Ok. After much harassment by Tom we have finished the trip summary. We returned to our home here in Las Vegas early October and have been extremely busy with Home maintenance/repairs, doctor visits as well as family and friends visits. Time flys by as most of you know especially during the holiday season.
This trip was a very memorable one and we enjoyed the buddy boating with ASD, Thanks Tom and Kay. We look forward to more visits and cruises with you both.
Below is a cut and paste that is being prepared for our blog. And yes, we are behind on the blog also.
Life on the boat is at a different pace and we cant wait to return in the spring.
Trip Summary and Lessons learned, Alaska 2017
We have just finished our second extended cruise that started from our homeport of Salpare Bay Marina in Portland, Oregon. After traveling west on the Columbia River, we traveled north 15 miles off the Washington coast, through Pugent Sound, up through the inside passage of Canada, as far north as you can go in SE Alaska before turning around and heading south, ultimately returning to our homeport 166 days later.
You can read all the books, tech manuals, instruction books, discussions on forums and picking the brains of all those that have done extended cruises before, however, until you do a cruise of this distance and time, you have no idea what it takes. Yet, we met so many people that do this type of cruise year after year.
We would like to send a BIG THANK YOU to all the people we met who impacted our adventure. If your name and/or boat are not listed below, please let us know, because without you, this trip would not have been so enjoyable.
Tom and Kay Teseniar, M/V Alaskan Sea-Duction, Camarge 48,
Al and Carol Johnson, (Ketchican AL)
Jeff Merrill, our broker and good friend, jmys.com
Larry and Marcia Crass, M/V Hale Kia, Nordhavn 43,
Bill and Wendy Brown, Sea Badger, Selene 4314,
Eric and Kim Rimkus, S/V Gladiator, Beneteau 46
John and Cindy Hanson, M/V Lucky Girl, Selene 37
Russ and Missie Low, M/V Melissa Lynn, Selene 53
Dean and Teresa Klein, M/V Salt Heart, Selene 62
Rick and Pam Panowcz, M/V Jean Marie ,Selene 47
Kevin and Alison Jefferies, M/V Red Rover, Nordhavn 55
Walt and Joan Vennemeyers, M/V Manatee
Vaughan and Rita Balaam, S/V Baraka Bashad
Ken, M/V Hat Trick, Hatteras
Tom and Nita Sitterly, M/V Cygnus Argent, Ocean Alexender
Jerry and Suhwa Tompsett, S/V Calypso
Days we traveled 166
Number of ports visited 71
Nautical miles traveled 3,452
Statue miles 3,953
Gallons of diesel fuel 1,854
Fuel burn rate gallons 3.06 includes generator and heater
Main engine hours 606
Generator hours 565
Days at anchor 53
Days in moorage 113
Days buddy boating 116
Publications
We used several publications in order to plan, track and gather information throughout this trip. I’m sure that other publications are available, however these were the ones we focused on to help insure a favorable experience. By far the Waggoner Guide was the publication that we used the most for Canada and Exploring S.E. Alaska for navigating Alaska. We purchased many publications to help us. The ones listed below were used most often.
- Waggoner Cruising Guide by Burrows Bay Associates, WaggonerGuide.com
- The Inside Passage, Route Planning Maps, North and South Portion by Fine Edge
- Broughton Islands Cruising Guide by Peter Vassilopoulos
- Exploring Southeast Alaska by Don Douglass and Reanne Hemingway-Douglas
Navigation
The primary navigation that we used was Navionics on an IPAD. For $50 a year you have a very nice, user friendly, chart program. This became our primary navigation tool. All you need is an IPAD which has built in GPS so as to track your boat. If you choose to go this route, get an IPAD with as much memory as possible! You can store so many charts without internet access. After learning that there was a magnetic disturbance in our compass, causing the auto pilot to fail, we removed the 20 inch monitor mounted on the dash in the pilot house. John built a bracket for our IPAD (out of black starboard) and mounted it where the monitor was. This offered a much more favorable instrument for our charts. FYI, we found we had to cover the IPAD and most other instrumentation with a dish towel or tape to run after dark in order to preserve our night vision.
Docking
Locating moorage in Alaska was much the same as Canada, however, private docks were few and far between. Most of our time in Alaska was at anchor or in a public harbor. When possible, we sent an email in advance to reserve a spot. We relied on the VHF to radio ahead most of the time.
There are both state and city entities running the marinas. Some give you slip assignment, others provide transient moorage on a first come first serve basis. Wrangel, AK is an example of that. State run docks, such as Swanson Harbor, are available, but primarily established for the commercial fishermen. We found that as long as your willing to raft to one another, you can use the docks.
Our Alaska marinas and docks...
Ketchikan - South Bar Marina
Juneau - Harris Harbor
Swanson Harbor - Government dock
Hoonah Harbor - Marina
Wrangell - Reliance Harbor
Warm Springs Bay - Government dock
Coffman Cove
A few of our Canadian favorites that we returned to;
Hartley Bay / Gigat First Nation
Shoal Bay
Port McNeill (Steve Jackson’s)
Sullivan Bay
Lagoon Cove
Port Neville
Gorge Harbor
Shearwater Marina
Comox Valley Harbor Authority
Anchorages
Below are a few of our favorite anchorages;
Alaska;
Vixen Inlet
Thomas Bay
Snug Cove in Gambier Bay
Ell Cove
Red Bluff Bay
Portage Bay
Cannery Cove, in Pybus Bay
Shoal Pass Bay
Walker Cove in Fitzgibbon Bay
Shrimp Bay
Canada;
Lowe Inlet
Pruth Bay
Shoal Bay
Kwatsi Bay / North Broughton
Khutze Inlet / Northern British Columbia
Bottleneck Inlet / Northern British Columbia
Montague Harbor