May 2008 Cruise News

It was a dark and stormy night...... Actually, it was a cloudy day with spring squalls complete with rain, hail, snow and a gale forecast for early evening, but we left Sitka anyway. The previous day was grueling with 8 am dentist visits, running various errands, and buying and storing provisions for two months. We finally finished about 6 pm and decided we were definitely leaving the next morning just to get away somewhere and decompress. So on May 3rd, we finally got underway just before noon and made the 1-1/2 hour passage to our favorite close-to-home anchorage, Cedar Cove.

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Still...the view from Cedar Cove was beautiful.

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Nothing like fresh snow to give you a feeling of spring???

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Chuck has become an expert at baking. We have fresh bread several times a week and muffins are on the breakfast menu quite often.

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This photo is in Ushk Bay. One of the two days the sun came out during the first 3 weeks of our voyage north.

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We had an up close visit from a humpback, a few Orca, and a lone dall porpoise came for a swim. This was all before we got to Chatham Strait.

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Our plan was to stop off in Tenekee to catch some crab but the weather had been so horrible up until now that when we hit Chatham, we just kept going all the way up to Swanson Harbor in Icy Strait. It was flat calm as we entered Chatham Strait.

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We traveled 62 miles to Swanson Harbor where we spent several days sitting out more lousy weather.

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I got a lot of beading done but punctured a slight hole in my crocheting finger. Blue masking as well as duct tape have many uses on a boat. We ventured out into Icy Strait in the dinghy one day to go fishing but it was too wet, cold and choppy. Almost 3 weeks out and all we have caught are a few crab and some rockfish.

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We moved on to Dundas where we did have several opportunities to go fishing. Chuck is smiling here but it was cold that day. We spent almost a week in Dundas and did find a very nice halibut hole.

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There is a really picturesque old cannery in Dundas.

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We were surprised at the amount of snow still on the mountaintops and on shore. But this is the earliest we have been here.

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Last time we were here was early July of 2006. One month makes a big difference. Notice the difference in the snow line in the previous picture.

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Spring weather came at last with several days of beautiful sunshine. On these days, we just sat outside on the boat deck and soaked up some warmth.

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We were surprised to see a big black bear on the beach. Chuck is having a fish taco (can't have fresh bread every day) and watching the bear on the beach (the black speck in the forward window).

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This was the view of the bear from the boat. It is hard for me to take photos that give you a really good perspective of what we actually see and not zoomed in. This one is pretty good.

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We then moved west to Elfin Cove where we got a front row space at the outside dock to see this view. Elfin Cove is a quaint little boardwalk town that has been infiltrated by fishing lodges. Unfortunately, there are something like 13 fishing lodges in this one small town.

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This is how they get rid of a majority of their trash. Since we had a month's accumulation of trash, we too burned it.

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We thought Elfin Cove would be a fun place for Chuck's son Jason and his wife, Yvonne (Von), to fly into via floatplane.

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It was a gorgeous day and they had a wonderful flight from Juneau to Elfin Cove.

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We asked the kids if they'd be interested in going to Pelican to attend the annual Boardwalk Boogie. We hadn't ever attended and thought it would be fun for them. As soon as we told them it was a big party with lots of music, they said yes.

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Here is our boat at the dock in Pelican. The weather was outstanding. In town and away from the water, it was downright hot. The mountains across from the harbor were beautiful.

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It was so hot this guy dropped his pants. The other musicians stayed fully dressed.

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These guys threw in some gymnastics and juggling along with some very nice music.

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An all-lady group outside one of the bars.

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There is a story behind this picture you can be assured. First of all, Jason, cut his wrist BEFORE arriving in Alaska. He did not slit his wrist while he was with us. While in Pelican, we visited Rosie's Bar. Rosie's is a very famous bar owned and operated by a 75 year old single lady and her daughters. On the ceiling of the bar are mostly dollar bills signed by people who have visited Pelican. We neglected to tell Jason and Yvonne that those who venture up to stick a bill on the ceiling get their pants yanked down and their rear ends signed. We've heard it's not the rear ends of the men but the front end. We haven't confirmed that rumor. Anyway, Yvonne wanted to pin a bill on the ceiling and guess what???? (Yvonne: I promised not to put your photo in the Cruise News but all the important parts are covered).

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It was definitely sea otter pup time in Cross Sound. This otter was not going to dive as most do when you get too close because her pup was so young it probably couldn't swim yet. We had to change course so as not to run them over. They are so cute. She was pretty unconcerned about us.

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There is a great seal rock on the way to Elfin Cove. Huge stellar sealions sit out there with their harem of females. Unfortunately, the few times we passed the rock it was either really rolly or totally fogged in. This was the best I could do under the circumstances.

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We moved on to Dundas again with the kids this time. This bear swam from one island to another which we had only seen once before in all the years we have been cruising.

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Shake it off!!!!!!!

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The Dall Porpoise love to swim in our bow wave. In Icy Strait on our way to Swanson Harbor we had them with us almost all day. Look at that smooth water!

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At times, there were 8-10 of them swimming and jumping around us. They are really fun to watch. Unfortunately, they loved the boat when we were not underway also. We would stop to fish and they'd show up. Not so great for fishing.

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The weather was still great even to the end of the kid's trip. Here Von is fishing for something for dinner.

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The kids were picked up in Swanson Harbor and whisked away back to Juneau for their flight home.

We left Swanson Harbor and moved back out west in Icy Strait heading for Hoonah. We will catch up with you there in our next issue of the cruise news.

Best to everyone,

Chris and Chuck