Author: Jamie Czetwertynski

I am writing this post because a) it was an interesting experience for us and b) in case any other ignorant boaters are googling the area, maybe they will happen to come upon this post. I was at the helm on route to Sitka and entered a place with a lot of whirlpools all around us…uh oh. As we learned with Hole in the Wall, these whirlpools are not usually a friendly welcome. They may look like calm, swirly pools, but they can throw our boat around. Paul took over (I decided to let him to make him feel good…haha) and we teased our way through, rocking side to side, until we came upon a narrow channel. Paul called down that he didn’t think we could do this, and I came back up to the pilot house to see rapids rushing out of the channel and one of the channel buoys knocked on its side. Nope; I don’t think we can. We start googling the channel – this caught us completely unaware. I could not find anything about the dangerous currents/tides and it being an area that had to be timed to the current (not the tide in this circumstance; the current turns at a different time than the tide, so the current must be timed). We decided that we had no choice but to wait for the current to changet at 3:19p.m. Paul didn’t think that we could anchor; it was too deep and the current was too strong. Luckily, because it was a channel, one of the buoys had a current reading on it and we could look at the tide and current in the channel. Indeed, it was reading about 7.5 knots when we got there; way too strong for our boat to navigate through. Around 3:10, the current slowed to 1.5 knots, and we successfully made it through, to find several other boats on the other side waiting to navigate through as well; apparently some people knew about it!

We made it to Sitka around 7p.m. and rushed to get ready to go to dinner (Mike and Christine kindly offered to treat us to dinner, and I was tired of cooking!) We found a small, cute restaurant and my black cod tips were delicious. We then hit up the Mean Queen for some delicious drinks and crawled back to the boat close to midnight. We had to say goodbye to Mike and Christine the next day, so we went all went to the WildFlour Cafe and Bakery for an amazing sandwich (the avocado toast was scrumptious!) before they hailed a cab to the airport, and I found a scavenger hunt of Sitka for our family. While the scavenger hunt did not lead us from one place to the next, it offered points and trivia questions for various destinations around Sitka. We visited the Russian Bishop’s House – a free museum that gave great information about the Russian occupation of Alaska; we took a lot of silly pictures for points; we visited a fun playground (that was not part of the hunt but was a fun playground); we did a totem walk at Sitka National Historical Park; and probably everyone’s favorite, we visited the Sound Science Center, which offered an incredible touch tank and an extremely interesting tour of the salmon hatchery. We were pretty dead after all the walking and found a great place to get burgers and local beers before heading back to the boat.

I was immediately sold when Paul’s sister Sophie recommended visiting Baranof Springs; natural hot springs in this state of perpetual cold?! It sounded amazing. The kids and I have been trying to figure out where we can fit a small hot tub on the SeaXII, but a natural hot spring, right next to a waterfall? Always a better option. We pulled into an adorable “town” with approximately 15 total houses and a gushing waterfall and realized that we would not be able to use the town dock, so we anchored out and lowered the Fournado (our davitt/crane has been a little irritable lately, but thankfully it was working. After being stuck up for more than four hours after Dawes Glacier, Paul called Doctor Philbrooks.

We walked approximately 1/4 mile up to the hot springs, located next the water fall. The water was hot and it took a while to ease into it. The pools were natural, filled with a lot of slippery,slimy algae. There were two large hot spring pools and if you walked to a small pool by the waterfall, you could experience the polar plunge part of the experience – brrr! We ate a picnic lunch and then walked further up to Lake Baranof – so pretty!

Cold pool!

Andrew and Mike were twinning in their pink flamingo trunks – flamigos forever!

Walking back to the dock, we decided to check out the bath house with three rooms, each with a deep tub with piped in hot water from the springs. The sulphur smell was pretty strong, but it was clean water, perfect for boaters with limited water supply or no showers on their boats. Kathryn, Andrew and I tried the baths out before getting back on the boat and then drained, cleaned and refilled the tubs as requested.

Clean and ready to voyage to Sitka!

After departing Juneau, we headed to Fords Terror. Fords Terror was high on Paul’s list on a place he wanted to visit, an obstacle he wanted to conquer. Fords Terror is in Tracy’s Arm, where we visited in early July; however, due to the rainy forecast and tightened schedule because of Paul’s medical “situation” (he loves to tell everyone about it; don’t ask unless you want to hear all the details…), we decided to wait to go to Fords Terror on our way back south.

Fords Terror is a shallow and narrow inlet that has a tidal rapid that can reach speeds up to 12 knots (we go 8 knots at best without current pushing against us; odds are not in our favor). Fords Terror was named after a naval sailor who paddled his dinghy into the inlet in 1899 (at what we now know was slack tide) and was unable to exit the inlet for 6 “terrifying” hours until the next slack tide. Timing is essential. We had to time our entrance and exit to high water slack tide to make it through. As there is no real-time way to monitor the day-to-day tides, we relied on the closest tidal station in Juneau and added 15min to 1 hour (not very exact when the slack tide lasted only 30 minutes). On our way in, it was cloudy and overcast; not the best visibility. Paul did great, and while the boat still rocked side-to-side and we could appreciate the skill required to navigate the inlet, we made it through with a gold star. We boated to the end of inlet, surrounded by majestic granite walls and beautiful waterfalls and dropped the anchor. Despite it being a great place to see bears, we did not get to see any (Claire keeps reminding me, “no hugging the teddy bears!”).

The next morning, Paul called out his coworker and our guest, Mike, to Mike’s assertion that he was going to water ski. I volunteered to take pictures; too cold for me. However, the peer pressure was too great and after Mike (who hasn’t skied in 10 years and couldn’t remember what foot he skied in front) couldn’t get up, I said I would try skiing on our next go-round in the afternoon. The counter pressure worked, and we both made it up our first try!

Our polar ski club:

While waiting for slack tide at 4pm, I also got in a long kayak ride and we tied Kathryn’s aerial silks to the boom for a beautiful performance.

Andrew couldn’t be outdone and decided to take the polar plunge, no wetsuit needed!

We packed up to head to the entrance of the inlet to wait for slack tide. We kept watching the rushing water and icebergs rapidly coming out of the inlet; nerves bustling. Finally, about 30 minutes after Juneau slack tide, the water looked to be slowing down, and we headed in. Maybe a bit too early. Paul put the boat into gear with a look of determination to conquer the narrow inlet. We were doing great, until we were pushed hard by the current. Paul tried to compensate but then we were pushed by the current on the other side. The boat listed 20 degrees, sending drinks and bottles flying. Paul had a terrifying flash picture in his mind of slamming into the rocks on the side (we weren’t that close, thankfully), but the boat righted and we were able to forge on and make through successfully. He earned his diet Dr. Pepper and oreos:)

We went back and forth whether or not we wanted to take the time to go 30 miles (15 miles each way) out of the way to visit Dawes Glacier, but knowing it would probably be our last glacier and wanting Mike and Christine to see a glacier, we decided to go. It was worth it. The glacier was beautiful! It is hard to describe the amazing azure color or the glacier. The minefield of icebergs was light enough that we were able to navigate the SeaXII up to the face of the glacier, and since we were the only boat, we had time to put the boat in neutral, set silks up for Kathryn and send Mike out in the kayak to get glacier ice for cocktails. Not only that, but we were rewarded multiple times with watching and hearing the glacier calf and feeling the huge waves that resulted from the calving.

Our adventure resulted in a late night. We didn’t drop anchor until 11:30pm, in the pitch black of the night. We are super thankful for all of our electronic guidance, the radar and infrared were indispensable, but our hearts were beating fast.

We left Glacier Bay and made it back to Juneau on the 20th to drop Sophie off. We had a great time exploring Glacier Bay with Sophie and appreciate all that she taught us about bears and fishing!

We had a gorgeous day in Juneau! We took the Goldbelt Tram up Mount Roberts and then hiked to the top. We were all so hot in the 70 degree weather (lol!) but thankful for the beautiful day and beautiful view!

Sunday was a cleaning day and then we went to see Inside Out 2 at the Juneau movie theatre (mixed reviews, but I am easily entertained, so I enjoyed it!) We had friends, Mike and Christine, come Sunday night to join us for a week. We had an epic Monday, taking a helicopter tour to Mendehall Glacier (North Star Helicopter Walkabout Tour).

No chance Andrew was going to be too cold. The kids have have the layers down pat.

The helicopter ride was extraordinary; I can’t even begin to describe the beauty obreathtaking beauty of Tongass National Forest, the Juneau icefield and Mendehall Glacier. Mendehall Glacier is approximately 3,000 years old and 13.6 miles long. We flew over a medial moraine line, formed when two glaciers meet, by the Mendehall rocks and Suicide Basin.

https://youtu.be/QqlEEb_-tto

We landed in front of a beautiful glacier waterfall, donned crampons and a hiking pole and literally walked-about the glacier. They gave us resealable cans that we could fill up with fresh glacier water – delicious! We put on some glacier We walked to a cool crevasse, and took a lot of pictures.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, but we consoled ourselves with king crab legs from Tracy’s – yum!

When I heard we were coming here, I was skeptical; could Glacier Bay National Park really be that much more spectacular than the Inside Passage and British Columbia? But it is. This is the first time that I have been super thankful to be on my own vessel and not on a fancy cruise liner with pools, hot tubs, entertainment, food prepared for me, etc. Two cruise liners can come in each day – and book it to John Hopkins Glacier and Margerie Glacier and then leave. It is such a rushed visit, they do not get the time to stay overnight in a quiet cove with grizzly bears, kayak around serene inlets, take the time to view the whales, sea lions and otters, and hike to glaciers. That being said, if you do a cruise to Alaska, try to make sure you get on a cruise that comes to Glacier Bay – each moment is a gift.

On our way up to the bay, we got a call from another boat about mountain goats and bears. We did not see either of those, but we did get to see a whale breaching. He was having a heck of a time, frolicking, waving his fins in the air and jumping in the air. He reminded my of a teenager goofing around. We missed the breaching picture but have a great picture of his tail.

7/16/2024 We cruised to Johns Hopkins Glacier – a 12 mile long, calving glacier named after Johns Hopkins University in 1893. With the snowy mountains behind and floating icebergs that we had to dodge, this was possibly my favorite glacier to visit.

7/17/2024 We anchored at Reid Glacier – not quite as pretty, but hey, we are anchored at a glacier1 Reid Glacier is a standing, stable glacier, meaning that it does not calf, and we could walk up to and on the glacier. On the way, the kids drank water from all the freshwater streams coming off the mountains and tasted the glacier ice (I still haven’t made a cocktail from the glacier ice, need to remedy that).

Our walk took longer than we anticipated, and we got back to the Fournado and it looked like this….uh oh.

It is 1100lbs (more with the full tank of gas), so there was no dragging it to the water. My kids turned on their Scout survivalist skills and started building shelters, trying to start a fire and even mushing barnacles for food. Andrew even tried his barnacle slop…yuck. (But he would not eat the wild strawberries that Claire and Andrew found with CioCia Zosia.)

A couple of hours later, after Hannah helped to dig out a trench and the tide started to come back in, we managed to finagle the Fournado back into the water and made it to the SeaXII for immediate snacks and a much-deserved dinner!

7/18/2024 We had a gorgeous day! It was sunny and clear and warm! We started the day with a visit to Margerie Glacier, by Grand Pacific – which looked like a planet swirled with ice (unfortunately, it was prettier from far away).

On the way to find a place to anchor, it was calm and pretty enough that I could not resist trying out acro with Kathryn from the flybridge!

We anchored in Sandy Cove and took the Fournado to see the seals. They were pretty lifeless when we pulled up, so I said, “hey guys, show some life”. All of the sudden, something (us? birds?) set them off and they started moving and loudly barking.

We finished the day with CioCia Zosia taking Hannah and Kathryn for another unsuccessful fishing trip, and Claire and I taking a relaxing and quiet kayak ride. We were rewarded with a delicious steak dinner cooked by Paul when we all got back!

We had a permit to enter Glacier Bay National Park 7/15/2024 to 07/19/2024. Permits are very serious and hard to get. We applied the first day that we could, and were successful to get the dates that we wanted. However, with only 25 pleasure craft allowed in day to day, they are much sought after. And thank goodness Paul answered his phone the night before to confirm we were coming; he did not know we had to confirm that we were using our permit.

Unfortunately it poured rain most of the day and the extended forecast looked pretty glum – rain daily for the forseeable future. On the way in to Barlett Cove, the wildlife was awesome with porpoises swimming in front of the boat and loads of otters back-floating along-side.

We anchored in Bartlett Cove and took the Fournado in for the mandatory orientation at 12pm. They talk about speed limits in whale zones (we don’t go that fast anyhow. In addition, you have to travel one mile from shore, as the whales feed close to shore.), what areas you are allowed to travel to and the rules for viewing wildlife. Despite it being desolate, they also have mandatory quiet hours in the anchorages that tend to get busier. They didn’t have much guidance on fishing to my surprise, although 0x0=0, so doesn’t seem to matter for us.

We grabbed lunch at the lodge and then headed out, much to the kids’ delight, for a 1 mile hike in the rain. We have realized that as long as you wear your rain gear and dress warmly enough, life is good.

It finally stopped raining as we were heading into Shag Cove to anchor, and Sophie spotted a mama grizzly and her three cubs. We grabbed binoculars and watched as mama waded into the water to fish. She pulled a mammoth fish (we now believe it was a porpoise) out and let her cubs feast, while she overlooked from the beach. They continued to stand guard and snack through the night and into the next morning, when the eagles tried to move in.

No rain the next morning, so Sophie and I got out for a beautiful kayak ride, testing our boundaries with the bears and paddling along with porpoises.

7/14 We decided to stop for one last meal-out while cruising up the Icy Strait on route to Glacier Bay and visit the small town of Hoonah.

As we approach Hoonah, we spot many whale blows and realize that they we have happened upon whales bubble netting. Bubble netting is an amazing phenomenon where humpback whales work together to capture large amounts of food. One female creates a ring of bubbles to trap and confuse the fish, herring, and the other whales come through the ring to inhale large amounts of fish. I feel truly blessed to have been able to witness this amazing action, which is unique to their feeding grounds in the Alaska/BC area.

We could not reach the Hoonah harbor master by radio so decided to anchor and take the Fournado in. At this point, it is 2:30 and we are all starving. The problem is, it is a Sunday in a small town and nothing is open except the lady selling reindeer sausage. It sounded delicious but we were cold from the rain and too hungry. Paul finds a restaurant that he says is open but we needed to hit the liquor and grocery stores first, before they closed. I couldn’t resist stocking up on more ice cream; I can live without having enough meat frozen; I cannot live without ice cream! He decided to take the groceries back to the boat while we walked to the restaurant. We walked 1.5 more miles to Icy Strait Point just in time for the last gondola and then to be told the restaurant was closing. I quickly connected to my lifeline – wifi – and called Paul who said that the restaurant was actually the other direction, 2.5 miles away. Right before we voted on who to cannibalize, Paul called and said he may have found a ride if the guy could get his car started. Thankfully, the car gods answered and Paul said we had 8 minutes to make it out of Icy Strait Point as they would not let an outsider come in…we made it and life became better with a delicious burger, fries and beer:)

Feeling corny when trying to think of an attention-getting post title…fail.

July 9, 2024 We anchored in Tracy’s Army and took the dinghy through Tracy’s Arm, a long, narrow passage that has water of a gorgeous emerald color to get to North Sawyer Glacier.

We were too cold to make it to South Sawyer. The kids and I practiced our yoga, child pose, on the floor of the Fournado on the way back to the SeaXII – brrrrr! Poor Paul; he had to suck it up to drive (but, in all fairness, he still can’t sit).

Unfortunately the rainy forecast, for the next 16 days!!!!, has cut our outdoor exploration short, and we decided to head to Juneau early the next morning to hopefully find someone to look at Little Genie (6.5kw generator).

We headed out to do an awesome tour at Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure. It was recommended by a great friend and the beauty did not disappoint. In a happy accident, the owner/founder created a signature of any upside down tree flower pot – he plants flowers in the roots of trees buried upside down.

For two days, we shopped, ate and toured Juneau.

Beautiful views during my wet jog/hike on the Gold Creek Flume Trail to Perseverance Trail

We made it to Petersburg, AK July 7th. We really are feeling like we are “in Alaska” now with all of the snow-capped mountains. It is beautiful. The next day, I found a nature trail to take a slow jog:

We had a gorgeous 70 degree day and packed a picnic lunch to set out in the Fournado to go see Le Conte Glacier. It was pretty incredible. The color of the icebergs was a stunning turquoise, and we dodged around a lot of icebergs to get as close as possible to the glacier.

I did underestimate how cold it would be, especially going 30mph in the Fournado. We warmed up when we stopped by a waterfall to eat our lunch.

We had to try the iceberg!

Cute seal friends taking a nap!

Our perfect day (okay, maybe not too perfect in that the day started with Paul visited the medical clinic due to additional swelling. They said everything looks fine.) ended with a quick shopping trip, yummy dinner of homemade butter chicken and fierce game of Mexican train! On to Tracy’s Arm and more glaciers tomorrow!

July 6-7, 2024 We left Ketchikan (round 2; hope this time it is for good until we head back) in the late afternoon after making a series of boat tour videos (Paul is splicing them together; Sea XII boat tour coming soon!) and headed to Vixen’s Inlet. We arrived late, dropped anchor and went to bed. The next day, however, was full of wildlife! We finally saw two bears in the inlet!

And a lot of whales!

Wrangell Narrows is very narrow! Eagles here are like deer – there are so many, but still magical to see. I have never seen them in a flock on the ground!