Post from club member Marc in Alaska

Panoramic shot of Cannery Cove mentioned in the previous episode:

Also it should have read: "As usual [the Dahl Porpoises] are nearly *impossible* to photograph..."

And Laszlo did catch some more fish in Cannery Cove the next morning if I'm not mistaken. 
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Tuesday 4 June

We woke up in Tracy Arm Cove and the small icebergs in the anchorage hadn't really moved during the night, which was somewhat a relief. 

We had spotted our first iceberg in the distance while approaching the entrance to Tracy Arm the evening before. At first I thought it was a boat, but a closer look with the binoculars revealed the icy nature of the object. When we turned the bend to enter Tracy Arm we saw several more. 

This big iceberg was right next to the red channel marker with a bald eagle perched on top.
Laszlo clambered to the bow and kept a good eye out until we dropped the hook. 

After breakfast the tender was deployed on a tow line as a life raft and up we went into Tracy Arm, hoping that the ice wouldn't be too dense and we would be able to find a path all the way to the south arm glacier. 

The spectacular granite cliffs in Tracy Arm:

We saw the odd large iceberg but as we moved deeper and deeper into the arm with the upcoming tide, more and more smaller bits of ice started cluttering around us. Some of them are white, others a magical intense blue, and the nasty ones are perfectly transparent and low on the water. They're hard to spot and should the propeller hit any bergy bit, as they are called, then that would be "game over" for us. Of course hitting any but the very smallest at high speed could also hole the hull. 

One of those intense blue bergs with a mother and baby seal resting on a smaller bergy bit in front (the dark speck):

 Unfortunately the little iPod I use can't capture the beauty of that blue. The berg in the picture above was entirely blue to the naked eye, no white whatsoever. 

Many icebergs have seagulls or bald eagles perched on top of them. At some point a bald eagle was harassing a small aquatic bird that I call "little divers" as a generic name for several species of tiny birds that paddle on the surface and frequently dive and swim under water to catch some fish. I thought the eagle was trying to steal some fish from the little diver. It repeatedly ended up in the water and then had to take off from there again. A couple of big seagulls briefly harrassed the eagle and pecked at him in flight. Suddenly it struck me that the eagle wasn't after fish but after the little diver itself and the latter was diving for its life in the milky, turbid water. But the eagle, crashing relentlessly into the water, hit the little diver badly on a couply of occasion before laboriously taking off again to gain a vantage point in the air and observe where its prey would surface next. With the third strike, there was a really short, final struggle with some splashing and then the bald eagle sat still in the water. Unable to take off with its victim clutched in its claws under the surface, it amazingly proceeded to swim to the nearest iceberg, using its wings as a swimmer would when doing the butterfly. It took quite some effort to cover the 7 meters but then it got out off the water and on the ice surprisingly easily, given the now ruffled and limp little bird occupying its claws. 

We had observed this whole remarkable scene of bird on bird violence from less than 15 meters distance with the engine in neutral. Now we thought we had an excellent photo opportunity believing the drenched eagle would't be able to take off with its prey so we moved in closer. But without giving us a second glance the bald eagle took off and delivered the dead diver to its nest. Then he chased away another bird of prey that came too close, and then he took position in a tree for further hunting. All in a day's work for a bald eagle...

Soon after witnessing these events the ice became denser and denser and we had to reduce speed and send somebody on bow watch. I took the first watch with the boat hook ready to push any bergy bits away. As soon as I reached the bow it felt like my feet were freezing through my double layer of thick woolen socks to my shoe soles and the deck. My gloved hands gave me pretty much the same feeling. Within minutes my feet and hands started hurting badly from the cold and I didn't dare move much anymore. Yet I had to push away some ice at some point and obviously proceeded to do that. It was a chunk not bigger than a small person's chest yet it was incredibly heavy and took quite some effort to get moving. Now I totally understand how icebergs, even small ones, can sink ships. 

A while later my extremities didn't hurt that badly from the cold anymore simply because I started loosing feeling. I remained as immobile as possible, till the bitter end of my mission, until we had twisted and turned to find a path through the denser ice and made it in sight of the glacier. It was quite thrilling for Laszlo to steer knowing that there was absolutely no tolerance for mistakes. 

We stayed about 1.5 km away from the glacier for safety. It can calve huge chunks that create really big waves and slosh all the ice around. We heard it groan and explode all the time, impressive noises like canon shots. And on a couple of occasions we saw it calve large pieces that fell down in a cloud of icy debris followed by spray when hitting the water.

The million dollar shot: WYC burgee in front of South Tracy Arm Glacier:

 Jenny and Laszlo at the glacier:

 We bobbed around a little while enjoying the scenery. There were plenty of mother-baby seal couples lounging on the ice at regular intervals. 

When we left, Jenny observed the biggest chunk ever calve from the glacier! She had trained the binoculars on it and waited for it to happen and enjoyed a first row performance. 

As expected, with the now ebbing tide, the bergy bits were drawn out over a much larger distance and it was way easier to sail through them. 

Laszlo on bergy watch, his turn to freeze his extremities off:

To our surprise we passed 2 large cruise ships on our way out. We didn't think they went in there. As one sailed by we laughingly yelled: "Suckers!  With your champagne and caviar, your central heating and hot tubs!". We had been eating tinned food forever now and we were exposed to the outdoors all day long. Heating was a luxury at night only. 

Tender in foreground and cruise ship Oosterdam in the background:

After a whole day of rain and drizzle the sun peeked through the clouds for the last hour of the trip and never was sunshine so welcome!  I exposed my frozen feet the best I could and slowly I started to feel them again. We made it back to our anchorage without incidents and before dark. 


Wednesday 5 June

The crab pot yielded 3 Tanner crabs but they were all too small for (legal) consumption. So far we had only caught Dungeness crab. I guess I'll have to buy some Tanner to know what it tastes like.

Tanner crab:

 We spent the morning observing some brown bears on shore. There was a female with two cubs who stood on their hind legs a couple of times. And elswhere there was a lonely bear, probably a male. 

Then we slowly made our way to nearby Taku Bay where a few unattended docks are available for free. 

Vestiges of old cannery in Taku Bay:

Thursday 6 June

From Taku Bay there's only 30 km to Juneau. We spend a lot of time trawling at 1.5 knots but didn't catch anything. We looked into Taku Inlet (not Bay) with the binoculars to peer at the glacier there and the outlandish snow capped rocky peeks above it. 

In the evening we made it to Juneau, the end destination for Laszlo and Jenny. We celebrated with a sushi dinner. 

The next few days Mariposa was cleaned inside out after which Laszlo and Jenny had the time to go hike. There are great trails all around Juneau and the weather was absolutely fantastic again.   We've been so incredibly lucky over all.   

Then it was time for us to part. They flew home and I'll take a short break from cruising too. 

A clean Mariposa in sunny Juneau:

 Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau calves into a lake and is a popular destination with cruise ship tourists. There's also a great hike on its west side that Jenny and Laszlo did:

         The End

                 ... or is it?