Success!! We layered up with warms and waterproofs and headed out in the dinghies toward the mudflats at the head of Thomas Bay with the hope of re-finding our way into the glacial lake in front of Baird Glacier. Baird is no longer a tidewater glacier…blocked off by a moraine of mudflats and rockpiles…but if you’re patient, and time your IN with some water under the keel and OUT before … Read more
A leisurely morning in Petersburg today! Our cruise over to Thomas Bay this morning was barely 20nm, so some of us opted to leave between 10:30 and noon. Ron and Jean on Sound Waves left early and made a detour over to see Le Conte Glacier and they’re so glad they did! On a day like today, the water was flat calm and the ice was plentiful, but they got … Read more
Exchange Cove this morning was stunning in the fog! Kali left earliest to hit Petersburg at slack, and Sara sent me this fantastic shot she got at 4:30am: Then a bit later when the rest of us were up (6ish) I got some more great shots from DeAnne on Turnagain: Dave taking Bodhi to shore for an early morning shore visit: I took a few shots of Turnagain and Sound … Read more
We made a “leave whenever you want to” plan for today…some people left at 7, some at 8 and some not until after 9! Clarence Strait was bumpy for a bit (2-3ft chop, 15-22kts of wind on the nose), but it calmed down eventually and I think most of the boats saw some kind of wildlife along the way. We first saw a couple humpbacks, but didn’t get any great … Read more
We departed the docks in Ketchikan by 6am, hoping for a nice smooth cruise across Clarence Strait (which isn’t always guaranteed). We dodged (okay not really “dodged”) a couple cruise ships on our way north in Tongass Narrows, and were met with relatively calm water and not much wind as we crossed Clarence and headed into Kasaan Bay. We’ve been visiting Kasaan on our own (and once with a small … Read more
Monday morning in Ketchikan started out very windy and very rainy! Early in the afternoon the sun came out, and we even had some blue sky! We decided to pull our little wagon up to the market while the weather was pleasant and we got all of our shopping/reprovisioning taken care of. On Tuesday morning we hitched a ride with Dave and DeAnne (and Bodhi) up to Totem Bight State … Read more
At 4am this morning, while at anchor in Pond Bay, we were startled awake by what sounded like a loud and distressed “Hey!! HEY!!!” or “Hey! HELP!!!” A male voice. Kevin bolted up from the pillow and said “Did you hear that???” I had, but thought it was in my dream until that point. We threw on clothes lightning fast and ran up to the pilothouse, opened the doors, and … Read more
Conditions this morning for Dixon Entrance still looked fantastic, so we were off the docks by 5am. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones. This is what happens when the weather window is as good as it was today (and yesterday): We transited Venn Passage, a twisty but nicely marked channel, calm in the early morning (in theory), but small fishing charter boats zooming past on either side add a … Read more