Alaskan Sea-Duction: Chapter 26 The Return South

Sorry folks I seem to have neglected my duties on the blog. We have been having so much fun, and being out of internet range is a good excuse. So we pick up the story from Juneau, Alaska. The ride on the ferry was fun and really interesting. We talked to folks that was just riding the ferry as their vacation and then tourists like us going from town to town.

While in Juneau we hooked up with our friends grand daughter, Halley and took in the Juneau sights as the tram up Mt. Roberts. Kay did some shopping and I went to the Red Dog Saloon. We also met the owner of an adventure boats who took cruise ship tourist to Tracy arm to see wildlife and ice bergs. The Captain Cook captain, Alyssa was awesome! She was one of the best tour guides around. I hope we see more of her. Juneau was a wonderful place, but Kay and I made the decision to start heading south to Port McNeill.

Juneau to Tracy Arm.

We wanted to see Sawyer Glacier, so Tracy arm was on the agenda. We motored up the long valley dodging ice bergs. It was late in the afternoon and one of the tour guides called us on the radio telling us it was almost impossible to reach the glaciers due to all the calving of ice this year. Some have said they had not seen this in 40 years! We tried, but we got within about a mile and was forced back by the ice. It sucked but I wasn't willing to risk the boat, so we retreated back to "No name cove" for the evening, but we did collect some ice for drinks with friends later.

Later that afternoon Kay saw a big brown bear on shore eating his "greens!" She was even more excited when a sow and cub showed up.

Whale Play Ground

On our way to Petersburg the channels intersect, Frederick Sound and Stephens Passage. This is a whale paradise! There were Whales everywhere. We stopped and turned off the engines and drifted for a while and you could see tails, spouts and all things whales. It was an awesome experience.

The Haunted Bay

Our last experience with Petersburg was not that great, so we decided to anchor. Thomas Bay was described as a beautiful bay with a good anchoring and dingy adventures. Kay and I had a great time exploring this place. The water is milky color due to the glacial melt. We also found a Tongess National Forest trail leading to a lake with a NFS cabin. Later that night Kay jumps out of bed stating she had heard a cow! "Baby go back to sleep there aren't any cow around here." About an hour later she again jumps out of bed stating she heard a loud roar! I state "probably a bear." "No,: she says it was different. The next day as we were making our way down Zimovia Channel I call my friend Al in Ketchikan. He tells me the story how the natives would not go back in this valley as they considered it haunted. Some who had ventured there never returned and those who did described a man like fury creature. Really!? Big Foot??? Maybe.

Leaving Alaska

We stayed the night in Wrangle and Myers Chuck. The next day we headed into Ketchikan for fuel, then to Foggy Bay. On Foggy Bay there was a very tricky channel into this anchorage as I almost ran the boat aground, because I took a right instead of a left. This is a very nice anchorage to wait for the crossing of Dixon Entrance and back into Canada. We left early and we were blessed with glass seas for the crossing. I must admit when we crossed the boarder I had a few tears in my eyes.

After clearing customs, we headed to Klennugget Bay in the Grenville Channel. This place will be on all future passages. It is a beautiful anchorage with thousands of jelly fish. One problem was being carful not to suck them up into the engines. We also found out they must die here too as the mud Kay washed off the anchor was really realy stinky!

The next few days was running down to Cape Caution. By Klemtu we had another whale show, only this time they were breaching! To wait out the Cape Caution crossing, we stayed in Fury Cove with about 10 other boats. The weather was not looking that good, but wasn't bad enough to keep us in port. It was a little rough with following seas (again), only this time as we crossed Cape Caution we hit a thick fog bank. It was electronics for the next 3 hours or so, navigating between islands and rocks we could not see. By the time we got to Port McNeil the fog had lifted and we were in port for a days rest and top off with fuel. Then I see a familiar face, Crusty Chief (John)! We would be hitting the Broughtons together.