April 21, Again up at 5 am to leave Auke Bay for Hoonah. Small craft warnings for Point Retreat & that area with the tide against the wind can get ugly, so just a bit apprehensive. We had to slow way down & still tested out the new windshield with some green water up & over it, but us & the boat handled it well & as soon as we headed south from around the point we slooshed along quite comfortably. The water turned completely smooth upon making the turn from Chatham Strait to Icy Strait & stayed that way the rest of the run to Hoonah. Immediately after arriving in Hoonah we took on 68 gal of fuel & stopped at the Trading Post for some drinking water & minor food supplies. Quite amazing, gas $3.05 & water $6.25 per gallon. Needless to say we didn't buy much water.
After settling in at the Hoonah Marina transient dock, Jo-Lee noticed a diesel sheen over the supplies under the Wallas heater/cooker & upon further inspection found the fuel pump was slowly leaking heating oil onto the blower blades & hot exhaust line, which solved our previous thinking, that we might have an exhaust leak from the noticed occasional smell. We cleaned up the mess & with it being to late to order from Seattle a new pump today will have to delay our departure in the morning to Glacier Bay until it's on the way here.
In the past we have always been able to get internet through AT&T on the IPad here, but not so far this year, so no posting of photos or updates for now. At least the phone works, so we can order the pump in the morning.
Dixie, the water still can't be adjusted here in the women's shower.
Day three, 47 miles & 133 total.
April 22, up in time to make order for fuel pump at 8am. It's being shipped to the Marina here in Hoonah & should be here upon our return from Glacier Bay. It's a good thing we have the Honda Generator & ceramic heater along with the little Buddy Propane Heater for back up.
Left Hoonah & we were pleased to be greeted by glass smooth waters on Icy Strait, so we had a very comfortable run to Bartlett Bay, the Glacier Bay Park Headquaters. Even though it's off season for Glacier Bay & permits are not required for entry, I've heard they are very touchy about proper procedures, so tried to call them on the VHF radio before crossing the boundary. No answer & upon arrival we found only one person to talk to & she was in a office with the door marked closed. She did inform us there was nothing we had to do before continuing on, just be careful as they weren't monitoring radios, patrolling or doing weather reports until May. This all sounded wonderful to me. It appears our trip into this area will be much like our other more remote Southeast Alaska travels with few restrictions & our own judgment to see us through. Blue Sky's & warm weather with snow levels half way up the mountains, unlike our last April here in 2012, when it was deep snow right down to the waters edge.
I'm writing this from a little nook on the north edge of Fingers Bay, where we are anchored for the night, which is about 20 miles into Glacier Bay. We took a short nap after anchoring & we awoke to a huge black bear on the shore, followed shortly after by a wolf. The next 2 hours until dark we enjoyed sitting here watching the bear & then another wolf came by, which was digging around the low tide areas for sea goodies to eat. The bear is huge & fat not looking at all like it just came out of hibernation, while the wolves looked lean. This Glacier Bay experience is sure starting out wonderful & our chancy decision to come up here again in April has thus far been a good one, well making up for our window & Wallas troubles.
Day 4, 52 miles & 185 total
April 23. A hard rain fell all night & we awoke this morning to it still pattering off the boat's roof. I jury rigged the Wallas heater, so it now can be safely run with the leaking fuel caught in a container, so we now have good dry heat in this wilderness & with this mornings fog & rain it's a welcome relief.
We spent the day exploring off the main routes & it's amazing to go from the main Glacier Bay water just a short distance & have the snow levels drop from a thousand or more feet up the mountain sides to deep snow right down to the high tide level. Many of the inlets we are exploring, like Hugh Miller Inlet today are designated wilderness with restriction to motorized craft in the regular season, by being here this early, we will be seeing places few get to see any more. Many sea lions & otters today, but only one bear & no whales. We're now anchored in Blue Mouse Cove, one of the most beautiful of all the anchorages in Glacier Bay with a fantastic 360 degree view of the tidal zones with the grassy meadows & new leafing out trees & bushes, which beyond rise up the smaller mountains, backed by the huge rugged snow covered peaks.
Day 5, 57 miles & 242 total.
April 24. Much dodging of ice burgs & burgy bits (the burgy bits make for good long lasting ice chest ice) today as we make our way to the very head of Glacier Bay to see John Hopkins, Grand Pacific & Marjorie Glaciers. A touch of sunshine early in the morning & glass smooth seas gave way to a south wind & the accompanying waves as we returned back down the main bay this afternoon. Instead of fighting them we stopped much short of our planned route for the day & instead anchored in Reid Glacier Inlet in a small nook off it's main channel. Between John Hopkins & Marjorie Glacier's we were well entertained by well over a hundred sea lions in groups both off & on shore. Even without disturbing them, they make a continual roar of noise & much movement.
We haven't seen another boat or person since leaving the Park Headquarters three days ago. Tomarrow we are heading for John Muir Inlet, another very large area that has many areas restricted to boats.
It's amazing to me that most of the very deep 65 mile long present Glacier Bay just 300 years ago was a lush valley with a Tlinglit Indian Village located there until something set the ice off on a very fast advance, which moved all the way down & about half way across present Icy Strait gouging out the deep channels of today. Then almost as fast, around 1750 it started a retreat of over 65 miles back to the north, where at the head the glaciers are still retreating. Unknown is when again they will advance, but as this advancing & retreating process has been going on for ages, it's a safe bet that in a short geological time span they will again be on the move south. Personally, I prefer the present direction of movement & so too the Tlinglit Indian tribe, that had to leave their village there on the last advance & now makes Hoonah their home.
Day 6, 58 miles today & 300 total.
April 25. We pulled the anchor & left our snow & ice surroundings of Reid's Inlet & Glacier for Muir & Adams Inlet at 6am. To great us at Tlinglit Point, which separates the man Glacier Bay Channel & Muir Inlet was large groupings of a hundred or more (I quit counting at a hundred) sea otters & just in from them a huge male grizzly on the beach. A great start to another wonderful day in Glacier Bay.
From Tlinglit Point we headed up & into normally restricted Adams Inlet. Adams Inlet with its it's very narrow winding channels with fast moving tidal water gave us a good pre trial test for the up coming Yukon River run in June. One channel going around an island where we had planned to go & the chart indicated 44 feet of water at zero tide was completely blocked & filled in with glacier silt. In the other channels the rock areas were accurately marked, but the glacier silt had the channels totally different than indicated on the charts. It was a fantastically beautiful area & a fun challenge to navigate to see.
Tonight is our last anchorage in Glacier Bay & here in North Sandy Cove, where we just dropped the hook for the night it's every bit the equal of Blue Mouse Cove, that I described two days ago & perfect for our last night here. What a contrast is this anchorage to Reid's Inlet where we were totally surrounded by snow & ice down to the water line.
Today was our last day of projected weather forecast, so though we hope to continue on in the morning to Hoonah, we need to have the VHF radio report before reaching Icy Strait.
Day 7, 96 miles & 396 total
April 26. As we left our anchorage we were greeted by the highest ends & waves since arriving here in Glacier Bay & at the junction of Icy Strait the 4 mph tide against the wind made for extra rough water. We were able to pick up the weather forecast for Icy Strait just as we entered it & the forecast was for 20 knots southeast right into the bow, so we headed for Gustavus, which was about 7 miles. Their tiny dock was unprotected, so made for a secondary floating dock just across the channel on Pleasant Island, but it too was poor, so we put the cushions down on the floor for Jo-Lee to lay on & made the run to Hoonah. It was a bouncy ride, but with the winds not as bad as forecast creating only three foot seas on the bow it turned out well.
Back to Hoonah & stopped for fuel & picked up 68 gallons, so with the Glacier Bay cruise to & from Hoonah being 325 miles, we averaged 4.7 mpg. The only boat we saw on the water in the 6 days we were gone from Hoonah was a fishing boat just before leaving Glacier Bay.
The fuel pump was waiting here at the marina on on our arrival back & I will install it tomarrow. The price for the little 2 inch by 2 inch electric pump was $247 plus shipping, which was adding insult to injury.
The Internet is now working here in Hoonah with a AT&T server, but all my photos are on the new IPad Pro & it uses Verizon, so I can post, but not upload photos on the older IPad 11 with it's AT&T internet connection.
Day 8, 62 miles & 458 total.
