We never did see the sow and teeny tiny new cub that our friends saw at Pavlof, but before we left this morning, this one came out and was munching some sedge grass on shore. There definitely will be more bears here later when the salmon are running. See last year’s post from the end of July. Left to our own devices with a comparatively short day (30nm) and a “leave … Read more
We left Appleton Cove right around sunrise so we could scoot out and up Chatham Strait and into Pavlof Harbor before the weather came in. It’s really tough some days to get up and going so early, but then we’re often rewarded with incredible sunrises and scenery like this along the way: Out in Chatham just before turning into Freshwater Bay, we spotted three orcas, two adults and one little … Read more
We left Sitka by 5:30am this morning to catch the early slack at Sergius Narrows. Feels nice to get off the dock after four days, but we still love Sitka (and I’m sure we’ll be back at least once this summer). We saw another minke whale on our way out, plus a few sea lions and a bunch of deer. Since we left so early, we arrived early, but it’s … Read more
Another beautiful morning (before the “mostly cloudy” sets in)! We stopped to pick up our prawn traps on the way out of Red Bluff Bay and had 55 more spot prawns. Yum! Nice and calm in Chatham Strait today for our run up to Takatz Bay. There were no other boats anchored in Takatz Bay when we arrived, which is quite rare! We got out to do some dinghy exploring … Read more
We awoke to a gorgeous morning in Explorer Basin! The group left the anchorage in shifts. First out was Seabear, who reported back they were again seeing humpbacks bubble-net feeding outside the entrance. Our route in and out of this place is definitely on the herring trail because the waters around here are just bubbling with ’em! Some swell and some chop (and some fog) out in Chatham, but not … Read more
Another long day underway today, so we all left the anchorage before 6am. Once out in Frederick Sound we had some low clouds and a little chop, but eventually the chop evened out and the sky started to clear. There were quite a few other vessels showing up on AIS that we couldn’t see visually…a tug towing a barge, a couple cruise ships, fishing boats, a pleasure boat or two….lots … Read more
Day 25 – The group left the Thomas Bay anchorage early this morning and headed north in Frederick Sound toward Pybus Bay at the south end of Admiralty Island. As we neared the Brothers Islands, the wildlife sightings began! Over at West Brother Island — a colony of sea lions (over 100 as reported by Free Solo and Seabear) as well as some orcas. The orcas came to visit Airship … Read more
We awoke to a beautiful morning in Ketchikan. Much nicer than the rain and wind we’ve seen the last couple of days. It was time to untie the lines and get the party moving northward. Fate and boats had some interesting plans in store for us today, though. In Clarence Strait near Caamano Point we spotted a very large orca that at first we thought might be with a baby, … Read more