Spruce notes on Alaska anchorages visited June to Aug 2018 (Ground Tackle is 35Kg (30Kg plus extra lead inserted after last re-galvanising) Spade Anchor with 10mm chain)

See also the RCC Alaska Guide downloadable free from the internet.

Aleutians:
Attu: 52 48.490N: 173 09.845E between 4.1m & 5.3m at CD as we swung about, good holding & sheltered. Also anchored at 52 48.988 N:173 10.042E in 4.6m n sand/mud when wind went NE.

Kiska-Gertrude Cove: 51 55.896 N:177 27.262 E in 8.5m, good holding, well protected from Pacific swell from south and east, plenty of room, some boats have even anchored inside the wreck of the old Japanese freighter wreck.

Also just across the isthmus is Jeff Cove, a boat we know anchored in there in 2015 in westerly weather at 51 55.801N:177 28.694E.

Channels/Passes General Info!!! The passes near Little Kiska to get around to the main eastern harbour can be difficult in spring tides or with big currents between Pacific & Bering Sea. The usual wisdom is the ebb flows south and flood north, but there can be an offset of up to 2.5hrs on some passes from our experience. In general near the mountains on high islands, when the f'cast is 20kn and above, wind acceleration zones can be significantly higher, we have had 40-50kn in those situations,..so we are treating region with enormous respect when to leeward of high land.

Little Sitkin :51 57.367 N 178 27.626 E anchored in north wind, some swell entered harbour, jist untenable, if any west in wind would be untenable.

!!!Semisopochnoi Island - Beautiful views as we passed but there were horrendous squalls to leeward of the island. We had 50kn gusts in a 25kn forecast and sustained periods of gale force (mid 30s knots). Strong variable currents during spring tides (2-3kn) with wind against current and with the current during the few hours we were passing.

Kanaga: 51 42.9718 N:177 12.2487 W in 8.4m at CD sheltered.

ADAK: No Issues in Adak, no harbour master, fuel taken from fuel truck in small boat harbour at (Jun 2018) $3.45/US Gallon, berthing in smallboat hbr is free. Call "Cal" at Fuel Dock on VHF Ch 9 to arrange fuel. Don't leave boat open there are rats along dock.

Bechevin Bay 52 01.971N 175 07.463W Site of B24 crashed Liberator WW2 plane. Wind NW so some swell cam in but good anchorage

!!! Four Mountain Island was reported by a commercial fishing boat as a terrible place to pass to leeward in strong winds...expect at least 25kn more than the f'cast wind strength. We stayed 7M upwind in Bering Sea so did not test info. This view of Four Mountains was confimred by two other fishing boat skippers we later met !!!

Hot Springs cove, pos is 53 15.394N 168 22.081W we had 50+kn squalls from SE through to E and we held well in sand/mud in 9m depth,

Mailbox cove beside Mutton Cove pos 53 23.491N 167 32.370W nice & sheltered in SW. If it blew from N there is shelter in Mutton cove itself farther into inlet.

Dutch Harbor small boat harbour at 53 52.594N:166 33.042W approx $18/night plus electricity...that has a $7.50 meter read fee plus $0.50/kWhr

Alaskan Peninsula:
Bear Bay .. 55 10.505 N:162 00.818 W 8.7m at CD, bottom felt Stony but anchor held ok. No bears in bay but saw bears on headland to the south.

Volcano Bay .. 12.1 m at CD 55 13.707N 162 01.572W Thick clay and shingle superb holding, had 55kn willawaws from W-NW, probably more gusty here due to mountains than at Bear Bay. Saw bears here in the river shallows.

Zachary Bay at 55 21.821N 160 37.856W in 16.7m at CD, on a ledge that seems to be fairly level with what feels like a mud bottom. Seems good holding but only 20kn wind to test.Sea otters in bay.

Sand Point is good to stop..$23/night. Fuel at fish plant $2.97/gall.

Kupreanof Hbr 55 47.236 N:159 20.746 W in 16m good holding, a litle swell from Pacific leaked in but OK with W light winds during our stop

Also told about Chiachi island at 55 50.670 N:159 06.480W but did not stop ourselves.

Necessity Cove 16m on gravel (but felt more like mud or sand from chain)56 08.933 N 158 20.470 W we were there in NW 10kn fcast but had 25kn williwaws off mountains, some swell from Pacific, would be not good with big SE swell

Sutwick Island 56 34.962 N 157 14.183 W Sand/mud 12m OK in light WNW breeze, v strong currents and overfalls in pass to north and west.

Agripina Bay 57 06.759'N:156 28.440'W on Mud in 14.5m Sheltered enclosed anchorage apart from a shallow unnavigable opening to the sea that is open to the SE. We imagine this would be no problem unless a large SE swell was running.LOts of bears with cubs seen here.

SE corner of Puale Bay 57 42.9990 N 155 23.8793 W.10m on what felt like a Rocky bottom but when we pulled up it had soft mud on anchor. May be a layer of ooze on rock? Swell from SSE slightly leaking into anchorage but is a lovely spot Only 5-10kn wnd from E when we stopped. THis later proved Ok with 25kn of wind from NE on next day. Plenty of room for anchor to rese if it did move, ours did not.

Geographic Harbor - anchored in 14-15m on mud at 58 06.627N 154 33.869. Bear seen on adjacent beach. At far western end of harbour it is deep and suddenly shallows to less than 1m off the river. Saw bears at this beach from the dinghy and bears on the beach near to our anchorage.

Kodiak Island and Environs:
Nachalni Bay - 57 58.815'N 152 55.632'W Anchored in 7.2m excellent holding in muddy sand. Some weed on bottom but no issue.15-25kn wind from NE and a good anchorage.

Kodiak Town - St Paul's Marina (VHF 12 and 16), on a slip in the fishing boat marina. Noteworthy snippets: the harbour office charges for the days you were there not the nights ie number of nights plus one. If you connect to electricity we were told there is a $US 20 connection charge, another $20 disconnection charge plus the electricity used. We ran our own genset as were only there 4 nights ie we would use approx $2 worth of power. In Kodiak there is an AT&T phone store where a SIM card with wider coverage can be purchased. The first opportunity since arriving in Alaska.Kodiak Town has chandlery,hardware stores, and a marine engine place that can do Volvo, Yanmar and Northern Lights etc See Scott Masden at Kodiak Diesel Service Inc

Kitoi Bay - 58 11.317N : 152 21.720W Depth 18.8m at chart datum on mud, good holding. The RCC pilot guide position is now behind a net laid by the salmon hatchery.Many Brown (Grizzly) bears can be seen here, close to the anhorage and also at the salmon hatchery. The manager at the salmon hatchery, Nick, was happpy for visitors to be given a short tour. Many bear can be seen above their salmon ladder. The precise timing of maximum salmon numbers for each species will affect the number of bear seen. Many Purse Seine fishing vessels were fishing the entrance upon our arrival. It is a good idea to understand how they operate so you can avoid entanglement.

Kenai Peninsula:
Tonsina Bay - 59 18.378 N:150 56.709 W Anchored in 19m depth feels like stony bottombut holding was Ok in light winds for us. We also saw other 10-15m craft anchored in positions 59 18.300 N 150 56.980 W and 59 18.461 N:150 56.545 W. As we approached our anchor position near low water we passed over a shelf at 8-9m depth that extended SW from the big islet in the bay.

!!! Heading NE from Tonsina up the Nuka Passage the scenery in good visibility was stunnng. Glaciers and mountains with many Sea Otters !!

North West Fiord - 59 46.324N:150 02.577W Depth was 22m on clay bottom. Current flows south past island stronger than in the other direction,probably due to water emanating from the glaciers. Beautiful setting.A local charter yacht told us this is the only truly viable anchorage spot in NW Fiord. There are some small ice floes drifting past from the glacers calving. The other yacht was anchored approx 100m to the NNE of our position, deeper but also viable. There is ample room here for 4-6 craft.

Seward - Marina has transient docks with water but no power. There is a floating pontoon fuel dock (diesel and gasoline/petrol). Seward has marine chandleries, outdoor clothing suppliers and a marine engine workshop. It is a touristy town and a venue for cruise ships on most days. The Exit Glacier can be accessed by road. Most of the toursm is geared around boat trips into the glaciated fiords of the Kenai Peninsula. Many RVs are parked up along the foreshore as you approach from seaward.Call Marina on VHF Channel 17 (only low power) difficult to raise them until within 5-6 miles. There are large Steller's Sealions and Sea Otters in the harbour.

Driftwood Bay - 59 54.4846 N 149 15.2470 W. We saw a vessel on AIS anchored here. It was a 14m recreational motor vessel, during light S-SW winds, we later saw the vessel underway approaching Prince William Sound.

Prince William Sound:
Fox Farm Bay - 59 58.042 N:148 08.957W Bottom was Gravel in 10m. Excellent holding and sheltered. Many Purse Seine fishing vessels were fishing the entrance upon our arrival. It is a good idea to understand how they operate so you can avoid entanglement.

Otter Cove - 60 11.210N:148 07.779W Depth 17m, rocky bottom. Otters, Bald Eagles, Black Bear

!!! Chenega Glacier in Nassau Bay - Accessed via Icy Bay. Seals on ice floes and wonderful arctic like scenery. Note ice floes drift into Icy Bay, we only managed to penetrate to 60 14.940 N 148 21.127 W, still some 2 miles from the glacier face, due to thick distribution of ice floes, but the calving was still impressive and the wildlife impressive. !!!!

Seven Fathom Hole off Jackpot Bay - 60 21.835N:148 13.516W Depth 9.6m at chart datum. Bottom rocky but held well and good protection. There are two rocks shown in the channel as awash.We looked for these rocks on a -0.6m low tide and could not find them. There was an uncovered rock close to the left hand bank upon entering approx 8m offshore from the most protruding part of the shore. There was a rocky outcrop closer towards the right hand bank after the cove starts to widen out.Note visibility into the water was less than 1 metre. Saw Black Bears and Otters here.

Eickelburg Bay - 60 55.442 N:147 19.088W Saw a sailing vessel anchored here on AIS

Long Bay - 60 59.459N:147 16.522W Depth 10.2m at chart datum, mud excellent holding. Do not go much north of this position as the bottom shoals rapidly to drying mud. Saw a 14m Motor Vessel anchored at 60 59.334N:147 17.087W, this looked like a more protected anchorage. We saw many salmon, Black Bear on the beach to north plus many Bald Eagles.

Schrader Island - 60 57.519N:147 15.205W Saw a LOA 12m sailing vessel on AIS anchored south of Schrader Island.

!!!Columbia Glacier - Fantastic, we approached to position 61 09.200 N 147 00.807 W and the calving was impressive. We still felt swell from icebergs falling off and if e hull was touching the drifting small ice when those swells impacted it was unpleasant. A tour boat took trippers to a closer position at 61 09.585N:147 01.067W. We were close enough to see the action and launch the dinghy for some photos of our sailboat in the ice. There were clear patches of water at this position. The wind was from the north at 10-knots. There was a constanbt flow of water from the centre of the glacier with a noticeable current flowing away from the glacier. Off to the east side of this flow there was a gentle back eddy and an ice free zone. Sea otters hauled out on ice floes but very shy!!!

Jade Harbour - 60 58.159N:146 59.097W Depth 6.2m at chart datum on mud. The anchorage farther in to the east also looked OK at low tide the next morning. The single rock shown in the entrance on the chart does not appear to be at that position. On a -0.4m tide the only drying rock we saw was at position 60 58.140N:146 59.346W, this is within 20-30 metres of the south shore. Upon exit we passed over the charted poition and had 11m depth at Chart Datum. Otters and seals.

!!Tatitlek Narrows - We traversed from north to south, we crossed the shallowest point at position 60 51.983N:146 42.342W on a course of 104T and the shallowest depth found was 6.3 mtres at chart datum. The chart shows 2.4 metres. The current ran south in the narrows at 0.3-0.5kn during the flood on a spring tide at half tide !!!

Snug Corner Cove(Inner Lagoon) - 60 43.486N:146 38.004W Depth is approx 7.0m at chart datum. Bottom felt stony or rocky but it is level and anchor bit in OK...but would not be happy in windy weather. Sea Otter and ducks.

Snug Corner Cove (off the cottage on shore) - 60 43.824 N:146 39.042 W - Mud 10.5m at chart datum, anchored in 20-33kn SE and veering S wind. Good Holding. There are moorings in the bay, but room outside of them. Outside of this cove in the main bay, with strong SE winds, there are steep short waves running to seaward of the achorage.