Juneau, Alaska 06.22.2013

It was not very far to our next stop – JUNEAU!!  Now we feel like we have finally made it to Alaska!

This is the view of downtown Juneau as we motor up Gastineau Channel.

 

 

 

The city of Juneau sits along a narrow strip of land – mountains on one side, Gastineau Channel on the other.  Juneau is the State capital and half of it’s population of 29,000 work for the state government, the remaining population mostly work in the fishing industry or tourist trade.

In order to get to the marinas in Juneau you have to cross under the Douglas Bridge which has a minimum height of 50 feet.  The mast on Contessa is 54 feet – so Ron & Lynn had to anchor out in the harbor until low tide @ 1900 hrs so that Contessa could fit under the bridge! LOL!

 

 

Second Chance had no trouble getting under the bridge. 

 

We are tucked away in Aurora Marina way deep on G Dock, Slip 1.  This marina is quite a way from the Harbormasters Office and very far from town.  Looks like we’ll be getting A LOT of walking in while we’re here!

 

We have decided to stop here under mid next week so that we can visit the town and also get some chores and work done while we have good internet access (vs. satellite connection). 

Now we will decide if we will take the high speed ferry up to Skagway or if we will chance north Lynn Canal and travel to Skagway by boat. 

 

We’ll keep you posted!

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.

 

 

Tracy Arm Cove 06.20.2013

We traveled north on Frederick Sound until meeting Stephens Passage.  In Stephens Passage we had to keep a lookout for debris in the water – not the normal debris of logs & deadheads but ICEBERGS!  You would think that you were coming up to a boat ahead in the water and it would turn out to be an iceberg or growler.  Most of the growlers were either white or blue in color but you had to really look for the ones that were clear.  They are like ice cubes in the water and very dangerous to the hull of our wood boat!  Its times like these that I wish we had kept the ice sheeting made of ironbark wood wrapped around the hull of Second Chance at the waterline!!

 

At Holkham Bay we turned north again up Tracy Arm where there we are two major sized glaciers; Dawes Glacier south on Endicott Arm and both North & South Sawyer Glaciers at the end of Tracy Arm. 

 

As we entered Holkham Bay at the head of Endicott & Tracy Arms there were several large icebergs at the entrance to Tracy Arm Cove.  We maneuvered around the icebergs and into the cove hopeful that tomorrow morning we will still be able to leave the cove without the icebergs closing us in! 

 

We found a great anchorage in Tracy Arm Cove at the head of the bay looking over a marsh bar through to the mountains on the other side.  Because there is a fresh water river that runs into the bay there were black/horse flies and again we are so glad to have our screens!

 

During the motoring today we fired up the crock pot for the second time on this trip and made Moroccan Lamb Stew.  We’ve been smelling those spices all day and can’t wait for dinner! 

Meeting up with Contessa in the bay, and once we were securely anchored for the evening, we all piled into Ron’s dinghy for a trip out to see the icebergs close up.

 
At the icebergs we found a small clear chunk of ice floating in the water.  So Bruce reached out and picked it up and put it in the dinghy for cocktail ice and ice for our cooler.  A small chunk filled up about a third of the dinghy! LOL!

 

Once back at the boats we grabbed the crock pot and headed over to Contessa for dinner and a movie. 

 

What a memorable afternoon and evening!

Petersburg to Read Island Cove, Farragut Bay 06.19.2013

Here is a view of some of the fish boats leaving Petersburg when we left

 

A short 21 miles north was our next stop for the day at Read Island, which is just inside the entrance on the E side of Farragut Bay.  We anchored in the third cove north on Read Island for the best protection from any weather that may stir up. 

This bay is supposed to be good for salmon fishing so Bruce & Ron took the dinghy out to try their luck. Low and behold, they got lucky and Bruce caught the first salmon of the trip!!  A barely legal 28” 12-13 lbs.  Black Mouth King.

 

 

This salmon will feed the 4 of us for a good 3 meals!  It was prepared into four steaks and two nice size filets.

Petersburg, AK Sunday 06.16.2013

This morning at 4:30 AM we woke up to the sound of eagles.  I have been trying to get some nice pictures of the eagles and when Bruce saw them sitting on top of the workboat masts behind us he came to get me.  I sat on the back deck and waited for the perfect shots…. 

The day was spent with chores and preparing to spend several days at anchor.

Late in the afternoon the guys heard on the dock that an old derelict boat was going to be hoisted onto a barge in Scow Bay and taken away so we all got on Second Chance and decided to take a ride out there to watch.

We left Contessa back at the dock in between several large fish boats

 

 

 What it really turned out to be was a logging tug getting loaded onto a barge to move up to Juneau for a job.  It was still pretty cool to watch.

 

You can see Bruce talking to the tug boat operator asking where the best fishing holes are!