HAMILTON BAY (KAKE) TO POINT BAKER through ROCKY PASS

Saturday, July 11^th

I woke up at 5:15 this morning, all slept out and feeling rested. When I came upstairs it was a complete white-out, fog to the water, couldn’t see past the front of the boat. I was fearful this would delay our trip through Rocky Pass today which would be disappointing, but alas….by 7AM it was clear up to 500’ so the visibility over the water was crystal clear. Soon by 9:30, the fog dissipated, patches of blue sky appeared, the winds calmed, and the water was glass…perfect conditions for this travel day. We pulled anchor at 7:30 and were on our way for our exciting passage through Rocky Pass. As mentioned previously, Rocky Pass is rock strewn and has about 40+ navigational turns one must make to transit, sometimes at sharp angles! You can see from some of the pictures in this post, that each boat was in a different position most of the time as these turns were made. The conditions remained stellar throughout the morning, the sun streaming into the pilothouse, warm breezes when one stepped outside, glassy serene water….it was possibly our best weather day yet. Rockpiles were everywhere, along with eagles, herons, sea otters (bam), and some seriously shallow waters. I think the lowest we saw was 11’ under the boat! One can only go this route during high tide. We broke out on the other side into Sumner Strait which was also calm as we crossed to reach our destination of Point Baker, near Port Protection. Some of you may be familiar with the reality TV show “Port Protection” and this is where it is filmed along with actual Port Protection, which is just around the corner from here. Our guide books said there was a pub, café, and small grocery store here which are now closed, along with 400’ of public dock space managed by the State of Alaska. Point Baker is a darling inlet dotted with homes on stilts on the shoreline, some of which appear to be abandoned and derelict, and others clearly occupied and cared for. We motored back to the inside to find the public dock and luckily enough space for all of us! Or so we thought….we quickly learned that the space open at the very end of the dock has a rock hazard nearby so the locals suggested we raft up one of the boats, so UnforgetAbell tied alongside Far Niente who was on the dock, and Huntress was also on the dock. The locals living here couldn’t have been more welcoming and helpful. We soon met “Dave” a commercial fisherman living on his boat tied to the dock, who helped us with lines on the two boats. Wandering the docks later I met “Elmer” who lives on his boat also on the dock, a very salty old guy who was quite chatty. Elmer and I had a long discussion about our mutual dislike of sea otters and how they are ruining the shellfish population and apparently the octopus population as well. He said he used to harvest a couple of octopuses every week out of the bay here and now there are none, thanks to the otters – same of course with prawns, clams, and crab. GONE. I know I get preachy on the subject but it just blows my mind that the state decided in the 70s and 80s that otters needed to be reintroduced into this ecosystem, now they are overpopulated and killing everything in their path, and the state continues to protect them yet not protect any of the other populations – it’s all out of balance once again. They are the lawnmowers of the ocean floor. I sure hope Washington State is more proactive, now that they have infiltrated the San Juans. Anyway, we then met Sam Carlson, one of the stars of Port Protection TV show, along with the new owner of the facilities here (can’t remember his name), who has plans to reopen the bar, café, and store. While we were standing there, those two had a spirited discussion about how the State of Alaska wants all the remote communities to fold, thus they make it super difficult for anyone to have an onshore business such as providing fuel, or a bar/café. Sam has lived here for 30+ years, raised his family here. I find all these super remote communities fascinating, both from the perspective of how they exist and provide for themselves, and also what makes them desire this level of remoteness. The gentleman that bought the place and is fixing it up is actually from California. He has been here many times at the various fishing lodges and decided he wanted to start his own lodge. He is fixing up the buildings on land for a small lodge or Bed and Breakfast, and plans to reopen the rest of the facilities soon. OH, and the eagles!! I sat out back and watched them for about an hour this afternoon! There were a couple of mature eagles and a juvenile or two landing on the beach nearby, then flying to the trees, then flying across the bay to other trees, and rinse/repeat. All the while chattering away to one another! So fun. Late afternoon we went for a delightful cocktail cruise in the whaler to explore the inner inlet and back channel over towards Port Protection, many more homes tucked away back there. Dinner was hosted by the Abells where they treated us to Greg’s fresh caught salmon, roasted potatoes, and Caesar salad, topped off with brownie ice cream sundaes for dessert. YUM!

Just one of many hairpin turns

Eagle atop one of our markers

Another sharp turn to port, then sharp turn to starboard turn, flotilla behind us

Rockpiles

This rock we passed was a Heron colony, scads of them!

Super narrow passages in Rocky Pass

Juvenile Eagle about to take flight

Elmer's Boat

Sam Carlson's homestead

Cool house on little islet nearby

This house was featured on Port Protection, Season 8

Out for our cocktail cruise, and all the pictures below are from the cruise around the bays

Our trip today using my travel app, which doesn't show nearly enough detail of the hazards on this route! See below for actual navigational maps 

This is off a Navionics program showing the heart of Rocky Pass

This is how the heart of Rocky Pass looks on our Garmin, zoomed out. Each one of the asterisks in a circle is a charted rock, there are more than that. 

RED BLUFF BAY TO HAMILTON BAY (Near KAKE)

Friday, July 10^th

Today is my father’s birthday, he would have been 115 years old which is impossible of course, we lost him at 83 years old amidst his battle with stomach cancer. I was his last child and he was 50 when I was born. Happy Heavenly Birthday dear Dad, we love and miss you always.

This morning is simply spectacular, blue skies, glassy water, the glaciers and high peaks around us are out in full glory finally unveiled from the cloud and mist that has been choking them every day. We are sorry to leave on such a beautiful day but we need to continue on our journey south. It is a calm day, as predicted, as we crossed Chatham Strait, which had 4’ waves and wind yesterday, yet today just some lazy swells of minor significance – and fog. We are headed to Hamilton Bay at the top of Keiku Strait and Rocky Pass which we will transit tomorrow with precision, as it is a very technical route through many “rocks” hence the name. I believe John said there are 30-40 turns. We arrived at Hamilton Bay near Kake, a Tlingit town on the tip of Kupreanof Island, having enjoyed a smooth ride up Frederick Sound – and a whale show again! A group of maybe half a dozen whales were super active nearby diving down frequently (which means tail shots) rather than coasting along the surface with the occasional dive. They were far enough away to not be able to get any great photos, but still fun to watch which sometimes is better than trying to catch on camera. We anchored and rafted up then Lorraine spotted a brown bear on shore – bonus! Greg and John set out to go fishing, the rain returned, and my eyes soon closed leading me to a blissful nap. When I woke up at 4:30 the boys had returned and had success! John caught a smaller halibut (chicken halibut) probably only 20 pounds, and Greg landed a beautiful king salmon – probably close to 15lbs! John said he hooked up a really large halibut but let it go – we don’t typically like the really big ones. Greg caught and released a smaller Chinook as well, all of this a good sign that maybe the kings have finally arrived. Dinner on our own was almost a repeat of last night except with a rockfish John had caught a couple days before, piccata style. It was good but fishier tasting than Halibut. We finished bingeing on I WILL FIND YOU and put that one to bed. A good thriller!

Today was such an incredibly photogenic day I couldn't weed down what to post, they are all so beautiful!

The head of Red Bluff Bay looking southwest

UnforgetAbell and Far Niente as we exit Red Bluff Bay

The RED BLUFFS at the entrance to Red Bluff Bay

I love days like this where you can't tell where the real shoreline ends and the reflection begins

Exiting the head of Red Bluff Bay

The blurry Bear shot as we left this morning, but it was quite far away

Just another glimpse of the bay as we depart, the colors are incredible this morning!

Looking east it was a different story! Big fog bank in our path over to Hamilton Bay

Looking back at UnforgetAbell with Baranof Island peaks as the backdrop

We always seem to be in the lead so no pictures of Huntress but here are the other two boats

Baranof disappearing into the fog the farther away we got

I was taking pictures on the other side of the boat, turned around to see a whale and attempted to catch a whale tail! A bit blurry

Another whale tail with Kake in the background

Just one more Baranof shot....

Greg and his big catch!

John and his chicken 'but

One more panorama of Baranof Beauty

Our route today

RED BLUFF BAY ON ANCHOR

Thursday, July 9^th

Happy Birthday to my Sister-in-Law Lisa! Hope you’re having a wonderful day!

I woke up to the sound of waves slapping the boat hull which isn’t a good sign, usually means waves or wind. It was indeed a bit windy and VERY rainy this morning once again. Sigh. At least this morning I have a project. Day before yesterday I decided to revive and feed my sourdough starter with the intent of making bread. Yesterday I made the dough and went through the process of turning it every 30 minutes for 3 hours, then refrigerated overnight. This morning was time to cook the bread but I did not have a dutch oven so had to borrow Bill’s. His pot was a bit larger than I normally cook in so the bread didn’t rise much but did cook much more quickly! I have two nice loaves which is good and bad. Good to have, but it’s so delicious that we make sourdough toast throughout the day, slathered in butter of course!! Or even better, butter with peanut butter that melts and gets gooey. Ok, enough food porn. 

We had rain all morning until finally around noon - IT STOPPED!! Connie and I threw the doors open and said “let’s go kayaking” which we did while conditions were favorable. It was still a bit windy and cold so we were bundled up in puffies and windbreakers, beanies and gloves and boots (with our life jackets on of course), but it was still a godsend to be off the boat, outside in the crisp air, and paddling around our bay. We were hoping to paddle up the stream nearby to look for bears but the current was just too strong, and frankly the shallows crept to the surface connecting with the bottom of my kayak from time to time, so we gave up. There’s a resident Eagle in the bay who perches in the same tree every day. From time to time the local seagulls harass it into leaving but with each dive bomb the Eagle would lurch up with its beak open and try to connect with a gull, and eventually they gave up. The favorable weather continued into the late afternoon so the whole group set out on a cocktail cruise around 5:15 to get up close to the gorgeous waterfall nearby, and explore the shoreline. Still no bears. Dinner tonight was Halibut Piccata from the halibut John caught a while back, along with scratch Rice Pilaf and Caesar Salad. Bill worked magic in his galley and whipped out Tiramisu from scratch to round out the meal. We do not starve….ever. 

Our anchorage In Red Bluff Bay looking south

The most gorgeous Peaks surround us

Sourdough flatbread

Miss Connie all bundled up

Such beauty for our backdrop

I love nature's color palatte

Looking Northwest in Red Bluff Bay

Some abandoned machinery on shore

Merganser family

So happy to be off the boat!

Connie in the background

My Slo-Mo video of the waterfall