Tenakee Springs

(Karen writes) We awoke to no rain, which is always a good thing. It’s certainly not sunny, but it’s clear enough and that makes for a great day in Alaska. We were ready to head off to breakfast when Sally on The Spirit of Baltonext to us came out on her aft cockpit and we chatted briefly. She invited us over to see the boat that she and Dan personally built…and we’re never ones to turn down an opportunity to see the inside of these custom boats. Boy, it was lovely. Obviously built with care and attention to detail, she was fitted with, granite counter tops and arched doorways and wonderful décor. I really liked their boat a lot.

We decided to walk up together (including Dan) to town…they wanted to explore and we wanted breakfast. The Party Time Bakery did NOT disappoint. What a great place! Bob’s biscuits and gravy and sausage were good, and my fried egg sandwich on homemade bread with ham and cheddar cheese was amazing. Bottomless cups of coffee, great artwork to peruse…what a find. Sally and Dan came back chatted a while before they headed back to the docks, wanting to take their boat across the inlet to fish for halibut. Really nice people.

 

The Party Time Bakery has something for everyone.

We headed for Snyder Mercantile, the general store. It was decently stocked and we bought some eggs, mayonnaise, and some celery and scallions. Then we headed to the fuel dock, because we desperately need fuel and Tenakee’s fuel dock is open on Saturday when we plan to depart for destinations further north. Eve runs the fuel dock, and we got to see the dock in action. Unlike the fuel docks we’re used to, this one isn’t floating…you tie up to the pilings and they lower down the fuel hose and a bucket for you to put your credit card in. The pilings are full of bolts and mess, and they do a good job of dinging your gelcoat if you are unlucky or if you fuel at low tide. Apparently, in a blow, it’s best to delay fueling to when the wind dies down. Here’s hoping that tomorrow will be calm…even if it’s forecasted to rain all day.

It's a long way down at the fuel dock

Eve is the queen of the fuel dock. She works hard and does a great job.

We learned that the ferry (the Alaskan Marine Highway) was coming today about 2:30, and we decided to walk to town to watch the ferry load and unload. We had heard that somewhere between 35 and 70 people were headed to Tenakee. We couldn’t imagine where they all would go, so we wanted to see the spectacle for ourselves.

(Bob writes)What a spectacle it was. The large hatch opens on the port bow of the ferry and people pour in to get their “Stuff” as the passengers depart with their “stuff”. The pictures tell the story, but there is all manner of supplies. Pets, ATV vehicles, fishing rods, jet skis and guitars; whatever will make the summer more enjoyable. People have to make multiple trips back into the hold to get even more “stuff”, so the traffic is two way and chaotic. How the kids and pets survive with ATVs pulling three months worth of beer and snacks up the steep incline of the loading ramp, I’ll never know. The pandemonium lasted for 30 minutes. Right on time at 3pm, the ferry pulled away with only six new passengers onboard.

Everyones line ups to unload the ferry

The parade begins.

Everything you need for Summer in one convenient package.

Proud of his brand new John Deer.

Everything and anything comes out of the hold of the LeConte Ferry

Tenakee looks downright crowed after the ferry's arrival

Perferred method of trnsportation in Tenakee Springs

After our entertaining sojourn into the reality of life in remote Tenakee Springs, we strolled back to Arctic Star. We spent the afternoon planning the next few days. Our schedule has become very fluid and we needed to firm up at lest the next two days so I would know where to plot our course.

The helicopter pad (for emergencies) and the seaplane dock at the end at water level.

Tenakee's Chapel

Tenakee Springs Post Office

The "Bus Stop" where you can exchange things you don't want for things you do.

The rules of the "Bus Stop"

After walking a couple of miles to and from Tenakee and the docks over the last two days, I'm jealous!

Our friend's house in Tenakee; it's one the uphill side of the street.

Tenakee is a dog's town, but Karen can always find a cat no matter where we go.

The docks at Tenakee viwewd from the "road" to town.

The view from the deck of a Tenakee home looking out across the channel.

Tenakee Springs viwed from the docks

I made Karen’s favorite maple-glazed curried sweet potatoes accompanied by mustard-orange glazed pork tenderloin. It satisfied cravings and we spent a quiet evening onboard, checking out the comings and goings on the docks of Tenakee Springs.

Ell Cove to Tenakee Springs

(Karen writes) We awoke to grey skies and lingering drizzle. We had decided the night before that we were going to dinghy out to the white beach and explore it a bit before we departed for Tenakee Springs. Sometime between breakfast and launching the dinghy, a green-canvased Grand Banks named Junie Moon dropped anchor in Adirondack’sold spot. We waved as we dinghied out to see what we could see. What did we see? A beehive of seiners milling about outside of Ell Cove. I guess we know now where our two cove-mates were headed at the crack of dawn! We watched them a bit as we headed for the beach, which abuts the Kasnyku waterfall.

It really is an amazing beach – long and wide and truly made of white sand, rather than the typical “Rock” beach you see in Alaska and British Columbia. We easily beached the dinghy and had a great walk, beachcombing and looking at a wide variety of barnacles and mussels and all sorts of things that are uncovered at low tide.

One of the best "beaches" we walked on this trip. Lots of things to explore, both large and small

Life clings on to everything

Beauty on the Beach

Rorschach test in the sand. Anyone esle see a chicken. 

Nature's pallette

Bob poses in front of the river

The river rushes out to the sea

Fresh water feeds to the saltwater ocean

Green grasses trive near the river's edge.

Karen holds some of her "treasures" collected from the beach

Our dinghy always looks soooo small in Alaska

We walked to the foot of the falls, and definitely felt like we were in bear territory, although we saw none (and that was fine with us). While we were out walking, the Grand Banks that had just arrived in Ell Cove departed. Wonder what he was doing?

We dinghied back to Arctic Star, and quickly weighed anchor. We had a 46 mile run to Tenakee Springs ahead of us and we wanted to get a move on. However, we didn’t expect to spend about 45 minutes weaving our way through the seiners! At one point, we counted over 60 of them, and Bob tried to take a photo of the radar picture that showed all these targets. 

The fishery if now open and everyone is here

Working our way through the fishing fleet

 They were hard at work, these seiners...setting nets by launching their tenders, and then making large (and usually counterclockwise) circles with the big boat to close them, then hauling their catch. It was a like a mad ballet, boats going every which way in various stages of setting and hauling. Just when you thought you had a clear path out, one would start to set their nets. It was fun to see and weave our way through.

 The main ship launches the tender who holds its positions as the seiner pays out the net

 The seiner makes a circles as the net is set. The net tender job looks lonely.

 The ballet of all the seiners manages somehow not to tangle all the nets

While it never got sunny, the drizzle ended and we had a nice ride up to Tenakee. We didn’t see many boats after the seiner spot. Bob and I traded off 2-hour watches to allow the other person some relaxation time. I think it took about 5+ hours to get to Tenakee. We didn’t see any interesting wildlife, just a nice Fleming cruiser headed north and a megayacht, Shadowfaxthat we followed toward Tenakee.

We have never been to Tenakee before, but heard it was a cute little town (35 year round residents) that serves as a summer destination for Juneau-ites.  There was little information about the docks or their orientation, so we just played it by ear. As we approached, we first “parked” on C dock, but after looking at a map of the docks taped to the harbormaster’s “office”, we saw that we were not located on the transient dock, so we moved to the inside of D dock. We were helped with our lines by Ed and his friend from the Pacific Pixie, a Camano Troll. Shortly after we settled in, Ed’s friends arrived on The Spirit of Balto, a custom 52 steel trawler. We helped them with their lines and then decided to go explore Tenakee after paying our moorage to Wendy, the harbormaster, as she walked the docks checking out the new arrivals.

Tenakee has no roads, just a “path” to “town” that allows passage by ATVs or bikes. It is about a ¾ mile or so into the center of town. There are lots of cabins and houses on “Tenakee” avenue.  The views are quite pretty across the inlet to a variety of little hills and mountains. The cabins vary from quite primitive to relatively new construction. It is a really cute place.

Entering Tenakee Springs

The primary attraction appears to be the sulphur hot springs in the ‘bath house’. Women and men are not allowed to bathe together – hours are clearly posted for men and for women. No bathing suits allowed. I’m sure the warm water would feel amazing. I find it funny that men’s hours are from 10pm to 9am and then again in the afternoon. I wonder if that’s because all the fishermen tie one on late in the evening and go to the springs to sober up?

The gender specific times are clearly posted. No excuses!

The place in town that attracted my attention the most is the Party Time Bakery, which looked cute. We plan to have breakfast there tomorrow. There is no cell service here, and no internet other than what may be available at the library, which isn’t open until Saturday.

The Party Time Bakery is the hub of Tenakee Springs

The public restroom in Tenakee Springs. Yes, the plumbing work as you suspect.

Karen comes down from inspecting the library at the end of the road.

Everything on the water side of the town is built on pilings

One of the original summer cottages from the early days of Tenakee Springs

Back to the boat, a grilled cheese and Canadian bacon sandwich for dinnner, and off to a good night’s sleep!

Takatz Bay to Ell Cove

(Karen writes) As forecast, we awoke to gray skies and drizzle. We lazed about, thinking about our plans for the day. We had talked about kayaking, but the weather was not inviting. We saw Lee and Dave from Sonata launch the tender to go check their crab pots. On their way, they swung by our boat to hand off a baggie full of freshly caught and cooked prawns. That was extremely nice of them!

As we had a leisurely breakfast, Sonata and Blue C’s weighed anchor and headed off for other destinations. It wasn’t long before the Seiners followed suit. And, we finally found the next episode of Alaska Reality TV. The guys on the sailboat apparently had set up camp on the islet overnight. Why? I have no idea...but 3three guys came out of the woods and hopped into a dinghy, leaving one compatriot on the islet, sitting there with no hat in the rain. Must be a guy thing?

We decided to head a few miles north to Ell Cove, which is supposed to be a well protected and attractive anchorage. It rained the whole way up, and as we entered the cove, we saw a pretty white beach just north that looked worth exploring.  A few kayakers were hauled out on the beach doing exactly that. We thought that after anchoring, we might do the same.

Ell Cove is as advertised…well protected once you turn down the 2^nd portion of the “L”. Steep to, there are no views out into Chatham Strait. You kind of feel like you are all alone in the world, as we were the only boat there.

Bob kind of wanted to launch the dinghy, but I was less excited about it, so I decided to read while he decided to make fresh bread. Keeping bread on the boat is tough – it takes up too much room in the freezer and it doesn’t fare well at room temperature. I’ve never had Bob-baked bread, so I was anticipating something pretty darned good. It took TONS of steps to make, but it turned out to be really good. No surprise there!

We really just “vegged out” all day. The rain never let up. About 5pm, the blue seiner Adirondack came in and anchored at the bend in the “L”, with a view outside. We figured that the cove was too small for anyone other than a small boat to join us now that Adirondack was there. By the time we went to bed about 10, it was just the two of us.

I awoke at 11pm to what I thought was the sound of our anchor dragging across rocks. Not a pleasant thing! So I left Bob asleep and went up to the salon to look out…and it was lit up like Manhattan at night. A second seiner had barreled in and dropped the anchor (rather noisily, I might add) behind us. He had all his lights burning, and it was blinding! OK, I knew what that sound was, so I went back to bed.

At 3:48am, more noise and motion woke both Bob and I.  We got up to take a look, and the 2^nd seiner departed Ell Cove, with Adirondack already missing. We could only imagine that some fishery opened early that morning and they both were making a beeline for the best fishing spots. Whatever it was, it did not make for a peaceful night’s sleep, so we went back to bed and slept in till about 8.

Red Bluff Bay to Takatz Bay via Warm Springs

The morning dawned to another perfectly clear and delightful weather pattern. We retrieved the anchor and set our course for Warm Springs.

Checking out the “Cascades” as we leave Red Bluff Bay

Saying goodbye again to Sonata

Warm Springs is a bit of a destination stop. The little community of Baranof is built next to a large lake-fed waterfall. It was once a source of hydroelectric power, but apparently that is no longer in service. There are a few homes and a boardwalk that extends to the actual warm springs and then on to Lake Baranof.

Waterfall, the homes and the docks at Warm Springs

The docks at Warm Springs

The boardwalk makes for a pleasant half mile walk to the lake. The warm springs are about half that distance. There is a bit of a steep portion of mountain goat climbing just off the boardwalk to get to the springs. However, it is well traveled,and Karen reports that it is worth the exertion, if for nothing else than to see the views.

If you don’t want to bathe in the natural sulfur springs, there is a public bath house just at the head of the docks where the warm springs’ water is piped in. There are three private large tubs with great views of the bay.

A beautiful view from the Warm Springs bath house

Warm Springs is popular, so finding space on either side of the 200’ float can sometimes be a challenge. The other variable is the seiner fleet, who often tie up awaiting the opening of their fishery. Today that was the case. The dock was full of rafted fishing boats (with more at anchor) with the exception of one small sail boat and two Nordhavns rafted together.

There was also a mix of fishing vessels and pleasure boats anchored in the harbor so we set off to find a more secluded place to drop the hook and then dinghy back to the dock. We went into the southern arm, but found the anchorage a bit too deep and close to the shore for our comfort, so we traversed over to Schooner Cove and found a very pleasing one-boat anchorage.

Southern Arm headwaters

We took the dinghy over to the dock, and began to explore Warm Springs. The boardwalk is well maintained and makes the walk as easy as can be. It is uphill about 400 feet over the course of the trail, but it’s very pleasant with lots of great views of the falls and the headwaters of the lake as you go. When you arrive at the lake, you’ll find a beautiful small rocky beach and perfectly clear water. It’s shallow enough for some good water romping in the shallows and relatively warm owing to its southern exposure and shallow depth.

The boardwalk at Warm Springs is well maintained

Follow the signs to the natural Warm Springs

Karen returns from checking out the Warm Springs

The lake that feeds to waterfall is pristine and well worth the walk

The shallows at the end of the trail are inviting

Karen poses along the trial to the lake

A couple of cabins with movable zip codes. Nothing is permanent in Alaska.

When we returned to the docks, the two Nordhavns had left as well as one of the seiners, whose spot was taken over by a sailboat. We walked the docks, did some snooping, and then headed back to Arctic Star. Despite liking the anchorage, we thought that Takatz Bay, about 4 miles north, might be a more interesting place to overnight, so we weighed anchor and headed off.

The Warm Springs docks as viewed from the boardwalk

Another souvenir from Warm Springs

Leaving the bay, we passed a pocket cruiser inbound to Warm Springs. I can only image the impact 80 to 100 people would be to the boardwalk and the springs. We’re glad we’re leaving…and that our experience was without the crowds.

Takatz Bay was described by Lee of Sonata as another Alpine-like and protected bay. We passed a couple of seiners anchored along the north shore of the outer bay. We headed to the inner bay at Takatz. There we found Sonata, two seiners , a sailboat (Bear Hunter) and a blue hulled Coastal Passagemaker called Blue C’s. It took awhile to find a spot among all these boats. Finally, we dropped the anchor in 60 feet of water. I almost got us in the exact middle of all the boats, but when we would swing in a certain direction, we would be within 75 yards of the seiner, Lady Jane. Not perfect, but safe.

The wind was still up, looping around the bay at about 10-15 knots. All the boats would spin on their rode and seldom would there be a majority pointing in the same direction. When I was out taking pictures from the deck of Arctic Star, I heard some gunshots. A check with the binoculars revealed that three crewmen from one the seiners were on shore and shooting who knows what. I think it was simply target practice to relieve the boredom as they waited for their fishery to open. After they left the “shooting range beach”, they motored over to a small islet that dominates the bay. Two jumped off and climbed to the top of the small islet while the remaining crewmember positioned his dinghy for a series of photos. Then the drama began. The Honda outboard would not restart. After much pulling on the starter cord, the paddles came out and were put in the water. He tried to make good his course back to the islet to rescue his companions, but the wind and ebbing current made his efforts difficult. Karen watched, glued to her binoculars. I teased her that this was “Alaskan Reality TV”, a replacement for the myriad of reality TV shows she enjoys at home.

“Take my picture”

Eventually the crewmembers were retrieved from the islet and they then rowed back to their boat.

Now we changed the channel on “Alaskan Reality TV. On another islet (that revealed itself to be attached to the shore at low tide), we spotted two dinghies tied to some trees. However, we never saw any people. The hours passed and still no sight of anyone. The dinghies were high and dry…but where were their owners?

Look closely and you'll see the dinghy, high and dry between the islets

I deduced that both must be from the nearby sailboat. The dinghy with the motor would hang from the davit at the stern and the other one, which only had oars, would be stowed on the cabin deck. As we went to bed, the dinghies remained where they were, dried on a rocky ledge. We had a running voice-over commentary of what might be going on that islet. We’ll have to wait for the next episode of Alaskan Reality TV to find out if our theories were right.

Shrimp stir-fry, with fresh caught Alaskan prawns rounded out the day

Red Bluff Bay

The sun is in control today. The skies are clear. It’s amazing. Our plan is to wait for high tide and paddle the kayaks up the river as far as we can.

Karen woke quite early, and was up at 5:30am to see what was going on in the anchorage. About 6am, a tender from the Maple Leaf sailboat was filled with 10 people and headed to shore, disappearing into a swale for some sort of hike. Karen was quite happy to be warmly ensconced in our boat, sipping on coffee and waiting for me to awake.  Not long after the tender returned to the sailboat, both it and the wooden boat Discovery headed out to find greener pastures. Given that the small sailboat “Summer Wind II” had also departed early, we had this glorious anchorage to ourselves for a while.

About 9:45am, Karen spotted a grizzly on shore, our first-ever sighting. The bear was quite camoflauged against the reddish low tide shores, but we were able to watch for a while before he disappeared at a trot up that same swale the passengers from Maple Leaf had walked a few hours earlier! And then around the corner came…Sonata!

While we waited for the flood to come in, Karen set up camp on the foredeck with her Nook and consumed a couple of more books. She is up to 33 books read so far on this trip. Only the horseflies drove her back inside.

As the tide rose, so did the winds. We launched the kayaks with 15 knots of winds quartering from our sterns with light chop in the bay. We made good courses that kept the waves quartered on the bow. This was a non-direct course, but a much better paddle. Once near the opposite shore, the relative wind and waves were astern and we paddled the entrance to the river.

The entrance to the river at the head at Red Bluff Bay

We made our way up the river, riding the flood tide for about a third the distance. Then we found the outflow from the river creating turbulence where it met the tide, so we started to paddle harder. We managed to get within 50 yards of the navigable end, when the current got the better of us. No matter our stroke, we could do no better than hold our position.

After a quick 180 degree course reversal, we joined up and rode the current out. As we approached the end of the river and the entrance to the bay, we ran into headwinds again and more chop. It was a hard paddle back to Arctic Star. We’ll chalk this up as our daily exercise session.

Our friends on Sonata arrive in Red Bluff Bay

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, looking for more bear (unsuccessfully), watching other boats come in (like the Nordic Tug Kirkwall), doing fuel calculations to determine our route options and generally enjoying the perfect weather conditions.

Dinner of Beef Bolognese over penne