Alaska 6-18-2013
Toni Here:

We are headed NW in Fredericks Sound, out of Petersburg. What a beautiful day for cruising. We are seeing snow capped mountains, eagles flying, and we have seen 28 whales.  We are moving at 6 to 7 miles an hour and this must be a whale's favorite place.  All we have to do is slow down and watch in front and beside the boat.  What a spectacular view. Keep your eye on the whale!  And remember, I am not a professional.

What a small world it really is.  We saw friends in Petersburg and now in route north, our C-Dory friend David McKibben. He and another guy are driving a boat from Juneau to Anacortes, Washington and saw our boat on the water and called us on the VHF, so we stopped and had a short visit.

We cruise into Houghton Bay and on into Sandborn Canal to anchor for the night. We are the only boat there. You can not imagine the clean sweet smell of Alaska.  If only I could bottle it and take it home!  The canal is teaming with Arctic Terns, seagulls, and ducks, all eating tiny herring.  The Arctic Terns nest in Southeast Alaska in the summer and fly south almost 12,000 miles to winter in the waters near Antarctica.  Amazing!

After sunset, hoards of knats cover our boat. Thankfully we are inside and have no intentions of going out for anything.  When I say sunset, I really don't mean "the sun goes down and it gets dark."  This time of the year Alaska has 18 hours of daylight. You can read a newpaper at 2am.  I look out the window and see fingerling herring jumping out of the water snatching knats to eat.  Their shiny little bodies look like diamonds on top of the water.  I did get a glimpse of a large black bear in the mud flats.  The mud flats are created when the tides change. And they do have some very low tides.  Before we anchor, we check the tides, making sure if it is going to be 12 feet low, we anchor deeper.  The tides are very important as well as the marine weather.  If they say there well be 25 to 35 knot per hour winds, you had better believe them.

Now cruising in Stephens Passage, towards Juneau, we are seeing Dall's Porpoises. They ride our bow for a while but you only see their backs.   Remember, I am not a professional!  We see a huge cruise ship that passes us like we are standing still.

As we head into Tracy Arm a lone wolf stands on top of a rock outcropping. Alaska is the home to the Alexander Archipelago wolf. The Department of Fish and Game of Alaska say that one wolf eats an average of 26 Sitka black-tailed deer a year.  They also eat beaver, mountain goats and dead salmon in the rivers.

 We are cruising up Tracy Arm, 15 miles, to see Sawyer Glacier.   As we enter the bay, Sumdum Glacier is in the distance. In front of us are two killer whales slowly moving up the channel and then disappear.   Iceburgs start to show and then there it is, South Sawyer Glacier.  Unbelievable!!  Hard to describe.  You just have to see it for yourself.  Breathtaking beauty! We are still using glacier ice from La Conta Glacier, though we were not able to get as close as this.  The wind picks up so we couldn't get in the dingy and take any pictures of our boat.  (To tell you the truth, I was too scared to be by myself trying to keep the boat in front of the glacier. Too many iceburgs!)  Then, what if Russ couldn't get back to the boat?  No Way!! This was good enough for me. The pictures tell it all.

                                                           Sumdum Glacier

                                               Hundreds of waterfalls

                                                           South Sawyer Glacier

We head back out Tracy Arm and anchor inside Tracy Cove with other boats.  What a beautiful cove.  Iceburgs passing by, headed out into the Strait. Tour boats going in and out and one large Cruise Ship headed to see the glacier.

This night we anchor in Taku Harbor. A Forest Service dock and old cannery ruins.  Beautiful wild flowers and eagles. We set out our crab pot and hike the ruins.  We meet some folks from Seattle and see them three more times in Juneau. Like I said, it's a small world in Alaska.   We caught one crab and had crab melts. Ummm good!

We are in Juneau for 3 or 4 days and well send another blog soon.   Thank you for keeping up with us. Wish we could bring you all along for the ride!  Our love to family and friends.