Report from Baidarka on the Inside Passage

Report Received August 10, 2005 from Baidarka in Prince Rupert, BC

We weathered out the gales in Craig—gusts as high as 45 knots—and finally were able to work our way south. Stopped at Hydaburg which is extremely quiet. We were told the village has gone bankrupt and that would confirm the silence and lack of a harbormaster, electricity at the docks, etc. One of the boaters who pulled in after we left discovered a sunken fishing boat four slips in from where we moored, and beside that slip, another with a piling sticking up in the middle. All this was revealed at a negative tide. (We were there at high tide!)

We continued down the west side of Prince of Wales and explored some new anchor sites with our friends Jill and Doug Princehouse on Passages. Doug and Don are two of a kind, and egged each other on into a lagoon that was ebbing at least 10 knots as we went in. At one point we were making no headway at all and it looked as if we'd have to turn around which would have been scarier than riding on top of the rapids. We made it inside and were rewarded with a rare sight of three sandhill cranes—those lovely rosy-buff colored, but elusive and shy birds—as well as deer. A walk on shore where we saw flattened grasses and large bear prints forced us to abandon any further exploration.

We anchored in Nichols Bay at the south tip of POW Island, inside Cape Chacon, before crossing Dixon Entrance and had a great potluck aboard Passages with Danni and Jeremy from S/V Thulani (South African flag.) Crossed Dixon Entr the next day without a problem; no large swells, as there had been the previous five days and we made it to Prince Rupert in 11 hours, turning the clock ahead an hour back to Pacific time.

Many boats now returning south, including S/V Tairua (UK flag) whom we met two years ago. The Drinkrows leave their vessel in Point Roberts (just south of the BC border) and "commute" back & forth every spring and fall. So much fun to renew old acquaintances and make new ones every year. Our books and maps are greatly appreciated which makes us feel good, and we get good feedback from our readers! We leave August 11 for points south and plan to be back in Anacortes around September 1.

Report Received August 4, 2005 from Baidarka in Craig, AK

A quick note from Craig, AK (west coast Prince of Wales Iisland) where we're riding out gales waiting to cross Dixon Entrance back into Prince Rupert, Canada. This has been a rainy two months with small craft and gales now and then—an odd season. The pink salmon had already started their annual migration to natal grounds—a month earlier than usual—and the creeks in Sitka were swollen with them.

We left Sitka last Saturday a.m. and headed out Peril Strait (eastern entrance), instead of down the "outside", mainly because we wanted to visit the Tlingit community of Angoon. Entering the inlet where the village is located can only be done at slack tide and then it's still exciting! We got good information from the Hrbmaster for our 2nd edition of Southeast AK, then headed to Warm Springs Bay to bathe in their new (2004) bathhouse tubs which are really cattle troughs, but plenty roomy enough for two people. Then down Chatham Strait which can be nasty in bad weather. We lucked out and had a smooth ride the entire way to Coronation Island where we spentthe night in Windy Bay, protected from southeast weather (which is the direction the gales usually come from). The next day (Tuesday) we got to Craig just after noon.

The entrance to the harbor follows a series of nav-aids that are tricky. Just as we were beginning our approach, our DC power went out, leaving us without a computer, VHF radio, depth sounder, GPS, auto helm, etc.—all this in pouring rain and wind that was increasing. Needless to say, we were both nervous and tense, but we managed to get in and Don did a masterful job of docking in difficult conditions and in a small space. The harbor was full of trollers and seiners—some rafted as many as seven-deep. The seiners left this a.m. for
the pink salmon opening, so there's a bit more breathing space now. Don wants to leave this p.m. to begin our way south along Prince of Wales Island, then poise Baidarka for the "big crossing." Weather is supposed to get better by Sunday; if not, we'll be anchored somewhere safe. We'll be in Prince Rupert for several days before heading south for the final leg.

Report Received July 13, 2005 from Baidarka in Sitka, AK

Tidbits and highlights from Ketchikan to Cape Spencer, June 5-13: Heavy wind and current at City Floats (aka Casey Moran Floats) made docking a challenge; we found the last space available where our stern hung about a foot past the end of the float. (We had tried squeezing in to the Yacht Club floats in Thomas Basin first, but with conditions such as they were, it was impossible.) Telephoned Customs to clear back into the States. A cheery female voice with a southern accent answered and said an officer would be down soon to clear us. The same voice showed up at Baidarka's "door" 15 minutes later—the first time in all the years we've been checking back into the States in Ketchikan that an officer came to the boat, and it was a much more pleasant formality than it is these days in the lower 48. Hope it remains that way!

With all the cruise ships coming and going, downtown Ketchikan gets noisier and more crowded by the year. There were five ships there when we arrived (one "skyscaper" has eleven decks). Many of the shops (fur, jewelry, etc. in the downtown area are owned by East Coast companies (and/or cruise ship companies) that lock up and leave town at the end of the season, taking most of their money with them. Local gossip from Ktn YC members: the city wants to take over Thomas Basin for cruise ship use—more and more of the cruise ship companies are "buying" the city. Stay tuned!

Left mid-day June 7; did 60 nm and anchored in Zimovia Cove on the east side of Zarembo Island 20 minutes before midnight. In a rosy twilight with a view of snow-streaked peaks, we felt we had finally reached the wilderness. Wrangell the next day, whose lack of cruising behemoths was a pleasant change from Ketchikan. To date, the town has resisted the conditions (some residents call it black mail) cruise ship companies impose on communities for the "privilege" of making a stop. How long this resistance will last is a guess. However, at this point, Wrangell is a favorite stop for pleasure craft. A nearly nearly-completed Heritage Harbor (a mile or so south of town), will allow moorage for fishing boats and locals and free up 1500 feet of dock space so transient vessels can be accommodated conveniently close to all services. As the harbormaster told us, "We like cruising boats [i.e. pleasure craft]; they're good folks," and we've always found their welcoming attitude refreshing—some call it "old Alaska". It's a town where people still look you in the eye and say "hello," seem genuinely happy that you've come to visit; where they still leave the keys in their car and where they rarely lock their houses. Author Pat Roppel gave us a dynamite tour while we were there, including a visit to the golf course. Do cruising vessels really carry a set of clubs to Alaska?

Leaving Wrangell to head for Petersburg, where we were hoping to rendezvous with Warren and Laurie Miller (re their itinerary), we heard them calling us on the VHF radio. They were already heading south and were just an hour away from us so we arranged to meet in Deep Bay on the northeast tip of Zarembo Island. Sacalaurie was already anchored when we arrived. We rafted alongside and Laurie had lunch waiting for us—salad with huge prawns (caught by friends of theirs). We provided dessert—cranberry-oatmeal-nut cookies homemade by our friend Debbie Wilson and which we ration and save only for dear friends. This meeting was a great surprise, and a much nicer rendezvous than a Petersburg dock.

Arrived south end Wrangell Narrows where we anchored in Deception Point Cove; transited the narrows the next morning and did 115 nm to Taku Harbor were able to get to Auke Bay (Juneau) by 1000 the next day where we tied up by Enetai (our friends Dave & Evie Frisby, with whom we planned to go to Lituya Bay) and beside Evergreen, Claudia and Mike Herrick's newly-purchased trawler on which they plan to live aboard in Juneau. (Weather clear, sunny & calm for our 3-day stay.)

Sunday, June 12. Departed Auke Bay 0545, did 81 nm to Fern Harbor west of Glacier Bay entrance, outside of permit area. When we anchored in Fern Bay in 2003, we had our French friends, Jean & Geneviève Doudeau (semi-professional video photographers) aboard. Jean and Don went ashore on the spit, and they—and a bear—nearly got caught by the rising tide. Fortunately the bear was more intent on getting across, than with the men, but the encounter gave them plenty to talk about for the rest of the trip!

June 13: Rendezvous with Enetai at 0840 to enter the shortcut inside Cape Spencer which avoids the confused seas and riptides outside Cape Spencer Island. The sky was clear and the seas calm, and we moved slowly to photograph Enetai, Cape Spencer Lighthouse and the small mossy-green islets. What a change the weather makes in my memories of these places! Our previous traverses inside this rocky passage, had always occurred during unpleasant, misty weather.

Both Enetai and Baidarka checked out coves along the way. Don spent a couple of hours in the dinghy taking sounding in Thistle Cove, hoping to find an entrance across the silted bar. No luck—depths still too shallow.

We spent a rather rolly night at anchor inside Astrolabe Bay and departed the next morning in time to enter Lituya Bay on flood tide. Conditions were perfect: no wind and a low southwesterly swell. Perhaps you remember from my previous articles that the 1786 French expedition under La Pérouse (vessels Astrolabe & Boussole) lost 21 men in long boats when they tried to sound the bar on the ebb—against their captain's instructions. (The tide ebbing through the narrow entrance, creates nasty conditions as it hits the northwest swells.) I (Réanne) took Baidarka in, lining up the range marks—no problem this time. Last time, with John Leone aboard, I couldn't control the helm and had to turn it over to Don mid-way through the entrance. We continued up the bay and anchored on the west side of Cenotaph Island. Dave and Don spent the next day exploring in Enetai's dinghy, armed with GPS, charts, cameras, and clipboard to record data.

I quote from Dave's notes:

"As the two arms and two glaciers [North Crillon to the south and Lituya to the north] came into view it was readily apparent that the chart bore no resemblance to what we observed. Both [glaciers] have filled in from the face. . . to a line extending from the side of the bay. The chart shows depths in front of Lituya Glacier of 50 fathoms. The landslide and resultant giant wave reaching an elevation of 1720 feet above sea level and denuding the mountain to this elevation in 1958, in all probability, filled in the area in front of the glacier. Even today you can see the brighter color of the new-growth forest outlining the height of the wave. This wave denuded the old-growth forest all the way to the entrance to the bay.

At the bay's entrance, the wave height was on the order of 80 to 120 feet above sea level. At one point it washed across the middle of Cenotaph Island, cutting a swath trough the forest. Examining the shoreline across Crillon Glacier moraine, we discovered a lead along the east shore. The depths were more than adequate for the [dinghy], so we worked our way to the face of the glacier where we found a body of water about 150 feet in diameter, with soundings of 15 feet plus. Very little fresh ice exposed on the face indicates minimal calving. The ice face towered 150 to 200 feet over our heads. We lingered just long enough for photos and then retraced our route back to the inlet and went ashore on the Lituya Glacier side of the bay, close to the stream that runs down along the side of the denuded bluff. We found big bear tracks, bear scat, and large wolf tracks and did not linger. Our next objective was to locate the two bronze plaques mounted on the shores of Cenotaph Island. We were successful in finding the plaque mounted in 1940 by the Harvard Dartmouth Alaska Expedition to commemorate the kindness and help give by Jim Huscroft [who lived on Cenotaph Island for 22 years] to the expeditions of 1930, 1932, 1933 and 1934. We continued to search diligently but were unable to find the bronze plaque placed to commemorate the loss of [La Pérouse's 21 men]."

Note: Forged in France, the bronze plaque was a replica of the one originally placed on Cenotaph Island by La Pérouse. The inscription read: A l'entrée du port ont péri vingt-un braves marins; qui que vous soyez, mélez vos larmes aux nôtres [At the entrance of the port perished twenty-one brave sailors; whoever you may be, combine your tears with ours] [followed by the names of those lost]

June 17-21: Explore west coast of Yakobi Island gathering new data for the second edition our Exploring Southeast Alaska: Surge Bay—snug cove; very good holding.

Deer Harbor—dicey, shallow entrance, but we were led in by Dave in Enetai's tender. Carolyn & Tim

DeCook in their Saratoga had already been anchored inside for a day or two and found good fishing in the area. You don't want to enter or exit on a low tide!

Takanis Bay; Squid Bay, then Greentop (see below) before heading north in Lisianski Strait to Pelican.

June 22-25: Pelican—a small community of about 115 people and formerly a thriving fishing village with a large processing plant—has suffered from the decrease in commercial fishing, and like many other Alaskan villages in Southeast it is striving to survive by turning to sportfishing, kayaking and upgrading facilities to accommodate pleasure craft.

But just today, Pelican received another blow; Western Pioneer's coastal transport, Redfin, made its last call at the village to offload groceries and supplies. The company, whose small ships have supplied Southeast Alaska and towns all the way out to the Aleutians for the past few decades, was recently sold and their employees were told their jobs were being eliminated. All but one of the transports, we were told, will be retired or sold. Don got his information from the Redfin's chief engineer who happened to be the engineer aboard the Yellowfin last September, when Don was a guest on Western Pioneer's run from Seattle to Dutch Harbor (Unalaska). We haven't heard whether or not our friend, Taylor Campbell, captain of the Yellowfin, will be retained or not for the one vessel that will service the run from Seattle to Adak.

The communities serviced by the company transports and its employees (who were unaware of the pending sale) are angry and in shock.

This is just one of the problems that small Alaskan ports and harbors face these days. Some villages saw the handwriting on the wall early on and have already made transitions to eco-tourism and sportfishing and have upgraded their facilities to attract cruising vessels. Others have been slow to accept the changes.

Fortunately, Pelican—which has a far-sighted, hardworking harbormaster—received a substantial grant from the State this year to upgrade its harbor. The installation of pilings, docks and electrical meters began this month and, today, we watched 60-foot aluminum pilings being positioned and driven 30 feet into the seabed, marveling at the skill of the Manitowoc crane operator. Along the existing docks, electricians were pulling out old wiring and installing new wiring with upgraded amperage.

Pelican stretches along the eastern edge of Chichagof Island's Lisianski Inlet, southwest and across from the entrance to Glacier Bay. There are no automobiles here. The only 4-wheeled vehicle allowed on the boardwalk is the garbage truck (run by the harbormaster—one of his many "other" jobs). The residents either walk, bicycle, or run about in motorized 3- or 4-wheelers.

The village has several sportfishing lodges, among which is the Highliner at the top of the new harbor gangway. Jill and Steve Daniels, the owners of the Highliner completely rebuilt the old structure, even replacing a couple of the pilings on which it sits. Last year at this time, just the ground floor and a couple of rooms were in process; this year all three stories have been completed, and the rooms were full.

This year we finally met the famous (or infamous??) Rosie of Rosie's Bar, had great breakfasts and lunches at Lisianski Inlet Café, which recently received authorization from the State to serve its own freshly-caught fish. So you can't find fresher fish than theirs!

The market is in transition (to be kind). Pelican needs as good a market as Elfin Cove has. We hope someone with capital will come along and start some competion.

During the five days we were in Pelican, we had a first, but typical North Coast B.C.-Alaskan experience—24 hours "on the grid." Don's explanation of why we ended up on the grid follows.

"Five Minutes of Complacency Can Lead to Disaster"

Our good friend Rod Nash—Professor Emeritus of UCSB—started calling me Captain Vigilance in 1989 when I helped him take his 26-foot Nortdic Tug, Forevergreen from Juneau to Anacortes. We took turns navigating; one of us using dead reckoning, the other using radar. After of couple of hours we would record our estimate of course and distance to a certain place, then check visually and against the chart to see who was the closest.

Vigilance is perhaps the most important trait for safely navigating the Inside Passage. In the last 10 years, cross-checking instruments, checking charts, scanning the horizon with binoculars, and maintaining a slow approach with an alert watch stationed on the bow, have kept us from hitting bottom for some 50,000 miles of cruising from Southern California to Kodiak and the Alaska Peninsula. Our previous 35 years of cruising included leaving some bottom paint on Dall Island and the west coast of Vancouver Island, hitting one reef in Mexico, one rock at Santa Cruz Island off southern California, and getting stuck in the mud in Argentina and Uruguay—not a bad record for a total of 150,000 miles, with half of that mileage putting our boat at risk to collect data for our guidebooks.

There's an old saying among cruising and fishing boats that if you haven't hit a rock yet, you will. Well . . . so here's the confession. After having checked all the anchorages along the outer coast from Lituya Bay southward to update our Exploring Southeast Alaska guidebook, we spent two days in Deer Harbor (Yakobi Island) in company of Enetai and Saratoga. On June 19, we left to continue southward, along the way checking possible new anchor sites in Takanis Bay and Squid Bay.

Greentop Harbor—our destination for that evening—is an inlet that cuts two miles into Yakobi Island's southwest coast, just a mile northwest of the entrance to Lisianski Strait. Its entrance, filled with islands, islets, and breaking rocks is enough to discourage any casual cruising boater from giving it a second glance. However, decades ago, that didn't deter some hardy Alaskan families from building homesites at its peaceful, calm head (one of which now serves as a USFS wilderness cabin).

We had visited Greentop several times previously—in our 32' Nordic Tug as well as in our Nordhavn. This time, the seas off the entrance were a miserable confusion of 6 to 7-feet swells (which Don calls "dancing waters" and Réanne calls "ugly")—an ebb current flowing against strong northwest wind and chop.

With Réanne on the bow, we cleared the first entrance obstacles, raised our stabilizer poles, and continued working our way through the kelp-choked passage north of "Elbow Islet" (our original name). When we were finally in the clear, I put Baidarka in neutral to let R. make a quick visit to the head. While she was below, I studied the chart for a possible new route through a slot along the south side of Elbow Islet, unaware that the current and wind were carrying us at about a knot off course. As Réanne dashed back up the pilothouse steps, Baidarka's 50,000-pound hulk suddenly hit a rock and lifted a few inches at the bow.

"My God," she yelled as she looked over the bow, "We're over a reef!"

I jammed the control into fast reverse for two or three seconds to stop the forward motion, then ran forward to determine the extent of damage and be sure the propeller was free and clear before applying full reverse to pull us off on a dangerous falling tide.

Here's what I did wrong:

Both Réanne and I took a break from navigation at the same time—not prudent! I had turned off the depth-sounder alarm about two minutes earlier because of near-constant alarms caused by attached kelp, and had neglected to turn it back on (just plain dumb in a poorly charted waters with an irregular bottom.) The rock we hit is not covered by kelp, as were most of the rocks we had passed and I didn't remember having seen a rock in this first calm basin on previous trips. Chart 17303 indicated a rock with "PD" [position doubtful]; based on previous experiences where PD has been printed on a chart and we found no threat, I didn't take the "position doubtful" seriously this time. Also, after the hectic motion at the entrance and the calm water we now found, I underestimated our drift.

The next day early in the morning at first light, and at a minus tide, Dave and I took his dinghy to record the position of Baidarka rock as well as an uncharted rock that Enetai hit. Position Baidarka Rock: 57°51.721'N, 136°28.259'W; Position: Enetai rock: 57°51.658'N, 136°28.481'W.

A few days later at Pelican, both Baidarka and Enetai went on the grid for 24 hours. We found just superficial damage, as I suspected it would be—a small 3-inch scrape in the gel coat about 1/8" deep was all. I applied epoxy resin and will have it checked on our annual haulout.

On the cruising grapevine, word travels fast and, within a few days of our arrival at Pelican, yachting friends were asking us how things turned out. Our answer: "Fine, except that Capt. Vigilance nearly had a near-disaster due to five minutes of complacency."

Back to Réanne's comments: Although going on and off the grid after midnight was a bit unnerving, I'm glad we had the experience. Now we can talk about "the grid" with first-hand knowledge.

With the way rumors build among cruising boaters, we figure that by the time we get to Southern B.C. the supposed damage will be ten times as bad.

After our arrival in Sitka, we received an email from Linda Lewis and Dave Parker on M/V Royal Sounder who wrote:

". . . we went into Greentop Harbor ourselves just a few weeks ago—on June 3. It was definitely the worst entrance we have experienced in years. The kelp was REALLY thick and the rocks were very difficult to navigate through in that one area where you must be up close to the little island [Elbow Island]. We went in and anchored and decided we really didn't like it there. So we immediately pulled up anchor and very carefully exited. We headed S and went over to Baker Cove instead."

We're now in Sitka getting some work done and will add notes about Chichagof Island's west coast on our next submission. It's been fun wining and dining with old cruising friends and new ones. More and more Canadians are coming north which pleases us.

Report Received June 3, 2005, from Baidarka in Prince Rupert, B.C.

Big Bay: We talked with the agent hired by the new owners of what was the resort and even more current news;the docks are to be removed and everything will be returned to as natural a state as possible along the shoreline. The public dock has been taken over by the municipality and is being upgraded with new deck timbers.

Kwatsi Bay Marina is open for business as usual after a fire and wind storm in the winter of 2005. The gift store is open and has a nice selection of regionally-made gifts, jewelry, wooden bowls, honey and jams, and note cards. Anca and Max and their two children are as delightful as we had heard and we enjoyed the pot luck with the other boaters. Nice to be there early in the season!

Pierre's Marina in Pierre's Bay (formerly West Scott Cove) continues to expand. Lady Di's Lighthouse Bakery and Gift Shop has now been moved to finger-float at the front of the marina.

Alert Bay municipality has hired a full time harbour manager and is in the process of upgrading their docks. There is now 30-amp electricity a pump out station is slated to be installed by 2006. There are two laundromats--one just across the street above the harbour, and a second (open seasonally only) fto the south. At the time we were there, boaters were coming from Port McNeill to do their laundry with the closing of the laundromat nearest the marina. The museum and Big House continue to draw visitors from North America, Japan and Europe. We showed our photos of the pictographs in Belize Inlet (used in our Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia) to the museum personnel who agreed with Don's interpretation that they may represent the first survey of the inlet by the British.

Port McNeill: Although the supermarket no longer delivers your groceries, they do allow you to take a cart to the marina to unload your provisions and leave the cart for them to retrieve. Although the laundromat above the marina is now closed, Harbour manager, Hilje, reports that there is another laundry north of the marina. (We didn't check it out.)

We left Port McNeill Tuesday, May 31, just ahead of a low front with expected gales and had the wind on our stern all the way to Fury Cove where we spent the first night. We had two more long days, stopping briefly along Central Coast to gather data, and anchoring the second night inside Hewitt Island at the west end of Hiekish Narrows. We had an exceptionally quiet night anchored out of the current. Another long day but with continued favorable weather allowed us to reach Lawson Harbour at the northeast end of Porcher Island from where we had an easy two-hour ride to Prince Rupert Yacht Club. We're pleased to see the newest upgrades here: an additional shower accessible through the office, and a toilet and sink open 24 hours with its entrance accessible outside the office. The yacht club now post the weather forecast and the computer inside the office can be used for internet access with a reasonable fee of $1 per half-hour. Contrary to what I was told in January with a phone call to the manager of City Tel, U.S. Verizon cell phones do not work in Prince Rupert. Due to the increase in cruising boat activity, reservations are highly recommended. More and more boats are having to anchor in Pillsbury Cove to the NW.

Here in Prince Rupert, we were surprised and happy to see Bill Harpster on his S/V Joshua--a third generation of authentic replicas of Slocum's "Spray." Bill is on his way to Alaska.

Thanks to one of our sponsors, Bike Friday, we can now get around towns and pathways on our 27-speed foldable bikes. Great fun!