Glacier Bay to Victoria Galleries

Aerial Photos of Alaska Glaciers : June, 2005... To reach Denali National Park, we flew to Anchorage and took the Alaska Railroad trip north to Denali. The flight landed in the towns of Yakutat and Cordova, giving us excellent views of the glaciers and ice fields of the SE Alaskan Pacific coast mountain ranges. This was an "aerial reconnaisance" for our upcoming Glacier Bay cruise.

Aerial Photos of Alaska Glaciers

June, 2005... To reach Denali National Park, we flew to Anchorage and ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 6:45pm PST

Denali National Park : July, 2005... Numerous friends have recommended that we take a side trip to visit Denali National Park. Alaska Airlines took us to Anchorage where we boarded the Alaska Railroad for a scenic trip to the entrance to Denali National Park. Only the park service buses and a few permitted tour buses are allowed to carry tourists along the 85 mile long road into the park, from which wildlife viewing can be excellent. The bears, wolves, moose, eagles, owls, foxes, mountain goats and caribou go about their daily lives on the tundra, on the mountains and in the forests and tundra fields along the road. A savvy bus driver is essential, as he or she will know where to look for the den of red foxes and the golden eagle's nest. A bus load of eager tourists with sharp eyes is also a must, and when you see something, you cry out, "Bear!", or "Caribou!" You get the idea. Good binoculars and a telephoto lens on your camera are a must. Unfortunately, smoke from fires north of Fairbanks shrouded the snow covered mountains in the park, and we never saw them. The sheer scale of the scenery is a highlight of the trip. We saw grizzly bears browsing among the wildflowers on the tundra, caribou cooling themselves on patches of snow, a mother red fox and two kits, a family of wolves, moose, a jaeger hovering, and a snowy owl flew along beside the bus then crossed in front of us. One night's lodging at a wilderness lodge at the end of the park road, gave us the opportunity to hike up in the high tundra near Wonder Lake.

Denali National Park

July, 2005... Numerous friends have recommended that we take a side tr ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 7:01pm PST

Glacier Bay to Sitka : July 24 , 2005... After two glorious days in Glacier Bay, we did not want to linger and become trapped by approaching weather fronts, in untenable anchorages, with poor visibility. So we headed back to Sitka, traveling eastward in Icy Strait, then south in Chatham Strait and westward in Peril Strait, through Sergius Narrows, and finally south through Neva and Olga Straits. It was in Peril Strait where we had watched whales on our trip from Juneau to Sitka a few weeks prior. The whales were still there - we sighted ten on this passage through the Strait, including a mother and a young humpback. If the whales are resting, they will remain motionless on the surface. While they are feeding, they surface and blow tall steamy spouts about four times in a row, then lift their flukes and sound. By careful observation, we learned to have the camera ready when the tail appeared. The humpback lifts its flukes high out of the water, showing the graceful tapered region of the body just forward of the flukes. The minke whales do not lift their tails this high. We were entertained by a minke whale who raised the back half of its body out of the water and slapped its tail, creating great splashes of water, over and over again. At twilight in Appleton Cove we discovered two brown bears (grizzlies) catching salmon at low tide. Not enough light for photos - but we hope to return next week with more capable camera gear.

Glacier Bay to Sitka

July 24 , 2005... After two glorious days in Glacier Bay, we did not w ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 7:45pm PST

Sitka to Appleton Bay : August 6, 2005... We bid Sitka a fond farewell as we motored north into Olga Strait, then Neva Strait, passing through Whitestone Narrows and Sergius Narrows to anchor in Appleton Cove in Peril Strait. We launched the dinghy straightaway to explore the shoreline and look to see if there were any salmon swimming up the stream where we saw brown bears last time we were anchored there. Yes, salmon were jumping, and there was plenty of water in the stream. For more than 20 minutes, with the sky nearly dark, we watched a mother brown bear and two cubs in the meadow and in the stream at the southwest end of Appleton Cove.

Sitka to Appleton Bay

August 6, 2005... We bid Sitka a fond farewell as we motored north int ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 7:55pm PST

Appleton Bay to Red Bluff Bay : August 7 - 8 , 2005... We exited Peril Strait and entered Chatham Strait and headed south along the east coast of Baranof Island. This is called the "Waterfall Coast", and it lived up to its name. The coast is scalloped by a series of headlands and bays, with tall waterfalls appearing from time to time. We made a brief stop in Warm Springs Bay, then chose Red Bluff Bay, for an incredibly beautiful anchorage. We entered through a winding, 3.3 mile long fjord. Soaring, vertical cliff faces with hardy forest climbing up were strung with “bridal veil” waterfalls. The bay opened up at its head into a green meadow. A stream enters the bay at “Bear Meadow”, on the north side of the meadow, and a small “river’ enters the bay at the south side of the meadow. An 80 foot high waterfall cascaded into the bay astern of ADAGIO at anchor, singing its waterfall song. Salmon were jumping everywhere, so this looked good for bear watching. From our anchorage we could see 4,320 foot high Mt. Radamaker and an un-named peak of 4,200 feet.

Appleton Bay to Red Bluff Bay

August 7 - 8 , 2005... We exited Peril Strait and entered Chatham Stra ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 8:20pm PST

Breaching Humpback whales, Frederick Sound : August 8-13, 2005, Frederick Sound, Alaska We were cruising the Frederick Sound area searching for Grizzly [Brown Bears]. We got lucky -- as we found three different very playful Humpback whales. These pics where shot with a Canon EOS-350D SLR with 480mm [35mm equivalent]. As we approached the entrance to Pybus Bay around 3PM we saw several individual humpback whales spouting and sounding. Then, ahead, right on our course, a humpback whale breached. Then again. Then he slapped the water with his long pectoral fin, again, and again. The whale breached again, and at least 15 more times as we used up the memory on all of our cameras. Magnificent! What a show! We were able to time its activities and predict just about when the next breach would occur, but never 'where' the whale would surface. But the whale would keep breaching, over and over, giving us time to get our camera pointed in the right direction. Twice the whale breached quite near to the boat, a little too close for comfort. The researchers at the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary believe that these humpback whale behaviors "allows the whale to dislodge barnacles and other parasites from its body, serves as a form of communication, or maybe just a form of playful activity for the humpback." Scientists are not supposed to anthropomorphize, but it sure looked like fun to us!

Breaching Humpback whales, Frederick Sound

August 8-13, 2005, Frederick Sound, Alaska We were cruising the Fre ...

Updated: Nov 12, 2006 4:24pm PST

Cannery Cove to Admiralty Island : August 10, 2005... We are Grizzly bear hunting [note the distinction between "fishing" and "catching"].

Cannery Cove to Admiralty Island

August 10, 2005... We are Grizzly bear hunting [note the distinction b ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 8:27pm PST

Gedney Harbor : August 11 , 2005... As the light faded we dinghied over to the meadow at the head of Gedney Harbor. Shortly, a sow and cub walked over to fish in the right hand side creek - disappearing behind the creekside berm. Seeing no more bears for an hour, we returned to ADAGIO. Nearly dark is when all the bears came out to feed - with not nearly enough light for photos. Two individual adult black bears browsed the vegetation and other food along the meadow and shoreline and fished, pouncing on fish, shaking the water off their fur, then pouncing again. It seems to be a difficult skill to master -- catching a salmon with your bear paws and mouth. After about 8 attempts between the two bears, no fish were caught. Then a mother and two cubs appeared on the beach, also grazing on various types of vegetation and items on the beach. We watched until the light was gone. What beautiful and graceful creatures these bears are.

Gedney Harbor

August 11 , 2005... As the light faded we dinghied over to the meadow ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 8:32pm PST

El Capitan Passage : August 12-13, 2005... The northwest corner of Prince of Wales Island is visible from a great distance off because Mt Calder at 3,360 ft is an impressive, bare, jagged peak. Not far to the south of it are Mt. Holbrook and El Capitan. We passed through El Capitan channel at low slack tide or close to it, although we wished it had been high tide. Steve steered ADAGIO masterfully between the rocks and islands with breaths held. The narrowest of the passes, Dry Pass, was about 55 ft wide. Navigation marks showed us the location of the channel, the electronic charts kept us on course, and a sharp lookout kept track of the rocks. We were surprised to see humpback whales spouting and sounding at the mouth of Devilfish Bay. The only other boats we saw were the occasional small boat from a fishing lodge on shore. Such remote and deserted waters these were.

El Capitan Passage

August 12-13, 2005... The northwest corner of Prince of Wales Island i ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 8:37pm PST

Prince of Wales Island : August 14-16, 2005... Prince of Wales Island has a fairly extensive road network (by Inside Passage standards at least). So our m/v BOLERO friends Chuck and Gail rented an SUV to take us on an island tour - from Hydaburg in the south, to Klawock, to Hollis (the ferry to Ketchikan) and then nearly to the top of the island.

Prince of Wales Island

August 14-16, 2005... Prince of Wales Island has a fairly extensive ro ...

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 9:42pm PST

Canoe giving -- Klawock village, Alaska : August 16, 2005, Klawock Canoe Giving Ceremony, Alaska A canoe giving to the Tlingit tribe launched the Klawock totem-raising. Robert "Saaduuts" Peele is a Haida carver and artist-in-residence at the Center for Wooden Boats in Lake Union, Seattle. The new traditional canoe was carved by Saaduuts for Jan Peele - which is gifted to the Tlingit tribe and their families in honor of Jan's mother Maxine Carlson and memory of her father Harry Watson, Jr. "I am here to help carve cultural connections and set an example for embracing humanity, diversity, and respect for our Mother Earth. May we flow as one river." - Robert "Saaduuts" Peele.

Canoe giving -- Klawock village, Alaska

August 16, 2005, Klawock Canoe Giving Ceremony, Alaska A canoe giv ...

Updated: Nov 12, 2006 5:10pm PST

Klawock Totem Raising :

Klawock Totem Raising

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 9:01pm PST

Victoria :

Victoria

Updated: Nov 22, 2006 10:30pm PST

2005 Victoria Classic Boat Festival :

2005 Victoria Classic Boat Festival

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 9:24pm PST

Victoria Orcas :

Victoria Orcas

Updated: Nov 15, 2006 9:57pm PST