Arrival Alaska!

Hi folks! We are, as I write this, sitting at a laundromat near Bar Harbor Marina in Ketchikan, Alaska, waiting for our two oversized loads of laundry to finish. (The party never ends!)

We arrived yesterday (Saturday, 6/4/11) after deciding to beat the bad weather that is supposedly coming by doing an extra long day Friday, skipping our planned stopover at Brundige Inlet on Dundas Island and going straight to Foggy Bay instead. This saved us a day off our "dream itinerary". Customs was the easiest we have ever experienced so that was very nice. The hardest part was just waiting for the agent to arrive at our slip! It seemed just to be a formality really. Pretty cool service, though, don't you think? (In Canada, they made us get off the boat while two of the agents searched it for god knows what. Here they didn't do anything but look at our shotgun.)

Unfortunately, we chose a marina that has no internet service so I am forced to use Brad's IPad AT&T connection. The IPad doesn't afford me the ability to upload my pictures (or if it does, neither Brad nor I know how to do it.) So please revisit this posting later (I can't tell you HOW much later, sorry) so you can see the pictures that go along with the story. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I think the pictures will make it worth a second visit.

THAR SHE BLOWS!

Yes, we've seen that distinctive spray from the whales as they surface for air. Awesome! So far we have seen orca (killer) whales, humpback whales, and finback whales. Each kind has a breaching pattern that the viewer can observe at the surface. The orcas have a very tall dorsal in that makes them very easy to identify. The humpbacks always expose their unique flukes (tail fins) as they dive back down deep after breaching. And the finbacks have very small dorsal fins (as do humpbacks) but do not raise their flukes when diving.

The last whale we spotted was right before entering Ketchikan Harbor. I was doing some aerobic dancing in place in the cockpit, jamming to ZZ Top, (part of my workout regimen) when I saw a fleeting glimpse of spray ahead of us at roughly eleven o'clock. I said to Brad, "Geez! There must be a slightly submerged rock over there because I just saw a small splash in that direction." I didn't think any more about it, but within about 30 to 45 seconds, I caught sight of a disturbance still slightly ahead of us but at about 1:30ish. That's when I realized what I was seeing: a finback whale! We cut the power to idle and watched as he resurfaced again right in front of us on our starboard side. I was amazed (and pleased) how close (but NOT scary close) he swam around us, how fast he moved, and that he obviously altered his course so as not to swim directly underneath us.

BLISSFUL TRANQUILITY

On May 31st, we anchored in a place called the East Inlet. We kayaked for about two hours and then realized that the weather had improved to the point that we could put on short-sleeved t-shirts and shorts. It was a lovely 75 degrees with NO WIND! Awesome! Just like summer! We pulled out the chaise lounge chairs and sat on the roof (which we lovingly call "the lido deck"), munched on melted brie on crackers and sipped some cold beer. Perfect! Snow-covered mountain views in the distance, lush green forests on the shore, a gurgling rapids running into the inlet from a mountain lake. Eagles and hawks, flying by, searching for their next meal. Seagulls and ducks splashing around in the water looking for small fry. Our neighbors in the sailboats anchored near us rowing out in their dinghies checking their crab traps for a possible dinner. The reflection of the forest, mountains, and sky in the nearly perfect calm surface of the water. Sarah McLachlan playing on the stereo. Tranquility.

Of course, that piece of heaven ended when the sun went behind the ridge. But it was blissful out there for about an hour before that. Since then, it has been in the 50's and raining. You have to take advantage of these precious moments when they come along. Life is short!