Sincerely, Denise

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.