Our final cruise of the flotilla was a short, twenty-mile hop up Stephens Passage from Taku Harbor to Juneau. Once again, we felt the slight jar of a return to civilization from the wilderness. Like Ketchikan, Juneau announces its presence early with giant cruise ships visible from miles away, and a sudden increase in all kinds of boat traffic going in and out of Gastineau Channel to Juneau. Arriving at … Read more
We pulled anchor a little after 7:00 a.m. in order to arrive at the entrance (exit) to Ford’s Terror by about 8:00 a.m. We were a little early but knew from our experience coming in that the tidal swing was low and that meant a longer-than-usual window for transiting the rapids. Airship went through first and only noted about a knot and a half of opposing current, so the rest … Read more
Ford’s Terror is probably our favorite anchorage ever. There’s something about the challenge of getting in, the fact that you can only transit the entrance/exit once every twelve hours (knowing that the current at the entrance can run to 12 knots with large overfalls during non-slack) that makes it an accomplishment. This challenge is rewarded heavily by the enormous unspoiled majestic landscape that surrounds you once inside. Everywhere you look, … Read more
**Warning: this post has SO MANY PHOTOS** The Plan for Today: Leave Tracy Arm Cove by about 11:00 a.m. (so late!!), cruise up Endicott Arm to all the way to Dawes Glacier (or as far as we could get), spend some time playing in the ice, and then backtrack to Ford’s Terror so we’d reach the entrance about a half an hour or so before high slack in Juneau. As … Read more
Today’s cruise from Cannery Cove up to Tracy Arm Cove was just over 40 miles, so we headed out on the early side (basically, no different from any other day with this group). 🙂 Ralph got a nice humpback show out in Stephens Passage (he left a little earlier than the rest) and shared these two photos with us: We arrived and anchored in Tracy Arm Cove, and were the … Read more
The weather today was absolutely gorgeous for our cruise from Portage Bay across to Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island. As we left Portage the fog burned off and the water was glassy smooth for much of our transit. Enroute we saw humpback whales, a large pod of Orcas, seals, and sea lions. But, the big wildlife encounter of the day was Dall’s porpoises! There were so many of them, and … Read more
It was rainy and gray when we woke this morning in Petersburg. We filled our water tanks, picked up a couple of last minute things at the market, and left our slips by about 10:00 a.m. The cruise to Portage Bay was calm and uneventful. Not much wildlife today, but an easy day on the water. Once in Portage Bay, Sam went up with his drone for some overhead shots: … Read more
Le Conte Glacier is the first tidewater glacier we encounter on our trip north. LeConte is an easy day trip from Petersburg, so we all climbed aboard Fortunate and Cassidy to make the short trek across Frederick Sound to make our attempt at the glacier. Visiting tidewater glaciers by boat is always a hit-or-miss endeavor as far as actually making it to the glacier. As the face of the glacier … Read more