent, Greenpoint, whirlpool, etc)
• Johnstone Strait
• Queen Charlotte Strait
• Cape Caution
• Princess Royal Channel
• Grenville Channel
• Dixon Entrance
• Peril Strait Rapids (near Sitka)

–Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgia, Queen Charlotte Strait, Cape Caution, and Dixon Entrance fall into “significant bodies of water with ocean swells, high winds, or high currents (or even worse high winds or swell, opposing high currents).” Today we crossed Dixon Entrance, a gate of this type that we had not crossed at some point in our boat in U.S and Canada. For the most part it was a beautiful day, sometimes cloudy and grey and at others sunny and bright. The wind was mostly between 6-9 mph although near Ketchikan it got up to about 15mph. The ocean swells were 1.5 to 2 feet with a few of them up to 4 or 5 feet, creating an uncomfortable ride when they were on the side of the boat. The trip took 12 hours which is a bit of a long day for us. We are now moored at Bar Harbor Basin, North in Ketchikan. 

June 17-18, Monday-Tuesday

We have done our due diligence: Checked Tides and Currents, Weather System Predictions, Weather and Sea Forecasts, Observations and Present Conditions. If the conditions are still favorable in the morning we will cast off for Alaska at 5:oo am, cross the Dixon Entrance and be in U.S waters by noon. In the meantime enjoy some pictures from Prince Rupert.

Eagle Entertainment

Sunken Gardens: History of the Sunken Gardens

Interesting story: The Epic Journey of the Kazu Maru

Around Town

Around Cow Bay Marina