Around Admiralty

Our journey begins at 10:00 am at Aurora Harbor. After departing the harbor, we'll cruise south through Gastineau Channel. We’ll enter Stephens Passage and circle Douglas Island, heading north to Mansfield Peninsula, the northern point of Admiralty Island.

Admiralty Island is a vast wilderness and a National Monument. We'll continue around the point and turn south, entering Chatham Strait. Our destination this evening is Funter Bay, on the northwest coast of Admiralty Island. 

We’ll depart Funter Bay and continue south in Chatham Strait. Our destination is Pavlov Harbor, nestled within Freshwater Bay on the southeast coast of Chichagof Island. Pavlov Harbor is not expansive but is an excellent location for viewing brown bears.

By mid-afternoon, we’ll head into Tenakee Inlet and visit the quaint community of Tenakee Springs. Our destination this evening is Corner Bay—just past Kadashan Bay.

We’re quickly underway, and we’ll arrive at Warm Springs Bay by mid-afternoon. A natural hot spring is located slightly above a powerful rushing waterfall. Baranof is a small boardwalk community within Warm Springs Bay, located below Baranof Lake and the Baranof River.

The dock usually has a dozen or more fishing boats and sailing boats tied up, and nearby are the boardwalk, the hot tubs, and Baranof Falls.

We’re underway around 8:00 am, with a short journey past Red Bluff Bay, which features a high ridge on Baranof Island's eastern coast. This evening’s destination is Pybus Bay.

We’ll cross Chatham Strait and continue east through Frederick Sound. We’ll cruise past Murder Cove and beautiful Chapin Bay along the southern shore of Admiralty Island. We expect to arrive at our anchorage in Pybus Bay by late afternoon and then we'll prepare for a short hike before dinner.

We have a long transit today to Ford’s Terror. Along our route, we'll pause to observe a colony of Stellar sea lions crowded onto the rocks of The Brothers Islands, a short sail from Pybus Bay.

We’re soon cruising again toward the entrance to Ford’s Terror Wilderness. Two fjords comprise the wilderness area—Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm. We plan to visit both.

We’ll arrive at Wood Spit at slack tide and proceed through the entrance of Endicott Arm. We’ll pass the Sumdum Islands and settle into a small cove near Ford's Terror, surrounded by massive ridges cloaked in mist-covered rainforest.

An early morning departure takes us deep into the Endicott Arm, a narrow fjord that twists and turns through towering mountains. Waterfalls cascade thousands of feet off the granite mountains, and sapphire-blue icebergs serenely float in the murky blue-green water.

We'll continue to the Dawes Glacier at the ice-choked fjord's end. After lingering for an hour or more, we’ll reverse directions. We'll proceed through the entry to Ford's Terror, one of the most spectacular destinations in Alaska.

Then we’ll sail toward Sanford Cove, the site of a beautiful waterfall near the Sumdum Islands. We’ll drop anchor around 8:00 pm.

We’re underway early, cruising into Tracy Arm, a narrow fjord that winds through towering mountains. We'll continue toward the Sawyer Glacier at the ice-choked fjord's end.

This glacier is more massive than the Dawes Glacier. Soon it’s time to turn back toward civilization. Our evening destination is Taku Harbor State Marine Park, a natural, bowl-shaped harbor once home to a significant salmon cannery.

The 700-acre Marine Park is located on the eastern shore of Stephens Passage, 22 miles southeast of Juneau. The harbor is an anchorage for commercial fishing boats and small tour ships. 

Our eight-day adventure concludes today. This morning we’ll cruise back to the comforts of beautiful Juneau. We'll head north through Stephens Passage and will be docking right where we started, at Aurora Harbor in downtown Juneau. We plan to arrive around noon.