I thought the British Columbia part of the Inside Passage was lovely, but I must say the views and wildlife just keep getting better and better the further north we get. Alaska is awesome! Just as the Canandians said, "the eagles are like mosquitoes, they are everywhere.", so is it true here in Alaska. But not only are there bald eagles nearly everywhere you look, the whales seem to be everywhere too. In the last few days we've seen LOTS of humpback whales and finback whales. And the latest addition to our viewing pleasure has been the minke whale. The minke is a rather small whale by whale standards, with white patches on its fins. It is much harder to spot than other whales because its spray is very faint when it comes up to breathe, making a sighting that much more of a prize.
Our most intimate encounter to date has been when a group of dalls porpoises torpedoed towards our boat (Brad got a little worried there before he realized what was happening) and then cavorted in our bow wake for roughly ten minutes. Taking turns, they would come up fron behind, swimmming up alongside us a few feet away just below the surface, accelerate ahead just in front of our bow as if playing chicken with us, cross over in front of us to the other side of the boat then peel off to behind us, going deeper in the water at the back of their circling pattern and then do it all again. A few of them would make their circle in the opposite direction so we could never be sure which side of the boat to watch from. It seemed like chaos but I bet it was a cleverly choreographed dance if only we could see it from under the water. Just as they came upon us out of nowhere, they disappeared with nary a flipper wave. (We got some video of this so stay tuned for future video postings!)
TRACY ARM, THE LAND OF THE BERGIE BITS
Our most beautiful scenery to date has been in Tracy Arm, the home of the north and south Sawyer glacier. As we approached the narrows to enter the arm, I used our binoculars to see the narrows just ahead. That was when I caught a glimpse of what was to come. Literally - in one instant - I had the privilege of witnessing icebergs in the distance, a humpback whale breaching in the foreground, and a bald eagle flying overhead from right to left! This is no exaggeration folks. I saw all that in one moment in time all at the exact same time! It just doesn't get any better than that!
We crossed the narrows and made our way into the anchorage just inside. We were giddy with delight. There was a bergie bit (mini-iceberg) in the cove so we kayaked over to it and used dad's old ice pick to knock off several chunks. (We've had bergie bits in all of our cold drinks ever since. The best ice you'll ever have the privilege of using - so pure, so dense, so crystal clear.)
The next morning we awoke to perfectly clear skies. The weather gods were definitely favoring us today. (The day before had been a low overcast and even though we knew we were surrounded by beautiful, snow-capped peaks in all directions, we simply could not see a single one as we motored through Frederick Sound. The whale sightings made up for it though. My arms got tired from holding up the binoculars most of the day. Whales never surface close enough for naked eye viewing if you ask me.) What luck!
Tracy Arm is about 25 miles long. The further we motored in, the thicker the bergie bits got. By the time we got to the junction dividing the north and south glaciers, Brad was getting tired arms trying to steer around them all. After a while, you get desensitized and give up trying to avoid them all. Besides, it's just not possible. We are afraid to look at our hull next time we get her hauled out as we scraped past so much ice that we kind of went numb after a while. We managed to get below a waterfall whose flow kept the icebergs at bay, leaving a nice clear space to turn the boat around. That was as close as we could get to the glacier's terminus, roughly two miles from it. (Brad was definitely WAY past his comfort zone before we ever got to the waterfall so there was NO WAY we he was motoring any further. Thank God Melody, another boat we've gotten to know along the way, was ahead of us and found this good turnaround spot.)
As we negotiated our way through the bergs, I stood up on the bow, scanning the way ahead. I could see what looked like logs or maybe rocks on many of them. I thought this was odd, but I was too busy trying to direct Brad as to which way to steer to avoid the bigger ice chunks. That's when we came upon one of the logs up close: it was a seal pup! And his mother was not far away. She exploded out of the water, splash-landed on the iceberg, and nudged her pup into the safety of the water. Surprise! We found ourselves in the middle of a seal nursery! Those logs/rocks were sunbathing seal pups waiting for their hungry mothers return from their hunts. I caught a few on video. (Seals are a LOT easier to video than whales. Whales are elusive and always seem to surface when you have finally gotten tired of waiting, given up, and put your camera away. Not to mention they surface in a different location from where they were last spotted. Kind of like the mole game at the carnival: frustrating but exhilarating!)
The next day we docked at Taku Harbor at a nearly brand new, beautiful, long, free public dock. Sweet! We were down below preparing dinner in the galley, when we heard a lot of yelling. A bear stood at the head of the dock as though he was considering a stroll past all of the boats. Thankfully, he changed his mind and fled up the steep slope through the trees away from the dock instead. I bet the folks who were cooking fish on the dock with their big, fancy cooker were relieved! We thought we were almost going to witness a real show until the bear buggered off. We didn't get to identify whether it was a black or brown bear because it all happened too quickly.
Now we are in Juneau, the state capital, enjoying the shops and museums. There are four cruise ships docked here so there are tourists milling around everywhere. We hope to escape them tomorrow by going on a long hike up to Mount Roberts. Let's hope the weather cooperates. It seems to rain here every single day, although maybe not all day long. I am amazed at how these people even find room enough to build a city. The mountains are "in your face" behind the buildings and in the other direction the sea is "in your face" or maybe "under your feet" might be more appropriate. Just not much room to build streets and houses. I guess I'd have to call all of the towns I've seen so far in Alaska to be "strip towns". Not what I expected.
Unfortunately I again don't have the ability to upload pictures or videos of all the wonderful scenery and wildlife, but I promise to do so when I am able. The way things are going so far that may mean a month or more from now but I hope the pictures will be worth the trouble to revisit the website later. Sorry!
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