Captain’s Log: Port Fredrick Bay to Juneau

April 14-16

Hi All,

We sadly left Fingers Bay in Glacier Bay on Sunday, April 14 at around 8:30am. The weather to the north had lots of low clouds covering most of the mountains and somewhat partly sunny further south…..the way we were going.

Last thoughts on Glacier Bay: Another one of our friends wrote….”such beauty so close to home”. Those words captured why we are back in Alaska & USA. We knew when we left Alaska in 2006 we would be back and in all our travels in the Caribbean and Pacific, Alaska continues to be a land of such raw beauty drawing us back. As many PNW Selene owners have told us…..you can cruise Alaska for 10+ years and still not see it all or get tired of the nature and world class scenery. Amen!!!

One footnote: If we get the chance again, I’d wait until the last week in April to visit Glacier Bay. Most restrictions in the Park start on 5/1 so I’d try and be here a week ahead. We think we might be 2+ weeks ahead of the Spring explosion…..shrubs/trees in bloom, grasses starting to grow, more critters near the shores, maybe not as cold or rainy (Kathy read May can be one of the sunniest)!!

On our way out of Glacier Bay….actually close to Sitakaday Narrows, which was close to slack so we timed it right for once, we saw whale blow…3 Orca whales on the move passing us by at a fast pace…..they can move up to 35mph and these guys were moving fast to the north….probably one of the transient pods on their way to hunt some of the Stellar Sea Lion and Harbor seal pups…yikes!!!! The weather was calm but we did have an ebb tide in Icy Strait so slowed us down to ~7kts. We saw hundred’s and hundred’s of otters and a gazillion ducks and a few porpoises. We arrived outside the town of Hoonah, where we just idled Mystic while we got a 4-bar 3G Verizon signal and downloaded a bunch of AOL emails and got some weather and news.

Then it was another 12nm to our anchorage….in all a 54nm passage. Along the way we saw 4 Humpback whales…one fairly close and the other 3 in the distance. As we started to enter our anchorage at North Bight, there was a large boat….Wildlife Adventures…..a small cruise ship….we then noticed many kayaks and dinghies in the water….ok, let’s try Plan B….so went another 5 nm to Eight Fathom Bay….much more private and scenic as well. Anchor down, passage beers opened by 3:30pm. I then proceeded to set up a crab and prawn trap….so far no otters seen in this part of the Bay….put the pole in the water to catch some fresh fish…..and boom, several small flounder off a dried up piece of salmon….whoa!!!

The next morning I checked the pots….ZERO crab and ONE prawn….ODG, this sucks….I’m now wondering if the prawn pot is letting the prawns escape somehow as I pull up the pot with the anchor puller….arghhhhh!!!! Normally people use a pot puller but this dinghy will not support one so I’ve been using an anchor puller that you use the dinghy to pull the pot up. At some point next year we will invest in a new dinghy and pot puller but until then the search is still on for prawns!!!!

The 2nd day we got 2 Dungeness crabs…..yea!!! But only small prawns and the one big one we kept in the trap from the 1st day to see if it was falling out….which it did not so not a trap issue….just can’t seem to find where the prawns are…..I suspect >400′ as the fisherman in Hoonah told us to go 600’…ugh!!!

Weather: Well….WEATHER ADVISORY…..ODG…..strong spring time storm for late Wed/Thurs…..winds up to 50kts and 2-3″ of rain…..arghhhhhh…..we were going to Juneau on Wednesday but moved that up a day to be safe and sound in a marina for the blow!!!!

We left Port Frederick at 7:15am on Tuesday April 16 for Auke Bay……just north of Juneau…12 miles by car. Several of our friends advised us to come here and even though it is not in downtown Juneau it saves us 30+nm to go there and back (total 60nm) as we will next head north to Skagway up the Lynn Canal. To get to Juneau you have to go all the way south around Douglas Island and then back north through Gastineau Channel. We shall see how we like it????

We arrived at 2:30ish and found a slip on D-dock with 50-amp power….had to do a 90* turn between 2 boats….TG for thrusters….a different system here….the slips are first come first serve so you have to go in and hunt…not very convenient for us cruisers but hey, it’s their marina so their rules!!

Boat Stuff: The Simrad RA52 radar is indeed broke. I will go up the mast and remove the transceiver and the display in the PH and ship to Vince in Florida for analysis. Looks like we have a failed power supply issue or maybe a failed magnetron….ugh!!!!!

The Plan: We will be here for 5-days….Costco run, City tour, and hopefully a seaplane sightseeing tour over the glacier ice-fields….not sure that will happen with the next 6-day forecast full of clouds and rain…ugh!!! Of course, we have lots of internet needs and pictures to post on the blog so we will stay busy for sure!!

Critter Stats:
Dungeness crab: 11 total, 2 more in port Federick
Prawns: 4 Spotted
Whales: 17 total; 14 Humpbacks; 3 Orcas
Salmon: 0
Bears: 1
Wolves: 5
Otters: 700+, ~50% with pups
Mountain Goats: total 27
Stellar Sea Lions: ~350

Hope all is well!

John
Mystic Moon
Statter Harbor, Auke Bay Alaska