Alaska 2016 | Day 82 | Baker Cove to Klag Bay

After our now-customary group breakfast aboard Safe Harbour, we unrafted and headed south towards Klag Bay.

The inside route from Baker Cove to Klag Bay is easy but requires careful navigation. Several sections, like Surveyor Passage, are narrow and relatively shallow, but currents don’t run strongly and the hazards are charted. Navigating these intricate passages is a lot of fun—much better than just steering a straight line for eight hours.

A typical scene from today

Klag Bay is the site of the old Chichagof mine, where miners extracted over $14,000,000 in gold and silver beginning in 1906. The mine has long since closed, but several collapsing structures and rusting metal bits remain. It’s a great place to explore by foot (or drone).

The old mine site from the drone

Another aerial

And another

Safe Harbour anchored at the head of Klag Bay 

Abandoned building at the mine site

Fresh salmon head. Where's the bear?

Klag Bay is about three miles long. It connects to similarly sized Lake Anna, which then connects to Sister Lake. Anna and I just had to explore “her” lake, so we took the dinghy on a couple-hour-long expedition. Just inside of Lake Anna we spotted a group of sea lions. I stopped the dinghy and we watched them come closer and closer…they’re huge! Anyone know if they attack dinghies?!?

Sea lions!

Lake Anna and Sister Lake are both beautiful, but the charts aren’t accurate. Going from Lake Anna to Sister Lake the Navionics showed I was on land! The entrance channels had several knots of current.

Looking into Sister Lake from Lake Anna

Tomorrow we’re going to try and find a place called “Radioville,” then head south into the Gulf of Alaska, then anchor for the night in Kalinin Bay.

18.5 nm today

2190.08 nm total