2026-02-13 Marguerite Bay Trip

After weeks of research on Jan 30th the mechanic and his young and strong able-bodied helper successfully swapped out my batteries, so I was operational again!

My plan was to pull out right at daylight for this trip, which was about 7 AM.

I did all the steps on my pre-trip checklist and was just in the process of untying the last of the mooring lines when I noticed water pumping out from one of the bilge pump ports. That shouldn't be happening and it required immediate investigation before pulling out.

To make a long story short, I eventually discovered that all 60 gallons of freshwater that I had on board was now gone, apparently dumped into the bilge and then pumped out by my bilge pumps. I used the water hose and put another approximately 30 gallons in the tanks, but when I got to my destination, I discovered that it too was now gone. So, another maintenance issue. I suspect that in the process of wrestling the old batteries out and the new batteries in, the plastic freshwater tanks were cracked, although I was unable to see any cracks.

This issue was not enough to cause me to abort the trip, but it did delay my departure for about an hour. I have made trips before with no freshwater. It's a pain for sure, but since I was alone with no quests (other than my dog Nova) I decided to continue with the planned adventure. The weather was just too good to sit at home.

I ended up pulling out at about 7:45 AM in stunningly good weather.

Here is a map snippet of my route out and back to Marguerite Bay. Marguerite Bay is in Traitors Cove, which is just a few miles North of the Naha in Western Behm Canal.

It's about 26 nm one way to get out there from Bar Harbor in town.

On the way out there the mid bilge pump indicator light stayed on constantly. I thought it was stuck so I just ignored it. But it was actually pumping out the 30+ gallons of water that I had loaded in right before I pulled out.

The weather was very good, and it is easy to get complacent and rely on the auto pilot. But logs like this have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, even on a good day. So, it behooves the prudent mariner to stay alert and avoid these trip ending obstacles in the water.

I stopped briefly in the entrance to Clover Pass and completed the final preparation and baiting of my 2 shrimp pots. I intended to dump them in Traitors Cove before making the turn into Marguerite Bay, so I wanted them to be fully ready to drop when I entered Traitors.

I arrived at Traitors Cove with no issues a little before 11 AM and I dropped the shrimp pots in about 300' of water.

When I got up a little further, I could see the USFS dock through my binoculars. At this time of year, I sort of expected it to be completely empty, however it appeared to be completely full, which was very disappointing. I had been looking forward to having a fire on the dock that night and I can't do that if I am on the mooring buoy or on the anchor. Plus, I had Nova with me, and it is much more difficult to take her for walks if I am not tied up to the dock.

But it is what it is, so I proceeded into the bay slowly. There is a mooring buoy off to the left of the dock in a little cove, but you can't see it until you get much closer. So, I prepared my lines on the assumption that the mooring buoy was indeed open and motored in slowly. As it turned out the mooring buoy was open and so I got secured to that at about 11:10 AM, still in stunningly beautiful weather.

I immediately deployed the raft as quickly as I could so that I could get Nova to shore.

When I took Nova to the dock I saw why the dock appeared so full. There was a big Amak Towing tug named the Poseidon tied to the front of the main dock. He was so long that his front section concealed the fact that the slip on that side of the dock was actually open, but I couldn't see that from out on the water. Additionally on the side float, there were 2 boats tied together, side by side. One was an old trawler about 38' long, and the other was a newer, sleeker North River metal boat with 2 very large outboards. I don't know why they were tied together.

In any case when I got to the boat in the raft I decided to unhook from the mooring buoy and move into that slip on the side of the main float. But as I approached the dock very slowly, the two boats that were tied together pulled away. I signaled to them to ask if they were coming back and they signaled back that it was OK for me to move in and tie up where they had been tied. So, that's what I did, and we ended up with the side float to ourselves. Excellent! Much easier to walk Nova now.

The Poseidon had a small barge named the "Marleen" tied to her starboard side, not visible in this photo.

A beautiful location in which to spend some time. I consider myself so very privileged to have the means and the time and to still be healthy enough to come out here and enjoy the beautiful Alaska wilderness.

After a late but enjoyable lunch on board I took Nova up the road for some off leash time for her. She really enjoys it. It is a bit of a risk as I always worry that she will run off into the woods after a squirrel or a bird and that I will never see her again. But, for the most part she stays on the gravel logging road. When she strays off to the sides, I yell at her and she comes back to the road. I always carry a pocket full of dog treats and she knows it. So, from time to time I call her back to me for a treat, and sometimes she just comes back to me on her own.

Here are a couple of shots of the USFS camp which is just a short way up the road from the dock. The shipping container is new, in that it wasn't here the last time I came out. I don't know its purpose or function.

A little further up the road and off to the right there is a large landing area. Barges can come in here and load and unload heavy equipment, vehicles, building supplies, etc. On this visit there was a large supply of building materials stored here. At first, I did not know what they were for. But later on, when I spoke to a guy on the dock he told me that the bear and fish viewing platform that is about a mile or so up the road had been completely taken down. So, I assume all these building materials are for rebuilding that viewing platform. That is a very popular tourist attraction for a short time in late summer when the fish are in the creek and the bears come to feed on them.

Looks like soldiers lined up ready for battle!

After giving Nova a run, I spent some time on board doing some laptop work that needed to get done. It was a very sunny afternoon, and the sun streamed in the back door to the cabin. The back door has glass panels that have the logo "Mainship Trawlers" on them. The sun came through at just the right angle to project that lettering onto the ceiling of the cabin.

As it got closer to sunset, 5 PM at this time of year, the guys from the tug Poseidon returned. They hand-lined the barge around from their starboard side to the open slip on that side of the dock. They were quite skillful with their line handling. The barge looked to be quite heavy, even though there was nothing on it.

As soon as they got the barge tied up, they fired up and pulled out, just before dark.

In the late afternoon a small sailboat motored slowly into the cove and went over to the mooring buoy and got tied up. I put the binoculars on him and saw that he was preparing a rubber raft to come to shore. He came in with two lively dogs, and we had a nice chat before they went up the logging road to stretch their legs.

This is a closer look at his raft. He had a little electric motor to power it, thus the need for the battery.

Here are a few scenic shots of the area taken mostly in the afternoon and early evening before it got dark.

When the Poseidon left suddenly the dock that seemed too full for me when I arrived was now empty and I had it to myself for the evening. After a quick dinner on board, I set up the fire pit on the dock next to the boat and had a wonderful fire right there. I like to be close enough to the boat so that Nova can see me and doesn't get anxious. She is too unruly for me to allow her to just roam the dock while I am at the fire. She just gets into mischief.

Nova and I had a quiet night. The temperature on the back deck went down to 32 overnight but inside the cabin it was a balmy 55. My diesel furnace seems to be working quite well so far this winter. I had brought along a propane heater as a backup but ended up not needing it.

In the morning, I busied myself with cleaning up the fire pit and getting the gear ready to haul the shrimp pots when we left. I also took the raft out and pulled the crab pots that I had set previously not far from the dock.

I got several crabs in each of the 2 pots that I set but due to size restrictions I was only able to keep 6 crabs in all. I put sea water in the cooler on the back deck and put them in there for the trip home.

When I pulled my two shrimp pots I only got about a dozen shrimp in all, which was very disappointing. I don't seem to be very good at catching shrimp.

The ride home was uneventful. The water in Western Behm Canal was glassy flat.

Even though the water was very calm there were still areas with lots of debris. We went through one of those areas and a couple of chunks of debris hit the hull and I think that scared Nova. She usually hangs out either on the couch or in her doggy bed on the floor when we are underway. I lost track of her for a bit and then found her on the galley floor, where I've never seen her go before. And then right after that she moved up to the floor of the forward berth area.

Only one more photo to share. You never know what to expect when you're out on the water. I was about 8 miles from town, and I saw this odd craft crossing over from Gravina Island where the airport is, to Revilla island, where Ketchikan is. At first, I could not figure out what it was, so I just started snapping photos with the telephoto lens on my camera. As I got closer, I realized that it was a catamaran with at least one and possibly two kayaks lashed on board, and a lot of gear and junk along with the kayaks. Weird.

I had contacted a couple of my buddies to meet me down at my slip so they could take some crabs. I never freeze crab. If I get more than my daughter and I can eat, then I just give it away to friends. It's very helpful to have someone there to catch my lines when I come into the slip.

I got into the slip right at 4 PM, about an hour before dark.

Total mileage for this trip was about 56 nm.

Now I have to deal with the freshwater issue ...ugh!