Glacier Bay or Bust

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Huge news — our engine works!!!

After picking up our new starter motor from the Bella Bella airport, Lane and I spent almost an entire day removing the old one and installing the new one. We finally understood what our mechanic meant when he said our boat’s engine access is “below average.” It took me over two hours just to loosen the two bolts holding the starter in place — I couldn’t even see them, let alone reach them. But we stuck with it, and when we were finally done, we were rewarded with the sweet, sweet sound of our engine running. A sound we hadn’t heard in five days, and one we wouldn’t stop hearing for the next six (spoiler alert).

With the boat back to full strength, we turned our attention to an old goal we’d all but given up on: making it to Glacier Bay in time for our permits. Amy was flying into Gustavus in just six days — and despite our warnings, hadn’t canceled her flight. We were still 540 nautical miles away, which meant we’d have to cover about 100 miles per day if we were going to make it. At our cruising speed of 7 knots, that was at least 14 hours of travel per day. It was a long shot, but we decided to go for it.

And so our journey north resumed by motoring up the sheltered Tolmie Channel, stopping for the night in Butedale, and continuing through the narrow Grenville Channel toward Prince Rupert near the Canadian border. In 200 miles of cruising, we saw just one other boat. According to our guidebook, only about 500 pleasure vessels visit Southeast Alaska each year, which makes sense since we hadn’t seen another sailboat since Johnstone Strait. We spent the night in a very protected cove on Dundas Island before sailing through the Dixon Entrance the next day and entering the USA. 

We stopped for fuel in Ketchikan, where we were greeted by a pod of playful Orcas. The Orca sighting was a sign of things to come as that evening we sailed out of Ketchikan in absolutely prime sailing conditions, full main and gennaker flying. It was one of those magic moments that reminds us why we’re out here. We made our way into Clarence Strait at 8.5 knots, and as the sun set over the mountains all around us we stopped in Tolstoi Bay on Prince of Wales Island for the night. Best day yet.

Over the next three days we motored up Clarence Strait, through Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg, then around the tip of Admiralty Island into Chatham Strait, up into Icy Strait, and finally into Gustavus. Amy spotted us on the water from her plane, and we arrived at the ferry dock just five minutes before she did. After six days of pushing hard, we had made it right on time. Now it was finally time to rest and enjoy the sights of Glacier Bay.

After anchoring near Pleasant Island for the night, the next day we made our way to park orientation. Every private vessel entering Glacier Bay National Park has to undergo a thirty minute orientation on the park rules. While the orientation itself was unremarkable, outside of the visitor center there was a full skeleton of a humpback whale on display. It was so large that at first we thought it was a dinosaur. After some discussion, we all agreed that whales basically are living dinosaurs. This was a great precursor to the many whales we were going to see over the next few days.

After a quick refuel in Bartlett Cove, we motored our way 30 miles up into the park while marveling at the increasingly dramatic mountain views and the abundance of sea otters lounging about, enjoying the sunny day. Upon arrival in Blue Mouse Cove, we pumped up the paddleboards and set off to explore the non-motorized waters of Hugh Miller Inlet. Surrounded by too many otters and seals to count, we enjoyed the unbelievable weather and serenity of being the only people for miles around. The day was capped off with a sighting of two humpback whales feeding just off the point where we were paddling – absolutely unreal. We returned to the boat where Amy made chicken shawarma for dinner, with homemade pita courtesy of Lane. As we reflected on the day’s success and how grateful we were to finally be here, we couldn’t help but wonder—how were we going to top this tomorrow?

The following day, we set our sights on making it to the far north end of the park, Tarr Inlet, to see our first tidewater glacier: Margerie. We successfully navigated a pretty compact field of icebergs thanks to our bow watch Amy who resorted to fending off bergs with a boat hook. Upon arrival, we enjoyed lunch on the bow with the thunderous sounds of the glacier calving and the ensuing ice chunks falling into the water. Afterward, we deployed the mobile unit to get some pics of Discovery in front of the glacier. This photoshoot was a huge success:

After making our way back out of Tarr Inlet and staying the night off of Russell Island, the next day we made the 5 mile sail over to Reid Glacier. This is another tidewater glacier, and while not quite as spectacular as Margerie, it is more accessible by land. So we dinghied over and enjoyed wine and charcuterie on the glacier. We anchored for the night in Reid Inlet and awoke the next morning all alone, with our own private view of the glacier.

As it was our second to last day in the park, we decided to make our way 25 miles back toward the entrance to cover some ground. We stayed our last night in Shag Cove, a beautiful anchorage in a U-shaped alpine valley bordered by Marble Mountain – a 3,300 foot granite face that goes right down to the water. Lane and Amy set the crab pot and tried their hand at fishing but had little luck.

On the final day of our permits, we motored the remaining 25 miles to the park entrance and radioed Bartlett Cove to let them know we were exiting the park. Shortly after, we spotted a humpback in the distance slapping its fin on the water. This was very intriguing as it was the first time we had seen this behavior. As we got closer, the spectacle culminated with the whale leaping right out of the water. Our first breach sighting! Something we didn’t expect to see and the perfect way to end our time in Glacier Bay.

After Glacier Bay we made our way to Hoonah, a small town on Chichagof Island. Our first taste of civilization in over a week, we enjoyed eating at the restaurant and decided to hit up the local bar. Even though it wasn’t raining, we donned our Xtratuf fishing boots to try to distinguish ourselves from the cruise ship tourists. We dinghied over to the only bar we could find on Google Maps, and after a couple beers we met some locals who filled us in on where the “real” locals bar was. The boots worked!

After a couple days in Hoonah it was time for Amy to head back to Seattle. We dropped her at the ferry dock and said our goodbyes. Lane and I are now starting the 150 mile journey south to the town of Sitka.

It’s amazing how fast we can move with a working engine! Our time in Glacier Bay was a real reward for the troubles we faced early on and the boat now seems to have regressed to the mean of only less-consequential things breaking (somehow every time I’m in the shower the water pressure stops, but it always works perfectly for Lane).

More to come!