Tenakee Springs to Flynn Cove

We know we’ve been going on about the weather—but when it dominates every decision, it earns the airtime. Today, finally, we woke to full sun. Could this be the long-awaited shift in the pattern? Fingers crossed.

Chef Rebecca certainly brightened our morning even more. She and her family hand-delivered six cinnamon rolls (the massive kind) and a rotisserie chicken to the top of the dock. Both were incredible—highly recommend reaching out to her at chef.rwilson@gmail.com if you’re headed to Tenakee. She’s expanding her offerings, which is great news for hungry cruisers.

With sunshine, light winds, and favorable currents, we pushed on past Whitestone Harbor to anchor at Flynn Cove in Icy Strait, just west of Hoonah. The cove is open to the northwest, but with calm conditions, it was a comfortable overnight stop for our 35-ton OceanFlyer.

CALM DAY

Chatham Strait brought our first real "traffic jam" of the trip: cruise ships, fishing boats, and fellow cruisers all enjoying the break in weather. A few humpbacks made appearances along the way, and with the clouds lifting, we finally had those full 360-degree Alaska views—snow-capped peaks in every direction. It’s moments like these that remind you just how vast this state is.

Near Hoonah, two mysterious AIS targets popped up as “T.S. Buoy.” Karen kept scanning for vessels, but what we found instead were clusters of floats—three per target—laid out like the ends of a giant shrimp pot string. Possibly some sort of submerged research gear? A third AIS target showed on Marine Traffic, but we never found it. Later, we saw similar buoy clusters without any AIS signals. Curious stuff—maybe someone in Hoonah will have the scoop.

t.s. bOUY

We passed the cruise docks at Icy Strait Point, where three mega-ships had disembarked 10,000 people—ten times Hoonah’s local population. That kind of visitor volume is hard to imagine, but we’ll see it firsthand tomorrow. Tonight, though, we have Flynn Cove all to ourselves.

Well… almost. As we turned into the cove, a fleet of high-speed whale-watching boats came zipping past from the cruise docks. One captain courteously adjusted course so we could make our turn into the anchorage.

ALL ALONE IN FLYNN COVE

THE SUN BEGINS TO SET UPON FLYNN COVE

By sunset, the wind had calmed and the magic began. A large mama grizzly and her cub emerged from the treeline and spent the evening grazing and romping just off our beam. As if that weren’t enough, a group of humpbacks started feeding nearby, working a dense herring ball that drifted close to the boat. A pair of bald eagles soared in for their share.

HUMPBACK FEEDING IN FLYNN COVE

FLYNN COVE SHOWING OFF A LITTLE WITH A LONG SUNSET

GOODNIGHT

Great weather. Bears. Whales. Eagles. And even a decent sunset.
Flynn Cove served up a true Alaska classic.