Red Bluff Bay is one of the most spectacular anchorages on the mountainous east coast of Baranof and whilst the scenery is outstanding you will probably not have this anchorage to yourself as it is a popular stop for commercial tour operators. 

The Douglass and Douglass Pilot suggests there are 3 anchorages in Red Bluff Bay. The first is just off the ruins of a cannery on the northern shore at 56 51N 134 43W. However depths here did not get below 20m until we were a couple of boat lengths from the shore and we would not consider this a viable anchorage unless you used stern ties ashore.

The second anchorage is in a small indentation on the north shore about 0.5nm to the west of the cannery ruins with depths of 12-15 m on the protruding spit. This is a perfectly acceptable anchorage, and whilst not as scenically spectacular as the third site, does not seem to suffer from the same katabatic winds and may be a safer option in circumstances where the katabatic winds are blowing strongly.

The third anchorage is off the mud flats at the head of the bay. The pilot suggests anchoring in the NE corner of this bay where the Navionics charts show a depth of 8.8m. We found the depths to be significantly deepr than charted in this NE corner and the swinging room very restricted. However just south of the spit that forms this cove you can find depths of 10-15 m with good holding in mud. Alternatively bigger boats anchor in the middle of the Bay in around 20-25m of water with plenty of swinging room. The mountain scenery in this third anchorage is truly spectacular and bears can be seen wnadering on the mud flats at low tide but it is prone to strong katabatic winds - although these seem to die away at night.