June 2005 Cruise News
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We
started off June with another first. We put Lucretia
Belle up on a grid to paint the waterline where we scraped the paint off
driving through ice during the winter. For those of you who do=
not
know what a grid is, let us explain. At high water, you pull up next to t=
his
pier and tie the boat to it (loosely). As the tide goes down, so do=
es
the boat (thus the reason for not tying the lines too tightly) until it c=
omes
down and rests on the grids (wood timbers). |
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At low
tide, the boat is sitting on grids high and dry as shown here. As m=
ost
everything we try for the first time it is very scary especially if you d=
on't
have the grids positioned in the right place. The metal bars at the
stern of the boat protecting the propeller and rudder could be bent if the
boat is positioned incorrectly. |
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On June
2nd, we took off to new territory going south of Sitka on the outside of =
Baranof Island. This is not my favorite kind =
of
cruising because we are out in the ocean, which means no protection from
ocean swell. Thankfully, this trip was somewhat smooth for ocean
cruising. Our first anchorage was Kidney Cove in Redoubt Bay. =
The
wind was blowing but you would never know it in this anchorage. Calm
and sunny. |
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We read
in the cruising guide that we might see bear on the beach and in the
afternoon, out came a grizzly bear sow and her huge cub. This is the
cub. He was a lot lighter in color than his mother. They
sauntered down the beach stopping to get a bite of grass now and then.&nb=
sp; |
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This
picture shows the hump just behind the neck that the black bear doesn't h=
ave
and I know this picture doesn't show it, but grizzly bear in general are =
huge
compared to the black bear. According to the information provided at Glac=
ier
Bay, a black bear averages 125-300 pounds and a grizzly averages 500-1000
pounds. |
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We moved north a bit to Kalinen Bay where the sa= lmon were starting to show up. Up until now, we hadn't caught a salmon t= his summer. Luckily, a friend of ours was anchored in Kalinen Bay and took Chuck out fishing one day. This was the catch--four beautiful coho (I took out the camera after o= ne of the salmon had already lost its head). Chuck took this opportunity = to learn some new techniques while out with our friend. Obviously, wha= t he did worked well.
Have you ever been to a casino and plunked in coin after coin into a slot mach= ine and not even a nibble of a jackpot? Yet everywhere around you bells= are going off and people are winning thousands of dollars. Well, that is exactly how Chuck and I felt for the next two days when we went out fishi= ng for salmon. Everywhere around us, king, coho and silver salmon were being caught and we got zilch. Something is wrong. Never say die!!!!! |
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In mid June, Jason (Chuck's son) and his wife, Yvonne (Von), flew into Sitka and joined us for two weeks. This trip was their wedding gift and exten= ded honeymoon.
We
started the trip by going to Hoonah Sound to =
catch
some prawns. Here is Jason showing off some of the catch. Rig=
ht
off the bat, we saw a grizzly wandering the beach. First day with u=
s,
they see a grizzly bear, humpback whales, catch prawns and fish. |
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The fishing poles were immediately deployed in Hoonah Sound. The weather was gloomy but not too cold. (contrary to = what Von thought) <= o:p> |
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Jason
caught this snapper and some other rockfish so we had a fresh fish
dinner. |
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We came
across several beautiful waterfalls along the east coast of Baranof Island while cruising down Chatham Strait o=
n our
way to Tracy Arm. |
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We left
Hoonah Sound and proceeded south down Chatham
Strait. As we approached Baranof Warm
Springs, about 10 Dall's porpoise joined us a=
nd
swam at our bow in the bow wave for about 30 minutes. |
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We came
into Warm Springs Bay, tied up to the dock and enjoyed some sunshine.&nbs=
p;
This was the first time Chuck and I had been to Warm Springs Bay. <=
/span> |
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Jason
and Von took a walk to check out the sulfur hot springs and the waterfall=
in Baranof Warm Springs. |
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The
plan was to get to Tracy Arm to see the glaciers as quickly as possible a=
nd
take our time returning to Sitka catching as much fish as possible going =
and
coming. On the way to Tracy Arm, we saw humpback whales
everywhere. Right off the bat, Jason and Von got to see whales brea=
ching
(but I still didn't get a picture). |
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We
started getting excited about Tracy Arm when we saw this glacier from just
outside the entrance. At this point, we had only seen a few icebergs
that made their way outside the entrance. |
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Jason
and Von sat out on the bow looking at the icebergs and scenery. |
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This is
the Tracy Arm anchorage. As you can see, the anchorage is exposed to
pretty large icebergs. Luckily, the wind didn't blow so none of the
house sized icebergs came into the anchorage. |
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Jason
and Von took a dinghy ride immediately after we arrived and found several
photogenic waterfalls. |
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We left
very early the next morning to get up to the two glaciers at the head of
Tracy Arm. It was going to be a long day with a 50 mile round trip =
up
to the glaciers and back. We also wanted to be the first boat up th=
ere
before the wildlife were disturbed by cruise ships and charter
boats. |
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The
scenery up to the glaciers was breathtaking |
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One of
the things that Von and I were looking forward to seeing were mother seals
with their pups. We saw this mom and her pup early on in the
trip. Notice all the icebergs and we had a long way to go. |
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One of
the differences we noticed between Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay we=
re
the icebergs. There were much more house sized icebergs in Tracy Arm
and many more of them were a deep blue in color, This one reminded =
us
of swiss cheese. |
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The
glacial waters were a beautiful turquoise blue and there were hundreds of
waterfalls everywhere. |
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We made
it all the way up Tracy Arm to within 5 miles of the glaciers and we=
re
forced to stop. The icebergs were blockading us from continuing far=
ther
up the inlet. We waited around for about an hour hoping a cruise sh=
ip
would come up to pave the way, but one never arrived. As a matter of
fact, no cruise ships showed up that day at all. A larger boat than
ours and small trawler came up behind us but they wouldn't attempt going
through either. We all turned back. |
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On the
way back to the anchorage, we saw a small charter boat making its way up =
the
arm. Way too late for us to follow. We were all disappointed =
we
didn't see the glaciers but the scenery on the way up was very
spectacular. =
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***End Part 1***