Catching Up

How time flies when you fail to keep your blog current! So let’s remedy that, shall we?

After the whole pajama-party week, and the liver healing that necessarily ensued, we found ourselves in a bit of a hurry to cover a lot of miles relatively quickly. We had booked a berth for the winter season in Victoria, British Columbia, starting October 1. It was already August, and we were still in Prince William Sound, maybe 1,200 nautical miles away (as the crow flies!) And we had about a 6 day trip planned in September to attend my nephew’s wedding in southern CA. We were prepared to keep a non-relaxing pace, and to give much of southeast Alaska little more than a fly-by this time around.

Our first stop after crossing the Gulf of Alaska was Glacier Bay National Park. It’s something of a holy grail in Alaska cruising, and some hoops need to be jumped through in order to anchor here, so we stayed 7 wonderful days. Lots of whales, especially humpbacks, eagles, ospreys, salmon, Steller sea lions… an abundance of wildlife cavorting everywhere. Somehow in a week of marveling at all the nature and the dramatic vistas, we managed to take a lot of rubbish in terms of pictures. Turn your sound up when you watch the short clip below, it’s mainly to let you hear the grunting and snuffling of the Steller sea lions as they bask in the sunshine.

In Juneau, we got a berth at Aurora Harbor Marina. Through an online app, we managed to find a local cat-sitter who was willing to take care of Ash and Crooked while we traveled to Santa Barbara. There are a couple of legendary spots for viewing brown bears (grizzlies) in the wild, but we didn’t have time to get there on our own boat. By the time we would have returned from California, the salmon that draw them to the rivers could be gone, so we opted to visit via float plane from Juneau with a very small group.

We landed at the mouth of Waterfall Creek on Chichagof Island.

The bears here are never fed by humans, and are not tame. But they have become accustomed to the presence of small numbers of quiet people. With our guides instructing us, we slowly and silently made our way up the creek and sat down facing the river to watch the all-you-can-eat salmon feasting for several hours. It was marvelous. All ages and genders were represented.

Then we heard some munching and rustling sounds behind us, and this dude popped up, mouth full of berries. He didn’t startle, and neither did we, so he just ambled on past us, found a sun-drenched patch of grass and settled in for a nap.

We also stayed in an anchorage called Ford’s Terror. The ominous name is due to rapids in the narrow, winding entrance channel when the tidal current is flowing. But we timed our entrance to nearly slack current, so all you see are very small eddies in the time lapse video below.

Once inside, the surroundings are stunning and the anchorage is well protected.

As the season wore on, we noticed our cats getting more accustomed to life aboard.

On our 29th wedding anniversary in September, we tied up in Petersburg. No fine dining options available, but that’s OK, it’s just such a treat to have somebody else cook and do the dishes once in awhile!

In Wrangell, we walked the beach at low tide to look at the petroglyphs.

The tiny community of Meyers Chuck was snug and adorable; we will stop here again next year!

We cleared into Canada, tied up in Cow Bay Marina in lovely Prince Rupert. No, that is not a giant wine glass in the channel behind that last fishing boat on the dock where the Buffalo is tied in the pic below. We snapped it through the window of the restaurant where we were having dinner; that magic hour light was just too gorgeous to ignore!

Once in B.C., we picked up the pace even more making our way south. We did enjoy a couple of nights in Nettle Basin, where Stan got some drone video of Verney Falls.

In the photos below you can see we had this anchorage (and indeed most of them!) all to ourselves. The falls are off to the left of the Buffalo.

Finally we made it to the tip of Vancouver Island and Victoria International Marina. I think this is our favorite marina, anywhere. Wonderful people, excellent services and amenities, great location in a city we love, and for the first time ever, we can actually drive from our home to our boat whenever we like.

As I write this, we are back underway for a FAR more leisurely cruising season exploring B.C. and SE Alaska. Can’t wait to tell you all about it!