Taku Harbor Marine Park 06.21.2013

The wind blew from the north all night as the weather service indicated so the icebergs stayed away from the bay in Tracy Arm Cove we chose to anchor in.

We motored up Stephens Passage to arrive at Taku Harbor Marine Park.  This marine park is a short 17 miles north of Tracy Arm Cove and 20 miles south of Juneau.  The weather today was perfect, sunny, warm, and no wind (sorry sailors).  Because we are still in iceberg country we have to keep a constant lookout for the hazards; some are easy to spot, like in the picture below, others are clear and more ominous.

 

After that encounter Ron came up with this idea to spend the afternoon on the deck of Contessa together - that meant towing Second Chance.  My first reaction was “why tow a perfectly good boat?” however I could see Ron’s point.  Rigging up a harness we attached one of our 50 foot lines and spent a lovely couple of hours motoring north. 

 

 

Arriving at Taku Harbor Marine Park slightly ahead of Contessa we tied up to the state float off the eastern shore of the harbors entrance.

 

Taku Harbor was once the site of a Hudson’s Bay trading post and in the 1900s was a commercial cannery which is now in decay.  You can see the remains of piers, bunkhouses and old commercial canning equipment.  Bears have been known to visit the docks if you leave food out at night as they fish for salmon in the stream north of the old cannery.

 

 

 

 

 

Since we arrived in the early afternoon, the guys were able to try their luck with a crab pot (no luck this time).

 

 

And we were able to visit neighboring boats on the dock. 

 

 

The weather was perfect for Bruce to BBQ some salmon, while Lynn & I used the camp stove to cook the rest of our dinner outside.