The Gulf of Alaska coast is one of the great maritime travel routes in the nation. From the urban waterfronts of Puget Sound and lower mainland British Columbia to lush rainforests, glaciers, treeless tundra bluffs to the volcanic cones of the Aleutians, the Gulf of Alaska coast is an essential transit route for commercial vessels and a dream destination for adventurous cruisers.
With a point-to-point distance of about 2,500 nautical miles, nearly the breadth of the continental United States, and a total shoreline length of nearly ten times that, the Gulf of Alaska coast is too long, complex, and diverse to encompass in a single take. Furthermore, since the eastern third including Southeast Alaska and south is heavily traveled (mainly on relatively sheltered “inside” waters) and adequately described in literature and guidebooks, this compendium focuses on the central and western Gulf of Alaska where vessel traffic is sparser, communities fewer, and exposure to the North Pacific greater.
To read the yachting magazines you could get the impression that Alaska ends at Glacier Bay and Cape Spencer, since few recreational boaters venture beyond. But for many of the half-million Alaskans who live in mainland Alaska, for commercial fishermen, towboat crews, and others who ply their trade “west of Spencer” and for a small number of adventurous boaters, the end of the Inside Passage is just the beginning.
The Gulf of Alaska coast is a daunting destination and an intimidating barrier to transit boaters due to two characteristics: exposure to the open Pacific, and a dearth of sheltered anchorages. In particular, the 300 nm run from Graves Harbor to Hinchinbrook Island offers shelter only at Lituya Bay, Yakutat, and Icy Bay, all of which can be treacherous under less than ideal conditions.
Given the challenges, why make this arduous voyage?
- It’s the direct water route from Southeast Alaska to the rest of the state. There is no other way to get there by boat other than an offshore voyage directly across the Gulf of Alaska. (Small boats can be trailered up the Alaska Highway, put aboard an Alaska Marine Highway state ferry, or barged up, at considerable cost.)
- It’s a spectacular trip in good weather with opportunities to experience the scenery, the solitude, the geology, human history, natural history, wildlife, and excellent angling of the region first hand.