The plan for the 2023 boating season is to start in Laconner WA and travel to Skagway in SE Alaska starting first week in May and ending in the September time frame via the inside passage. We never try to have detailed timelines when we are cruising and let the real time experiences and weather drive the day to day decisions.
We will most likely stop at many of the same places we did in 2019 so you can check the blog for the 2019 blog posts to get an idea what they may be like.
Thinking of going North more slowly and visit more places on the way and then potentially coming back faster if the winter rougher weather dictates.
We can roughly divide the trip in to major sections on the way North as follows:
- Laconner Wa to Port McNeill, BC, Canada 290 nm
Leave La conner May 1st, Port McNeill area middle May 2019 - Port McNeill to Prince Rupert, BC, Canada 270 nm
Depart middle May arrive end May 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 area, AK 100 nm
Late June to Early July 2019 - Skagway area to Sitka middle July.
- Start heading back south after Sitka
Please find the following three Google Maps which have more detail on the proposed route and possible stops one the way. If you click on “View Larger Map” small square in upper right corner of map it will take you to Google My Maps where you can zoom in/out and move around map etc. In the maps if you click on one of the dropped marks many of them will pop up with a description of the location.
1. Patty’s List Of Places She Might Want to Stop At
The places here are the places Patty has found she might want to visit:
2. Possible Places For Flights/Towns And Places To See
A high level map with a list of possible stops and airports as shown in Google Maps here:
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. Float planes can be taken from the airport cities to pretty much anywhere else in the PNW where Water Dog may be.
3. 2023 Proposed Route, Actual Route Shown We Took In 2019
This is our actual route from the OpenCpn chart plotter from 2019. Thinking this will be close to the route we take in 2023 with some added stop’s and some deleted stops:
1. Leg-1: Laconner To Port McNeill
Inside Vancouver Island Leg 290 nm
The first leg of the trip is the area we cruised a lot between 2018 and 2023 which contains the San Juan Islands in the US followed by the Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast, Straight Of Georgia, Desolation Sound, 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 Provincial Parks on the BC side are great stops with hiking trails and easy access to shore for the dog’s. Access for hiking and dogs to shore further north of this area gets scarcer unless you are at a larger town.
2. Leg-2 Port McNeill 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 Channel, 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)
We might try to stop at Namu but the place as gotten real run down and we most likely will skip Namu. 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)
We skipped Ocean Falls on the 2019 trip but will do it in 2023. 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. Our friends Jeff and Darlene on Mona Kai say there is great crabbing here.
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. In 2019 we did stop on the way out and back in Namu but anchored out in a very tight bight. Dock has always been full with local boats and the anchorage is very tight but good enough for an overnight stop. You can walk the streets and meet some of the local first Nations people to stretch your legs.
Butedale: (Almost-DESERTED Cannery)
Butedale in 2019 was a nice stop where there was a dock care taker and the owner is trying to fix the place up. Butedale is another abandoned cannery that evidently does have a care taker (Cory) with a dock and water. We stayed one night in 2023 and think it is worth another stop.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butedale
3. 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. We stopped there in 2019 and we got some homemade cinnamon buns sold at the dock if you order the night before so turned out to be a nice stop.
Wrangell
Another large town with airport.
Petersburg
Last large town on the leg, also has airport service. Really liked Petersburg with nice hiking and a cool town,
4. 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.
In 2019 we had a very nice trip in to see Sawyer Glacier and may revisit in 2023.
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.
5. 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. In 2019 the park rangers giving us our intro course required to enter bay did not seem to mind the dog’s being there so just took them in for a one night stay.
See: https://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm
6. Skagway area to Sitka middle July.
In 2019 one of our favorite areas was the east side of Baranof Island where we stopped at Red Bluff Bay anchorage with beautiful views of cliffs and snow capped peaks and bears etc. Then the town of Baranoff with the hot tub baths was special.
Sitka is one of our favorite stops on our 2019 trip so we would like to stop again.
7. Start heading back south after Sitka End July-September