Browsing: Inside Passage

Charter
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New Slowboat Flotilla Heading to Alaska

The Slowboat Flotilla just announced that this year’s voyage up the Inside Passage will be a six-week expedition starting on May 10 in the San Juan Islands above Seattle and ending in late June in Juneau, Alaska. During that time, the flotilla will travel through some of the most beautiful cruising grounds anywhere, with majestic vistas, tumbling waterfalls, icebergs, glaciers, and the ever-present possibility of a sudden appearance of whales, eagles, and bears, among other wildlife. Announcing this year’s schedule, Laura Domela, one of the flotilla’s leaders, with her husband, Kevin Morris, wrote that the scenery and sense of adventure…

Destinations
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Poets Cove, A Gem in the Pacific Northwest

Just across the border in Canada, the marina at Poets Cove Resort & Spa on South Pender Island is a little gem of a destination in the Pacific Northwest, offering peace and quiet in a luxurious setting with some of the best sunsets you’ll ever see. It’s not a surprise that the marina, with 110 slips, is the host of some boating rendezvous; indeed, Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats owners were just there. But it’s also no secret that the marina, set well into the protected end of Bedwell Harbour, is a great stopping point for anyone in the summer…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Solar-Electric Boat Tackles Inside Passage to Alaska

A father and son team are heading 1,000 nm up the Inside Passage from Bellingham, Washington, to Juneau, Alaska, and back, on a 27-foot solar-electric boat. They say they will be on the first totally solar-electric boat to make the trip. The boat is a Solar Sal 27, built by Sam Devlin at Devlin Boat with the father and son team, David and Alex Borton; the electric power was designed by BRJ Solutions. (David is a retired professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.) The boat, named Wayward Sun, has a 4kW Torqeedo electric motor, an array of…

Cruising Life
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Cruising the Inside Passage on a Fleming 53

Here’s a great story, with lots of pictures, from Fleming Yachts, about how Anne and Bill Knorr bought a used Fleming 53 and lived their dream by cruising for 12 weeks and 3,200 nm from Anacortes, Washington, to Glacier Bay, Alaska, and back. Read Anne’s account here: For several years, two long, narrow maps have hung side-by-side in our garage, a colorful illustration of the waterways from Puget Sound to Southeast Alaska depicting the route along the Inside Passage. It has been a long-time dream of my husband and me to motor the entire passage from Anacortes, Washington, to Glacier…

Cruising Life
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B.C. Indigenous People: “Yachters Stay Home”

If you’re thinking about cruising in central British Columbia, or heading up the Inside Passage to Alaska, any time soon, you may want to change your plans. The indigenous people, who’ve lived there for 14,000 years, want you to stay away. They are worried about the spread of the coronavirus from outsiders, and they do not have the health resources to deal with it. Various indigenous communities in B.C. have imposed curfews and set up checkpoints to prevent outsiders from bringing in the virus. The Haida Nation issued a statement asking cruising people not to visit its islands. “This is…

Charter
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Northwest Explorations: Still Spots Open for Flotilla to Alaska

Northwest Explorations, the Bellingham, Washington, company that runs the legendary Mother Goose flotillas up to Alaska, just announced that it still has a few openings on its cruises this spring and summer. The reason that people, experienced skippers and those who are not so experienced, like the flotillas is that they offer safety in numbers, and they are planned, and led, by captains and crew from Northwest Explorations who have done this many times before. You cruise in a group, with planned stops every night, and excursions on shore that highlight the best of the natural beauty of this part…

Cruising Life
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Tony Fleming Cruises 1,848 nm Through British Columbia on Venture

Tony Fleming, the founder of Fleming Yachts, is one of the most accomplished cruisers we know. Aside from what he’s done on other boats throughout his career, he’s put 64,000 nm under the keel of Venture, his personal Fleming 65, starting from his homeport in Newport Beach, California, and going up to the Aleutians, down to the Galapagos, through the Panama Canal and all the way up to the St. Lawrence and back down to Annapolis. Fleming has just finished his 15th summer cruise on Venture, deciding to explore the beautiful waters of British Columbia. He started on May 27 in Sidney…

Cruising Life
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Idyll Time, a Kadey-Krogen 48, Explores Meyers Chuck, Alaska, One of the Most Remote, and Beautiful, Spots on the Inside Passage

Jeff and Susie Parker have come a long way from their home port in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Idyll Time, their 2006 Kadey-Krogen 48 North Sea Trawler. When we visited them last year, they had transported the boat to the Pacific Northwest. In May, they picked it up after some winter’s work in Sydney, British Columbia, and headed north. Now they’ve just left Meyers Chuck, a large protected cove on the Inside Passage above Ketchikan, Alaska. I’ve been there a few times, and it’s one of the most beautiful and intriguing spots in that part of the world. The only way…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Six Boats in Slowboat Flotilla Cruising Up Inside Passage to Sitka, Alaska

The annual Slowboat Flotilla is heading up the Inside Passage, expecting to reach Sitka, Alaska, around June 5. The trip up the Inside Passage, from Seattle to Alaska, is an awe-inspiring voyage, with majestic vistas of snow-capped mountains, tumbling waterfalls, deep-blue water, remote coves and the possibility of the sudden appearance of whales, eagles and bears. And then there are the open water passages where the next land to the west is across the Pacific in Asia. You can do the Inside Passage on your own, or in a group, such as the Slowboat Flotilla. I’ve done it both ways,…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

The Leopolds Cruise Their Ranger Tug 27 Up the Inside Passage  to Alaska, All Three of Them (and Moxie) By Peter A. Janssen When Mark and Peggy Leopold drove a trailer with their 27-foot Ranger Tug out of their driveway in Anacortes, Washington, on June 2, heading for the launch ramp to start their 3,000 nm round-trip to Juneau, Alaska, they left the davit crane that they usually use to lift their daughter Nicole on board behind. Instead, given the uncertainty of docks they would be encountering along the way, they brought a two-person sling, with secure straps, to carry…

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