JUNE 27, 28 and 29.

I HAVE to show you this picture of June 25 because it was so funny. We tried to use our binoculars as telescopic camera lens.  Hahaha.

Bears in Pavlof Harbour.

June 27, Tuesday.

On our way to Sitka today. We timed our trip to be at Sergius Narrows around 2:30pm to catch the slack, because the current can run up to 7 or 8 knots in there. Unfortunately we had to fight the current all the way. When we got there we had to wait, with two other boats, for the Alaska ferry to come through first.

Waiting for the Alaska State ferry to come to Sergius Narrows in Peril Strait.

Just after Sergius Narrows we noticed Louise Cove and HAD to take a picture for our lovely friend and ex sister-in-law, Louise.

We arrived around 6:00 pm in Sitka and where lucky to see an empty dock, as we were told by the Harbour master assistant that all the marinas were full with fishing boats waiting for the salmon fishing opening on July 1st. We  quickly docked there, taking a chance we could stay. We were lucky as we were told by the fellow from the boat next to us that the fishing boat, which normally docks there, had just left for 3 days. So, we ended up, what they call here, ‘hot-berthing’. Meaning, staying at a slip of a boat currently away. We paid about $90 CAD/night to stay at this very well-kept Eliason Harbour, with power, water and wi-fi. Soon after we arrived we gave Alison and Kevin a call on ‘Red Rover’, since they had arrived here the day before. They took us over in their tender to ‘downtown’ Sitka, for dinner at the Sitka Hotel. We knew that our ‘buddy boaters’, Don and Janice Brewster, were staying there, so I texted them and we met them at the hotel as well.

Alison. Don, Vaughan, Kevin, Janice and Rita at the Sitka Hotel.

June 28, Wednesday.

A day for laundry and shopping. First we had to hit the Marine Store and the Hardware store of course for Vaughan to pick up items for the boat. There is always something that needs fixing. Nothing serious fortunately. We wandered around town for a while with our coats off as it was one of these precious sunny days.

I read somewhere that the people in Alaska do not like throwing things away. You never know when you need a part of something again.

Vaughan insisted on a Bear Hug picture. No, my pants are not wet, that is just a shadow.

In the evening we took our dinghy to the dock of the Baranof Fish Market Hotel. We had asked for permission to dock there earlier that afternoon, of the owner when he happened to be at his dock. We joined Don and Alice at the ‘Mean Queen’ pizza place to listen to some classical music, part of the Sitka Summer Music Festival. The music was fabulous and the setting made me think of Hermann’s in Victoria, where you sit, eat and drink and listen to jazz instead of classical music. It also made me think of the Classical Music festival we went to in Bamfield, 3 years ago, with fabulous young musicians coming from all over the US and Canada. We had a great time.

Paul Rosenthal is introducing the pieces they are going to play. He is the person who started the festival many years ago to bring young talented musicians to Sitka and to celebrate Russian and American composers.

After the wonderful concert we drove the dinghy back along the many marinas filled with fishing boats, ready to go off on their big salmon hunt on July 1.

July 29, Thursday.

We decided to stay another day for some more sightseeing, shopping, eating and blogging. We went for lunch at the Baranof Fish Market Hotel Lounge, since we felt we owed this to them, letting us dock our dinghy there the other night. The Halibut bites and chips were delicious.

This Eagle is seemingly quite at home on this perch. Took off after many                                  pictures were taken by Vaughan, me and a slew of cruise ship tourists.

Some scenes of Sitka.

Lots of Russian history here.

 

Lots of Russian history here, since the Russians arrived here in 1799, looking for the Sea Otter pelt. Sitka was the capital of Russian North America till 1867 when this territory was transferred to the Americans. I enjoyed reading ‘Alaska’ by James Michener where he writes about the history of Alaska and about this Princess, the wife of the last Russian Governor, whose grave is here in Sitka.

The Russians did not treat the Native people very well and there were often             skirmishes when the Russians encroached on Native villages. The Russians build forts to protect themselves.

Tomorrow we are off to the East coast of Baranof Island. We might not have wi-fi for quite a while, so we all will need to be patient, including me. Vaughan thinks this blogging is a bit of an obsession with me, he might be right. 🙂

JUNE 24, 25 AND 26.

June 24, Saturday.

I spend 3 hours in the morning blogging, while Vaughan slept in, here at Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay Park. In the afternoon we took the dinghy to shore and visited the Hoonah Tribal Ancestors House, Xunaa Shukà Hit, in Bartlett Cove. The totem poles in front of the House are brand new.

We had a private, 40-minute explanation of all the symbolism of the carvings and history of this building by a lovely lady named Sonya Gray, the Cultural Specialist here at Glacier Bay Park. She is originally from Hoonah and her Grand Father was one of the chiefs there.

Sonya Gray, the Cultural Specialist in Glacier National Park for the Hoonah Tribal Ancestor House.

The house was officially opened in August 2016, with a big celebration.  Here is a video of the official opening, for those of you interested in this significant event for the Tlingit poeple. https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/historyculture/huna-tribal-house-grand-opening.htm

We were facinated with Sonya’s stories about the history of her people displayed in the large panel.

The small blanket-covered entrance in the middle of the wall panel was meant for people to pass through with head bent to meet the chief and his family, who would live behind this carved panel. This would prevent any enemies having easy access to the chief.

The carving of the girl around this entrance symbolizes the story of the advancing Glacier in the mid 1700’s, when there was a ‘little’ Ice Age. The story goes that a young girl enticed the glacier to advance, which destroyed her village and the lifelihood for her people for many years. The big carving of the bear in the center of the panel represents the advancing glacier.

The entrance to the Tribal House, a contribution from the Chilkat poeple.

Another thing we learned from Sonya was that the grandfather of our lovely Harbour Master assistant, Bill Dalton, in Hoonah, (see picture June 17) carved the canoe displayed here in Bartlett Cove.

We really enjoyed visiting this tribal house and learned a lot about the history of the Tlingit poeple.

There are a few interesting displays in Bartlett Cove. First of all the skeleton of this 45 foot, 35 ton whale named Snow, who was accidentally killed by a cruise ship in 2001.

On the 2^nd floor of the lodge was a nice display of plants and animals found in Glacier Bay.

Humpback Whale Baleen

A skeleton of a Baird’s Beaked Whale  at the lodge, with our boat anchored in the bay in the background.

The only way I managed to get a picture of a Sea Otter and her baby. lol We saw 100’s of Sea Otters, but, they were always too far away for a good shot.

At 3:45 we boarded the shuttle bus, at the lodge in Bartlett Cove, for a half hour ride to Gustavus.

On the Glacier Bay National Park Shuttle bus to Gustavus.

Vaughan needed to replenish the liquor cabinet and I wanted to do some shopping. Vaughan managed to get his items, but the store did not have anything I needed. It was a small health food/deli store. We did not see much of the town, just a little shopping corner with a gas station, a coffeeshop, a souvenier shop, a little restaurant and the liquor store. This ‘Four Corners’ place might have actually been the ‘center’ of Gustavus, not sure.

This is about all we managed to see of Gustavus.

On our way back to the Glacier Bay Lodge the bus driver stopped at the sign of Glacier Bay National Park. Most of us went out and took some pictures. A friendly Russian fellow, currenty living in the States, took our picture.

That evening I spent another 4 hours blogging and when I was finfished it was 11:45 pm and it was still light outside.

View from my window at 11:45 at night. Still light.

June 25, Sunday.

After carefully figuring out the tides and currents, by looking at the NOAA charts I had downloaded and the Tides and Currents book, we left at 7:55 am to catch the last hour of the Ebb tide flooding out of Bartlett Cove. By time we hit Icy Strait we needed to have the flood going with us. It payed off being aware of the currents, because when we came around the corner into Icy Strait we were exactly at slack tide and our speed went up to 11.8 kn., at 1400 RPM’s. We had the current with us all day and averaged about 7.5 kn. over 9 hours. We saw a few little fins of Harbour Porpoises popping out of the water and there were lots of Sea Otters floating around again.

I thought it was going to be a boring, grey, rainy day, but…. When we came close to Whitestone Harbour on the North-East corner of Chichagof island we noticed a few whales’ spouts. Not just one or two, but at least 6 spouts!

We sailed closer to them and, as I had hoped, we witnessed a pod of 6 to 8 Humpback whales ‘bubble net feeding’. I wrote about this in my blog on June 17^th and posted a link to a Youtube video explaining the Bubble feeding system these whales use. Here is another good video by BBC explaining Bubble Net feeding.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8iDcLTD9wQ

It was totally thrilling to sit there for ½ hour or more and watch the whales coming out of the water repeatedly, with their mouths wide open to catch the herring. The birds are there for any leftovers. We just watched when the birds would start flying to an area and we knew the whales would come up and out of the water right after that. I really regretted not having a good camera with a telescopic lens at this time.

Another thrill we experienced today was coming into Pavlof Harbour and seeing a mother Grizzly and her two big cubs, who were probably one or two years old, wandering along the beach heading for a grassy area. We anchored our boat and sat and watch them playing and laying in the grass for a long time. It was definitely another A+ day.

One of the young bears exploring the beach, while mom and brother (or sister) are munching on the  grass.

 

There were also some rapids in this bay. If the weather was nicer it would have been a great place to stay for a while and kayak around.

This  picture of the rapids at Pavlof Harbour was taken at low tide, it was much more impressive at high tide.

The next morning two eagles sat peacefully watching the bay.

June 26, Monday.

We sailed (motored to be exact. Not much ‘sailing’ to be done here. Most boats are powerboats and motor yachts, which makes sense. Good that our boat is a ‘motor-sailer’ ) from Pavlof Harbour to Appleton Cove.

Some scenery along the East coast of Chichagof island.

We watched two other pods of Humpback Whales Bubble net feeding, but they were too far away for pictures. We also saw this Bull Sea Lion with his harem upon entering Peril Strait between Chichagof and Barinof Islands..

Bull Sea Lion and Harem at the entrance to Peril strait between Chichagof and Baranof Islands.

It was pretty windy and noisy all night in the anchorage. Our wind generator kept clunking away, even though we had turned it off.

 

I was reading, ‘Common Ground’ , Justin Trudeau’s autobiography today ( Thanks Merridy for lending me your books. xo) when I read a quote from his father, Pierre Trudeau,  that summed up pretty well our feelings towards the weather here in Alaska, ‘There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.’  There have been lots of grey days, rainy days and windy days and they have not bothered us at all because we dressed for them. We have also been blessed with some lovely sunny days when it counted: in Tracy Arm, in Glacier Bay National Park and while visiting some of the towns.

JUNE 21, 22 and 23.

JUNE 21, Wednesday.

It took Vaughan ½ hour to bring up the anchor, it was so full of mud and silt from the bottom near Reid’s glacier. We sailed around the corner to look at the Lamplugh glacier. Distances are very deceiving; everything is way further away and way bigger then you think.

Lamplugh glacier.

We took a peek at the John Hopkins glacier. One is not allowed to get too close because of all the seals giving birth to their seal pups on the ice flows.

A peek at John Hopkins Glacier from far away to protect the seals and their pubs on the ice flows.

We ended up floating in front of the enormous Margerie Glacier at 12:30 for about ½ hour and witnessed several incidences of ice falling of the glacier and heard lots of cracking and booms from the glacier. This was the most northern point in our trip.

I baked some fresh cinnamon buns for lunch while we admired the glacier, unfortunately only from a distance.

Margerie Glacier, the biggest one on Glacier Bay. This picture does not do it justice.

This glacier is definitely still active.

We ended up anchoring near Russell island. The ‘Sarah Jean II’ arrived several hours later and tried to find an anchoring spot near us. They found it all too deep and left to go anchoring back in Reid Bay. We had this lovely anchorage all to ourselves again. Just listening to the bird calls and the gentle slapping of the wave against our hull. I woke up around 2:00 am and it was starting to get light already. It is Summer Solstice, so tonight is the longest day and, as the French would say, the shortest night.

Russell Island anchorage.

The view of our boat of Russel Island anchorage.

JUNE 22, Thursday.

What a day! We didn’t leave till about 10:20  from Russell Island this morning. We were not planning on travelling too far and the sun started to come out again. On our way to Blue Mouse Cove, we first saw a group, not a raft, because they were not rafting together but just playing around and bobbing up and down, of over 100 sea otters. Amazing! Then I saw a tall motor yacht coming towards us and I thought it looked like ‘Red Rover’, with Alison and Kevin, and it was. We stopped, chatted a bit and they went on to Tarr inlet.

Red Rover coming towards us.

A lovely shot of Alison and Kevin on their ‘Home’.

Next we saw 3 or 4 different Humpback whales blowing and surfacing all around the bay. It was so special just to sit there and watch them for half an hour or so without 10 different whale watching boats jostling all around them. It was just us and the whales.

When we came into Blue Mouse Cove, first we saw a black bear on the beach and then we saw several kayakers on a point in the bay. After we anchored one of them came over, Jos or Leon (?) and he mentioned that they were chased away by a grizzly from the point where they were having a picnic. The bear had been on another island and came swimming right over to them. They quickly jumped into their kayaks.

Vaughan quickly put the electric motor on our dinghy, so we would not make a lot of noise and we went over to take a closer look at the grizzly. It was magnificent. We sat and watched together with the 4 Dutch kayakers for about an hour, while the bear ate and comfortably snacked on the grass.

After this wonderful viewing, Vaughan enjoyed eating some sweet and salty cookies, I baked yesterday, complements of Mejan’s recipe, and I  went for a long kayak paddle.

I could not see the Grizzly was walking around there. Vaughan took this picture unbeknowst to me. 

The show continued later in the day at low tide. The grizzly came out and wandered the beach, pushing over huge rocks as if they were little pebbles, looking for crabs. His coat was a beautiful shining reddish brown. He was a big healthy male bear.

He went for a nice dip in the cool water. At one point he sat on his back and all four feet were sticking out. So cute. I made a video of him coming out of the water but cannot post it here. I posted it on Facebook.

 

Our Canadian flag on the stern of our boat.

Since we knew he could swim and I had been cooking a nice smelly dinner, Vaughan decided to put the dinghy up right away. We did not want to get his claws on our inflatable dinghy.

I read somewhere that Blue Mouse Cove is named after a theatre in New York. Well, that was very aptly named because we had a great show from the bear and the scenery was spectacular as well. We had a great view of mountains with lots of snow fields and Mount Fairweather, with a height of 15300 feet, 4669 m.

Red Rover joined us in Blue Mouse Cove.

After supper Alison and Kevin came over for a visit and drink of ice wine. Life is good.

JUNE 23, Friday.

This day was not as exciting as yesterday. We travelled back to Bartlett cove, I did lots of downloading of pictures and. as you have noticed, did lots of blogging. Hooray for wifi at the Glacier Bay Lodge. The least we could do was to have dinner there, so we did.

A carving at the entrance to the trails.

Our boat at anchor in Barlett Cove, around 9:30 pm.

One of the tour boats waiting to pick up passengers at the dock at Bartlett Cove.  The National Geographic Expedition tours, 15 days. 62 guests from $10,900US to $19,860 US p.p. That would be quite the experience.

 

JUNE 18, 19 and 20.

JUNE 18, Sunday.

We had a glorious sunny day in Hoonah, on Chichagof island. First Vaughan fixed the tap in the galley and did some other fixing jobs, then we went for a walk, When we walked by the big, 150’ or so, Daedalus boat, the corporate boat for Boeing from Seattle, one of the crew members handed Vaughan a couple of halibut steaks, since they had caught too many to eat themselves.

Daedalus, Boeing’s 130 ft. corporate yacht

I made a tasty fish and chip dinner that evening.

Home made fish and chips with the Halibut given to us.

After dinner we had a little dock party with Suzie, Ron, Larry and Karen.

Later we visited Alison and Kevin on Red Rover, the 55’ Nordhavn we had met in Tracy Arm. We shared pictures from Tracy Arm and discussed our plans for the next day.

There was a beautiful sunset that evening.

Taken from the dock in Hoonah on Chichagof Island.

JUNE 19. Monday.

Since the tide was not in our favour till about 12:00 noon, we had time to do some sightseeing. Fortunately a cruise ship was in town so the museum at the Cannery would be open, as well as all the touristy shops. We met Alison and Kevin and were going to walk all the way to the cannery.  I noticed a small tourist van coming out of a driveway, so I stuck my thumb out. The lovely lady, by the name of Theresa, picked us up and gave us a ride to the cannery. She told us that her husband had written a book and we could download it for free, ‘Nightvision’, a murder mystery set in Seattle. She dropped us off at the entrance to Ice Strait Point tourist area.

The cruise ship passengeres are walking away from this ‘tourist destination’, while we were the only ones walking towards it.

We walked around the cannery and noticed that the prices were ridiculous, one crab leg cost $29.00. Vaughan had two legs for $28 in Ketchikan. Silver-carved First nations bracelets going for $200 in Victoria were $400 US here.

At the Adventure center cruise ship passengers can book trips up the biggest Zip line in Alasks, or go kayking, whale watching, bear watching, or ride an ATV through the logging roads.

I did a little shopping myself and we looked at the historic display of  an old cannery, which reminded me of the display of the historic cannery in the Royal Museum in Victoria.

The historic display of the old cannery was done quite well.

We left the dock in Hoonah around 11:20. It looked good enough, for a change, to put some sails up, which Vaughan did.  Ten minutes later we noticed a squall approaching, so one of the sails came down again quickly. Upon entering Glacier Bay park, we notified them of our arrival on channel 16 of the VHF. A little ways in we noticed several sea otters, the first ones we have seen this year.

We anchored in Bartlett Bay, near the Park Headquarters in 40’ of water and dinghied in to sign in and to get our orientation. After the 15 minute orientation we walked to the lodge and had a great meal.

 

JUNE 20. Tuesday

We left Bartlett Cove around 8:40 am and travelled for about 7 hours to Reid inlet. We were lucky and had another mostly sunny day. We experienced this feeling of enormous vastness again. Everything is so immense, mountains 4-6000 m. high all around us.

 

This is one of the 900 feet ‘Dam’ ships coming around the corner of John Hopkins Glacier. Gives one a bit of perspective on the size of the mountains. The ‘Dam’ ship was the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’, the ship friends of Mejan and Bert were traveling on. 

I sat on the front of the boat and counted 7 sea otters, 4 humpback whales blowing spray and floating by at a distance, 1 sea lion,  I seal, 2 huge Holland America cruise ships, the Zaandam and the Eurodam, and several smaller cruise boats.

When we came into Reid Inlet there was one other sailboat, which moved away after we anchored.  Turned out they were Beth and Norm Cooper on ‘Sarah Jean II’, from the Vancouver Bluewater Cruising Association chapter.

Norm and Beth Cooper on ‘Sarah Jean II’,  in front of the Reid glacier, with their BCA burgee.

Some pictures of Reid Glacier.

 

We had a peaceful night anchored right in front of the big Reid Glacier.

 

 

 

JUNE 15, 16 and 17.

JUNE 15, Thursday.

We left Tracy Arm Bay with the intention to go to Taku Bay, but when we got there it was grey and wet. We floated around in the bay for a while, took some pictures of Tiger Olsen’s old cabin, 2 fishing boat on the dock and decided to carry on to Auke Bay, north of Juneau. Tiger Olsen was a famous Alaskan, spending his time in Taku Bay prospecting, hunting, fishing and welcoming visitors. They left his cabin, named it in his honour and people can overnight in it.

Six hours later we arrived in Auke Bay Marina. We had called Jim Randle’s step brother, Mik Ewing and he gave us some good advice as where to go and which areas to watch out for strong currents. He apologized not knowing we were coming or he would have arranged for a car for us. That was very kind of him, but it turned out, we were fine without a car. The approach to the harbour was impressive, with the Mendenhall glacier towering over the landscape.

Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau.

Right after we had tieded up the lines on the dock we went up to the harbour office. A nice fellow there said the office was closed and if we wanted a good dinner and liked Thai food, there was a restaurant right at the top of the road. We had a tasty Pad Thai dinner there indeed. Highly recommended. There was a lady there who looked familiar and just before she left I approached her and asked if she was from Victoria. Turned out she was Mikaela from Seattle, we knew from Eckankar, a long time ago. She was visiting her son, Solen, her daughter and her grand children. Her husband used to be John Jensen, the Madhis from Alaska.

JUNE 16, Friday.

After a long walk on the dock and up the road to a bus stop at the University of Alaska Southeast, UAS,  we ended up taken the bus to downtown Juneau. It was $2.00 p.p. for a half hour bus ride. When we got off the bus we asked a construction worker where a good place for breakfast was and he send us to the ‘Sandpiper’. It was an excellent place indeed, a favorite of the locals, plus, added bonus, it had wifi.

French toast with Marscapone filling, pineapples and cream.  I ate it ALL!

I was surprised to learn that Juneau is the capital of Alaska since 1906, not Anchorage or Fairbanks, as I might have guessed. It was named after Joe Juneau, a French Canadian prospector, who was told in 1880 by a local inhabitant, Chief Kowee,  that there was gold in this creek, which has since been named Gold Creek.

 

 

Gold Creek  running into juneau, past one of the many government buildings there.

Afterwards we walked to the cruise dock and saw the ‘Volendam’ dock.  We have seen many ‘dam’ ships on this trip from the Holland America line in different locations: the Nieuw Amsterdam, Zaandam, Noordam and the Eurodam.

It is always amazing to see these monster boats up close.

These booths open only when a cruise ship is in town to sell all the different tours to the cruise passengers.

We visited the downtown area occupied by tourist stores and took a picture at the famous Red Dog Saloon, founded during the Gold Rush era, and a jewelry, tourist trap store, where you could guess the weight of a gold nugget for a prize. Vaughan guessed wrong. No prize for us.

We walked by Tracy’s King Crab Shack, which made Vaughan’s mouth water again, but he resisted and we walked on.

 

On the bus back Vaughan was speaking to a lovely older First Nations lady, whose family was from the Aleutian islands. He told her that we were on our way to Safeway for some shopping, but she recommended that we go to Fred Meyers, it was closer to a bus stop and a lot less expensive. So, we did, and she was right.  Later we took two buses back to the marina. That evening a huge private motor yacht came in. ‘Cloudbreak’. Lots of excitement on the dock by locals coming to have a look/see at the 72 meter. 238 feet, super yacht.

I took this picture when Cloudbreak entered Auke Bay, north of Juneau.  http://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/editorial-features/cloudbreak-the-explorer-yacht-designed-to-take-on-the-world–31427

JUNE 17, Saturday.

Time to go to Hoonah. It was a choppy and cold ride across Lynn Channel and Icy Straight. Winds up to 25 knots on the nose of course. It took us about 7 hours to get to Hoonah, after leaving Auke Bay.

The red buildings are the Icy Strait Point Cannery. The whole point is a privately owned tourist destination just outside the small village of Hoonah, Alaska. located on Chichagof Island.

We were welcomed in Hoonah Harbour by a friendly Harbour master assistant, Bill. He informed us proudly, after we told him that we were heading for Glacier Bay, that his people were from there originally. Which is true, in about 1760 there was a ‘little ice-age’ and the glaciers advanced so much that they destroyed the Tlingit village, which had been there for centuries.

Bill, the friendly, Tlingit, Harbour master assistant, in front of ”Tango’, Suzie and Ron’s boat, docked next to us.

Just last year there was an official ceremony for the opening of the Huna Tribal House re-build in Bartlett Cove, inside the park. There was a lot of tension for many years between the park branch and the Tlingit people, because the latter used Glacier Bay to collect eggs, berries and hunt for centuries. Since the park took over they were not allowed to do that anymore. Just recently the Tlingit people seem to be given some rights back for food collection in this area. For more information and excellent pictues see:

https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/historyculture/huna-tribal-house-project.htm

We can see this from our boat. today, June 24. We might go visit this today, while we are in Bartlett sound.

We ended up docking right next to Ron and Suzie on ‘Tango’. We walked into this small little town that has the largest Tlingit community in Alaska. We looked, once again, for a a hardware store. Vaughan needed some stuff for the boat and I needed a new tap, because my tap in the galley had recently broken.

There were totem poles and painted benches everywhere.

I forgot to take pictures of the totem poles.

That evening we were invited on Tango, to watch some pictures of Humpback whales Bubble feeding, which they had recently experienced in Icy Strait. Larry and Karen were there as well, from their buddy boat ‘Panta Rhei’. They had been cruising through the Pacific for 7 years. Check out this great Youtube video of whales bubble feeding:

We were surrounded by the cries of eagles all evening. Four to six at a time would sit at the breakwater, or perch on top of masts in the harbour, watching us.

 

JUNE 12, 13 and 14.

JUNE 12, Monday.

They say the real Alaska does not begin until after Petersburg. I guess they were right. First of all we were ‘blessed’ with a young eagle sitting on top of our mast, who refused to budge when Vaughan tried to get him to move. I took it as a good luck sign. Vaughan did not think of this as good luck so much, too much equipment up there that could be damaged.

When we left Wrangell Narrows we noticed a big Bull Sealion and his harem on the marine hazard marker.

An hour or so later Vaughan noticed white smoke coming out of our engine exhaust. I started to panic, but Vaughan had the problem fixed within 5 minutes. The water intake screen for the engine had become plugged with all kinds of seaweeds. He cleaned it out, replaced it and we were good to go.

Water intake screen was plugged.

Then we saw the beginning of the real Alaska, growlers, little pieces of icebergs, starting to float by us. It was exciting, to see the first indication of what we were going to experience here in Alaska.

We went all the way up to the Baird glacier at the end of Thomas Bay. We noticed the line where the thick glacier flour run-off met the milky green glacier waters. We thought it best not to take our boat into this thick glacier soup.

The glacier way up ahead. We did not want to cross the line where we could see the glacier flour floating in the water.

In the Douglas guide book, we have been using, it describes how some people anchor nearby the glacier, keeping one person on board, because it is a pretty tricky spot to anchor.  The others go in the dinghy and walk on the newly formed glacier outwash plains. We weren’t up for that adventure, so we motored out of Thomas Bay and anchored about 15 miles further north on Read Island. Of course the skies opened up just as Vaughan needed to be out there to set the anchor. 

That evening it was quiet, dry and calm and it turned into a lovely spot.

Read Island anchorage.

JUNE 13, Tuesday.

Today was an exciting day. First we saw some spouts from whales and some black fins popping out of the water quite far away. Then, about half an hour later this magnificent humpback whale put on a show for us for about 10 minutes slapping his tail over and over on the water and half of his body coming out of the water at some point. There are a few reasons they do this, maybe to notify other whales that he is in the area, or maybe to stun the fish he wants to catch or to shake off barnacles from his skin. Vaughan thought that, because our boat looks like a big fat blue whale, the whale was asking if we wanted a ‘piece of tail’.Haha. I took a great video, posted it on Facebook, but I cannot post videos here.

In reality the Humpback whale was much closer then you can see in this                               picture.

A little later some Dall porpoises came and entertained us again.

This was my best shot yet of Dall Porpoises ‘bow riding’.

In the meantime, we enjoyed the view of the majestic mountains on either side of us. I felt an immense sense of vastness around me here in Alaska.

Sumdum glacier. The Tlingit name, meaning ‘White Thunder’.

We anchored in ‘Tracy Arm Cove’, also named ‘No Name Cove’. There were 3 boats here already. One of them Alaska Sea-duction, with Tom and Kay, whom we had met at the fuel dock in Ketchikan. Tom came over in the dinghy and told us to go out there and get some 10 000 year old ice from all the bergy bits, small ice bergs, floating by. So we did.

Coming back from getting some 10 000 year old ice from the ice berg pictured.

Three other boats joined us here, so there was a total of 7 boats in this bay with lots of room left over. 

It is an amazing place. The water is as smooth as a mirror, the crows and ravens are calling out, the view is magnificent and a steady stream of ‘bergie bits’ and ‘growlers’, smaller pieces of ice, are floating by coming out of Tracy Arm.

Tomorrow morning we are going up Tracy Arm to see how close we can get to the North Saywer Glacier.

I liked the reflection in the water.

JUNE 14, Wednesday.

The day of, Melissa, our daughter’s operation on her leg, removing some rods put in place after her accident many years ago. Thinking of her lots. Using our InReach, our two-way satellite communication system, in the evening to text Chris, we found out she is doing fine.

The day started out promising, with patches of blue sky and the sun peeking though off and on. We started to travel up Tracy Arm, headed for the North Sawyer Glacier. Travelling through this fjord with its steep, rocky mountains, numerous waterfalls, small glaciers and with bergie bits and growlers scattered all around us was an amazing experience. The words, immense, magnificent and awe-inspiring came to mind looking at the beauty around us.

These pictures cannot portray the actual beauty of this place.

Some of the ice floating by was so clear and transparent that they were sometimes hard to see. We had to keep a close eye out to make sure we did not hit any of them. Vaughan did an amazing jog zigzagging through all the icy-hazards.

When we arrived at the North Sawyer glacier, after 4 hours travelling, the sun was shining brightly and the view was stunning. We heard the occasional boom from icebergs splitting off the glaciers face, but did not see any calving. We floated around for a while and took pictures from ‘Red Rover’, a 55’ Nordhavn, owned by Kevin and Alison Jeffries from Seattle. They took our pictures and we will email them to each other. The people from the boat ‘Paradice’, with Tom and Kay aboard, from ‘Alaskan Sea-duction’ took some pictures as well from us.

Just as we were planning to leave a tourist boat came by with two people waving frantically. It was Don and Janice, our buddy boaters. They were on a tour boat out of Juneau, the ‘Adventure Bound’. We waited around and sat admiring this huge glacier with its blue colour and cracks and caves. When we turned around to leave the tour boat caught up with us and we had a chance to chat with Don and Janice. They were going back to Ketchikan tomorrow on the ferry to pick up their boat and wind their way back home.

Their tour boat went a lot closer to the glacier then we dared. Don and Janice on                 Adventure Bound.

To get an idea of the enormous size of the glacier, about 600 feet high, check out the size of Don and Janice’s tour boat, the small boat at the bottom of the glacier. It wasn’t a small boat, about 60′ overall I would guess.

 

Red Rover, 55′ Nordhavn with Kevin and Alison.

Tom and Kay from ‘Alaskan Sea-duction’ and ‘Paradice’ passenger, taking a closer look.

A mother seal and babe, they give birth on ice flows. Two eagles                                 eating a baby seal. Yeack…

We followed the powerboat ‘Paradice’, through the ice,  out of the fjord.

In the evening we experienced a few squalls coming through. We saw the dark clouds coming closer and closer, the winds picked up and the skies opened up. Later on things calmed down weather wise and we went to bed early as we had had a long and tiring but wonderful day.

JUNE 9, 10 AND 11.

JUNE 9. Friday.

We would have loved to have stayed in this lovely bay a little longer. It was so quiet and peaceful and we were the only ones there, but the weather was kind of crappy, so we carried on. The snow-covered mountains had disappeared in the fog and it was a wet ride in the drizzling rain and fog. We headed for Wrangell where we were assigned a slot on the Transient dock in Heritage Harbour. Gerry the harbour master helped us dock and we had a pleasant chat with him. We were right next door to ‘Tango’ and later in the day Ron helped Vaughan set up the AIS on his navigational program, ‘TimeZero’. We walked to town, did some shopping and paid our bill for the moorage, 50cent US/ft.

On our way into town, I noticed a sign indicating the graveyard of Chief Shakes.

One of the things we bought was an Aalskan burgee, with the Big Dipper and the North star. We hung it up on a halyard with the other burgees.

The Alaskan flag, The Big Dipper and the North star.

 

Wrangell, a real fishing town with a wild history .

We walked back, part way only, because Gene, a fellow we had met on the dock in Meyer’s Chuck stopped for us and gave us a ride back to the marina. Wrangell is a real fishing town, not really focussed on tourism so much.

JUNE 10, Saturday.

Today we left Wrangell, ready to tackle Wrangle Narrows to head to Petersburg. We noticed the Alaska ferry passing us on the way to pick up some passengers in Wrangell. An hour later it was on its way again to Petersburg. Turned out that our friends and buddy boaters, Janice and Don Brewster from the sailboat ‘Waterford’ were on this ferry. They apparently had been waving at us, but we never saw them. Wrangell Narrows is also called ‘Christmas Tree Lane’ because of its 60+ green and red navigational markers.

It is considered quite a navigational challenge, which we found out. Vaughan had set the course for our passage through there, but after trying to give way to a large motor yacht coming behind us, he was temporarily distracted and we ended up in the mud and rocks area. We are very fortunate that our boat has a full keel with a flat underside and has only a 4’9’’ draft. Vaughan managed to drag our boat out of that area through mud and all, back to the deeper water. It was a tense few moments hearing the keel scrape through the dirt. If we had been stuck, there would have been no way we could have gotten out. It was already high tide and one does not easily move a 28-ton boat out of a mud flat. Pfft…. Lucky us.

Oops, losing concentration for a moment and ending up in the ‘mud and rocks’ area. Scary…

Vaughan checked the bilges and the boat was dry, so we continued to Petersburg. We were hoping to meet our acquaintances, Peter and Joyce Schultz, there, as they were living here in 2003, the last time we saw them in Victoria, when they came to visit us. Joyce was the local librarian here. However, when we signed in with the harbour master at the North Marina, he told us that Joyce and Peter had moved away about 7 years ago. We took a little stroll through this picturesque and very clean town, established by Norwegians in the 1920’s.

Petersburg, first impressions. The garbage can show a print of one of the many salmon cans which where processed here in famous canneries.

Dan and Susan Godin, from the motor vessel Potest Fieri, whom we had met in Meyer’s Chuck, where close to us on the dock and invited us for a drink. We had a pleasant evening with them.

JUNE 11, Sunday.

My brother Berry’s birthday. We had a lazy morning and watched the local crowd, kids and grandparents alike, jigging for herring right outside our boat. They use the herring for bait for the bigger fish, mainly Halibut.

I am still enjoying my ’bon voyage’ gift, a Peace Lily, from Carol and Jim.

Later we did some laundry, walked around town and Vaughan had another tasty crab dinner/lunch. This time it was Snow crab and he found it not as sweet as the Alaskan King crab he had in Ketchikan.

Yummy Snowcrab, unfortunately he had to share this with me.

We went to the local coffee shop, ‘Javahus’. To try to get some wifi reception. By time we finally were connected we only had 10 minutes before they closed.

We noticed an interesting boat, called ‘Polar Bound’. I had a chat with the owner and it turns out that they have circumnavigated the North-west passage, north of Canada, 7 times!! They go back to England for 6 months to work each year and then they cruise for 6 months. I was told that they have food for a year on board in case they get stuck in the ice up there. Interesting people.

JUNE 6,7 and 8.

JUNE 6. Tuesday.

Quite a nice day, not too much rain, still gray skies, still in Refuge Bay near Ketchikan, supporting Mejan and Bert while they are hauled out. We saw a lot of boats passing by from our cockpit as the winds had died down and it was a good day for boaters to continue their journey north. We stayed on the boat, most of the day, Mejan tried to do some blogging on our boat, but the wifi cut out. We saw some cruise ships passing by from our cockpit on the dock and had a lazy day. That evening we went for a lovely dinner on Curtsy. Mejan had outdone herself again, the table looked charming and the food was great. 

JUNE 7. Wednesday.

Bert and Mejan insisted that we leave. We felt bad leaving them behind, but there was really not much we could do to help them except giving them some of our drinking water. We were hoping that they would be back in the water in a day or two, but it did not turn out that way. We went back to Ketchikan and filled up our diesel tanks, 213 gallons @ $2.569US a gallon. Karl the attendant at Anderes Service was very helpful and polite. He had lived in Ketchikan his whole life and he was quite happy to stay there the rest of his life. We sailed into Meyer’s Chuck around 1:30 that afternoon, which gave us lots of time for ‘sightseeing’ in this quaint little nook of Alaska.

Meyer’s Chuck, a quaint little community, with very independent people, salvaging and cutting their own wood. Funky houses build near or on the water.  The little shack is the library and fire hall.

The ‘HIGHWAY’ in MEYER’S  CHUCK. 

We met some nice people from Kelowna,BC, Dan and Susan on ‘Potest Fiery’, a Nordic Tug and Ron and Suzie Bauman, from Seattle, on ‘Tango’, a 43′ Nauticat ketch. There was a notice on the bulletin board advertising fresh cinnamon buns for $3.50 each, by Cassie, the post master lady. If you called her she would bake them in the morning and bring them to your boat. Dan agreed to order some cinnamon buns with us, as the minimum number, she needed to bake was 6. We only needed 2.

JUNE 8. Thursday.

At 7:15 this morning Cassie came by with her freshly baked cinnamon buns. They were very tasty. She asked if I was Dutch and she mentioned that her parents were Dutch as well. She had never been to the Netherlands. She has been living in Meyer’s Chuck for 56 years. I am sure she and her husband have lots of stories to tell about this little place.

Cassie delivering fresh cinnamon buns in Meyer’s chuck at 7:15 am.

Cassie also runs the post office, which is the little building at the top of the dock. Cassie is on the dock at high tide.Next picture taken the next day at low tide.

We left around 8:00 am and were heading for Frosty Bay, about 25 NM away. We arrived their around 12:00, looked around and decided to carry on to Anan Bay. At Anan Bay, there is a Bear and Wildlife Observatory. We had been looking forward to seeing the grizzly bears there, but it turned out it was too early in the season. They come when the salmon are running up the river in July and August. We hoped to maybe see some bears on the beach. When we arrived there we went in our dinghy for a tour of the bay. The anchoring is not great there. It is right in the open and within 5 minutes the wind increased to 20 knots. We quickly headed back to the boat and carried on, up Eastern Channel, to a peaceful and quiet anchorage, Berg Bay, with some nice grassy areas bears love. We kept a close watch, especially during low tide, but No bears again that day. Lots of eagles though.

J

JUNE 3, 4 AND 5.

JUNE 3, Saturday.

 

We were woken up by a phone call at 7:00 am by Bert to let us know that they were taking their boat over to Refuge Cove for the haul-out later that morning. There appeared to be a weather window in the 30-45kns of winds we had been experiencing the last two days. We had told them that we wanted to accompany them there to make sure they were o.k. and followed them out off Bar Harbour. Half an hour later we were at Air Harbour Marine at the haul-out dock. An hour later they were hauled out and tucked nicely near a building and some trees in this interesting marina.

Curtsy hauled out with our boat on the dock in the background.

Curtsy, safe and solid, hauled out at Anchor Harbour Marine, North of Ketchikan.

In the afternoon Vaughan agreed to come for a 45 minute walk with me to the ‘Totem Bight Park’ further up the road. We tried to hitchhike, because Vaughan’s knees were giving him trouble after taking 660 lbs of batteries out of our engine room and up to the dock the other day, but the people in Ketchikan did not seem interested in picking up some nice, older, Canadian folks.  We did enjoy our visit to the park however.  (http://www.potlatchpark.com/)

 

Potlatch Park.

The carving shed at Potlatch park with Vaughan admiring the log work                                      and reminiscing about our own log house he build in 1980.

More native art at Potlatch Park. A very worthwhile place to visit.

Unbeknownst to us there were two parks, ‘Potlatch Park’ and ‘Totem Bight park’. We thought we had seen it all when the manager of the gift shop at ‘Potlatch Park’ told us that ‘Totem Bight Park’ was next door. We only had 15 minutes before the bus came, so we rushed through this very interesting display.

Totem Bight Park.  http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totembgh.htm

I think nature does an awesome job transforming itself as well.  At Totem Blight Park.

We decided to take the bus back to the marina. We needed to be back in time because Janice and Don, from our buddy boat Waterford, were coming over with dinner for all of us. They were still in Bar Harbour marina with their boat, so they came in a taxi with a warm bowl of stew and lots of other goodies. Later we found out that they are going to leave their boat in Ketchikan and are going to take the ferries to Juneau and Sitka. With Curtsy needing repairs and Waterford staying here, looks like the end of buddy boating for a while. We sure hope we can catch up with the other boats again somewhere in the near future.

JUNE 4, Sunday.

It rained and was windy all day. We did not go anywhere and I did a lot of blogging.

Blogging time.

That evening, Mejan and Bert needed a change of scenery after they had been working all day to dry out Curtsy’s keel. They came over, in the pouring rain, for a couple of games of Rummikub.

JUNE 5, Monday.

Still in Ketchikan.

Ketchikan is on Revillagigedo Island. The island was named by George Vancouver for Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, then viceroy of New Spain (Mexico). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revillagigedo_Island

The four of us, Bert, Mejan and Vaughan and I decided to take the bus into town for some sightseeing and shopping. There was a lot of water and mud around the marina. They have an interesting way of supporting the boats on the dry. Using big oil cans and wooden blocks to keep them up.

An interesting method of supporting the boats. Check out the oil cans and wooden blocks. Baraka Bashad on the dock behind the boats.

We bought day bus passes for $5.00 each and ended up in Saxman Native village. We just saw the totem poles outside and had a friendly fellow, named Thomas, part Tlingit and part Tsimshian, explain the meaning of several totem poles to us while waiting for the bus.

Saxon Point Park is on the South side of Ketchikan. Showing on the left Secretary of State William Seward, who took up a renewed Russian offer and on March 30, 1867, agreed to a proposal from Russian Minister in Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million.  Local Natives gave him a potlatch and he famously did not reciprocate, which led to the creation of a “shame” totem pole. Tlingit chief Ebbit originally raised a totem pole in Seward’s honor but then later had his ears and nose painted red as a sign of shame when Seward failed to reciprocate the gifts he had been given. http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/Tourism1/071210_tourism_pt1.html

After our lecture about Seward’s shame pole by Thomas, we got on the bus again and got off near Creek Street. Since we were near the New York Cafe again and we had liked dinner there two nights in a row, we deciced to have lunch there.

The view from New York Cafe, established by a Chinese family around 1903.

Afterwards we took a more relaxed walk then the other day, through the historical Creek Street.

Some ‘treasures’ in Creek Street.

At the end of Creek Street. The amount of water in the creek gives some indication of the                             downpour we had for 5 days in a row in Ketchikan.

.After an extensive shopping trip to Safeway, the marine store, O’Reilly’s and A and P we headed back on the bus to the marina and after a nice steak dinner and a video Vaughan and I called it a night.

MAY 30, 31, JUNE 1 and 2.

MAY 30, Tuesday

First thing in the morning Vaughan called the customs in Ketchikan to let them know that we might be going to Foggy Bay in the US that night. We were planning to anchor on Dundas island, but, once we were underway and since the weather and the current were so favorable, we all decided to continue on to Foggy Bay, our first stop in Alaska. We went through the picturesque Venn Passage, just outside Prince Rupert, where we saw the pleasant white houses of the village of Metlakatla. Quite an interesting story about this village near Prince Rupert and the Metlakatla in Alaska on Annette island.

https://www.krbd.org/2016/08/03/a-tale-of-two-metlakatlas-part-1/

 

At 13:10, Alaska time, 14:10 BC time,  we crossed the border into Alaska and Vaughan went out and raised the courtesy flag.

Crossing the border into Alaska 13:10, May  30, 2017.

Raising the American courtesy flag upon entering US waters.

We went to the ‘Outer Cove’ of Foggy Bay. Our buddy boats ended up in the ‘Inner Cove’. We joined them later in the more protected anchorage, since we wanted to enjoy the ‘yummy’ dessert Mejan had made for everyone.

Foggy Bay, coming back from enjoying dessert on Curtsy.

Gnarled, old, wild tree, leaving Foggy Bay, looked to me as a symbol for Alaska somehow.

MAY 31. Wednesday.

We were underway from Foggy Bay to Ketchikan, when I received a text from Mejan at 11:32, “We just hit a rock “, “We are in trouble “. We radioed back and forth and decided to turn around to be close to them if they needed any help. They had hit an uncharted rock. Mejan was very upset and in shock as all kinds of things were broken inside the boat and they weren’t sure of any other damage. After a thorough check by Bert it turned out that they had no water in the bilge and the motor still worked fine. They carried on and Waterford and Baraka Bashad stayed by their side to make sure they were ok. ‘ Curtsy’ appears to be as strong as a tank to take such a hit.

We made it all the way to Ketchikan and upon approaching the town we saw our first cruise ship docked in the harbour, the ‘Radiance of the Sea’., overwhelming the small town of Ketchikan.

We contacted the Harbour master and were directed to float 10, dock 12. He confirmed that we had to keep float 10 to our starboard. We noticed right away that we were on the wrong side of the float, which meant we had to somehow get out of there again. Vaughand did an excellent job backing out of the narrow channel, using our, now, trusted bowtruster and we found our slip on the portside of the float. We took a taxi to the New York Cafe for a well-deserved Alaska king Crab dinner for Vaughan.

June 1. Thursday.

The first thing we did was go to a store, Vaughan had previously contacted, to pick up our 4 new AGM, 31 DTseries, batteries. The store, O’Reilly’s, was kind enough to drive us and the 4 batteries back to the marina. This is were the real heavy work began for Vaughan. He had to drag 6, 110lbs batteries out of the engine room to replace them with 4, 70 lbs ones.

3 of the 110 lbs old batteries and one 70 lb new one.

It took him the whole day to work on this project. I went off to town, did some laundry and spend two hours at McDonald’s as it was the only place with free wifi in town.  Bert, in the meantime was assessing the damage on Curtsy. He had a diver look at the bottom and he found a big chunk of their keel was gone. They needed to get their boat hauled out, so Bert made arrangements to have this done on Saturday, in Refuge Cove, at Air Marine Harbour. It rained most of the day and Mejan, Ann and I were all splashed from top to toe by big trucks passing us on the road. Not giving us a good feeling about the people in Ketchikan. It was pouring with rain today and the cruise ship the ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ was in town, the one Robyn and Em were just on, on the ship’s repositioning trip from Florida, through the Panama canal back to Victoria.

Even though, both men were exhausted, they were still game to go out for dinner and we went back to the New York Cafe. This time we invited Gail from ‘Cruzeiro do Sol’ and Ann and Don from ‘Imagine’ to come along.

And, because of the enormous job replacing the batteries all day, Vaughan felt he deserved ANOTHER King Crab dinner. Rightly so. ;-0

June 2, Friday.

Stayed in Ketchikan for another day and took the free bus in the afternoon to do some sight-seeing. We ended up going to the old ‘Creek town’. Creek Street is built along the shores of Ketchikan Creek. It was built over the water. Apparently, it was too hard to blast away the rocks. It is known as Ketchikan’s old red-light district. There were over 20 bordellos on Creek Street alone in the mid 1920’s! In fact,  Ketchikan’s #1 industry was prostitution at that time..

 

Entrance to Creek street. A total tourist area with lots of little souvenier shops, totally catering to the Cruise ship clientele.

 

 

 

There were 3 huge cruise ships in town, the Noordam was one of them.

A real cruise ship town. Sometimes up to 5 cruise ships dock here a day. Today there were 3 of them in town.

We had a nice Prime rib dinner on our boat with Bert and Mejan that night.