Posts In The “SE Alaska” Category
Hubbard Glacier, at the head of Yakutat Bay, is the largest tidewater glacier in North America at 76 miles (122km) long and 7 miles (11km) wide. The terminal face is 600 feet (182m) high, with 250 feet (76m) hidden below the waterline. The 350 feet (106m) visible above the waterline is actively calving, filling the…
Dramatic Glacier Bay National Park was the only overlap between our Norwegian Jewel cruise and our 2010 Southeast Alaska trip on Dirona. But we could return here every year and never tire of the amazing scenery. On another unusually clear day for early in the season, we cruised slowly up Glacier Bay under a bright…
During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 through 1899, roughly 100,000 prospectors poured into the Yukon in northwestern Canada, in the hopes of striking it rich. The main routes to the Yukon gold fields were from the southeast Alaska towns of Skagway or Dyea, across White Pass or Chilkoot Pass respectively. No roads or railways…
Alaska’s capital, Juneau, is the only mainland US capital city with no road connections. The only way in or out is by air or sea. And despite having a population of only 32,000, it’s the second largest city in the US by area, after Sitka, also in Alaska. We arrived by boat, as do the…
On our Norwegian Encore Caribbean cruise, we didn’t take any excursions, opting instead to visit each port on foot on our own. The Jewel offered some more interesting trips, so we booked one for each port. In Ketchikan, we took an off-road UTV safari through Tongass National Forest in a Yamaha Wolverine X2. Although we…
After our second night at the Vancouver Pan Pacific hotel, we woke up to find the Norwegian Jewel, the ship we’d be taking to Alaska, docked just outside our room. We boarded later that day and spent the afternoon exploring the ship, then had a wonderful time watching from our balcony at the bow as…
After a day at Margerie Glacier, we returned down Tarr Inlet to overnight at Reid Inlet. The anchorage there is close to where Tarr and John Hopkins Inlets join Glacier Bay, and is convenient for visiting the glaciers at their heads. Reid Glacier in Reid Harbor also is one of the few shore-accessible glaciers in…
When we awoke at Russell Island after our first day in Glacier Bay, AIS showed the pocket cruise ship Safari Explorer anchored out of sight at the north end of the island. They left about 5:30am, heading up Tarr Inlet to Margerie Glacier, and we did the same about 15 minutes later. We were a…
Glacier Bay has long been high on our list of places to visit. And after nearly a week cruising southeast Alaska, the first day of our permit to enter finally had arrived. We’d technically been in the park for two nights already, as Dundas Bay is inside Glacier Bay National Park, but doesn’t require a…
Last weekend we presented at the Seattle Boat Show on our 24×7 run to Alaska. The slides are posted at Hamilton_SBS11_Alaska24x7.pdf. A couple of questions we were asked that weren’t covered in the presentation were on seasickness and how Spitfire did on the trip. Seasickness generally isn’t a problem for James, but I will get…
The seminar schedule for the 2011 Seattle Boat Show has been posted. This year we’ll be presenting on Saturday Jan. 22nd at 11:30am on our trip to Alaska this summer. We’ll be describe our 5-day, 2-crew, 24×7 offshore run from Seattle directly to SE Alaska, and share highlights of our visit. We’ll also discuss how…
After the astonishing view to Mt. La Perouse in Dundas Bay West Arm, we didn’t think the north arm could compare. But we were wrong–we liked the north arm even better. The head of the bay felt almost land-locked, with steep mountains all around. In the calm, glacial green waters, we felt as if we’d…
Porcupine Bay was our last stop on the west side of Chichagof Island–we would spend the next week in Glacier Bay National Park. We still had two more days before we could enter the permit-only portion of the park, but we planned to spend a night or two in Dundas Bay first. (Dundas Bay is…
From Klag Bay, we toured north along the west shore of Chichagof Island, overnighting at Kimshan Bay and Porcupine Cove. We could easily have spent days in the area–the charts show a complex shoreline ideal for exploration by dinghy or kayak, along with several sheltered anchorages (map of area). Read more …
When we planned the offshore run directly from Seattle to Alaska, we’d allowed ourselves a day or so to recuperate and several days for weather delays before our permit entry date for Glacier Bay. We decided to spend a few days exploring the outer coast of Chichagof Island if we arrived early. We ended up…
Our Alaska trip was simply amazing. The glaciers and mountain scenery were incredible—we spent over a week in Glacier Bay National Park and several days in Tracy and Endicott Arms (trip map). We also cruised the complex outer coasts of Chichagof, Baranof and Prince of Wales Island, but barely scratched the surface there. The outer…
The fridge and freezer are filled, and the dry goods and spares are stowed. Tonight we set off for Alaska. Most summers we spend a bit of time between the northern tip of Vancouver island and the Alaska border. This year is a little different for two reasons. First, we’re heading further…