On a rare clear day the lower end of Chugach Passage affords a view of the Barren Islands to the southwest and all the way to Mount Douglas and Fourpeaked Volcano behind Cape Douglas some 75 miles to the west. Fourpeaked is an active volcano that has erupted in recent years. Even in midsummer the mountains are snow-covered.
Chugach Bay is the last option for shelter before entering the often turbulent Chugach Passage. The northern branch offers indifferent fair-weather anchorage at its head, and is exposed to wave action off the gulf and the low pass through the mountains can funnel wind. The main (western) branch is exposed to the east and at times experiences strong westerly flow through the pass, but has good holding bottom and offers plenty of swinging room with a scenic backdrop of 2,200 foot peaks. Stay alert for submerged or wash rocks north and south of the center of the bay as well as in the middle.
The lands surrounding Rocky Bay, Windy Bay, and Chugach Bay, from the east side of the Rocky River to the south side of Chugach Bay, plus East Chugach Island, are owned by the Port Graham Corporation.
On departing Chugach Bay for the west, most mariners take the L-shaped Chugach Passage, which runs west-southwest and then north-northeast between the mainland and the three outlying islands known as East Chugach, Perl, and Elizabeth. It is possible to pass on the seaward side of the islands but the vigorous tidal currents combined with ocean swell and wind make the outside route just as potentially unpleasant, and longer. The pass is locally notorious because currents kick up formidable tide rips, particularly on spring tides and when winds are contrary. Though the tidal range at Port Chatham is only 14.3 feet, it is 29 feet at Anchorage, 175 miles to the north, and an immense volume of water surges in and out of the lower inlet twice each day. The tidal current effect is evident as far east as the entrance to Rocky Bay and continues past Port Chatham and into Cook Inlet. In the eastern part of the pass, between East Chugach and the mainland, the flood maxes at 3.1-3.4 knots in a direction of 345 degrees, and the ebb 3.4-3.6 knots. At the northern end of the passage, near Port Chatham, the current on the flood reaches an average of 3 knots, with 1.6-1.8 knots on the ebb. Biggest tide rips occur in the area near the bend in the passage northwest of Perl, particularly on an ebb during easterly weather. That’s not to say that Chugach Passage has to be feared; it can be transited quickly and easily if the mariner pays attention to the weather and timing of the tide and runs through with a favorable current. The flow is not a single velocity and direction but a weave of constantly changing currents and by watching wave heights and shapes it is possible to shift course from side to side to find a band of calmer water. A small boat can even lay in the shallow bight in the east side of Elizabeth Island, out of the current and a west or southwest wind if necessary to make repairs or wait out a tide change.
Both Elizabeth and Perl have developments, or at least the remains of development, on their northwest shores. A conspicuous gravel bar projecting from the northwest corner of Perl shields a 6 fathom bight from southwest weather, but watch out for two wash rocks off its north end. A road there leads up to structures that comprised a lodge development. Likewise, a short sandspit on the northwest shore of Elizabeth provides some protection for a landing beach providing access to a road leading to a group of buildings. All are private property and probably not currently inhabited, but they could provide emergency shelter.
Remains of a long-abandoned chromium mine can be found on the southwest shore of Chrome Bay.
A lighted red buoy marks the turning point in the passage, and a lighted green buoy marks the north end providing adequate clearance of the sandspit and rocks lying off the northeast point of Elizabeth Island. At the north end of the passage, just beyond the green buoy, are two bays. Chrome Bay is the smaller of the two, lying north and slightly west of the buoy, a scenic and comfortable spot to wait out the tide and most weathers. Evidence of logging and mining for chromium is still visible above the shores, and a tidal inlet off the west side known as Clam Cove is home to a collection of yurts comprising a sport fishing camp. An abandoned mineshaft lies facing the cove on the hillside between the fishing camp and Kelp Point at the south entrance to Chrome Bay.
Little remains of once-thriving community of Portlock other than some rusting machinery on the beach and collapsing ruins of cabins in the woods. The uplands are privately owned and visitors are advised to limit their viewing to the beaches.
The larger of the two inlets, to the northeast of the green buoy, is Port Chatham, a complex of islands, channels, rocks, and protected coves. The inlet once supported logging, fish processing, and mining, and the remnants of clear-cuts and long abandoned roads are still visible on the mountainsides. The normal approach is between the north side of Chatham Island and a green can that marks a rock roughly mid-channel, but it is also possible for a small vessel to pass, cautiously, east of Chatham Island. A few remains of the ghost town called Portlock lie on the west- and north-facing shores just to the east of Chatham Island. Portlock was named for Nathaniel Portlock, the British Royal Navy and commercial trading company ship captain who first visited in 1786. The community, inhabited mainly by people of mixed Russian-Alutiiq heritage who fished or worked in the cannery, was important enough to have a post office from 1921 to 1950, but now the beach is strewn with rusting relics of machinery. A few decaying houses are still visible in the forest behind, but the cannery dock seems to be gone. In the north central part of the inlet east of Portlock, a long partially forested gravel spit extends from the north shore and forms a tidal lagoon behind; ruins of structures and equipment still litter the beach on the lagoon side and three tall poles stand out like limbless trees that appear to have been placed there to anchor blocks and cables for moving barges or other devices. The basin south and east of the spit, in 12 fathoms, is the best anchoring ground and has a mooring buoy used by Coast Guard cutters. To the northeast and southeast lie a couple of protected bights headed by tidal lagoons. Williwaws swirl through the inlet and much of the bottom is rocky, requiring careful anchoring. The chart indicates that an old trail connects the east end of Port Chatham with Windy Bay and points beyond.
Tides: From Port Chatham to Homer use corrections off the Seldovia District projections in your tide book.
Notes
Sportfishing charter boats make the long run from Homer or Seldovia to fish open sea waters off Port Dick and Gore Point.
The confluence of the Alaska Coastal Current and the nutrient rich waters of Cook Inlet, combined with swift tides and irregular bottoms, make the area biologically rich. Harbor seals and Steller sea lions haul out on rocks on the seaward sides of the islands, tens of thousands of seabirds frequent the area for feeding or nesting on cliffs, and the waters frequently yield sightings of humpback, fin, and killer whales. Charter fishing boats from Homer and Seldovia make the arduous daily run to the grounds outside the three islands to fill anglers’ limits of halibut, salmon, and lingcod.
Don’t bother diving for oysters around Perl Island. It was named for Perl D. Blodgett, who established a fox farm there around the time of the First World War. He was an entrepreneur in the fields of fur, fish, and marine transportation, and there is another island named for him off Kodiak.
Virtually the entire mainland coast, from the west end of Chugach Bay to the entrance of Port Graham, and most of the interior between the two, are owned by the English Bay Corporation. This includes the uplands above mean high tide at Port Chatham, Koyuktolik, and Nanwalek. Some private inholdings lie along the shore of the bay at Port Graham, and the remainder of the lands from the village of Port Graham to the west side of Seldovia Bay belong to the Port Graham Corporation. The State of Alaska owns most of Perl and Elizabeth Islands and a 6 mile stretch of mainland shoreline on the north side of Chugach Passage.
Few people remain in the area who can account for the abrupt, near-total abandonment of Portlock in 1949, leading to closure of the post office in 1950. Most who left resettled in English Bay (now Nanwalek) or Port Graham, and at least a few of them attribute the move to a series of bizarre incidents in the late 1940s and earlier concerning the man/creature known locally as Nantiinaq, the equivalent of Sasquatch or Bigfoot. According to local oral history, numerous deaths, disappearances, and frightening encounters experienced by residents of Portlock and the nearby, now-abandoned village of Port Chatham, caused residents to move out en masse, leaving behind homes and any belongings not portable. After residents relocated, reports of Nantiinaq encounters nearly ceased, but not entirely. At least a few sightings of tall, furry apelike creatures or corresponding tracks have been reported in the years since, and other visitors to the shores of Port Chatham or nearby Dogfish Bay have reported hearing nighttime footsteps around camp or other eerie sensations.