Harbour

Tenakee Springs

Name: Tenakee Springs
Address: Tenakee Springs, US

Tenakee Springs, United StatesAlaska

Type: Harbour

Small community harbour on the east shore of Chichagof Island in Tenakee Inlet, southeast Alaska, 45 NM south-west of Juneau on the Inside Passage.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Enter Tenakee Inlet from Chatham Strait and run 16 NM west-south-west to the village. The harbour lies 1 km west of the city centre, behind a floating breakwater that breaks the main fetch but does not stop a swell on the long westerly fetch of the inlet. No tidal entry constraint.

Practical

About 40 berths, mostly used by local boats. Visitor moorage as space allows. Fuel is dispensed from the pilings at the fuel dock, hose and a card bucket lowered down, opening hours limited. State ferry and seaplane dock alongside the harbour. No grocery beyond a small general store, plan ahead for provisions.

Ashore

The public bathhouse on the seafront draws on a 41 degrees Celsius sulphur spring and is open to visitors on a rota of men's and women's hours. The Tenakee Springs Museum sits a short walk along Tenakee Avenue, the single main path through the village. Forest Service trails run east and west out of town along the inlet.

History

The hot spring was used by the Tlingit long before a public bathhouse was first built around the source in the 1890s. The present bathhouse dates from 1940, restored in 2012 with geothermal heating for the changing rooms. The village reached its peak as a winter retreat for prospectors and Alaska fishermen in the early twentieth century.