NORTHERN EXPOSURES!
June to September 2006
Pacific Halibut and Chips, Fresh Wild Salmon, and who can forget the Northern Cold Water Oysters!
‘The Last Frontier’, and it lives up to its name as I found out over the summer months whilst cruising with the owner, and family.
Beating head long into a large swell off the coast of California, a westerly heading to try and make it around the never-ending low pressure systems coming from the polar caps. At this rate we were going to be in Japan some time mid way through next week, but the swell eased with the wind and the forecasts were correct, a more northerly course was set.
Nine days from San Diego to the base of the Kenai Peninsula. Clear skies greeted the morning, which began with a 3am daybreak. Amazing views of Mt. Augustine smoking away on the starboard side to the west, the Katmai National park in all the glory as we passed over the smooth seas into the infamous ‘Cook Inlet’. The tide wasn’t favorable to get into the marina in ‘Homer’, so a spot of Halibut fishing was on the cards to kill an hour or two. Not much more than 5minutes had the lines reached the muddy bottom a rather large flat fish had the hook in its mouth. Lunchtime was looking very tasty!
Homer is as far as u can go south from Anchorage, “A small drinking town with a large fishing problem” (its on the bumper sticker). A mildly touristy area, with an enormous amount of charter boats and seaside activities to peruse in the summer.
The day light hours were very long with only a small bit of darkness each morning. It made you not really want to sleep much; the local ‘Salty Dawg Saloon’ was a good place to escape the light for a few hours anyway.
The Alaskan adventure wouldn’t be complete without a little local knowledge, and shown how to catch some Kenai Red Salmon the proper way, a Gillnet. A good friend of the captain took some of the crew way from the yacht to a fishing shack up the peninsula. The basics were there, and the mosquito’s were out in force too. Sockeye on the BBQ and cold Alaskan beer, an unbeatable mix! Unfortunately engine trouble forced us to be land based, but it was a great adventure away from the daily routines aboard the yacht, and nice to see parts of the land which its rare to see when u are working on the water so often.
The journey began with a few short stays at the area around the Kashemak Bay. A beautiful and rare blue-sky day greeted some of our guests. The plan was to hike to a glacier lake, which was amazing in the sunshine. Spending the night tied up to a public dock at a small recluse village, full of artists and lovers of the time well spent close to nature. Pushing off and through the night to the western edge of the volcanic Katmai National Park. Arriving in the misty conditions so well known to this area, a narrow passage to negotiate before the anchor was weighed. The presence of bears had been slim so far on the trip; this was all about to change. ‘Bear, Bear’ was the yell from our young guests. Firing up the tender and all aboard for a closer look. To see such a massive, powerful animal up close is impressive. Luckily the shoreline dropped off quite sharply and allowed me to get the tender within 20 feet of this grizzly character, the thing was… he wasn’t the least bit worried.
We cruised the magical Geographic Bay, and neighboring inlets for the next couple of days. Plenty more bears to view, and the odd halibut taking the line for a run. At times I would just take a step back and think I’m in Alaska, its just such an incredible place, such contrasts from mountains to the low lying islands on the coast line, just amazing!
Winding the halyard to the top of the mast, bring on the sheet, and the kite is set in the Shelikof Strait, next stop Kodiak Island. A gorgeous day, light winds and the haze of the national park in the distance. The 7-knot tidal stream through Whale Passage was a little hairy as the ‘liquid sunshine’; so known to Kodiak came down. There is a small town there, friendly people, a rough local beer named after the weather, but nice to visit and have a small look around.
Another overnight passage, heading northeast to the lower end of the Kenai Peninsula. I was awoken after my early morning watch to the sound of ice scraping down the waterline. It wasn’t far to the face of the first tidewater glacier! In your ears you could hear the rumbling and cracking of Ice grinding away in the distance. An amazing sight to behold, when you are a quarter of a mile away! Then when a rather large section calves off into the freezing cold water, and sends up spray that’s higher that the mast, closely followed by a wave of a few feet which rolls down the bay. The smoothed rock formations on each side of the Arm tower above you, and the bleeding rusty patches show from years of abuse by the retreating glacier. The young guests madly braved the icy conditions for a quick summer dip, or more of a jump in and springboard back out again, the temperature, a mere 38F (3C)!
The trip continued with some humpback whale action, not far from our next stop, the city of Seward. Yet another picture perfect day to tie up to. Placed at the northern end of Resurrection Bay, Seward is where the Alaskan railroad begins its trip up into the northern exposures. The beginning of the ‘Ididarod’ dog sled race, started by the need to get medical supplies to the out lying areas of Alaska some 938 miles away. Seward turned out to be a very cool little place with a touch of older-style Alaska in its foundations.
Our first load of guests stepped off with a feeling of seeing some things many will never have the opportunity to see, and visiting some definite out of the way places, I think the crew enjoyed it too. The owner arrived a few days later, with enough time to provision, clean up and get ready for another 3 weeks of cruising.
Part of the first half of the journey, was back to south of Seward to revisit the glaciers and an amazing 300foot high water fall. The gods smiled on us and the blue-sky backdrop made for some awesome photographs. The captain found a shallow patch in front of glacier and asked if we would like to stay there for the night. The scene was set, with still lots of daylight hours, and plenty of warm clothing, most of the crew sat up on deck and watched nature unfold in massive chunks of ice. The sound of ice scrapping down the hull was a little unsettling at first as I tried to fall asleep.
‘Prince William Sound’ was the next leg, a reasonable long day traveling into a beautiful little bay in the south western corner, which had a river full of pink salmon, and black bears chasing them. A few of us went ashore for a closer look. Very cool to see how easily these bears can catch the salmon and score a quick snack. We left them alone after a few photos and retreated back to Timoneer.
The vastness of Prince William Sound never stopped to intrigue me; we covered many miles, and anchored in numerous different bays. Set the shrimp pots on occasions and collected a few some days. Traveled into a small town called ‘Wittier’, I knew some thing was strange about this place when I saw a local girl of no more that 10, sporting a “POW” hooded sweatshirt. I later found out that it meant ‘Prisoner of Wittier’. The town originated from a world war two submarine base, then it was only accessible by the water, and its location was tucked up in the head of a big valley, with mountains on each sides. The thought was that the enemy radar couldn’t see in, and the usually unpleasant weather would help also. Interestingly enough, 80% of the resident lived in the re-furbished army barracks, the poster on the wall explained it all, ‘Suicide hurts others Too!’ There is an escape route now via the new tunnel, no longer a prisoner of Wittier, if you choose to be.
Launching the tender (or skiff as we called it up here), into the ice for our Rick Tomlinson impersonation. Framing the yacht with the harsh glacier light wasn’t to easy; some great photos did come out but after a lot of effort. On the way to the town of Valdez, the sharp turn to port took us and the owner up to one of the largest glaciers in Prince William Sound. The ice flow was too thick for such a big boat, and some of the icebergs were the size of a 4-bedroom house. Some more photos, in the warm of the not often seen sun, it does rain a lot up here! We tied stern to an old wharf and had a chance to check out the town for the evening. Valdez is where in 1989, 11million gallons of Alaskan north slope crude oil spilled out of the tanker which ran up on to the rocks on its way out of the sound. The evidence that a massive oil spill had happened up here is almost unnoticeable now after the widespread disaster of then. It was on the cards to go and have a drink at the bar where the captain had his infamous scotch on the rocks, before he put the ship up there too. Lots of characters, and the gold rush can-can girls made the evening very entertaining in Valdez.
To most fisherpersons in Alaska, it is normal to head out and drop a few lines in and hope to catch a salmon or 2. We took the record though, 147-foot ketch with 3 salmon lines off the aft deck, the most comfortable ride out there and we caught some fish too. It wasn’t all fishing at 2 knots though, the miles kept ticking over each day; the plan was to start heading to the southeastern part of Alaska, but not quite yet. Traveling down many straights and passages named after Captain Cook’s crew and seeing the bay where one of his artists drew the square rigger careened for the repairs to her hull after coming off second best to some of Prince William Sounds sharpest opponents. They must have been a hardy bunch back then, and to navigate though waters like this. You can’t see the bottom, and some days you just can’t see anything at all!
Surviving another harbor entry with the tender in front taking sounding, we docked in 17 feet of water at Cordova, a pretty little town on the southeastern part of the sound. The sun turned up again, along with a huge family of sea otters, they are likely to take the cutest Alaska animal award, voted by the chef of course.
In the cold-water wake off the stern a pod of Dall Dolphins played about, it was as if they were saying good bye as we turned, and set sail southwards. Prince William Sound to me is one of the most beautiful untouched parts of the planet. Millions of acres of untouched forest, pods of Orcas chasing the herring schools, and the understanding from the people of here to leave it as u found it, and to protect the resources that were created for all to enjoy.
Watching the radar as the rain fell and the visibility decreased, on a course for Yacutat, the home of the ‘Icy Waves Surf Shop’. I brought the T. shirt, and peer pressured into a surf in the near freezing conditions, it has to be done though, but only once I can tell you
The Icy Straits were a welcome relief from the Gulf of Alaska. With increasing wind and bitter cold outside, we were all grateful for the inside helm position, and a warm cup of tea. The southeast parts of Alaska was to home for the next few weeks, it is an area cruised by quite a few yachts over the summer months and a lot of tourist activities available. We spent some time around the areas outside from Juneau, before docking and letting the owner off to head home and enjoy the summer elsewhere. With the owner gone it was a good time to do a little exploring around Alaska’s capital. If you are a lover of the outdoors and not to scared of the rain, there are some great hikes to be had in the many hills and glaciers. And even if you aren’t into the long distance walks, just step out of your car walk no more than 100 feet and u can be looking at a mother black bear and her cubs fishing for sockeye salmon, a very well thought out setup. Juneau itself is geared towards the tourist, with the streets lined with jewelry stores and souvenirs. But if you are away from the front section of the city, away from the cruise ship docks, you will find a pleasant little cove of fun bars and restaurants for the picking. The local beer is so good; I made a special trip to the brewery, free tasting might have been the reason though!
It was time to move on again, we had been to the famous ‘Glacier Bay’. I can’t honestly say I have seen it, the clouds were out in force there, but I'm very sure it would be a picture perfect place on its given day. My father had arrived from New Zealand for the delivery down to San Francisco. He had never been out of the south pacific so it was a big trip ahead. We had few weeks to make it down the coast and time to explore the southeastern areas to Ketchikan. In 1995 the old Timoneer traveled extensively around these part, and reading up on the old logbook and the scribbles on the chart, I devised a plan. You couldn’t have asked for a better trip, it had it all. Up Tracy Arm to see the calving glaciers, watching a pod of humpback whales bubble feeding on plankton, and finally a good tail photo! Relaxing in the hot pools in Warm Springs Bay, a cold beer in hand, and a roaring waterfall now more than 10 feet away. Just when u think it couldn’t get any better, it does. Casting to thousand of silver salmon in a bay outside of a hatchery, you couldn’t really miss, but such a good fight on the fly rod. Setting the crab pots each day, and getting a few as well. Retreating into a small bay after seeing 45knots across the deck, the small streams at the end of this long arm had a run of pink salmon that were at the tail of there life and returning down stream exhausted, and ready to replenish the waters of the southeast.
Sunshine over came the gray as we sailed into Ketchikan, another small Alaskan town with a character all of its own. The journey though the ‘Last Frontier’ had come to an end, and San Francisco awaits. It has been amazing though, with land that seemed to stretch on forever and a beauty all to its own. With the countless friendly people along the way, it might just give you a very good reason to call Alaska your home.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Enjoy yourself and keep smiling,
Take care, and hope to hear from you soon,
Love Bevan