The sole purpose of CruiseKodiak.com is to promote Kodiak as a cruising destination. This Web site is not to be considered advice from the City of Kodiak for planning or navigating your trip. The information is meant to provide general assistance, and assist in connecting with resources that may be helpful if you decide to come to Kodiak. As with any voyage by boat, you are responsible for your own safety. Please take all precautions and exercise good seamanship when traveling to and around Kodiak.
Kodiak Hospitality
Kodiak’s biggest attraction is that it is off the beaten path—a largely undiscovered natural paradise—and therefore a fair distance from where you live and keep your boat. Because it is a long journey for some, we often winter over boats in our marina from one summer to the next. The weather is maritime and the harbor is quite safe for mooring your boat.
Or, you can visit us and return the same summer. Air travel is easy, with a good number of flights into Kodiak. Leave your boat in the harbor here and fly in and out—that way you can mix in superb boating with other things you have to do.
The City of Kodiak is home to 10,000 friendly inhabitants, and has virtually everything you need for hospitality, boatyard maintenance, and a cruising experience of a lifetime. To see more about our town, go to www.kodiak.org.
Here’s how to contact harbormasters in Alaska ports:
Homer: Brian Hawkins, 907 235-3160, port@ci.homer.ak.us
Juneau: Phil Benner, 907 586-0292, Phil_Benner@ci.juneau.ak.us
Ketchikan: Steve Corperon, 907 228-5632, STEVEC1@city.ketchikan.ak.us
Kodiak: Marty Owen, Harbormaster, mowen@city.kodiak.ak.us
Petersberg: Jim Stromdahl, 907 235-3160, harbor01@aptalaska.net.
Seward: Kerri Anderson, 907 224-3138, kanderson@cityofseward.net
Sitka: Ray Majeski, 907 747-3439, ray@cityofsitka.com
Wrangell: Greg Meissner, 907 874-3736, harbor@wrangell.com
How to Get to Kodiak from the US West Coast
Cruising the Inside Passage
From Seattle or Vancouver the Inside Passage offers an incredible boating experience along the way to Kodiak. Visit the ports of Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau, and enjoy the pleasures of solitude in this vast scenic waterway. There are many guidebooks available. A good resource is the publications of Fine Edge Publishing at www.fineedge.com. It’s headed by Mark Bunzell who has cruised and written about Kodiak in Northwest Yachting, and he has wonderfully detailed cruising guides you will find indispensable. Once in Southeast Alaska, you will enjoy going north to famed Glacier Bay. Don’t forget to take your camera in your dinghy and photograph your boat in front of a massive wall of ice.
The passage from Cape Spencer to Kodiak can be made as a rhumb line transit direct to Kodiak or as a scenic cruise generally following the coastline of the Gulf of Alaska.
Taking the Direct Rhumb Line Route from the Inside Passage
From Juneau, Sitka or Glacier Bay you head out of Icy Straights past Cape Spencer and cross the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak. Our best weather months are May through September and they happen to be the best months for fishing as well. Weather in the Gulf can change abruptly in winter, but in summer conditions are benign steady and more predictable.
The distance to Kodiak is less than 600 nautical miles. About three days in an eight-knot trawler The trip is made easier because the hours of daylight are very long this time of year. The island of Kodiak is hard to miss. Kodiak is America’s second largest island, slightly smaller than the big island in Hawaii
The Coastal Route with Ports of Refuge
Unless vessels are on a commercial voyage or otherwise constrained by time the coastal route should be considered. The coastal route generally follows the coastline north and west from Cape Spencer to Cape St. Elias on the Southern tip of Kayak Island. Ports along this segment of the route include Lituya Bay, Yakutat Bay and Icy Bay. Except for Lituya Bay these refuge ports can be entered in moderately bad weather.
From Cape St. Elias a diversion can be made into Prince William Sound through Hinchinbrook Entrance. From here side trips can be made to Cordova, Valdez, Whittier and a myriad of fiords and glaciers. Upon departing Prince William Sound through one of the Western Entrances, Resurrection Bay with the Port of Seward at its northern end is a relatively short trip.
The passage from Seward to Kodiak can be made as a single leg or as a scenic cruise through the various passages along the eastern coast of the Kenai Peninsula. If time permits side trips can be made into the southern end of Cook Inlet with stops at Homer, Seldovia and Halibut Cove.
Upon arriving at Kodiak Harbor a wide variety of options are available for cruising among islands in the Kodiak Island Group. For those with sufficient time and a sense of adventure Geographic Harbor and Chignik on the eastern coast of the Alaska Peninsula together with various ports and bays within the Shumagin Islands can be included in your voyage plan."
[suggestions for the Coastal Route were contributed by Jim Wright, a professional marine pilot. CruiseKodiak.com wishes to thank Jim for his help in writing this section of Trip Planning.]
Direct from Anywhere
From the US West Coast, it is not necessary to go through the inside passage. A larger vessel, especially those with a professional captain and crew, can easily go outside Vancouver Island and sail a more open ocean route to Kodiak. We have had boats arrive in Kodiak from all directions. The S/V Chimera came in 2008 from Australia via Japan, and in the same year, Geraldine transited the Northwest Passage from Maine.
Barging to Kodiak
Sampson Tug and Barge in Seattle makes regular trips to Kodiak and can load pleasure boats for transport. The size of boat is limited by the crane equipment in Kodiak. Kodiak is near completion on a large commercial boatyard with a 660-ton mobile boat lift that will accommodate vessels up to 180 feet, but that equipment is for lifting boats already in the water. For removing a boat from a barge, the 150-ton crane in Kodiak is used, but for practical purposes a 35-ton boat or less is advised. Also, once lifted, the boat has to be turned, so the length limit is about 45 ßfeet.
Transporting to Kodiak by Submersible Ship
We are in discussions with Dockwise Yacht Transport to ensure the feasibility of forming a group of yachts to go to Kodiak. The submersible vessel system is preferred if available for pleasure boats, because it is kinder to the boat than craning on and off of barges. The largest boat that can be carried on their ships is xx feet. For information about this system, go to www.yacht-transport.com
For this to happen, a group of boats would have to be consolidated for the trip. The company does not routinely go to Alaska, and the Kodiak-bound vessel owners would have to be numerous enough to make the trip affordable to each. If you are interested, call Marty Owen at 907 486-8080 and he will put your name on a list that will be made available to all interested parties.
