August 17, 1994 (Well the 18th at 1 am.) Arrived with Matt Brown (age 9).
Thursday, August 18. Temp 60's, Barometer 30 & rising, SUNNY! Up at 8, unloaded the car into the canoe (Evan Jones Sr, which we'd borrowed & brought down on the car) to transfer all the stuff to the boat (lots of stuff, what with the motor & 2 weeks worth of supplies). Bought propane and a few extra supplies, fueled the boat and finally left Valdez at 2:20. The tide was favorable (though the head wind was blowing 10+ in the narrows) and the weather sunny, so we had a good trip to Jackson Cove (on Glacier Island). Arrived about 8:20, so it was a quick trip. Anchored just inside the cove, in the SE corner. 1 other occupant (sigh).
Friday, August 19. 70's, Barometer 30 & falling, mostly sunny. Up at 8, quick breakfast of cereal and then got under way about 8:20. Good motoring until early afternoon when a bad headwind picked up. Kept up for about 2 miles (1 hour) and then the waves went down again. Had the usual fight with the motor; keeping it in the water was quite a problem. Just as we were getting in to Whittier it picked up again, peaking at 25 mph. Had a hard time fighting into it, and the boat was almost unmanageable crosswind so I didn't try the harbor but tied up to the floating seawall. After some hassle with the harbormaster I arranged to spend the night. Kind of a bad spot because every boat that came by shook us up. We used 30 gallons of fuel and it took us 18 hours to get from Valdez to Whittier. Probably would have saved 2 hours if it hadn't been for the wind.
Saturday, August 20. Temp 50's, Barometer 29.8 & falling, rainy. We got up at 8, paid the harbor bill (16.16/day) and I took Matt out to breakfast. After eating we bought 10 gallons of fuel and then motored to Shotgun cove. There are a couple of anchoring buoys in the cove and we tied up to one, which turned out to be a mistake since the boat kept banging it. I finally got it partially under control by extending the rope and hanging a couple drags in the water. The rest of the day was "Matt's day". Meaning we did whatever he wanted to do. We explored a cave, an old wreck, did some beach combing (Matt got a lot of shells and a starfish, which is still in a bucket of water on deck!) and some fishing. Having a canoe is great--makes it MUCH easier to get around! After dinner I did the dishes and cleaned up some while Matt played in his bunk. The area just out from the old wreck is a good place to anchor; I don't recommend tying to the buoy unless there is a good wind.
Sunday, August 21. Barometer rising. Sunny. W wind to 30. We motored against the wind back to Whittier. It was a hard, nasty fight due to the waves; every 3rd wave the engine came out of the water. Took us almost 2.5 hours to cover the 3 miles, going as fast as we could. Michael & Jamie Brown met us and we spent the day wandering around Whittier (we didn't take the boat out due to the wind). We took the 9 pm train (they run about every 3 hours) to Portage. (I went just for the ride, and returned on the last train at 10.)
Monday, August 22. Barometer rising. Suny. W wind to 30. Spent the day wandering around Whittier. Explored the huge old building (I estimate 250,000 sf) that was reputed to house 1,000 people & had a hospital & everything. Built by the military (during WWII?)
Tuesday, August 23. Barometer rising. Sunny. W wind=died out. Washed cloths, cleaned up the boat a little & spent the day waiting for Matt Jones to arrive on the train. When he finally arrived (he was due at 8 am, but had missed a connection in Seattle) at 8 pm he brought his brother Trevor with him for the night. We motored back to Shotgun cove for the night. We tied a 100' line to the buoy, to keep farther from it. It worked partially, but we still bumped it once.
Wed, August 24. Barometer rising, sun=rain, E=NE wind, 10 We motored back to Whittier and filled up with fuel and water. Then Matt & Trevor hoisted me up the main mast so I could un-jam the main sail wire. The wire had jumped out of the pulley on one of the first trips of the summer & this was my first opportunity to fix it. There was a plastic/fiberglass "sheet" that had come loose inside the pulley attachment, which probably was the cause of the problem. I tore out as much of the plastic as possible, reset the wire and inspected all the support wires & attachments. Everything looked ok. We dropped Trevor off so he could take the train back to Portage, bought a few groceries and finally got out of Whittier at 1:30. In spite of the headwind we set sail and sail/motored to Culross Passage. We motored down Culross Passage to Goose Bay, following a mid-passage route (and me up the mast watching for rocks). All deep water. Goose bay is a well sheltered bay. We saw no rocks, though the chart shows one near the center of the bay. We anchored in the NW corner about 8:00. 7 hours to cover 15 miles--but we'd spent a lot of time beating against the wind.
Thursday, August 25. Barometer steady. Fog, clouds & rain. Winds light & variable (there, anyhow) We decided to spend the day in Goose Bay in the hopes that the weather would improve by Friday (It didn't). We spent the day fishing, canoeing and reading.
Friday, August 26. Barometer falling: 30.21. Rain,rain,rain. NW winds to 25, gusts to 30. Since the weather obviously wasn't going to co-operate we motored out of Goose Bay at 11. By noon we were at the mouth of Culross Passage with all sails up and the engine off. The wind blew 20-25 and the swells were short & steep, to 8'. We had a nice wild ride, beating for 3 hours to cover 3 miles to the end of Port Nelle Juan. Then the winds were a little more favorable and we made better time until we got into Dangerous Passage, where they died away. We motored the rest of the way to the small, circular bay off the NW end of Jackpot Bay. Really neat spot! Rocks are as noted on the chart, with deep water in the center of the channel running to the round bay, though watch the ledge that extends S from the entrance of the round bay on the E shore (your ok in the center though). I was in the wires again to verify that there was deep water where we wanted to go. We dropped anchor about 8:30 and spend the rest of the evening drying out, reading and getting caught up on this (we'd eaten dinner of macaroni & cheese while under way.) Time from Goose Bay was 9.5 hours.
Sat, August 27. Barometer 29.92, rising. **Sunny** SSE to 15. Pancakes (as always) for breakfast, and got underway about 10. We had to motor the whole way, against a rising wind. We got to Bainbridge Passage at noon, and spent a couple hours fighting wind & tide getting through the passage. Watch the rocks noted on the chart: they are a *long* way out in the passage. Covered at high tide! We entered Port Bainbridge at about 2:30. SSE wind to 15, with 8' ocean swell. Naturally the motor couldn't handle the swells so we put the sails up and started tacking south. About 3:30 we decided not to go to Seward; looked like it was going to be more work than it was worth and we'd have to overnight on the open ocean. Not to mention we were running out of time. We had a really marvelous run back up Bainbridge Passage. In the sheltered areas where we were almost becalmed we paddled alongside with the canoe. Just before we left Bainbridge Passage we had dinner (chili & mixed veggies). Crossing Knight Island Passage to Squire Island Passage was a quick trip across a SSE wind. We went up S.I.P. to Copper Bay, and anchored at the S end of the Bay, where a stream comes in. We ran a line ashore to a big boulder for extra security, and Matt took the main anchor in the canoe to the end of the anchor line before dropping it. I pulled in about 10' of line to set the anchor and then we went exploring, paddling around the SE half of the bay, climbing water falls, etc. until dark. When we got back to the boat we tested the water and found we were a little too shallow (8' at the stern) with 2 hours to go until low tide. So we let out the stern line and pulled in the anchor until we had 10-12' of water. Bedtime!
Sunday, August 28. Barometer rising, then falling. 31.12. Sunny :) S breeze. We were pretty lazy in the morning, didn't get done with breakfast until after 11. Then we climbed the mountain, exploring waterfalls, neat plateaus and lakes. We had intended to get back to the boat by 3 and head N, but it was after 6 so we spent another night there.
Monday, August 29. Barometer rising; 31.12. Rain showers. Variable N=NW winds. Hoping to make Valdez we got under way a little before 7. Unfortunately there was something of a headwind so it was slow going. At the N end of Knight Island a school of black & white porpoise played at the head of the boat for a mile or two. We think there were about 8, but they were too fast to count, so there could have been anywhere from 5 to 12!! By the time we got to Naked Island we were getting pretty low on fuel. So as soon as we were clear of the Island we shut the motor off and started sailing in the 2-5 mph breese. After 3 hours of slow cruising the wind freshened, finally peaking around 12 before it died away again. But the 1.5 hours of good wind was enough to put us at the entrance to the Valdez arm (12 miles), even close hauled like we were. We started up the motor and motor sailed until the wind quit, and then continued with motor alone. It was getting dark about the time we got to the Valdez arm so we lit the stern lantern and, since the light on the forward lamp burnt out we shone a flashlight through it. The lights up the arm, narrows and port were easy to follow. We made slow time due to the wind and tide, finally getting in to the harbor at 2:30. We cut our fuel pretty fine; we had enough for about 6 more miles. (Out of around 200).
Tue, August 30. Barometer 30.21, falling. Sunny=rain showers. We spent the day cleaning up the boat and doing minor repairs.
Wednesday, August 31. Barometer 30.1 and falling. Foggy. Packed up, cleaned the inside of the boat, loaded the car & left for Fairbanks.