Ketchikan, Alaska to Shearwater/Bella Bella BC

Since leaving Ketchikan, Alaska we have traveled back to British Columbia and have been cruising remote areas in and around the major channels leading south and staying a night or two in sheltered bays along the way. The weather has been colder with the average daytime temperatures in the mid 50s. We have experienced a few days of rain but most have been cloudy with sun breaks.  

The spring snow melt has resulted in some spectacular waterfalls and we have seen some beauties.  We have actually seen so many that I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite.

Max loves it when we go ashore to explore and play a little ball but Chris and I are pretty wary of getting very far from the dinghy due to the bear population. We have seen some beautiful bears from the safety of the boat and we have no desire to confront one on shore. This guy is the largest we’ve seen so far and he was huge!

We are still in pursuit of the elusive Halibut but Chris has caught some really big Ling cod, black cod, a Red Snapper and yesterday, a beautiful red-orange octopus! I have caught a couple of nice Rock Cod, although tasty, nothing to write home or blog about.

Back in Ketchikan

June 5th

We squeezed between the cruise ships around noon today and tied up to a city dock not far from where we were three weeks ago on our way north. UGRIB weather is calling for an incoming front with substantial winds for a few days so we will remain here till there is a better weather window for crossing Dixon Entrance back into Canada.

Tortoise on deck

I can tell you first hand that a summer day in Alaska is hard to beat. The afternoon we spent at the head of Tracy Arm marveling at the granite fjords, mountains, waterfalls and icebergs could have not have been a nicer day anywhere in the world. Even Tiki spent some time on deck soaking up the rays.

Small iceberg melting on shore

Max love ice cubes and this one was a doozy!

Humpback whale watch

Chris did a little tune up work on Gator's motor before we went out to explore icebergs and whales.

It wasn't long before we encountered a humpback...

Sunshine and ice

May 28, 2011

Sunshine and ice

We came to Alaska to see icebergs and glaciers and today was the day. We experienced a few icebergs at the entrance to Tracy Arm off Holkham Bay and anchored accordingly. We had been schooled by a friend to anchor just inside the cove and to the right so that any bergs coming in during the night would ground themselves on the rocks and lessen the chance of them colliding with Sea Mist during the night. At anchor in the cove we had a spectacular view through the trees .

We saw pods of humpback whales on and off all day yesterday but we were surprised this morning to see them feeding near the icebergs when we entered the arm. As always there were eagles and we spotted this pair of sitting on top of an iceberg.

The quantity and magnitude of icebergs increased as we progressed up Tracy Arm to where the North and South Sawyer glaciers loomed to the left and right of the head. The sheer mass of each glacier was nothing I could have imagined.

Who knew icebergs were blue? I was surprised by the brilliant blue colors of the compressed ice at the core of each iceberg. The size and shape of many reminded me of enormous floats in a watery parade.