We exited Ell Cove Wednesday morning onto a flat calm Chatham Strait, but we could see fog in our future. We watched two different humpbacks breaching and fin-slapping in the distance as we cruised south down Chatham Strait, but they were too far for decent photos. Eventually, we were in thick fog with very little visibility, and for a while I regretted leaving our perfectly clear spot at Ell Cove. … Read more
What an incredible day! The sun was shining, we are surrounded by incredible beauty, and we don’t have to go anywhere or look after anyone right now besides ourselves. We took our coffee up on the flybridge (see above re: soaking it all in) and after a while, we spotted a mama bear and two tiny cubs meandering the edge of the cove. At first, from a distance, I thought … Read more
We enjoyed two full days of bears (the ones I posted in the last post), warm weather and sun, jellyfish, two keeper crabs, and one nice silver salmon while in Pavlof Harbor. (I believe these orange jellies are Lion’s Mane jellyfish.) The first night there were only three boats, but the second night–ten. It was quite crowded, and people anchored too close and had to move, and there was a … Read more
We spent a few days in Juneau seeing Kevin’s brother off and reprovisioning before heading out. First night (last night) we stopped in Funter Bay…anchored way back in Crab Cove. We didn’t get any crab, and still had a bit of a rolly night from whatever wind and waves were making their way in. We thought this might be more protected than Coot Cove, and maybe it was, but it … Read more
Friday: We entered Ford’s Terror about 25 minutes after Juneau high tide with about 3kts of current still flooding, pushing us in a little faster through as we dodged small icebergs that had entered with the flood. We anchored near where we usually do and started on dinner. We skewered and grilled up the spot prawns we’d caught that morning at Windham Bay and served them with a side of … Read more
Our cruise yesterday from Thomas Bay to Windham Bay was whale-filled, including another (or the same?) group bubblenet feeding right around Cape Fanshaw. I took photos of a few more flukes to identify…uploaded to happywhale.com and will add captions once I have names. (Thanks to Andrea for turning me onto this site…I wish I’d have been doing this every year up here!) This one was identified as humpback whale Launaana … Read more
We left Cannery Cove on Tuesday morning after pulling the crab pots (2 keepers) and headed out into Frederick Sound. Very little wind and quite nice besides the rain. As we neared Cape Fanshaw we noticed another boat that had been hanging out over there for an hour or so, and since it’s a popular spot with the whales, we adjusted course to veer a little closer, just in case. … Read more
Saturday: We left Takatz Bay with the idea we might stop in at Warm Springs, but it was just completely socked in with fog and we opted to keep going to Red Bluff and spend two nights there instead. We texted with friends Tom and Tish on Alaska Quest who were headed to Warm Springs (and hoping for more of my homemade hot sauce), and after comparing schedules (they had … Read more