June 2009 Cruise News

We left you in May doing a shakedown cruise to make sure all systems were go. Everything seemed OK. My sister arrived in late May for 10 days. All she wanted was nice weather, nature sightings (especially whales), and to catch some fish. Well, we were able to meet some of her needs. We left Sitka and headed south on the outside of Baranoff Island. The weather predictions were for sun.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8F1E.jpg$

On the way south, we ran into what we thought was a huge log bobbing up and down in the ocean swell. As we got closer, we saw that it was a herd (???) of otters. OK, check one off for nature sightings. The sun came out a few days later with a vengeance. As a matter of fact, my sister was complaining that it was too hot. Never happy!!! Check off nice weather.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8F3E.jpg$

We did a lot of fishing without a lot of success. Good thing my sister likes rockfish because that is all we caught. Here's Chuck filleting some fish at a wonderful anchorage near a small waterfall.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8F6E.jpg$

As we were traveling up the channel to the anchorage, we saw a lone humpback just cruising along the shoreline. As we were finishing up dinner, the whale came into the anchorage and gave us a nice treat. Whale tail first.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8F8E.jpg$

Then we noticed that he was bubble feeding. We could see the circle of bubbles long before he came up with mouth open so photos were pretty easy.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8F9F.jpg$

In this shot, you can see the small fish jumping away from his mouth.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8FBF.jpg$

Here he was lunge feeding. We watched him for about an hour and off around the corner he went.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8FDF.jpg$

An eagle swimming just doesn't seem natural but we have seen this quite a few times. My sister had not. Fortunately, he made it to shore but unfortunately it was without a fish in his talons.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\8FFF.jpg$

Chuck has become quite the accomplished photographer as exemplified by these eagle photos. He loves his new camera and really appreciates the lessons from Kit, the professional.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\901F.jpg$

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\904F.jpg$

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\9060.jpg$

The waterfalls on the outer coast were flowing nicely. We returned to Sitka and dropped my sister at the airport. We immediately took off for points south.

$C:\Users\THEPRI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\9080.jpg$

We had weeks of overcast, wet, dreary days and finally at the end of June, the sun came out for several days. We did a lot of fishing and finally caught some salmon and halibut. Whales were sparse but we found this one fairly close to the boat. The new camera works well with whale tails also.

During June, on overcast, rainy and sunny days, we discussed making a change in our lives. We have made a decision to take Lucretia B south to Bellingham, sell her and find a "land" home somewhere like in Oregon, California or Arizona. Chuck has been around boats for over 30 years, We have lived on boats for almost 20 years and lived in Alaska for 5 years. Although we love living on Lucretia B and enjoyed our experience in Alaska, it is time to make a change. So, the July Cruise News will be the last of the "cruise news" but we will continue the "land cruise news". Stay tuned for the next chapter of our lives......

Chris and Chuck