Sitka skies this morning were mostly gray and cloudy, but the wind was light and it wasn’t raining. We left the harbor by about 6:30 a.m., timing our arrival at Sergius Narrows for near slack (9:48a.m.). On the way into Sitka, we’d jockeyed with lots of traffic from Sergius Narrows all the way into town. This time, we enjoyed nearly empty waterways and light traffic. As we continued east in … Read more
Over the last few days the pace of the trip has relaxed. Today, we had our shortest day yet: just nine miles, followed by a day sitting at anchor in Takatz Bay. The truth is we could have spent several days at each of the anchorages we’ve visited this trip, but the distances are too great and the other destinations too tempting to linger. Occasionally, though, it’s nice to catch … Read more
After yesterday’s wildlife extravaganza, today’s trip up Chatham Strait was a little boring. We did see a few humpbacks as we left Red Bluff Bay, but after that we struck out. The water was reasonably calm, though, and the Baranof Island shoreline is so mountainous, rugged, and snow-capped that the lack of wildlife didn’t matter. We just focused our attention on the scenery. Usually we can squeeze in somewhere on … Read more
As we exited Explorer Basin this morning, we found Chatham Strait FAR less bumpy than the previous day. Additionally, we were greeted by several groups of humpbacks feeding on the herring that were everywhere!! The herring balls were too prevalent and moved too quickly to be steered around, yet every time we drove through one we worried that a whale might surface and strike the boat. If you’ve been whale … Read more
After the bumpy pre-breakfast ride up Chatham Strait we were hungry, so we used the rest of the fresh crab we’d caught and made a crab eggs benedict brunch on Airship. So delicious! Most of us just relaxed onboard instead of doing any big dinghy excursions since it was so windy out. We did an early easy happy hour on the raft, and everyone returned to their boats for whatever … Read more
We awoke to patchy fog and low clouds in Thomas Bay and departed about 7:00 a.m. Even without yesterday’s sunshine, Thomas Bay is beautiful. We forgot to mention…yesterday evening in Thomas Bay, Julie and David from Dog Star were out in their dinghy watching the shoreline and came across a group of arctic terns. They shared some photos with us to share on the blog! Arctic Terns are known for … Read more
Thursday, 4:15 a.m. — Our original plan was to catch the early morning high slack at the Grays Harbor bar, which meant heading out before dark, again. However, in the morning we didn’t get an agreeable bar report (boooo!), so we opted to wait until the midday low slack and went back to bed (yaaaaay!). Thursday, 11:15 a.m. — We left our slip at Westport Marina after a few more … Read more
This morning, en route from Bamfield to Effingham Bay, Airship and Dog Star had just entered Imperial Channel near Diana Island, when Dog Star radioed to tell us (on Airship) there were whales off their port side. We kept an eye out, and eventually spotted at a couple of humpbacks a half mile or so west of our course. One of the whales looked like it was just floating on … Read more