Sailing SE Alaska

July 20, 2012   Bay East of Dry Pass to Porcupine Bay

     My turn as captain today--so I will be on helm and Kelsey will navigate. The winds have lightened considerably and have shifted to the NE and have brought us warm sunny weather. The ocean swells were forecasted to be light as well, so a safe day to take our short jog out into the ocean.
     Pete initially took the helm to take us out of the tricky shallow bay then turned the helm over to me once we were safely into the deeper depths of Goulding Harbor. Made our way South into Portlock Harbor and once we were in open water, Pete had me put the engine in neutral and drift so that Kelsey and I could do a 3 point fix. This time I did the sightings and Kelsey plotted our position. We got a small cocked hat--so, yeah us!
     We then turned toward the SE into Imperial Passage. The Douglas book had said to enter/exit on the flood/ebb but the Coast Pilot hadn’t mentioned that so we exited on the flood and the currents were fine. We had to favor the South shore as there are shallow rocks that extend off a point of Hill Island, but once we were abeam of the flashing beacon on Hill Island, we moved to the middle of the passage and exited into the ocean.
     The winds were only about five knots so we only motored today and the swells were only about two feet and no waves. We didn’t need to go out into the ocean nearly as far as we had when we went up the Khaz Peninsula--about a mile out. What clouds there were, were at a high altitude and we could see the whole mountain range from Mt. Edgecumbe to the South up to Mt. Fairweather to the North. I keep thinking this land can’t get anymore beautiful but everyday it does!
     Once we were abeam of Skinner Island, Pete took control of the helm as we turned North to approach the land--which is tricky and laden with rocks. Shortly after that I saw a whale blow plum off a ways off our starboard bow. As we continued closer to land, the whale’s path was going out to sea and as he got closer, we were able to see his back breach the water as he dove down again. Once we saw his back, Peter and Kelsey knew he was a humpback whale. Farther along we saw him off our port beam and then he was gone.
     Pete then took us into Islas Bay and into Porcupine Bay--a tiny little bay with a pretty six foot waterfall. The bottom is not great and it is not very sheltered from the sea, so would not be a good anchorage in bad weather but is fine for a day like today.
Later I sat on Privateer’s bow, typing my blog. Today was the first day it’s been warm enough to wear only a t-shirt.I faced the roaring waterfall and eagle is soared high above the mountain peak. Kelsey brought me another delicious lunch--sourdough and salami, grilled cheese sandwich with a spinach salad with onions, apples and pumpkin seeds and potato chips...everyday just keeps getting better.
     Later that night for dinner, we ate in the cockpit, the sound of the waterfall filling our ears. Kelsey had fixed spring rolls for dinner with a tamarind dipping sauce and almond butter sauce. After dinner we had rum mojitos and a toast to a grand adventure.

All photos below taken by Kelsey or Pete.