Meander seems to be the operative term to describe our cruising style this season. Similar to our previous leg out of Ketchikan, we first did a short excursion near Sitka then returned to stay a few more days.

South of Sitka for about 30 miles is a section of coast that has offshore islands that create a protected travel route with many good anchorages. From Sitka, we cruised to Kliuchevoi Bay, which is next to the very popular Goddard Hot Springs. This was our first visit here because we’ve been put off by the crowds that we expected to find here. Perhaps because it was still early in the cruising season, the hot springs were not crowded, and we managed to have one of the two USFS constructed bath house to ourselves on the two days we were in Kliuchevoi Bay.

From here we made a short jaunt to First Narrows Cove, nestled between three islands with a narrow entry channel. It was rocky and had no functional beach, so we then went to Seven Fathom Bay where the USFS has a recreational cabin. In front of the cabin was a grassy area above a shallow rocky beach on which we landed our dinghy. Drake thought the beach perfect, so we suspect we’ll be visiting again. Our last night before returning to Sitka was in Leesofskaia Bay, a short distance from Sitka.

The next morning, we docked back in Eliason Harbor of Sitka, coincidentally in the same  slip as we had five days earlier. While in Sitka we attended one of the evening concerts from the Sitka Music Festival, did lots of walks on the trails around the town, and picked up all the packages we were expecting.

On Friday, June 19, after a luxurious seven days in Sitka, we headed out. We had been communicating with Kathleen & John Douglas on Laysan (a sister ship to Alpenglow), and had agreed to rendezvous on Kuiu Island. We made an intermediate anchorage at Ell Cove on Baranof Island, before meeting up with Laysan. Also joining the rendezvous was Luck Dragon owned by Ed and Carlene (aka, Charlie). Luck Dragon is a “classic” Diesel Duck 462 that is a cousin ship to our sedan style Diesel Duck. We dropped our dinghy to shuttle folks between the vessels for our evening gatherings on Laysan. After two nights in the Shelter Bay area of Tebenkof Bay, we all went our separate ways.

Our next stop was a relatively short distance north to Rowan Bay. There is a USFS dock here but it isn’t advertised as a public dock. We went and checked it out with our dinghy hoping for convenient shore access for walking the roads. As best, I can determine, it is more likely a work float or designed for float planes. The USFS has an extensive road system on Kuiu Island and they may stage some of their support activities from here. There were several trucks parked at the top of the dock. We did a short walk and found what we believe were moose droppings.

We then crossed Chatham Strait to Gut Bay where we dropped our prawn pots before anchoring. The catch the next morning was skimpy so we did not reset but instead headed back across Chatham Strait to Saginaw Bay. John Douglas had mentioned a trail that led from the anchorage at its end to connect with the Kuiu Island road system. This was a “new to us” anchorage and perfectly fine but a long ways back. When I had talked to John about the anchorage, I neglected to ask which stream fork led up to the trail and, of course, when presented with a choice, chose the wrong fork. Something for another visit.

A long day from Rowan got us to Pavlof Harbor on Chichagof Island and a shorter one the next day to Whitestone Harbor. We were positioning to go into Juneau but with a windy forecast, rather the moving to Funter Bay about 12 miles closer to Juneau than Whitestone, we elected to stay two nights in Whitestone. A very early start on Sunday, June 28 had us in Juneau before 10 AM.

Leg 3 – 13 Travel Days, 385.5 NM, 66.7 Engine Hours