Post from club member Marc in Alaska

The totems at the Wrangell library (part of the previous episode):Friday 31 May

We got to Petersburg and did some laundry, showered, toured the small town, bought a few groceries and an extra 6 gallon gas tank to make it to Juneau with sightseeing detours. We refueled and took water on departure and made it to Ruth Island Cove in Thomas Bay for the night. 


Saturday 1 June

We motored all the way north in Thomas Bay to the Baird Glacier. It has receded enough so that it no longer touches the water and can't calve into it. There are no icebergs in the bay therefore. It's a bit ugly with the mud flats in front of it but it was still very impressive to watch the colossal amounts of ice with the binoculars.  The shear bulk of it is mind boggling. 

The water is milky white with sediments and you can't even see the propeller of the outboard anymore. 

We left the bay and hugged the north shore of Frederick Sound and turned to the right into Stephens Passage at the very beginning of which we spent the night in Fanshaw Bay. 


Sunday 2 June

We crossed to Admiralty Island under sail in very sunny weather.  In the distance we could observe a couple of whales with our binoculars for quite a while. One of them was splashing a flipper continuously and at times was lying on its back to splash both.  The other whale wasn't impressed and left after some time. The splashing whale disappeared maybe ten minutes later. 

We sailed in between The Brothers, a couple of islands, for fun. The wind dyed shortly thereafter and we motored and motorsailed all the way Across Pybus Bay to our anchorage in Cannery Cove. 

Sunny sailing over water, with impressive cloud-cover anywhere over land:

 Cannery Cove in Pybus Bay on Admiralty Island:

 We were miffed to find a fishing resort and other buildings in the cove. It is branded as an excellent fishing spot for crabs and bottom feeders and we were concerned that the human presence would have spoiled that. 

Laszlo started to bottom-fish as soon as the boat was anchored. At the first cast and first wiggle he hooked a rockfish!  As he took it in I ordered "a halibut" next. He casted again and nearly instantly pulled up a small halibut!  It wiggled itself loose from the hook but fell right into our bucket and Laszlo could cast again without interruption. 

That would prove to be the end of the miraculous catch however. Laszlo kept going at it, after dinner too, but no more fish were caught and our crab basket would also come up empty the next morning. 

The halibut:

 Monday 3 June

We crossed Pybus Bay again and then sailed at an incredibly slow pace around the northeast corner of Admiralty Island. Ultimately we had to turn on the engine. Soon thereafter a pod of about twenty Dahl's Porpoises came to play around the boat for at least a quarter of an hour! They look like mimi orcas with their black backs and white bellies.  We watched them with great enthousiasm, taking turns to sit on the bow. As usual it's possible to properly photograph them but I can't wait to see Jenny's movie. 

Dahl's Porpoises:

 We slept in Tracy Arm Cove, strategically located for our trip to the glaciers the next day.