Cruising Alaska

Hello- does anyone recommend a particular cruising guide to Alaska? I've been told the Don Douglass book is one of the best. I'll be floating a 55' trawler up to Juneau and back south this summer. Many tha ks

AFIK, Douglass is the only comprehensive guide to SE Alaska. Tons of information on anchorages. It doesn't describe every single one, but the vast majority - far more than any other pub I'm aware of.

Douglass guides to the north coast and south coast of BC are also good, but there are alternatives for BC. Wagonner and Dreamspeaker come to mind.

Start with he Waggoner, then get the "Best anchorages of the Ins Passage" by Anne Vipond and William Kelly. We are going this summer. We also are using "The Inside Passage Route Planning Map" North and South.


http://waggonerguide.com/

I haven't seen anything to compare to Hemingway's guides.

Waggoner's guides are extremely biased to marina's and city floats. The old Waggoner guides even alluded to the personalities of dock attendants more than anchorages. But I use them both quite a lot. Probably not still in print but if one can be found "Charlie's Charts" can be very helpful.

DonDouglas and Rene Hemingway

Same guides, Exploring The Inside Passage.
They also have large, like a scroll, chart that is very useful for planning.

I recommend the U.S. coast pilot and the BC equivalent. They are not crusing guides but are descriptive of the waters, bays and dangers.

I have the Douglass book and it is somewhat dated. I generally use Active Captain and the Coast Pilot and access them through Coastal Explorer. The information is more current and contains notes from people who have actually been there recently.

Tom

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

We also are using "The Inside Passage Route Planning Map" North and South.

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Is an updated version of this available anywhere?

tpbrady said:

I have the Douglass book and it is somewhat dated. I generally use Active Captain and the Coast Pilot and access them through Coastal Explorer. The information is more current and contains notes from people who have actually been there recently.

Tom

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This is my experience too. Douglass is good to have, but dated. AC is more up to date.

BTW, the Waggoner guides only cover BS, not Southeast AK.

Another good publication is Kevin Monahan's Ports and Passes which includes tides and current for BC and SE AK. Be sure the get the 2016 edition as it's the first to cover AK.

The other Monahan book is Local Knowledge which covers all the tricky parts of BC.

QB said:

Is an updated version of this available anywhere?

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Mine are the 2006 version

twistedtree said:

BTW, the Waggoner guides only cover BS, not Southeast AK.

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Holy crap batman! I just pulled out my 2016 Waggoner and it doesn't cover SE Alaska. Oh Oh. Is there a guide for SE Alaska?

Douglass - Exploring Southeast Alaska, second edition.
(it even includes a pic of our dog, in her raincoat)

Active Captain, which describes some anchorages not mentioned in Douglass, and has some more recent comments.

And, if you like, I could email my personal anchorage lists (more than 400, most of which we have used, from the San Juans to Glacier Bay)

For route planning, I like to use my anchorage lists, and in SE AK this foldout map, which also includes handy city maps:

SE Alaska Inside Passage

Re the course taken to Ketchikan from WA there is a deviation that I always make. From Alert Bay I cross QC Strait to the east side. Sometimes over to the Broughton Is However frequently I go more or less north north west up to the NE corner of QC Strait in an all day run diagonally up the length of Queen Charolette Strait To Allison Harbour or perhaps Miles Inlet. I like the anchorages, reduced traffic and missing the bottleneck at Bull Harbour.

Taking the back channel behind Ivory and Cecilia Islands is the most popular route just out of Bella Bella and Shearwater avoiding the worst of it if Milbanke Sound is rough. When it is rough the northbound ferries turn slightly left entering Milbanke and after a bit do a 180 to minimize the time spent a-beam to the SW seas. Then it's stern seas right up Finlayson Channel and Frezer Reach. perhaps the best of the waterfalls along the shore.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Holy crap batman! I just pulled out my 2016 Waggoner and it doesn't cover SE Alaska. Oh Oh. Is there a guide for SE Alaska?

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Douglass is pretty much it for printed guides. But between that and AC we made out just fine.

Well then, I'd suggest obtaining several guides.

Mark,
Yes.
For this trip as many as you can find. They are all very different re the information they contain. We use mostly (closser to 60% .. not 90%) the Hemingway guides but the Waggoner guide will be out and ready .. not stowed. And you'll soon know what guide has the info you want .. hence the one to reach for.
For example Waggoner will tell you all about the services at Shearwater but little or nothing about a nice anchorage nearby called Wigham Cove.