For most boats travelling from Wrangell to Petersburg it is about a 40 mile journey, often as a single days journey if the tide cycle works in Wrangell Narrows. For us, it was 300 miles in 10 days.
We left Wrangell on May 25 with an excellent weather forecast, light winds and no rain. Since we had been thwarted in our attempt to explore the east shore of Prince of Wales Island, we thought we’d explore the east shore of Kuiu Island along Sumner Strait. We’ve passed that area a number of times but we’ve always done it directly as to minimize our exposure to the ocean swells that can travel into Sumner Strait.
Our first anchorage was Port Beauclerc, a poorly charted area. We followed the directions in the Coast Pilot and entry wasn’t difficult. While heading to our anchorage we passed by many sea otter mothers with their pups suggesting that boating traffic was light. The anchorage was a huge area with good depths and scenic. Our only complaint was that its size meant it didn’t feel “intimate” and it might not be protected from wind.
The next day we continued south, then turned a corner into Affleck Channel and proceeded to Bear Harbor for the night. The charting was better but entry was tighter. Fortunately the entry tips from the Coast Pilot were spot on and we were soon anchored for the night. True to its name, we saw a black bear foraging along the shore as we entered. It too was a lovely anchorage but not one I’d choose to sit out a storm with forecasted south winds as the terrain was relatively low. The winds we saw in the anchorage were pretty much the same winds as were in Affleck Canal.
We continued our exploring by backtracking about 6-miles to Kell Bay. We spent two nights here. First in the basin formed by several islands on the SW arm of the bay. It was quite lovely and the islands gave visual interest and intimacy to it. The next day, we passed through the very narrow (30-35 yards wide) channel into “land locked” basin south of the arm. While narrow, it is steep-to and the least depth we saw was about 4 fathoms (24 feet) at a +2 foot tide. The inner basin felt like you were in a mountain lake.
Both of these anchorages seem well protected but we experienced southerly winds that were only slightly diminished from those winds that were reported at the Cape Decision light house 7-miles away. While the fetch was short so the chop was minor, we were surprised at how consistent the winds were in the afternoon from sea breezes, The winds apparently blow up the various drainages on the windward side of Kuiu Island, over the low passes then back down the drainages on the leeward side. The wind simply follows the direction dictated by the terrain. We’ve notice this same phenomena in some of the inlets and bays on the east shore of Baranof. An anchorage looks like its well protected on the chart but wind comes whistling down the mountainside following the terrain.
With a good forecast in hand and an early start, we rounded Cape Decision on the south tip of Kuiu Island and made our way to Port Malmesbury. We put our stabilizing “fish” in the water as we cruised up the west shore of Kuiu Island since we were beam to the prevailing SW swell. We anchored in the “Mud Hole”, a misnomer as it is quite nice. A humpback whale later came in to feed so it had the whale’s approval as well.
One reason we wanted to be in Southern Chatham was that it was one of the few areas open to King Salmon fishing. The next day, after waiting of fog to burn off, we fished the mid-day bite along the shore south of Port Cosmos. No king but a pink salmon was hooked and released. We anchored in nearby Gedney Harbor.
From Gedney Harbor, we fished the early morning bite then crossed over Chatham Strait to the east short of Baranof Island and fished mid-day bite north of Port Walter. We anchored for the night in Denmark Cove in Port Walter.
With a forecast for bigger seas in Southern Chatham, we fished the morning bite than proceeded north. We encountered 15-25 knot winds and unpleasant head seas (3-4′ with a very short period) as we motored north. They only started to moderate about the time we turned into Gut Bay. Conditions were markedly better inside and we anchored in our preferred spot. Soon the temperatures reached the 70-degree mark for the first time during our trip.
At this point we decided to head to Petersburg to reprovision, do chores and visit with friends there. From Gut Bay we back across Chatham strait to Honey Dew Cove, a lovely and popular anchorage at the NE corner of Kuiu Island. We arrived early enough to make forays to shore which have areas suitable for play with Drake.
The following morning, June 3, we made the push to Petersburg, arriving about 40 minutes ahead schedule on account of current boost. Petersburg is notorious for the fast currents that whip by its docks making docking a challenge for the unwary. We came in on a finger pier with several folks working on fishing vessel tied to the opposite side, who were kind enough to take our lines and make us fast before anything could go haywire.
While in Petersburg, we spent the evenings socializing with Kathleen and John Douglas who own Laysan, a sistership to Alpenglow. They keep their boat in Petersburg during the off season. They had returned a few days earlier and were still doing chores to resuscitate
Laysan from its winter hibernation. One afternoon we traveled in their dinghy across the channel to Kurpreanof Island and walk a lovely boardwalk loop trail through the forest.
From here our goal is to head to Sitka via the relatively direct Peril Strait route.
Miles covered this leg was 300 NM over 10 days.
For most boats travelling from Wrangell to Petersburg it is about a 40 mile journey, often as a single days journey if the tide cycle works in Wrangell Narrows. For us, it was 300 miles in 10 days.
We left Wrangell on May 25 with an excellent weather forecast, light winds and no rain. Since we had been thwarted in our attempt to explore the east shore of Prince of Wales Island, we thought we’d explore the east shore of Kuiu Island along Sumner Strait. We’ve passed that area a number of times but we’ve always done it directly as to minimize our exposure to the ocean swells that can travel into Sumner Strait.
Our first anchorage was Port Beauclerc, a poorly charted area. We followed the directions in the Coast Pilot and entry wasn’t difficult. While heading to our anchorage we passed by many sea otter mothers with their pups suggesting that boating traffic was light. The anchorage was a huge area with good depths and scenic. Our only complaint was that its size meant it didn’t feel “intimate” and it might not be protected from wind.
The next day we continued south, then turned a corner into Affleck Channel and proceeded to Bear Harbor for the night. The charting was better but entry was tighter. Fortunately the entry tips from the Coast Pilot were spot on and we were soon anchored for the night. True to its name, we saw a black bear foraging along the shore as we entered. It too was a lovely anchorage but not one I’d choose to sit out a storm with forecasted south winds as the terrain was relatively low. The winds we saw in the anchorage were pretty much the same winds as were in Affleck Canal.
We continued our exploring by backtracking about 6-miles to Kell Bay. We spent two nights here. First in the basin formed by several islands on the SW arm of the bay. It was quite lovely and the islands gave visual interest and intimacy to it. The next day, we passed through the very narrow (30-35 yards wide) channel into “land locked” basin south of the arm. While narrow, it is steep-to and the least depth we saw was about 4 fathoms (24 feet) at a +2 foot tide. The inner basin felt like you were in a mountain lake.
Both of these anchorages seem well protected but we experienced southerly winds that were only slightly diminished from those winds that were reported at the Cape Decision light house 7-miles away. While the fetch was short so the chop was minor, we were surprised at how consistent the winds were in the afternoon from sea breezes, The winds apparently blow up the various drainages on the windward side of Kuiu Island, over the low passes then back down the drainages on the leeward side. The wind simply follows the direction dictated by the terrain. We’ve notice this same phenomena in some of the inlets and bays on the east shore of Baranof. An anchorage looks like its well protected on the chart but wind comes whistling down the mountainside following the terrain.
With a good forecast in hand and an early start, we rounded Cape Decision on the south tip of Kuiu Island and made our way to Port Malmesbury. We put our stabilizing “fish” in the water as we cruised up the west shore of Kuiu Island since we were beam to the prevailing SW swell. We anchored in the “Mud Hole”, a misnomer as it is quite nice. A humpback whale later came in to feed so it had the whale’s approval as well.
One reason we wanted to be in Southern Chatham was that it was one of the few areas open to King Salmon fishing. The next day, after waiting of fog to burn off, we fished the mid-day bite along the shore south of Port Cosmos. No king but a pink salmon was hooked and released. We anchored in nearby Gedney Harbor.
From Gedney Harbor, we fished the early morning bite then crossed over Chatham Strait to the east short of Baranof Island and fished mid-day bite north of Port Walter. We anchored for the night in Denmark Cove in Port Walter.
With a forecast for bigger seas in Southern Chatham, we fished the morning bite than proceeded north. We encountered 15-25 knot winds and unpleasant head seas (3-4′ with a very short period) as we motored north. They only started to moderate about the time we turned into Gut Bay. Conditions were markedly better inside and we anchored in our preferred spot. Soon the temperatures reached the 70-degree mark for the first time during our trip.
At this point we decided to head to Petersburg to reprovision, do chores and visit with friends there. From Gut Bay we back across Chatham strait to Honey Dew Cove, a lovely and popular anchorage at the NE corner of Kuiu Island. We arrived early enough to make forays to shore which have areas suitable for play with Drake.
The following morning, June 3, we made the push to Petersburg, arriving about 40 minutes ahead schedule on account of current boost. Petersburg is notorious for the fast currents that whip by its docks making docking a challenge for the unwary. We came in on a finger pier with several folks working on fishing vessel tied to the opposite side, who were kind enough to take our lines and make us fast before anything could go haywire.
While in Petersburg, we spent the evenings socializing with Kathleen and John Douglas who own Laysan, a sistership to Alpenglow. They keep their boat in Petersburg during the off season. They had returned a few days earlier and were still doing chores to resuscitate
Laysan from its winter hibernation. One afternoon we traveled in their dinghy across the channel to Kurpreanof Island and walk a lovely boardwalk loop trail through the forest.
From here our goal is to head to Sitka via the relatively direct Peril Strait route.
Miles covered this leg was 300 NM over 10 days.
While in town for the Little Norway Festival, we take some time to catch up on maintenance of Idyll Time. We had a diver come and change out our zincs and also check out the paint condition on the hull. It past years Jeff has dove the boat but this year it just seemed easier […]
How right were NIWA late last year when they forecast the 2021/22 North Island summer would be dominated by easterlieswith more gales, thunderstormsand wet weather than normally expected. We’ve lain at home in bed during quite a few nights in the last few weeks listening to wind and rain thankful to be ashore.There’s certainly been some nice sunny days, but on the water we’ve rarely had the settled predominantly south-west conditions we normally expect, the exceptions being a settled period in January before Cyclone Cody arrived and some nice periods in April. In fact we can rarely remember a period of such sustained south to north-easterlies occasionally tipping over into north-westerlies.
This significantly changes summer cruising dynamics, firstly because the east coast becomes exposed rather than sheltered and secondly because we’re all mainly used to anchoring for settled south-westerly conditionsrather than for strong easterlies.
Of course this has also opened some opportunities for cruising the normally exposedwest coasts of Great Barrier Island, Kawau Islandand Coromandel Peninsula, but you do have to get there and back safely and easterlies often bring large ocean swells and larger than usual wind-generated waves.
We last got out for 6 nights in mid-May anchoring around Onetangi including very pleasant Piemelon Bay on the east side of Onetangi when the wind went south-east.
Fortunately it’s nearly always possible to safely return home from the inner Hauraki Gulf islands, nearly all of which provide some secure anchorages during easterlies. Some of our favorites during E to NE winds areRakino Island’s West Bay, Waiheke Island’s Putiki Bay, Ponui Island’s Shark Bay and Rotoroa Island’s South-west Bay.
Anyway our Winter solstice is now only about three weeks away on 21 June and from there our dark mornings and evenings will very gradually lengthen out. Roll on settled SW conditions.
How right were NIWA late last year when they forecast the 2021/22 North Island summer would be dominated by easterlieswith more gales, thunderstormsand wet weather than normally expected. We’ve lain at home in bed during quite a few nights in the last few weeks listening to wind and rain thankful to be ashore.There’s certainly been some nice sunny days, but on the water we’ve rarely had the settled predominantly south-west conditions we normally expect, the exceptions being a settled period in January before Cyclone Cody arrived and some nice periods in April. In fact we can rarely remember a period of such sustained south to north-easterlies occasionally tipping over into north-westerlies.
This significantly changes summer cruising dynamics, firstly because the east coast becomes exposed rather than sheltered and secondly because we’re all mainly used to anchoring for settled south-westerly conditionsrather than for strong easterlies.
Of course this has also opened some opportunities for cruising the normally exposedwest coasts of Great Barrier Island, Kawau Islandand Coromandel Peninsula, but you do have to get there and back safely and easterlies often bring large ocean swells and larger than usual wind-generated waves.
We last got out for 6 nights in mid-May anchoring around Onetangi including very pleasant Piemelon Bay on the east side of Onetangi when the wind went south-east.
Fortunately it’s nearly always possible to safely return home from the inner Hauraki Gulf islands, nearly all of which provide some secure anchorages during easterlies. Some of our favorites during E to NE winds areRakino Island’s West Bay, Waiheke Island’s Putiki Bay, Ponui Island’s Shark Bay and Rotoroa Island’s South-west Bay.
Anyway our Winter solstice is now only about three weeks away on 21 June and from there our dark mornings and evenings will very gradually lengthen out. Roll on settled SW conditions.
All things must pass
None of life’s strings can last
Today, we’re in Hot Springs, Arkansas —tomorrow we’re heading west to wherever and hoping our new ride will scratch our travel itch.
All things must pass None of life’s strings can lastSo, I must be on my way And face another day George Harrison once wrote these lyrics… A lot has passed since my last post. Sadly, we lost our best friend and mate, Ra…
Idyll Time’s home port of Petersburg, Alaska is known as Little Norway. The town was settled by Norwegian Peter Buschmann in 1897 and still retains it’s Norwegian heritage. The Little Norway Festival celebrates Syttenede Mai, the signing of Norways constitution on May 17th, 1814. This four day event is Petersburgs biggest festival of the year. […]
To ease into our more leisurely Alaska cruising practice we started on a loop of Behm Canal, the body of water which circles around Revillagigedo Island where Ketchikan lies. Our original plan was to then cross Clarence Strait and spend additional time exploring the east shore of Prince of Wales Island (PoW)..
Our first stop after Ketchikan was to the new (to us, anyway) destination of Bailey Bay where the USFS has a public buoy. The buoy is intended to support access to a 2-mile trail to a USFS shelter at the hot springs near Lake Shelokum. The buoy looked in good repair so we tied to it for the night. As is often the case where the USFS buoys are sited, anchoring is difficult because of the steep-to nature of the bottom. I went ashore with the kayak and found the first few hundred yards of the trail in good shape. Since I was travelling by myself, I elected to not go far but noted it for a return stop.
The next day we back tracked a bit to anchor in Yes Bay for two nights to wait the passing of a short stint of wet and windy weather.
From Yes Bay, we headed to Walker Cove in Misty Fiords National Monument where again, we tied to a USFS buoy located in front of a perfect bear beach. Unfortunately, like last year, the sedge grass had not grown enough to make it bear country and we didn’t see any bears.
At this point, we abandoned our original plan to explore the east shore of PoW because the weather forecasts begin to suggest that the good conditions in Clarence Strait, which borders the length of PoW’s east shore, was short-lived. Over the years, we’ve learned to respect Clarence Strait and to be elsewhere when the conditions are poor.
From Walker Cove, we returned to the Bailey Bay buoy but this time the whole family paddled to shore and Drake went for a hike. We covered a little over half a mile along the trail and turned around when it became a little more ragged, wet and muddy. Using the freshwater washdown hose we got the accumulated mud off of Drake, avoiding a more time consuming full bath.
The sea conditions were good the next day and we made the 73 mile journey down Behm Canal, up Clarence Strait and up Ernest Sound to Santa Anna Inlet and ended up about 10-1/2 miles west of the Bailey Bay buoy we started from..
We spent 2 nights in Santa Anna, dropping and retrieving our 3 prawn pots twice. Our efforts rewarded us with our first seafood catch of the season. The next day we went along the east side Wrangell Island and anchored in Berg Bay. There is a USFS cabin there and a clearing in front of it that served as Drake’s much appreciated “dog park”.
The next day, Sunday May 22, we headed to Wrangell where we tied up in Heritage Harbor, about a mile walk into town’s main business section. It had been several years since we last visited Wrangell but it didn’t take much time to refamiliarize ourselves with it.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, the previous two years had a near absence of cruise ships. The schedule of Alaska cruise ships in 2022 is very similar to years past although we are unsure of the occupancy. A new addition to the vessels visiting are the larger luxury “expedition” style vessels. Two of them happened to be in Wrangell on the same day, the Roald Amundsen (Hurtigruten Line) and the Ocean Victory (American Queen Voyages). Both are recent builds with designs radically different from traditional cruise ships.
We covered 274 miles in 9 days of travel on this leg.
