{"id":550,"date":"2006-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=550"},"modified":"2009-04-15T08:58:37","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T13:58:37","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew279","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew279\/","title":{"rendered":"Sitka to Secluded Cove"},"content":{"rendered":"
Heading back down south from Sitka to Secluded Cove – more bears!<\/div>\n

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We’re finally headed south, looking for drier, warmer weather. There are several options on how to do this, but for us the choice is easy. The "outside" route taking in the West Coasts of Baranof, Dall and Prince of Wales Islands is why we’ve come to Alaska. These present rarely visited, rugged, and beautiful coastline to explore. You could spend ten cruising seasons up here and not do it all. The trip south also is a good example of how to use modern electronics, so we’ll use it for a few examples.<\/p>\n

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Here is a section of the chart between Sitka and Necker Bay, at the head of which is Secluded Cove. We’ve been told by three separate sources that Secluded Cove is lovely to look at, has several waterfalls, and a busy (salmon-eating) bear population.<\/p>\n

There are two choices coming down. The first is to go outside of everything. This is easier navigationally, but not as much fun or interesting. <\/p>\n

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We first lay out the course on the computer in rough form – in this case using Nobeltec. The next step is to zoom in and adjust each of the waypoints. Depending on visibility, the quality of the charts, and the risk to the boat, we’ll leave more or less clearance to various obstructions. <\/p>\n

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Today we’ve got a moderate tidal range, a four foot (1.2m) swell which will help to show reefs and rocks, and fair visibility in light rain. We’re keeping a distance of 1\/8 of a nautical mile in the example above. Another habit we have gotten into is adding waypoints at each obstruction or danger point. Above there are two: the first on the red #2 bell buoy, and the second on the rock which it indicates. Each of these waypoints is a reminder to keep our eyes open.<\/p>\n

Another factor to consider is something going wrong with the engine(s), steering, or rig, which would disable the boat. If the shore is steep too with no chance of anchoring, and we are unable to control the boat, we’ll allow more sea room at obstructions.<\/p>\n

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There are a series of choke points along the inside route where one has to thread one’s way through very narrow openings. Some of these are marked, others are rough indications on the charts. The first is Dorothy Narrows. The computer normally resides on the cabinet top to port, but for tight navigation we move it next to the radar.<\/p>\n

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Both radar and charts are shown in the same format – course up (when we are offshore we often use north up). The radar at this point is offset so that we see the maximum distance ahead. It is on 1\/2 mile range (which will gradually be reduced as we get into the narrows). <\/p>\n

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The charting software is set up to show us two scales of charts. On the right hand side we see more of the general area while detail is presented on the left. We don’t as yet know if the chart is accurate. However, in this case, with three sources telling us this route is OK – and having seen fishing boats come through – we figure if we center ourselves on the radar and go slowly, we’ll be OK. <\/p>\n

Speaking of speed, we normally cruise at around 11 knots. But as we get into these choke points we’ll reduce to around 5 knots. We’ve also got a rising tide to help out, just in case.<\/p>\n

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The camera lens tends to make this look wider than reality. It is wide enough that we are totally comfortable – more than we had expected from studying the chart.<\/p>\n

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Next comes First Narrows. You can see the setup above. It is tighter than before, and from the kelp, visible just over the computer, we know that there are shallow spots below the surface on the edges.<\/p>\n

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The kelp also clearly shows up on the radar image as striations on each side of the boat. This may or may not show up on your own radar, so experiment a bit to find out.<\/p>\n

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In high latitudes kelp often marks shallows and obstructions.<\/p>\n

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We knew Second Narrows would be easy after seeing four fishing boats heading north through the pass. One of the problems with all of the charting software is there are so many options as to how to set up the display. This will give you an idea of how we’ve been using Nobeltec. One of the things we want to see is the depthfinder reading. It is shown in very large numbers at the top, so there is no missing its significance. The entire nav set up – computer, radar, and depth data – is arranged so we can quickly scan it with minimal movement of our eyes. This allows maximum viewing time ahead.<\/p>\n

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And a caveat about using radar to define shore line. With some shorelines, where there is a gradual sloping of the land to a more abrupt surface – like the trees here, or perhaps a cliff – the radar will return the target of the further, more sharply outlined target. If you are not aware of this, you may think you are some distance off land when in reality you are much closer.<\/p>\n

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If you thought the previous spots looked tight, wait till you see what is coming! The southern entrance into Secluded Cove is about 50 feet (15m) wide. We were told to make sure our booms were in or they would catch on the adjacent forest.<\/p>\n

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There are no soundings on the chart, but we’ve got good local sources who all confirm a clear passage to the inner cove.<\/p>\n

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As you can see, there is not a lot of detail on the charts. However, we knew from our local sources that staying in the middle – which means clear of the trees – would keep us in deep water.<\/p>\n

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Linda took this shot from the flying bridge. It does not do justice to the tightness – or beauty. We need to work on our photography so it gives a better feel for these situations.<\/p>\n

We came to Secluded Cove as it is reported to be a good place to watch bears, with numerous waterfalls (in addition to the fun of getting here).<\/p>\n

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There are three falls like this around us. Now, if the sun would come out, everything would be perfect. (The forecast promises a few non-rainy days next week.)<\/p>\n

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We anchored a quarter of a mile from the beach in 30 feet (9m) of water. We probably could have worked closer, but the holding was poor – it feels like a granite bench with no dirt – so we left some room to drag while getting underway, should the breeze surprise us.<\/p>\n

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The head of the bay sports a rushing river, the outflow from a nearby lake.<\/p>\n

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We took the dinghy close to shore and looped the painter around a rock. We were surrounded by hundreds of salmon heading upstream.<\/p>\n

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That’s a mom fishing with her two cubs. The cub on the right is standing up to better check us out. At this point they are 200 feet (60m) upstream from where we were tied.<\/p>\n

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We did not see the cubs catch any fish. They left that to Mom, while they played, watched her, and snuggled each other. They did help her eat the catch, and from the tits hanging down from Mom’s belly, we could see they were still suckling.<\/p>\n

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There were some shallow pools near where we were tied, and Mom came down for a look in them and a sniff of us. We made sure the outboard throttle was in neutral with the engine ready to start, and kept the dinghy painter in hand so that we could depart quickly should she decide we were a threat – or a tasty treat.<\/p>\n

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This is probably a male, as he was on his own. He was quite good at fishing. He would dip his head into the stream and come up with a salmon almost every time with minimum effort.<\/p>\n

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Take a close look at this photo. There are two families – moms each with a pair of cubs, plus the lone male to the left. That’s seven bears, all competing in one spot. They seemed to get along without even a snarl. The two families watched each other, but we never saw any interaction between the moms or cubs. The male stayed off by himself (males will kill cubs, if given the chance). We’ve read that one of the reasons the brown (grizzly) bears of Alaska get along better with humans than in the lower 48 is that they learned to live with their own kind during fishing season. The grizzly bears of the lower 48, on the other hand, are loners, highly territorial, with a tendency towards mean disposition. Just like some people we know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heading back down south from Sitka to Secluded Cove – more bears!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}