The plan for the 2019 boating season is to start in Laconner WA and travel to Skagway in SE Alaska in the May to September time frame via the inside passage. We never try have detailed timelines when we are cruising and let the real time experience’s and weather drive the day to day decisions. We can roughly divide the trip in to major sections:
- Laconner Wa to Port Hardy, BC, Canada 290 nm
Left Laconner May 14th, Port Hardy last week May 2019 - Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, BC, Canada 270 nm
Depart Late May arrive Early June 2019 - Prince Rupert to Petersburg, AK 200 nm
Depart early June to arrive mid June - Petersburg to Juneau, AK 120 nm
Mid June to late June - Juneau to Skagway, AK 100 nm
Late June to Early July 2019
A high level map with the major stops is shown in Google Maps here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&hl=en&mid=1WbXS5GSDyDjyjbnw3IzuWPXVif1Bv5yb&ll=54.34920135036871%2C-138.42491059354904&z=5
The Red marked locations are larger cities with stores for provisioning with a marina and stores. The purple air plane symbols are cities with airports that you can fly in too and the remaining blue are small cities/marinas or anchorages that may be visited on the trip.
Leg-1: Laconner To Port Hardy
Inside Vancouver Island Leg 290 nm
The first leg of the trip is the area we cruised in 2018 which contains the San Juan Islands in the US followed by the Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast, Straight Of Georgia, Desolution Soumd, Johnstone Strait and Broughtons in British Columbia. All this part of the route is in the rain shadow of Vancouver Island which creates great cruising with sunny weather and calm waters. The State Parks on the US side and Provencial Parks on the BC side are great stops with hiking trails and easy access to shore for the dog’s. It remains to be seen if access for hiking and dogs to shore further north of this area is OK for us.
See Google Maps For Major Stops: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&hl=en&mid=1WbXS5GSDyDjyjbnw3IzuWPXVif1Bv5yb&ll=49.54547852098257%2C-127.25843067598919&z=7
Leg-2 Port Hardy To Prince Rupert
BC Deserted Town Leg 270 nm
The start of this leg from Port Hardy will require a passage around Cape Caution which has a reputation of being very rough if wind is coming from the west and ebb currents are coming out of the straights to the east. Will need to pick a good weather window and time the tides for this.
This area is made up of Fitz Hugh Sound, Fisher Channe, Burke Channel, Dean Channel and Bella Coola. The first stop will most likely be Millbrook or Fury Cove anchorages after the passage.
Namu: (Deserted Cannery)
The first location of note is Namu where we anchor at Rock Inlet anchorage next to Namu, BC. Namu is a small fishing port, former cannery town and First Nations community . Lots of abandoned building etc to take a look at.
A short video on Namu: https://canadac3.ca/en/video/namu-b-c/
Ocean Falls: (Semi-Deserted Ghost Town)
Ocean Falls is an almost deserted town which has just a few dozen or so people living there full time and still has ferry service. There is a dock with power and water available. A power plant is above the the town producing hydro power. There is hiking on trails up to the lake etc so should be a good place to stretch our legs.
See: http://www.ccrd-bc.ca/communities/ocean-falls.php
Klemtu: (Spirit Bay Lodge)
May stop at Klemtu at the free public dock to check out the lodge if we can get a space at the dock and all looks OK.
Butedale: (Almost-DESERTED Cannery)
Butedale is another abondened cannery that evidently does have a care taker (Cory) with a dock and water. Last info I can find is from 2017 so we will have to see how the place is in 2019.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butedale
Leg-3 Prince Rupert To Petersburg
Lower SE Alaska Leg
200 nm
This part of the trip has major towns about 80 nm apart with the last two towns, Wrangle and Petersburg, being only 35 nm apart.
Prince Rupert BC
This is the last stop in Canada, or port of entry when returning from Alaska, before re-entering US waters.
We will be anchoring out along the way but there a quite a few substantial towns along the way we will stop at.
Ketchikan
This is our port of entry for US and is the first place in US for folks to fly in too an airport. Pretty large town with provisioning etc.
Meyers Chuck
Very small town where we may dock or anchor out near the dock. It is located in Tongass National Forest and there is a trail head but may not be that well maintained of a trail.
Wrangell
Another large town with air port.
Petersburg
Last large town on the leg, also has airport service.
Leg-4 Petersburg To Juneau
MIDDLE SE ALASKA, Tracy Arm Glacier Leg
120 nm
This leg has no major towns between Petersburg and Juneau but does contain many nice anchorages and Tracy Arm. Tracy Arm is a very famous fjord for glacier viewing. We will anchor at Tracy Arm Entrance Cove where it is about a 23 nm trip up to the head of Tracy arm to see South Sawyer Glacier.
Sawyer Glacier is known as the premier glacier to see in SE Alaska.
Patty and I visited Tracy Arm years ago in a go fast catamaran from a cruise ship and it is a very pretty trip with fantastic wild life, seals etc, on the trip in.
We will have to see how open the water is on the way in with ice and bergie bits. We may follow the local excursion boats that arrive from Juneau around noon each day and stay at least 1/2 mile away from the glacier itself. Calving of the glacier can produce large waves and 1/2 mile is closest that is allowed for safety.
Leg-5 Juneau To Skagway
Northern SE Alaska Tour End Of The Road
100 nm
This is the last and northern most leg of the planned trip. May rent car here to visit Mendenhall Glacier and other areas of interest.
The major area to see is the Glacier Bay National Park. The glaciers are not as scenic as Tracy Arm but is still spectacular. No dogs are allowed on land in the park which puts a bit of a damper on our enthusiasm for the park. If we go in we will need to leave the dog’s in Juneau for a couple day’s at a dog kennel place or see if we can convince ourselves we can keep dogs on boat and have them use the dog mat.