Airship | Redfish Bay to Puffin Bay

by and

We woke in Redfish Bay this morning to a thick marine layer of gray, but no big deal because it had already started burning off by the time we left around 8am.

Dinner last night: king salmon caught by Dan, half an artichoke with aioli dipping sauce, and spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato/shallot/garlic sauce.
Leaving the anchorage at Redfish Bay this morning…going through Second Narrows.
Marine layer starting to burn off
Blue skies, clouds, and rugged coastline
The shore down here on the south end of the island is quite dramatic

It was even calmer outside than it was yesterday…very minor swells and just a tiny bit of wind chop.

Boat (kinda tough to see) on the right side of this shot is Fortunate
Turning the corner into Puffin Bay

Today’s trip was under 10nm, so a short hop to check out a new spot.

Puffin Point on the way into Puffin Bay
Inside Puffin Bay
At the head of Puffin Bay, view from Airship at anchor

This place is gorgeous!! We anchored/rafted in about 30 feet and then guess what happened? Kevin and Dan went out to fish. After they returned, Kevin got some cool aerial shots of the anchorage:

Airship and Fortunate rafted in Puffin Bay
Puffin Bay, looking south
This is just outside Puffin Bay, facing east across the narrow spot that divides Puffin Bay Inlet with Lucy Inlet on the other side of Baranof Island
Facing west out to the ocean
Puffin Bay, with the entrance/exit to the North Pacific Ocean
Puffin Bay anchorage from straight overhead
This is the little lake that feeds the stream that enters into Puffin Bay
Puffin Bay anchorage, facing north

We definitely have more wind inside the anchorage (due to the williwaws) than there is outside the anchorage…it just funnels down these narrow gorges, but it’s not bad at all and the most we are seeing is about 16 knot gusts. Totally worth it…it’s stunning in here! (No puffins, however.)

This place is like a postcard of Alaska.

Late in the afternoon we finally got our bear on shore…a brown bear pretty focused on sedge grass, and just for about 10 minutes before it went back into the trees.

Eileen is fixing mushroom and asparagus risotto tonight (the proper way, by stirring!) and we’ll grill up more of the king salmon caught by Dan, with the addition of a few sautéed spot prawns.

Tomorrow we’ll go around Cape Ommaney (the bottom tip of Baranof Island)…weather still looks great for that. Not sure yet where we’ll stop tomorrow…we’re wingin’ it!

Evening light in Puffin Bay before we headed to bed.

Also, the williwaws settled down for the evening and it was super calm in the bay!