Juneau to Taku Harbor

The sun was shining and the skies were bright this morning as we made our final preparations to embark on Leg 3 from Juneau to Sitka. Six new crews flew into Juneau over the past few days and eagerly boarded their boats yesterday. They spent the day getting settled onboard, doing checkouts on their vessel’s systems and provisioning for our trip over the next two weeks. After a full day of preparations, we all had the itch to get underway and start this adventure!

We gathered on the dock prior to departure for coffee, donuts and introductions. This leg we have crews from California, Washington, New York, Minnesota and Texas. Many of our crews have their own boats back home, but found it easier to charter in Alaska rather than to do the entire trip themselves. Others have extensive small boat experience, but will be experiencing this type of cruising for the first time. Already we found that we have much in common and we’re all feeling very excited for what lies ahead.

We cruised out under blue skies, with fabulous views of the coastal mountain range and the Mendenhall Glacier behind us. It was a nice calm day for the group to get accustomed to their new boats. We traveled down Stephen’s passage, passed some commercial gillnetters and trollers. A humpback whale surfaced in front of us shortly after and we slowed down to watch it cruise passed our fleet. We saw multiple deep dives with tail flukes in the air.

We arrived in Taku Harbor in the afternoon and docked six of our boats on the floating dock. Migs and Bing on Exact chose to go anchor out in the harbor for their first night out. Inspired by the large amount of commercial crab pots in the bay our crews launched their dinghies and went out to drop their own pots. Jeff, Jolie and Soleil from Thea joined us on shore for a beach walk and exploration of the abandoned cannery.

The rest of the group enjoyed the sunny afternoon from their flybridges. It was so warm that the Deception crew along with Jeff and Bing all jumped in the water, for a polar plunge. In true Minnesotan fashion, Jeff challenged the rest of the fleet to daily polar plunges. So far, only the Deception crew was foolish enough to accept the challenge! We are now looking forward to Tracy arm and our visit to the glaciers with slightly more trepidation… stay tuned to find out who the cold-water champion will be!

P.S. Is Alaska on your bucket list? We can take you there! Reserve your spot on our 2022 Mother Goose AK Flotilla today.