After a few days of chores and goodbyes in Sitka, I headed for Juneau. I would have loved to continue cruising with the group, but commitments intervened and I needed to make it Juneau in time for a flight back to Seattle. I departed Sitka at 6:00 a.m. to make slack at Sergius Narrows. The earliest departure in weeks! After cruising in company for the last month, the quietness of … Read more
The cruise up Frederick Sound from Portage Bay to Pybus Bay is about 33 nautical miles. The wind was mostly calm (10 knots or so) with just the slightest chop. The sun was even out for a bit! We were hoping for some humpbacks today. Frederick Sound, especially around the Brothers Islands, is usually rich with whales. Today did not disappoint. We saw about a dozen of them, spread out … Read more
“Can I call you right back? A couple orcas just surfaced right in front of the boat and I don’t want to hit them,” I frantically told the U.S. Customs officer as I eased the throttle back. “No problem, that’ll happen,” the officer responded. Welcome to Alaska. We were motoring north in Tongass Narrows, on our way into Ketchikan after a three-week transit through British Columbia. Anchored in Foggy Bay … Read more
Ford’s Terror might just be the most beautiful place on the planet. Cliffs—absolutely humongous granite walls, really—rise from water’s edge to snowcapped bowls and peaks 5000 feet above. Countless waterfalls, some trickles, others torrents, plunge from these peaks. Bears forage ashore. Dolphins frolic around anchored boats. The scale of Ford’s Terror is difficult to comprehend and impossible to convey. It’s like Yosemite, but with water in the valleys, no crowds, … Read more
Today was about crabs, humpbacks, black bears, dolphins, icebergs, and the 70 pound halibut that got away. [google_maps id=”1084″] Read more on the Riveted blog.
Kevin arrived back in Ketchikan after spending the week in Austin for work. He brought his mom back with him, and we’ll be showing her SE Alaska from Ketchikan to Petersburg this week. (I was really ready to get off the dock back out in nature again!) Our first stop after some sightseeing in Ketchikan (Creek Street, Saxman Totem Village, and dinner at the Bar Harbor Restaurant) was Walker Cove … Read more
This morning we woke up early, made some coffee, and sat out on the bow watching bears. We decided we’d take a dinghy ride further around to the end of Walker Cove before pulling the crab traps this morning. It was early and quiet and the water was glassy still. (So nice to have the electric Torqeedo for these kinds of quiet expeditions, instead of the loud gasoline outboard!) Read … Read more
On Thursday morning we left Ketchikan and headed for Misty Fjords. We didn’t get to Misty Fjords last year and since we were about a week early to Ketchikan…what better to do with that time? We thought we’d check out New Eddystone Rock first, and then decide where to anchor for the night. New Eddystone is pretty spectacular. It rises 230 feet high and looks like something out of a … Read more