Skagway

Partly cloudy, 44, winds out of the south at 15 knots.

We’re in Skagway! New territory, yay! Got here 3:30PM.

The week spent in Auke Bay was OK. Made several bus trips in the course of hunting down parts and restocking the larder and liquor cabinet. It’s an interesting experience to ride the bus packing six bags of groceries. Also tried Chans Thai Kitchen here in Auke Bay on Susanna’s recommendation. It was good.

I had been admiring a large steel cutter tied up interposed between Blue Note and the beach on my excursions ashore. What caught my eye were the many large Lexan port lights in the tumblehome, that portion of the freeboard above the widest point of the hull and below the deck. It made for a strong hull with a big view from the different cabins on board. The owner showed up mid week and I learned she’s Scandinavian, 54 feet and hard chined. I had noticed her mast was slightly taller than Blue Note’s so I was surprised to find out her owner had taken her under the Juneau-Douglas Bridge. He did it right before slack low water on a 0’ tide. He was able to fuel her and get back under on the same tide. He had people on the bridge checking clearances and it was apparently close. The Coast Pilot reports 51 feet of clearance but doesn’t specify where on the arch or the tidal reference. Google produced a document specifying heights at different navigation lights at 0’ (MLLW). Turns out Blue Note can pass under the highest portion of the arch on any tide lower than plus 5 feet, good information to have.

We got away from the fuel dock a little after noon on April 2, flaunting fate by leaving on a Friday. The winds in Auke Bay were light and variable and the sun was out. My intention was to overnight in Echo Cove about 39 miles north and then travel on to Haines the next day. But after several hours of slogging upwind in 20 knots and 4 foot seas, it was evident Echo Cove was unreachable before dark. Since we were less than 2 miles from Tee Harbor I decided to put in there.

Tee Harbor is less than 20 miles on the highway north of Juneau. Back in the early 80’s I and a couple of friends took a skiff from the south arm of Tee Harbor over to see a parcel one of them had just purchased on Shelter Island across Favorite Passage. Even then there were a lot of houses ringing the harbor. So I wasn’t surprised when we rounded the north entrance point to find not only houses completely around the anchorage but also mooring balls everywhere. Not exactly the place to take a leak over the side. Fortunately no boats were at their mooring balls so all I had to do was anchor without fouling the moorings.

The anchor was in its chock by 8AM and we were motoring up Lynn Canal under overcast skies and calm winds, Haines 55 miles away. Abeam Berners Bay we began to get a breeze forward of the beam so up went the main. From then on we had wind mostly favorable all the way to Haines. The sun made periodic appearances trading time with the clouds. At one point we had a complete rainbow during a snow squall. The highlight of the trip came about 5 miles south of Eldred Rock. The sound of a blow caused me to turn around in time to see the tall black dorsal fin of an orca slide under not more than 100 feet off the starboard quarter. A quick scan revealed another smaller orca a couple of hundred yards to port. They were traveling a little slower than we were so they were in sight for quite awhile. I don’t think I’ve seen orcas more than a half a dozen times so this was quite a treat, perhaps cancelling the bad juju of leaving port on Friday.

We got into Haines about 5:30. After getting the boat and Jazz squared away I walked up to the Lighthouse Restaurant/Harbor Bar, had a couple of beers and dinner and watched Duke trounce West Virginia.

The next morning, Easter, Jazz and I made a circuit of downtown. I had been here before, February 1981. I had come in on the ferry from Petersburg, spent the night then drove to Tok on my way to Valdez. I could recognize nothing from that trip so it was like new territory. Of course nothing was open and no one was out.

When we got back to the boat I began the process of deciding whether to go or stay: plotting a track line to the destination, checking the reported weather and forecast, checking the tide. The trip to Skagway was 14 miles, reported winds for both Haines and Skagway was S at 15 knots, and the tide was favorable at 1:30PM. Also the sun was out. I decided to go.

It was a good call. What a beautiful trip, waterfalls and hanging glaciers with a favorable tide and following winds. In fact the conditions were almost too good. I needed to charge the batteries therefore requiring the motor. Even at the lowest rpm setting to get maximum alternator output plus the pull from the genoa we were making better than 6 knots.

So here we are in Skagway. Jazz and I just got back from a stroll through downtown. Like Haines, deserted. I’ll find out in the morning what’s open from the harbormaster. And also see about getting an internet connection.

The pics are of the orcas, Eldred Rock, Haines Boat Harbor, Taiya Inlet and the Le Conte, and downtown Skagway.

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