2024 SE Alaska cruise with 13 year old granddaughter

Colby, I hope to do just that,

I hear you on the 7am, as I enjoy that sleeping in thing too, but I’ve found often with these flat bottomed boats up here you pay the earlier price or double when wind & tide gets you later. We are in Sitka now & for sure will be sleeping in tomarrow.

Jay
 
When I was up there we seemed to get lucky with the currents and the tides weren’t a problem with our routing. I hear you on the wind though! Enjoy Sitka. That was one of my favorite larger towns and spent extra days there as that’s where my boating buddies got repowered after their outboard was experiencing problems.
 
June 8, day 8 on the water. 47 miles today & 363 total

Woke up to a strong breeze, which had been blowing all night for Wrenny’s first night ever at anchor. Chichagof wilderness, quite a place for Wrenny to do that. She was concerned, but overall seemed to take it in stride. I was more concerned & apprehensive about the conditions going out Piehle passage & the open ocean stretch to Sitka. My last time through Piehle passage was by myself in 2022 in very poor conditions, resulting in a close call with rocks. Things looked a whole lot better, when we headed out through it today. Good visibility & a 4 foot, 9 second swell only roughed up somewhat with the 15 knot outgoing wind & ebb tide. With the wind coming on our port beam as we turned to head south, we did get a lot of spray from the chop & a couple good bounces, that got Wrenny’s attention.

We were able to get a good spot close to the harbor master office at the Sitka Marina & plan on some walks about the town. Wrenny & I both prefer the smaller Alaska isolated towns, but Sitka does have a lot to offer, especially on a first time here.
 
Hours spent today trying to upload photos & video here in Sitka, Alaska with 4 bars AT&T LTE internet with little success. frustrating!! Giving up & will try the library tomarrow
 
June 11, day 11 on the water 91 miles today & 454 total

After 2 days in the rain at Sitka, relaxing, walking, seeing the historical sites & getting some shopping done, we headed out today with the next couple weeks weather looking pretty good. Wrenny’s favorite part in Sitka was getting a Sitka Hoody, some collectible stickers & a good book from the Book Store, called “The Future”.

Today’s 91 miles at an average of 6.6 mph made for a long day, but having mostly following seas & light winds, made it enjoyable, except for a bit of a mishap with my suppose to be non spilling cup, soaking Wrenny in hot tea. The cruising area from Sitka to the East side of Baranof Island is not some of my favorite cruising here & why along with the good cruising weather, decided to make a long day of it, but the destination Tarkatz Bay & the whole east side of Baranof Island is one of my favorite places. Takatz Bay didn’t disappoint upon arriving this evening. A beautiful sunset over a snow capped peak with waterfalls all around and a bear in the meadow and actually other than the boat traffic on this main route, the days views including scenic vistas, another bear & numerous whales pretty darn good.

Wrenny’s thoughts

Do you hate getting hot tea getting spilled all over you? Grandpa dragged me out of bed at 6:00 and we left Sitka. I read my book most of the day, except when there was absolutely beautiful country that I will never get to see again (most likely). I was very cranky at grandpa last night when I discovered that he dog ears his book pages 😭. NO BOOK DESERVES THAT KIND OF DISRESPECT! Anyways, ignore my rant about grandpa disrespecting books and let’s get back to today. We were on pretty bouncy water today and grandpa put his “ un spillable cup” on the table and let’s just say I got soaked in hot tea. But, don’t worry he got a good ole lecture about how he also got my book soaking wet which is highly disrespectful. Yes I know it isn’t necessarily his fault, and don’t worry the book is fine we got it all dried but the pages will never be the same 😭 some of them are wrinkled. Just kidding, I don’t blame grandpa for any of that, just mindless banter. We got to an enormous waterfall and saw a couple whales around it and also a bear in that area as well. I came up with another book idea today, funny thing I have a note in my phone that has nine book ideas in it eight of which I came up with in Alaska. We are spending the night at Takatz bay and there was an enormous grizzly bear, that we got to watch. Today was great, can’t wait to see what’s tomorrow’s adventures bring.
 
Wrenny,

You'll look at that book years from now and remember exactly the time, place and circumstances surrounding what happened to it. That is really priceless, in my opinion. Did you realize that some of the best ideas and memories come from the times that we are not in our normal routine and daily schedules? I look forward to your Alaska Journal each time I see a new update. Keep them coming!

Jay,

Your way of providing safe adventure to your family is really one-in-a-million!
 
Sitka is my favorite as well (so far). I went there on a Princess Cruise ship among other stops. My first encounter to love that place is when an American Bald Eagle landed on the bow of the ship as we were beginning to debark.

Jay, maybe someday I’ll be able to take my own boat and stay longer than a day (ha). Just curious since I don’t have any cruising guides of the area, did you travel around the northern end of Baranof Island or cut through the middle somewhere to get to Tarkatz Bay?

Wrenny, your thoughts are superb and extremely interesting. You might even consider being a writer someday. You have the gift!
 
Patrick, we both appreciate the very positive comments
Steve, there is a channel between Chichagof & Baranof Islands 25 miles north of Sitka & that’s the route we take from Sitka to Tarkatz Bay.
 
June 12, day 12 on the water. 10 miles today 464 total.

Wonderful stay in beautiful Takatz Bay, but this morning in process of going forward to the bow to release the anchor rode off its securing cleat, I hit the inside of my knee. This knee has been bothering me for a couple months & I irritated it again, when doing water preparation at Skagway. It was just getting back to nearly pain free, then the hit this morning. Very painful to walk, so not getting to walk the trails, I wanted to show Wrenny. Instead a lot of soaking in the hot tubs, which I can alternate with very cold water on the knee. So far not much improvement, but I’m hopeful as it was getting much better before the bump.

I love all the remote SE Alaska areas, but over the years, Warm Springs Bay has become the place, I look forward to the most. It didn’t take Wrenny any time at all to come to the same conclusion. With my knee preventing much walking, we may limit our time here now & work our way down to Port Alexander via Red Bluff & Gut Bays, then stay here longer, when heading back north to eventually go around Southern Admiralty Island to see the tide water glaciers & Fords Terror.

I talked to the whale research people & found the unique experience, JoLee & I had with the whale, close around the dock in 2016 has become a fairly common occurrence every year here sometime in May. It would be worth spending all of May here just to experience it again.

Wrenny’s thoughts

Do hot tubs make you sick? Grandpa woke me up at 6:00 for what seemed, the billionth time. We putted along to Warm Springs Bay and let me tell you this place is awesome. Like literally, the place of my dreams, the people who live here are so lucky. They have free sulfur hot tubs with temperature control. I read most of the day again, once I got this amazing place embedded in my brain. But the first thing, I did was take in the place and my surroundings and then let my imagination run wild, I swear, I came up with so many ideas for my latest book idea. 💡 Grandpa didn’t spill tea on me again today which was good, because I didn’t get scolded by hot tea. On a not so good note grandpa hit his knee and now it is causing him pain again. Funny thing is that I never thought I would be out on the ocean in the borders of Alaska and have such an amazing adventure. As much as I would love to share all my ideas for books, that would take a very long time but hopefully I will be able to eventually, especially because most of them are set in Alaska but some are in Canada. 🇨🇦 Haha while I was writing this a raven landed on the front of the boat. Today was a great day and we are staying the night at what I’m pretty sure is my all time favorite place in Alaska (Warm Springs Bay) I have said that a lot on this trip but can you blame me, this place is so beautiful and amazing. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures bring.

June 13, day 13 on the water. Docked at warm springs bay

Some days, when you least expect it, turn out to be the more unique, this was one. JoLee & I have seen very few bears in Warm Springs Bay over the years & with knee hurting & not walking except for multiple trips to the hot spring tubs, none was expected today. Wrenny & I took a Kaboat ride out to the bay opening, where we could get quick internet service to check for weather forecast. On the way back at the head of one of the bays inlet, I found close to the water, a snow bank, that would be great to replenish the cooler ice. We made plans to return there at high tide & later on the Kaboat ride go up the narrow tidal opening across from the dock to a beautiful small lake. With the tide at high tide slack off we went, but as we approached where the snow was located, right by it, where I planned to beach the Kaboat was a large bear. The bear did leave, but Wrenny was definitely against going for the snow with a bear that close, so the snow for ice was a bust, but viewing the bear great. We then made our way up the tidal channel & just as we came out into the inner lake another bear close on the shore. By this time, 13 year old Wrenny was pretty much overwhelmed with bears & small rubber boats on the ocean. A wonderful experience to look back on but a bit much at present, as I think she was more than ready to enter back into the safety of the imaginary book world.

A 65 foot Fleming yacht docked right in front of us & in doing so, solved our low on ice situation. Upon telling the owner about our snow for ice run with the bear stopping it, he volunteered to make ice for us & also gave Wrenny his access code to the internet, though to late tonight for her contact parents.

Wrenny’s writing is short tonight as today’s events where perhaps a-bit to exciting.

Wrenny’s thoughts.

Okay I am finally dropping the questions at the beginning of my entries. I finally got to sleep in this morning which was great. I read most of the day, but around 1:30, we went in a ride in the little boat. We intended to go into a place where we saw snow and figured we could use it instead of ice. But there was a bear actually where we needed to go. So that was a bust, but later that night we went into a little narrow tidal inlet to inner lake and saw another bear. Sorry for being so brief tonight my fingers are hurting for some reason. But Warm Springs Bay is amazing and can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures have in store for us. 😁
 
Wrenny, you are well on your way to starting your books. Keep that dream alive and it will come true. It is adventures like this which will shape your life for many years. Savor each moment--Warm Springs bay was one of our favorites also.

The help from the folks on the Fleming 65 are an example of the way that boaters should interact. No matter the size of your boat, you help the others. You never know when a C Dory 22 might help out a much larger boat! Also you "Pay this debit forward". That is to help others during your life.
 
Bob, I love your advise to Wrenny & also how the boating world should & for the most part does help each other & especially like how this should carry over to how we conduct our whole life.

At present we have a short spurt of internet access, as we make way from Warm Spring Bay to Red Bluff Bay. I often think of you & Marie and your travels here & elsewhere as we cruise SE Alaska.

Jay
 
June 13 day 13 on the water. 27 miles today & 491 total.

Headed out of Warm Springs Bay in a misty rain to catch the ebb tide to Red Bluff bay, where the mist disappeared & the sun came out for the entrance to that beautiful majestic bay, showing it off for Wrenny, just like I hoped. To great us was a bear in the meadows of the inner bay. After anchoring in my favorite spot, Wrenny read while I did my normal normal chores of topping off the Wallas heater fuel container & transferring fuel from extra containers to the main tanks, then I took a nap to wait out the rising tide, so we could explore the large tidal zone & get a close look again at the huge water fall in the Kaboat. This time Wrenny was much more relaxed & really enjoyed the beauty of the spectacular mountains & waterfalls all around. In the Kaboat, we also again saw the bear from earlier, this time swim across a channel. We just made it back to the boat in time to beat the cloud of nats & also in time to watch a pair of eagles catching fish & a large bear work its way toward us along the shoreline eating sedge grass. We are the only boat here tonight & coming back to Red Bluff Bay, a favorite of mine, didn’t disappoint.

Wrenny’s thoughts

Grandpa woke me up around 6:45 and I was still cranky, which is strange to me because I wake up at 6:00 for school during the school year, I don’t know maybe because I am used to being able to sleep in during the summer. Grandpa teased me for that of course like he always does. 🙃 Today was slow and steady as we left Warm Springs Bay and headed to Red Bluff Bay. Let’s talk about that for a second my fingers were hurting really bad yesterday so I was not able to write about how much I love Warm Springs Bay it’s so majestic and just fantasy land. But anyways let’s get back to today, we saw the red rocks by the entrance to Red Bluff Bay and grandpa explained why the bays name is Red Bluff Bay. When we got into the bay grandpa has me stand in the bow and went real close to the waterfall and I got sprayed by the mist coming off. 💦 Granpa took me up beside the big cliffs next, and man do I feel microscopic compared to those cliffs. 🔬 We anchored and there was a bear in the meadows. Later we got in the little boat and went where we couldn’t go before because of the low tide. That scared me a little I was scared of the bear showing up again and coming to get me. 🐻 We got back to the boat and now we are watching another bear, ducks, and eagles. 🐻🦆🦅 This place is really nice and calming, it helps me clear my mind and I don’t even have to block out every noise around me because the only noises around me are calming noises well except grandpa banging and clanging around. 😂 Oh also don’t mind the emojis I went kinda crazy. Today was spectacular, can’t wait to what tomorrow’s adventures bring.
 
June 15, day 15 on the water. 50 miles today & 541 total

We left Red Bluff Bay & it’s bear on the meadow in time to catch the ebb tide going down Chatham Strait to the very tip of Baranof Island & the very unique & remote town of Port Alexander. Going out Red Bluff Bay with the tide into a west wind found us in a nasty tide rip, that had Wrenny wondering, what she was getting herself into, but I had done a good weather check & figured the wind would soon be coming from our stern & it did. About 12 miles from Port Alexander the wind changed & was coming strong out of the bays, but that was short lived, so overall a nice 50 mile slow speed run unlike in 2022, when a strong stern wind flipped my Kaboat with motor in the same stretch of water.

There is no place quite like the small isolated community of Port Alexander & I wanted Wrenny to see it. The friendly hard working people who are so self reliant & yet community helpful. The community center, called the bear den, a building never locked with a restroom, computers to use & WiFi available to all. Boardwalks to go about & friendly lodges & commercial fisherman. No stores, or eating establishments. Rare the tourist like us & even rarer, those from the yachting world. We have been here over the years enough, that many recognize me & are very open to friendly talks about their ongoing lives here. One of the lodge owners, shared with me that an extremely large bear had come through the town, last week & came through his yard not more than 30 feet from one of his boys on the porch. Wrenny was pretty big eyed about that & won’t go to the bear den community center without her bear spray. The long ride down the Baranof coast has been well worth the fuel & time to do. Tomorrow, we plan on retracing the route back up the Baranof Island coast to Gut Bay, then back for more soaking in the hot tubs at Warm Springs Bay.
 
We just got off the radio with Hunky Dory and should be meeting up with them at Red Bluff Bay within the hour. Bella Rey, out
 
Jay, one of the times we were at Port Alexander, a town inhabitant had been attacked by a bear. He was some distance from town, and had to relieve himself. He had put his rifle aside, and pants down. Thus he could not get to bear spray or a handgun. Everyone in town was open carry during that visit. That was the only bear attack we were aware of during our times in SE AK.

I suspect that "Doc" can fill you in on all of the current activity. Say "hi" to him and family if aboard.

Also the first to finish in the Race to Alaska finished this evening. (Sail and human powered boats racing from Victoria to Ketchikan.)
 
June 17, 17 days on the water 63 miles today 602 total

Left Port Alexander with both of us not really wanting to, knowing there is a good chance, neither of us will ever see this unique place again. At least the seas were calm for the most part & except for some short stretches, we made a comfortable ride up to Gut Bay & there after checking it out & thinking about the many memories, over the years with Jolee & I, our cruise with Brent & Dixie & in 2022 with Jody, Bill & Mike, we decided to go all the way to Warm Springs Bay, then as we were leaving Gut Bay, I got a call from Steve Torrence, a C-Brat, who has come to our aid here many times & is always a pleasure to spend time with even if we are not in need of his aid. Steve with his wife Colleen & friends on another boat were headed to Red Bluff Bay and after deciding to stop there too, we all arrived about the same time. Wrenny & I took the Kaboat to where they were anchored near by & we all had a good time swapping stories & Wrenny enjoying their dogs. From their boat we all watched a couple eagles & an otter near by & a bear further away. On our way back to our boat we saw another bear & her cub.

7 boats here tonight at anchor, when it was just us, a few days ago. The boat next to us is the Maximo, a large yacht, that has a 14 foot C-Dory, as it’s dingy. We first saw that combination here in 2007, when it also had a couple Mokai, motorized kayaks & we were towing one. We got to know the owner & met & talked to him several more times over the years, then JoLee & I, noticed in 2018 it had changed hands & was painted blue instead of green, but still had the C-Dory as its tender. Good to see it still does here tonight.

Wrenny’s thoughts
Grandpa said my name really loud this morning, to wake me up, it scared me pretty bad. We left Port Alexander this morning which was really depressing because it is such a magical place, and I probably will never go there again, but who knows maybe I will end up like grandpa traveling around multiple places in a boat, and if that does happen you better believe I will be reliving my journey of 2024. 🙃 I love everything about Port Alexander from how every street is a boardwalk to how they don’t lock anything up oh and how the surroundings remind me so much of fantasy that I had to make a mental note of every little detail. It is seriously a mix between jumping into a fantasy book and jumping back into the old days. 📜 Like almost all the other places we went I came up with a book idea based on the location, but back to today. We had a bit of a bumpy ride on the way to Warm Springs Bay, which reminds me, our original plan was to head all the way to Warm Springs today but we got a notification on the radio from some of grandma and grandpa’s friends from way back when. They said they were staying in Red Bluff Bay for the night and grandpa wanted to meet them so we hustled on down to Red Bluff and had a good visit with them, I was nervous at first of course, because of my introverted personality but eventually it got easier. 🙂 Most nights when we get settled in I sit down and clear my head, if I don’t have time when we get settled in I do it when I am laying in bed before I fall asleep. Even though I know that Alaska is part of the U.S it still feels like a foreign country to me. Alaska is majestic and magical and so much more and I am so happy and thankful that I have a grandpa who gave me this opportunity to have a once in a lifetime experience. Today was splendid can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures bring.
 
Bob, I have access to internet, but with us going into some nasty chop on our way this morning from Red Bluff Bay to Warm Springs I’ll make it short.

A few short year back a guy was killed near Port Alexander & more resently homes broken into by them, so the town is on a strong defensive measure with the bears.

In our chat with Doc Steve you were there with us too. They are headed to the south end of Admiraty Island today & still asleep, when we left.
 
The boat next to us is the Maximo, a large yacht, that has a 14 foot C-Dory, as it’s dingy.
Click to expand...

Jay, we saw Maximo when I was up there with Bill and Becky. Of course the first thing we saw was the 14' C-Dory. Talked to them a bit on the radio, and they offered us the latest weather from their satellite before we were out of range. Seemed like a real nice couple. And sounds like they spend a lot of time on the Inside Passage! Colby
 
June 18, 18 days on the water 25 miles today & 627 total

6 years ago, JoLee & I was here at Warm Springs Bay & her last time here. Missing her today even with Wrenny’s good Company. As far as today’s events, I can’t do any better than what Wrenny wrote below.

Wrenny’s thoughts

Grandpa woke me up with that obnoxious anchor this morning and I was not happy about it. We left Red Bluff Bay and skedaddled on down to Warm Springs Bay. It was a bit of a bumpy ride but it wasn’t too bad. We luckily got a place on the dock and with good timing because a whole lot of huge boats showed up right after us. We went up to shower or I guess in this case it is more of a bath or as grandpa calls it soaking in the hot tub. 🛁. When we got back to the boat grandpa went to go get ice or in this case it is technically snow. And before you start grumbling how I didn’t go with him he said I didn’t have to go, because of how scared I was of the bear last time, but don’t worry the bear wasn’t there this time or that’s what grandpa tells me, so don’t let your mind go to that dark cranky place just calm down. 🙃 When grandpa got back to the boat we ate dinner and something funny happened, well at least I thought it was funny. Grandpa put the lighter down and it was stuck on, so let’s just say it was not a happy day for our water filter a Brita pitcher. When grandpa was patching up the hole he was grumbling an awful lot 🤨 So I decided to lighten the mood by saying. “Well it could have been worse, it could have lit your pants on fire.” 😱 I was also trying to be optimistic because if you think about it, it could have been much much worse, I mean it could have burnt the boat down. 🤯 I’m not as huge of a fan of hot tubs as grandpa because they make me feel nauseous. I think one of the reasons I love this place so much is because I feel so free, I mean I can walk up to the bathroom whenever I want, because you hardly see another person, but I still take my bear spray ,because you know you can never be to careful *winks cutely* 😉 Warm Springs Bay is definitely one of the most magical places I have been to in Alaska so far. Today was amazing memories and can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures have in store for us. 😏
 
June 19, 19 days on the water, no miles today

With my knee finally up to walking, we walked the trails to the outside hot spring & Baranof lake with Wrenny entranced the whole way. The beauty & grandeur of the trails are still there, but my bum knee makes the going a very humbling experience, as even at my advanced age getting around rough ground has always come easy, now it’s slow & tedious with the fear of making a wrong move & taking out the knee completely, high on my mind. Wrenny loved the trails, but what really made her day was going back to the base of the waterfall on the rocks in the mist at low tide.

We had a couple totally unrelated interesting occurrences today. A mega yacht anchored by the lodge and while Wrenny & I were sitting enjoying the beauty of the outer hot spring with the cascading river by it, in came a guy from the mega yacht with an entourage of young bikini clad girls with heavy foreign accents possibly from the mid east. I passed close by this Mega yacht earlier in the day, while on the Kaboat & now, I wished, I would have taken a photo of it.

Next, as I was waiting at the hot tub area a guy comes up who’s now also waiting for a hot tub room to open. He starts talking & tells me he’s a pilot who earlier in the day landed at Baranof Lake & was meeting a friend or relative who came in one of the mini cruisers anchored in the Bay. He then tells me about the group of small boat cruisers, whose boats were tied at the dock and talked to him right after he landed his plane 2 years ago, well that group was Jody, Bill, Mike & I on our our group cruise in 2022. He was quite surprised to find out I was one of that group & remembered him & his plane. I know the rest of the guys would too.

Wrenny’s thoughts,

Well I must say I was super happy this morning because I actually got to sleep in. There is not much today because we were staying at Warm Springs Bay but there is still enough that I can make you all laugh, or maybe cry with all my mushy stuff, I guess it really depends on how easy you get all choked up. On one note, there are so many people here like…so…many…people *epic eye roll* 🙄. And before you say I am being selfish don’t forget most of them are snobby rich people, but some of them are very kind, those are the people I don’t get annoyed with. Most of them keep to themselves, which is definitely not a bad thing, and one of them has a very cute dog but it yaps all day long, and before you ask it is a big dog but it still yaps. 😂 We stayed at the boat until about noon then when it was warm enough we went and walked a trail to an inner lake. That lake was so pretty, I was being attacked by bugs, but oh well. After we left the lake we went to the hot springs we didn’t soak of course, that is way too hot for me. 🥵 I’m pretty sure that I gave grandpa a heart attack when I monkeyed across the rocks. Funny thing, some girls and one guy with very strong accents showed up while we were there. We came back down to the boat did a lot of chilling and then went up to the rocks by the waterfall, that was AWESOME. 😎 Everything in this place is fantasy and majestic and I am all for it. Warm Springs Bay is a great way to relax, calm my nerves, and mentally prepare for what’s next. It is also nice being able to relax and just take a break. 🧘‍♀️ Sorry I didn’t write more but unless you want to hear the enormous and complicated plot of my book ,I said everything we did today. The adventure we had today made my grandpa and I lots of good memories for us to share, after all not every kid has the chance to bond with their grandpa on a trip to Alaska, and I know for certain that not many kids my age have the bond with their grandpa that I do, I am very thankful that I have a grandpa who wants to bond and spend time with me in this way. The memories and adventures we have shared over the years are one of a kind and must be cherished to their full extent. ❤️ Okay, I’m supposed to be making you laugh but I hope that some of you like the mushy stuff as well. *smirks* 😏 Today was fantastic can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures bring. :beer
 
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