Inside Passage Must See Spots

[20dauntless]

For those of you that have done all or part of the Inside Passage, what are your favorite spots and why do you like them so much? Anchorages, marinas, towns, attractions...they're all fair game.

I've got piles of charts and guidebooks and all the information is a bit daunting. There are so many places that sound fantastic that it's hard to figure out which ones to go to! Since many of you have cruised these waters before, it'd be great to hear what you liked and why so I (and others) can make good decisions about where to go.

Thanks!
Sam

[dotnmarty]

Sam- I can't help you with your question. I would, however, like to take this opportunity to recommend that Brats take a look at your blog. The photos are beautiful, as are your written descriptions of your adventures on Retriever. I for one will be following your posts and your upcoming trip up the inside passage.
http://samlandsman.blogspot.com/

[El and Bill]

Sam -

You might want to check out the following site in response to your question about the Inside Passage:

http://www.cruisingamerica-halcyondays.com/locations.htm

There are many tales (history, geology, and cruising sites) under the heading Inside Passage.

If you have questions, drop a line.

[El and Bill]

Oh, and another view of a cruise north up the Inside Passage - this one written by Grandson Bryce about the trip north - we think you'll enjoy his perspective.


http://www.cruisingamerica-halcyondays.com/four.htm

[thataway]

Ocean Falls, Baranof Warm Springs, Bishop Hot Springs, Pack Creek, (bear watching), Elfin cove, Red Bluff Bay, Fords Terror, Wangrell Narrows, Rocky pass (Keku Strait), Of course Glacier Bay. There are so many great places that it is difficult to see all of them in one trip--we took 5 trips--and still did not see all that we wanted to.

[jennykatz]

we put in a water pump and hooked it up to our 20 gallon tank we put a water faucet in the cockpit and use a hose and spray down our wheels and brakes and clean out engine when we trailer the boat . On the venture 23,26 and c-dory 25 and tomcat usually have water faucets in cockpit use the Kiss principle no need to carry extra tanks etc ,.

[centerisland]

Not a particular location, but I would recommend you find a copy of "Alaska Blues" by Joe Upton. It may be rather dated now, but I really enjoyed it 30 years ago when I took my trawler up to Juneau to live on.

[Hunkydory]

Like Bob said, the list is pretty much endless, but I do have some favorites. All of our cruising in the Inland Passage area has been above Prince Rupert & by far the most of that above Petersburg. I think the further you venture north the more wildlife & less people & boats you will encounter. If you venture off the main Inland Passage cruising routes of this area it will be even more so with the outer coast of Chichagof & Baranof Islands being the most remote, beautiful & wild of all. Of course the risk factors increase & have to be accepted the further you venture from the main routes.
I will provide a short list of my favorite towns & places to see but what is fantastic to me might not do much for you, so my advice is do what I did prior to all our cruises & that was spend many hours reading the cruising books such as the Douglass-Hemmingway, Exploring Southeast Alaska. I didn’t know about the C-Brats on our first few Alaska cruises so no information there for us, but with you I think the Grand Adventure Forum to be invaluable. Many cruises of the Inland Passage & Southeast Alaska are recorded there in detail in a 22 CD. I alone have written about the four of ours in 03, 04, 07 & 10. If you have already read them then great, but I would read them all again if your plans were mine.
Favorite larger towns & Marinas would include, Skagway, Haines, Auke Bay, near Juneau, Sitka, Wrangle & Petersburg. Small towns; Elfin Cove, Pelican, Tenekee Springs & Port Alexander.
My favorite of all cruising areas, are the area around Elfin Cove & Pelican including Dundas Bay, Lisianski Inlet & Strait & the outside water of Chicagof Island from Lisianski Strait to Khaz Head. The bays on the south end of Admiralty Island with Gambier Bay being foremost. The Inlets & Bays off the east coast of Baranof Island, Chatham Strait with Red Bluff Bay being foremost. Holkam Bay, which includes Tracy & Endicott Arms which in turn have North & South Sawyer & Endicott Glaciers & Fords Terror Inlet. Have seen more whales in Fredrick Sound & Icy Straight than anywhere else in Southeast Alaska. Heaviest bear concentrations near Pelican & Hoonah with the most at the head of the bays on the outside of Chicagof Island. There are many areas with the bears more active & numerous than Pack Creek & without the restrictions & having to pay to see.
We have never cruised Glacier Bay & I don’t plan to so in the future. Far to many restrictions on small cruising boats there for my taste, with tide water glaciers like those in Tracy Arm able to be accessed without the restrictions in equally beautiful settings & wildlife just as abundant or more so in many other areas.

Jay

[20dauntless]

Thanks for the info. I've got lots more reading to do now.

[Pat Anderson]

I wish I could help out here, my one regret from our 2006 Inside Passage cruise was that I had to make the trip up so quick (1 week), I did not get to stop at most of the "must see" places...next time I suppose. But if nobody has mentioned Misty Fjord National Monument yet, we spent a week there and could have spend longer.

[AJF]

If I was your age and doing the Inside Passage for the first time, I think I would be asking how much time do I need to see it properly. After 30 years of cruising the West Coast of BC. and SE Alaska I still find spots that are more interesting than the last spot; that I thought was at the top of the list. The cruising guides are great, but everyone uses them and the spots of note in them get visited probably more than they should and suffer for it from an enviromental stand point.
If it was my first trip I would take the necessary charts and the Coast Pilots for the area only, and then practise safe navigation and exploration of the areas and let your own mind decide what is interesting and worth the time to explore.

[El and Bill]

Sam -
and another suggestion, if you have time with all the reading and charts already suggested, is

http://www.cruisingamerica-halcyondays.com/cruisingak.htm

You might have seen this one, but it is an important one to read - not for the places to visit, necessarily (although you may want to read about Thomas Basin and Kushtakas) - but for a view concerning what it is like to cruise in Southeast. It is perhaps unique and the differences you will experience there can be both beautiful and threatening. They can be marvelous, awesome, and potentially hazardous. Forewarned is forearmed - ask Chris on Rana Verde about ... shhh ... kushtakas!

[NewMoon]

Here are some that come to mind as favorites, working sorta from south to north. Not a lot of WHY provided, but I'd be happy to discuss further.


Annette Inlet anchorage

Gabriola Narrows

Silva Bay

Dodd Narrows

Scenery and anchorages in Desolation Sound area

All the tidal rapids heading NW from Desolation Sound area

Chatham Channel

Lagoon Cove

Broughtons – Echo Bay, Sullivan Bay, many nice anchorages

Port McNeill

Port Hardy

Blunden Harbour anchorage

Nakwakto Rapids area – wait for near slack to transit, or anchor in Treadwell Bay and dinghy over to Tremble Island to watch the rapids from above

Rivers Inlet anchorages: Fury Island cove, Five Window cove

Evans Inlet - halibut

Shearwater and Bella Bella for provisions

Ocean Falls

Queens Sound area: 200 – 250 lb halibut caught here

Klemtu

Falls along Princess Royal Island

Hartley Bay

Lowe Inlet

Prince Rupert

Venn Passage

Foggy Bay - anchorage stop between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan

Meyers Chuck

Anan Creek - bear viewing

Snow Passage

Wrangell Narrows

Petersburg

Le Conte Bay - glacier and bergs

Tracy Arm – gorgeous fjord, North and South Sawyer glaciers

Taku Harbor

Auke Bay

Icy Strait – salmon and halibut fishing, whales

Neka Bay anchorage – great crabbing

Point Adolphus – whales, lots of sea life

Glacier Bay – Reid glacier and anchorage, Johns Hopkins glacier, Margerie glacier

Inian Islands – sea lions on the edge of Cross Sound

Elfin Cove

West coast of Chichagof and Yakobi Islands – out there, but the wildness and fishing are great

Salisbury Sound – salmon fishing

Sitka, including the National Historic Park with great trees and totems

Hoonah Sound (detour off the big turn in Peril Strait), esp anchorage at Half-Tide Neck.
Excellent crabbing and shrimping, pretty good halibut fishing

Along Chatham Strait: Red Bluff Bay, Warm Springs Bay, Pavlof Harbor, Tenakee Springs