Heading North to Glacier Bay National Park

August 1-3, 2020

Our route, with Paul up and running and on the helm, takes us north through Olga and Neva Straits, offshore to Cross Sound and then back inshore and east through Icy Straits to Gustavus and Bartlett Cove at the park.

After a long first day we headed into Waterfall Cove on the Slocum Arm, Chichagoff Island for our first night. We anchored at the mouth of a river and a little while later a mama brown bear and baby came out and spent a couple hours on the beach eating grasses and turning over rocks for shellfish. There were otters and sea lions and pulsing jellyfish everywhere. It was astonishing and the silence was incredible. We couldn’t help but compare it to the wildly diverse places we have been this last year….Here the grey blue of the sea and the intense verdant green of the shores contrasted with the red rocks and turquoise blues of the Mexican coves which we were in (yesterday?) The next morning when we awoke the mama brown and baby were back and further down the cove there was another much bigger mama and two babies.

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The next night we stayed in Elfin Cove, also on Chichagof Island. Elfin Cove is perfectly named; a tiny magical community of boardwalks, colorful fishing vessels and cedar homes surrounded by vast forest and myriads of islands. In the winter the population goes down to 6, and in the summer I believe it is around 60. Far across the water we could see Brady Glacier when the mists lifted. Brady Glacier is part of the Glacier Bay Park where we are headed; the largest marine park in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site. When we arrived on Elfin Cove’s tiny dock, a few fishermen greeted us warmly. We thought they might dismiss us as yachties but they were super friendly and we spent a long time chatting with them and left the next morning with gifts of smoked salmon and giant prawns.

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As we stepped off Tomten there was a lively discussion going on amongst the fishermen and in the middle of them, a live octopus on the dock. Mat, a fisherman “parked” next to us, had hauled it in with his shrimp catch. He kept picking it up and showing it off. The octopus was changing colors rapidly and we felt so sorry for it. We navigated the conversation carefully, not wanting to encourage further demonstrations of the octopus’ abilities.

As it turned out and as he was eager for us to know the next morning, he gave it fresh sea water, waited for it to turn a deep calm shade of purple, and then released it into the ocean. He told us that while he was washing his boat down, every time he turned around it was watching him. He described the journey he imagined it would take heading back to its rocky ledge past ravenous sea lions. He also told us about the local Orca pod and the resident bull, a big old whale with particular colorings and many “wives, children and grandchildren” He told us “me and the bull have been fishing these waters together for 30 years…..”

Day 3 we motored through Icy Straits, an area south of Gustavus, to Bartlett Cove which is the entrance to Glacier Bay Park. For the first couple miles into the park speed and position of boats is carefully controlled with clear chart markings showing where you can transit due to the high number of whales present. We saw lots of humpbacks, porpoises, Stellar sea lions and hundreds of sea otters.

At peaceful and very quiet Bartlett Cove we dropped anchor and waited for Abigail to arrive the next day on her journey from Seattle- Juneau-Gustavus. Due to Covid we had the amazing opportunity to spend time in Glacier Bay with almost no other boats, notably cruise ships. It was significantly colder than Sitka close to the glaciers. As we have no heater we spent a lot of time boiling water for hot water bottles. The bathrooms at Bartlett Cove were heated and immaculately clean. We joked about having a movie night in them, not least because the tiny area around the park headquarters and bathrooms was the only source of wifi available to us.

There are lots of delightful trails around the cove even though most facilities were closed due to Covid. There is a beautiful Tlingit Meeting house, totem poles, a full skeleton of a humpback whale ( tragically killed by a cruise ship) and an ancient Tlingit handmade canoe. We spent a day reading up on the geology and history of the cove, hiking and exploring with Abigail. The mushrooms everywhere were astonishing. We were all a bit nervous about meeting bears when we got deeper into the woods and did a lot of singing. I met ( from a safe distance) a black mama bear and two babies while walking by myself. This was our first sighting of black bears as there are none on Baranof Island.

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The next day we pulled anchor and headed up Glacier Bay into the astonishingly magical park.