Cruising Alaska. Both hard and easy. 

The hard parts are having to be aware of the tides and how they affect the narrow passages between islands. Some passages are more narrow and daunting than others and there are very specific times to transit them. Other passages are wide, vast and calm. And that's the easy part. The sea conditions are almost always good for boating. There will be the odd day that it's better to stay put but for the most part, its always a good day to be out in transit.

One of the other things to be aware of is fog. Fog banks are frequent and occur often at this time of year. Disclaimer: I have not been in Alaska any other time of year. 

We have visited Ketchikan. We docked amongst the giant cruise ships, and had bald eagles on the fore deck squabbling over a Salmon carcass, and we were able to be a bit of provisioning. The supermarket is well stocked.

Next we spent a few days in Santa Anna. This is a well protected bay which is tranquil and quite beautiful. We waited out a passing storm for about 2 days.

Next we went to Wrangell, a lovely town mainly for fishing vessels but it also has a criuse terminal so smaller cruise ships can dock here. The supermarket was pretty good but we found (at 2:02pm) all the restaurants and food outlets closed at 2pm. Fortunately the Stikine Inn was still serving food so we had rockfish burgers on the outside patio, in the sun. Best fish burger I have had... ever.

We left Wrangell in dense fog and ended up having to wait an hour for the fog to lift in order to dock at the fuel dock. We then braved the Wrangell Narrows, a 20 mile narrow winding passage ending at Petersburg. We did not stop at Petersburg, we crossed Frederick Sound and dropped anchor at Ruth Island in Thomas Bay. This is where we lassoed our first iceberg. It was actually just a bergie bit but still weighed too much to bring on board, We had to get a hammer and break some pieces off.

Next we went to Tracy Arm. This was pretty spectacular, the cliff sides are incredibly steep and you can see how the glaciers of yesteryear have scoured the rock face. We spent quite a few hours dodging icebergs and bergie bits and got right up close to the North Sawyer Glacier which is a dry glacier and does not calve into the water. We did not manage to get to the South Sawyer Glacier due to the dense ice flow.

From Tracy Arm we put our hardcore boaters caps on and entered Fords Terror. We had heard and read so much about entering this fjord so made our preparations and waited for exactly the right moment, and in we went. Wow, just wow. A truely wonderful place. I will write a separate blog about it because it deserves extra attention. 

After we left Fords Terror, we went up Endicott Arm to Dawes Glacier. Another truely amazing sight. We had seen it in 2019 but to be able to take your own boat right up as close as you dare, to the face of the glacier is on another level. More about that in another blog.

After Endicott Arm, we headed to Juneau for a bit of provisioning and to pick up our friends who were coming to spend a week with us.