Hoonah – Riveted

Gustavus, Flynn Cove, Hoonah

Laura Domela — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 18:19:47 +0000

Tiffani and Deke’s flight (referred to locally as “The Jet”) arrived in Gustavus on time and they were at the city dock via TLC Taxi in no time!

We took off for Flynn Cove, across Icy Strait, to meet up with Sam on Safe Harbour.

In the first hour of Alaska for Tiffani and Deke, we saw giant steller sea lions flinging salmon around, many rafts of otters, and a whole bunch of humpbacks…tail slapping, fin slapping, and a few full breaches. I guess that’ll do!

Beautiful out on Icy Strait:

Flynn Cove, with just one other boat:

We rafted with Safe Harbour in Flynn Cove and had dinner together, and in the morning we headed for Hoonah where we were not really counting on our scheduled flightseeing trip to Glacier Bay to happen due to the less than ideal weather, and we were correct. They called at 10am and said they had to cancel. We arrived in Hoonah and took a walk out to Icy Strait Point for lunch and some touristing, then to Hoonah Trading Co. for some groceries. We showered and napped and worked a little back at our boats, and then walked down to Icy Strait Brewing that evening to grab a beer and some dinner from the Thai food truck next door (Srisa…so good!)

View from the deck:

Yesterday in Hoonah, Sam had us over to Safe Harbour for breakfast (delicious waffles!!) and then we did a little last minute gathering of a few more groceries at what we call the “Tiny Expensive Costco” … I can’t remember the name of the place (Colleen’s Cupboard maybe?) but it’s basically a Costco resale store. Great when you need it, but you pay about double the Costco price. Considering they’ve got to get all that stuff up here from Juneau, it seems pretty fair.

Oh yeah, we were able to get a last minute permit for Glacier Bay (for both boats!) for the 27th, so that’s what we’re doing next. We stayed in Sawmill Bay in Excursion Inlet again last night since we had a day to kill. We fished on the way in and caught a nice big coho, so we had grilled salmon, risotto, and asparagus for dinner last night. Crab traps had two big Dungies in ‘em this morning, so we’ll probably have some crab leg appetizers tonight, and maybe salmon tacos.

One black bear in Sawmill Bay:

We are now headed for Bartlett Cove and into Glacier Bay National Park for a few days. The weather isn’t great, but maybe things will improve a bit once we’re further into the park.

Hoonah to Excursion Inlet

Laura Domela — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 00:39:44 +0000

The weather was supposed to pick up in Icy Strait on Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday, and since we needed to be in Gustavus to pick up Tiffani and Deke on Saturday, we figured it’d be a good idea to be nearer than Hoonah, so we left on Friday morning and headed for Excursion Inlet, just east of Gustavus.

Calm in Hoonah harbor:

No cruise ships here during our visit (which might explain why the brewery was closed):

See you in a couple days, Hoonah!

We saw some splashing in the distance as we made our way across Icy Strait…there were a few humpbacks over by the Porpoise Islands doing a whole lot of breaching and fin slapping, so we headed their way and watched them for a bit before going on into Excursion Inlet.

The east arm of Excursion Inlet is not part of Glacier Bay National Park, but the west arm is, so on the right side you’ll see houses dotting the shore, a seafood processing plant, and a gathering of buildings up from the public dock that was a prisoner of war encampment during WWII, but now houses a store and a small museum.

We continued up the left arm toward a little cove called Sawmill Bay. There were two humpbacks making their way along the shore (taking advantage of the large schools of tiny fish we could see on sonar, I assume) and we had to wait for them to finish up in our cove before we could anchor. We anchored in about 60 feet. Gorgeous here!

Sam on Safe Harbour met up with us a few hours later and once it stopped raining we went exploring in Sam’s (fast) dinghy.

Tons of jellies in here:

Cannery remains (I think) in the east arm:

Cabin on the shore:

We tied up to the public dock, which looked quite a bit better from Airship as we passed it from a distance than it does up close.

The little store (Coho General Mercantile) has a surprising selection of goods! The Cannery Museum appeared to be closed:

Our friends Tiffani and Deke were scheduled to come into Gustavus last night, but their flight into Seattle was too late to catch the connection, so they stayed in Seattle last night and are booked on the flight into Gustavus today. We just stayed another night in Sawmill Bay and had a nice time cooking dinner with Sam. We rafted to each other this time…eliminating the wet rainy dinghy rides to and fro.

View from Airship this morning:

The route from Hoonah to Sawmill Bay in Excursion Inlet (25.4 miles, 4 hours 47 minutes):

We’re in Gustavus now, tied up to the public dock waiting for “the jet” (as the locals call it). The guy working the dock here was super friendly and told me that the few taxis in town are usually booked ahead of time for when “the jet” comes in. We still had a few hours before “the jet” arrived, so I was able to call and reserve “the cab.” Whew!!

We’ll get T&D and then head across Icy Strait this evening to meet back up with Sam in Flynn Cove. We’ve got a Glacier Bay flightseeing trip scheduled for tomorrow at 11:30 out of Hoonah, so we’ll be in Hoonah tomorrow for that, as well as some provisioning (and maybe some touristing out at Icy Strait Point).

Posting might be less regular for the next couple weeks, but I’ll take tons of photos (of course) and catch up when there’s time.

Happy Sunday!

Dundas Bay and Flynn Cove, AK

Laura Domela — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:54:38 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Pelican yesterday morning around 7:30am and headed toward Dundas Bay in Glacier Bay National Park. It was sprinkling a little bit, but the sky was clearing and we had a nice view of Brady Glacier underneath a cloud layer as we entered Cross Sound.

Cross Sound was literally swell-less…just a very slight chop. We made our way into Dundas Bay, an unrestricted part of Glacier Bay National Park that you don’t need a permit for. Since Glacier Bay National Park is about the size of Connecticut (well, most things are up here in Alaska) we decided to save it for another trip, since it's likely we won't have internet in there for a week or so, and we've already asked a lot of our team in the way covering for us while we explore all these remote areas with no internet). We headed for what was recommended as the best anchorage in Dundas Bay, the most NW arm with a view of Brady Glacier:

Yep, I think this’ll do.

Here's our track from Pelican to the Dundas Bay anchorage (36.2 nautical miles):

We took a dinghy excursion around to the mouth of the bay and saw tons of otters, sea lions, and lots of wood, but no bears.

More photos from the dinghy excursion around the bay:

The otters are so comic!

Oops. Sorry to interrupt, guys!

This one used the other one's head to "step up on" to get up higher for a better view. So rude!

Heading back toward Airship (teeny, teeny tiny white dot you probably can't see):

Later in the evening the clouds cleared again and gave us a nice view (as opposed to that earlier, crappier view):

We made dinner (a couple tenderloins and a salad) and watched a movie (Birdman) and got to bed again on the early side.

This morning the skies were blue as we left our anchorage in Dundas Bay, but there was a bit of fog once we got out of the bay. We took turns taking showers and manning the helm as we motored along and once out in Icy Strait the waters were calm and the skies and seas gorgeous silvers and grays:

Clearing to blue skies (and nothing was done to this photo…this is exactly how it looked in real life):

Jellyfish (also no color enhancement at all):

We anchored for a few hours and fished for halibut, but didn't get any into the boat. We had two hits, but lost them on the way up. We've read more about how to reel in halibut now so maybe next time!

We headed toward Adolphus Point (the place where we saw all the bubble-net feeding humpbacks):

Nearing the point we saw a feisty orca:

And then a few more humpbacks (more of those "too close" humpbacks):

This one had a little notch in his hump. Awwww.

We decided to anchor for the night in Flynn Cove instead of going to Hoonah.

Approaching Flynn Cove:

We have enough provisions (veggies, is really what we're talking about here) to last us another night or two so we thought this cove would be fun (since we already spent two nights in Hoonah) before heading into Juneau to refuel and re-provision. We trolled on our way into Flynn Cove and caught a nice coho salmon (27 inches, 7 lbs) just before our anchorage. Woohoo, dinner!

View from Airship:

Dinner was a(nother) risotto with peas and parmesan topped with a grilled coho fillet (two hours, line to dinner plate!). It was delicious!

Today's track (37 nautical miles). Dundas Bay (L) with Brady Glacier, to Flynn Cove on Chicagof Island (R):

Tomorrow: more fishing!

Hoonah, Elfin Cove, and Bubble Net Feeding Humpbacks

Laura Domela — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 21:26:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Before we left Hoonah this morning, we went up to Chipper Fish and had breakfast. A local recommended it to us, and specifically, she recommended that we try the “Right On” which was biscuits, covered with mega tots (tater tots kicked up with bacon and green onion), covered with sausage gravy, and topped with a fried egg. We ordered half an order to split, and it was STILL too much. But it was darn good. (One-quarter serving shown in photo below.)

Our cappuccinos came with a nice message, too:

We got back to Airship and waved goodbye to Hoonah (and the internet sucking cruise ship anchored out by the cannery. Seriously, each morning we had great internet until the cruise ship came in, then basically no internet again until the cruise ship left.)

The seas in Icy Strait were relatively smooth and we were cruising along happily when we heard someone talking on the radio about humpbacks bubble net feeding at Pt. Adolphus. We were not far from Pt. Adolphus and could see boats over there, so I upped our RPM to 3200 and we headed for the point. I watched with the binocs and could see the action from afar…super exciting!! Bubble net feeding is something we were really hoping to see while we were up here, and today we spent about two hours watching it.

Bubble net feeding is a cooperative way of feeding where the whales dive down and form a circle, exhaling to create a cylinder of bubbles to trap the fish. The whales then rise up through the circle of bubbles with their mouths wide open catching thousands of fish on the way up, emerging at the surface like a bunch of gigantic baby birds. It’s dramatic and incredible to watch! Here are some photos:

We spent two hours hanging out near Pt. Adolphus with a few other boats coming and going, and then eventually headed on our way toward Elfin Cove. Once while I was sitting out on the bow with my camera, we were just drifting and waiting for the next group of mouths to pop up somewhere, and a humpback came very close to the boat as I watched it pass by. Kevin leaned out and said something like “So, there’s a whale 10 feet from the boat and doesn’t even rate a photo anymore??” Ooops.

This boat got a good view of this one:

We saw quite a few porpoises today, too. Also, otters:

Kevin put a couple lines in the water and fished for about an hour but didn’t catch anything, but we did come upon another feeding humpback (just one this time):

It was off and on cloudy, sunny, rainy today, and made for some beautiful skies:

As we got closer to North Inian Pass at the Inian Islands, we started getting some smooth ocean swells coming in from the Gulf and Cross Sound. We went through Middle Pass and Mosquito Pass…super scenic! And tons of sea lions on ALL of the rocks:

We heard the small cruise ship Wilderness Explorer telling the AK State Ferry that was heading west through South Inian Pass that there was a pod of orcas near Dad Rock, and we happened to be really close to Dad Rock, so guess what? We finally saw Orcas in Alaska:

The passengers on the ferry got a good view as well:

Near South Inian Pass:

Arriving in Elfin Cove:

The outer public float at Elfin Cove was filled (and boats were rafted three deep…there were maybe only 9 boats…it’s a small float) so we headed into the inner harbor to try our luck. To get to the inner harbor, you go through a narrow, shallow channel. You can kinda see the corner of it here…heading around the boardwalk and then turning to the left.

This is the far end of the inner harbor (where apparently the locals don’t like you to anchor unless the docks are completely full, and really not even then):

We found a spot on one of the floats and asked the local guys working on the boat behind us if it was okay for us to tie up there (they said it was). I’m pretty sure the inner harbor is a “locals only” operation most of the time. I read one review on Active Captain from a cruiser who said they came from Hoonah to Elfin Cove and there was no room for them, so they made the 5 hour trek back to Hoonah.

It’s a little hard to navigate where to go in Elfin Cove because the harbor (in the summer) is super busy with fishing boats and locals and there’s no harbormaster to tell you what you can and can’t do, and there are no signs. But all was cool. We walked up to wander around the boardwalk village and ended up grabbing a beer and some pizza at the only restaurant in town (Coho Bar & Grill). The whole village is connected by boardwalks heading every which way, so we explored a bit more after dinner.

Arriving in Elfin Cove feels like being dropped into a place that was never meant for you. It’s adorable and quirky, but really feels like it exists in a little bubble. The people we’ve run into are nice but a little distant…not at all like that “please, spend money here, we need it” feeling you get in the more tourist-welcoming towns. (They do have a gift shop though, and it’s open until 9pm, so there’s that bit of contradiction.)

Looking toward the inner harbor floats from the boardwalk:

Photos from around ‘town” (which has about 50 residents in the winter):

Not much data or cell service inside the cove here, so we’ll probably do the online part of our work on the way to Pelican tomorrow.

Juneau to Hoonah

Laura Domela — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:35:57 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left Juneau on Saturday morning. Our original thought was to fish a bit and anchor for the night in Oliver Inlet at the north end of Admiralty Island (not a very far cruise). However, we didn't really research it thoroughly until Saturday morning and learned (too late) that this anchorage is one that must be entered at high slack tide only, which was at 8:43am (half an hour from when we read that) or 8:50pm (a little late to be getting into an anchorage so nearby). So we opted to fish a bit longer and then anchor in Admiralty Cove for the night (on our way to Hoonah). We trolled for salmon and managed to get four Cohos onto the boat (we lost two before we got them close enough to net).

They were about 25, 26, 27, and 28 inches, respectively. This was the biggest one:

We also managed to hook a small halibut, too! Bonus fish!

We anchored easily in Admiralty Cove for the night. As soon as we were set, we got to work filleting and cleaning the fish. I wanted try try filleting a salmon, so I started with the smallest one and worked my way up to the big guy. Turns out I'm a really good fish filleter! We got out the vacuum sealer and portioned the fish out into ~1lb portions, and not counting what we ate for dinner last night, we've got 16 pounds of fresh Coho in the freezer (and a couple pounds of halibut). We set aside one of the salmon bellies and had a little sashimi appetizer, and also separated the roe and put it into a brine to make some Ikura (Japanese caviar). This is the brine/caviar recipe we used, thanks to Kerri for the recommendation!

I made some more risotto to go with our salmon and we had a delicious (but late) dinner. I already took a photo of the salmon/risotto dish before, but if you missed it, here's a link to the recipe.

Admiralty Cove as the sun was setting:

Here's yesterday's track…about 30 nautical miles (including trolling):

At the bottom of this map shot, you can see where we ventured in close to the entrance to Oliver Inlet (at low tide). We got a good look at the narrow (shallow) entrance, and the many rocks that bared at low tide (kinda nice to see how it all looked, actually). According to the math, even at low tide yesterday we would have had 8 feet (our boat's draft is 3ft 8in) but it looked a little tricky and we decided it'd be much nicer to have a bit more water under us. Another time.

This morning we were up early and decided to head toward Hoonah. Our route today would take us up into the bottom of Lynn Canal, then into Icy Strait to Hoonah. Today's track (about 51.5 nautical miles):

We saw a bunch of humpbacks on the way but they weren't very close so we only deviated a short bit to watch them. A guy on the radio said he'd seen a triple breach, but when we saw them they were just hanging near the surface…nothing too exciting. (I know, I sound all "Yawn, more humpbacks" don't I? Sorry!)

The seas picked up a bit in Lynn Canal as we neared Icy Strait, but the waves were mostly on the bow, so not too dramatic.

We called Sherrie (the Hoonah harbormaster) on the radio and she told us there was plenty of space on the transient dock and to come on in.

Hoonah is the principal village for the Tlingit who originally settled Glacier Bay, Icy Strait, Cross Sound, and the Outer Coast. The four original Tlingit clans present are: Chookaneidi, T'aakdeintaan, Wooshkeetaan, and Kaagwaantaan. Numerous other clans migrated to or married into the community, as have non-native peoples. The population in Hoonah is around 750, but in the summer can swell to around 1300 depending on fishing, boating, hiking, and hunting conditions.

Passing the cannery on the way into the harbor:

Hoonah Packing Company ("HPC") built in 1912 was one of eight canneries operating in the area during the early twentieth century, representing Hoonah's major industry at the time. HPC was sold several times until coming to be owned by Wards Cove Packing which also owned Hoonah Trading.

The cemetery on Pitt Island…with both crosses and totems:

Hoonah Harbor:

Here's the marina, looking back toward Airship as we head up to the office (we're in the group of boats on the right side of the waterway, furthest one, facing out):

Sherrie, the harbormaster, gave us a little map and a ton of good tips. The Carver's Den, for instance, (also known as The Huna Tribal House Carving Project) is where carvers are currently working on the house poles, screens and totems that will adorn the Tribal House being constructed in Glacier Bay National Monument. You can go in and watch the carvers and chat with them and ask questions and stuff. They open tomorrow morning at 9am, but also, the cruise ships arrive tomorrow at 9am, so Sherrie recommended we get there right at 9am to have a non cruise ship experience.

We walked around town a bit and then down to Hoonah Trading Company. This is Hoonah Trading as we passed it coming in:

It's the hardware store, grocery store, everything store. We checked out the hardware store first. We had a short list (Loctite threadlocker, some scissors, a few downrigger parts…don't ask), and we found everything we needed (and things we wanted but hadn't found yet): all the parts we needed for the downrigger except a new weight that we'll get at the marine store tomorrow, some grill wipes, a second muffin tin, and a cool portable Eva-Dry dehumidifier for the bedroom (the E-500). This one doesn't plug in to work like our current one, but instead it's filled with bead things that absorb water. When it's "full" the beads change color to signal to you that it's time to plug it in to renew/recharge it. The beads release their water with the plug in heat (I think) and you're ready to go again. Apparently it can work this way for 10 years.

Anyway, the hardware part of Hoonah Trading was fabulous. Oh yeah, and when you walk in, you enter through this long long outdoor-ish hallway of stuff that starts as the parking lot and ends at the water. Pretty cool:

The grocery store of Hoonah Trading Co. is equally well-stocked and we found everything on our short list there as well.

Antlers on the mast of a fish boat:

And you really don't find signs like this in too many places:

We're staying in Hoonah for two nights. The cannery and cannery museum are open tomorrow (as well as the surrounding gift shops…oh hi cruise shippers!), as well as the Carver's Den and the marine store. We plan to do some exploring!