Lynn Canal: Connecting Disneyland North and South

June 21 (Summer Solstice)

Some of the boaters we’ve run into here in Alaska refer to Juneau as Disneyland South, and Skagway, at the tip of Lynn Canal, as Disneyland North, due to the influx of cruise ship passengers flowing into both towns. So it was only apropos that as we left Juneau to head up the Lynn Canal we should see Donald Duck swinging off the transom of this Disney cruise ship in the harbor.

We opted to avoid Skagway. Instead, we plan to spend a few days in Haines, which is 90 nautical miles north of Juneau and 14 miles south of Skagway ... on the Lynn Canal.

The Lynn Canal is 75 miles in length, making it North America’s longest fjord. Not only is it long, it’s narrow, so depending on the wind direction, the water can very quickly turn nasty with 4-6 foot waves. 

The good weather gods continued to follow us with beautiful clear weather, little wind, and spectacular views of the Mendenthal Glacier to starboard and Glacier Bay National Park to port.

We split the trip up, cruising 57 miles in slightly more than 7 hours the first day, which for us is good time thanks to a nice push from the tide. We anchored in William Henry Bay, and enjoyed a beautiful evening where the sun seemed to never set on a Summer Solstice evening.

The next morning we continued another 34 miles up the canal, but choppy waters and low hanging clouds dramatically cut back our view. We did enjoy a few whales along the way, and arrived in Haines, a cute little town wrapped around Portage Cove on the Chilkoot Inlet, before 1 p.m.