June 10, 2001, Sunday- after a great nights sleep in our cute B&B our host, Dale, showed us photos of his charter vessels. One is 58 feet and one 68 feet. Photos included work with the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric) and how they worked on identifying the flukes (tails) of the humpback whales. Over 130 tails have been digitized and the whales spotted both in Juneau and in Hawaii. Other activities included PR trips with the submarine Alaska, a Trident Class vessel.
Dale also is in the state legislature and a Juneau town councilman. Busy to say the least!
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At 8 in the morning P&K picked us up, and then we headed to the Safeway for provisions. By 10 we were loading the Wandering Eye while Phil took Howie, Randy and Susan to the airport. By 11:30 we headed over to the fuel dock, waiting in line for our "next", and by 1 were underway.
Our dictated late departure reinforced the need to, as they say, go with the flow. Until 5:30 PM we were fighting the incoming tide, costing us over two of our 6 knots of motoring speed. Finally at 6 PM we got, so to speak, a tailwind, and got up to six plus knots as the tide ebbed. 44 miles from our start we put into Taku Bay, a well protected harbor that has a wooden dock for tying up to. In the early part of the last century, this harbor was home to a cannery, and remains of the piers, bunkhouses and other buildings are in various levels of survival. A good days travel ended at 8 PM. Only passed one cruise ship today, the Crystal Harmony, a large white floating city.
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Entering the harbor we dropped the crab pot, and with luck, will have tomorrows dinner. Today's weather couldn't have been better with light cloud cover, minimal drizzle for a few minutes while under power, and temps in the low 50's. With our cabins having a diesel fueled heat system, perfect indoor temps were maintained.
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June 11, 2001, Monday- what a perfect harbor we had last night. Not a breeze or slap of water against the boat, or a wave to do the rock and roll. Unfortunately the crab pot didn't seem to have any action either. Skunked! Nada!
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Our first unplanned adventure was during the night, creel, tiny shrimp, invaded the small propeller that registers our speed through the water. The repair concept is easy….pull the plug that holds the non-rotating wheel and clean the assembly. It's only 2" wide by 4" long. The trick is that when you pull the plug, you now have a 2" stream of water filling the hull. Unless you successfully clamp the flow, you can watch the water come in and the boat go down. After cleaning the speedometer, you must reverse the process. As they say….don't try this in open water. Only to be performed at the dock. We were successful, Phil was the master of the day.
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Better currents, or should I say…go with the flow. 6 plus knots got us 27 miles to the Holkham Harbor at the entrance to Tracy Arm Glacier. I could say we had flat and calm seas for travel, but that wouldn't convey how glassy smooth it actually was. Like a mirror. A little fishing attempted by Phil, Susan and Karen during the afternoon produced tendenitious from checking the bait. But no nibbles or bites. A trip to the shore in the dingy got us to steams flowing into the harbor. No matter how hard we looked for salmon spawning, we had no luck. Same for the bear watch. With no rain and no wind and temps at 60 degrees, we didn't mind that the sun didn't shine.
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TRACY ARM AND THE SOUTH SAWYER GLACIER
June 12, 2001, Tuesday- some days are good, some are great, and some couldn't get any better. Today was one of the later. We departed at 7 AM and headed the 26 miles up Tracy Arm inlet to the Sawyer Glacier. It started with light to broken cloud cover, but by the time we arrived at the glacier, at noon, it was sunny and almost 60 degrees. Our travels took us through a 26 mile fiord with steep walls, multitudes of waterfalls, soaring birds and snowcapped peaks. Shortly after our start the icebergs started. Initially they were infrequent, but as we approached within a few miles of the glacier, we had to pick our way through the bergs, "bergettes" and chips, size levels that we "coined". Speed had to be reduced and spotters on the bow to help guide our travels.
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Upon reaching the glacier our good karma continued in that we were the only vessel in the bay for over an hour. These glaciers are overwhelming on several levels. First, as the glacier moves forward they crack. Associated with this action is a cracking sound as loud as a thunderclap. It definitely gets your attention. As the calving process continues, from a few thousand feet away, we see the dropping of the ice, see the splashing of the ice into the water, and then hear the rumble. But, as we learned, the fun can then begin. As a portion of the wall fell, we watched the big splash, and then saw a 50-foot wave begin. By the time the disturbance reached us, it was just a swell, but still at 6 feet in height. All of the guidebooks caution that swells of 25 feet are possible. Watch out!
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Gorgeous dark blue colors signify ice that was in the bottom of the glacier. The thousands of pounds of force from above compresses out the oxygen, and a resultant blue color emerges.
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Susan got out her water color paints and with a big smile on her face, had fun creating a few small masterpieces.
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After watching the calving for 2 hours, we headed out of the dense ice pack and got out the dingy. Phil and I retrieved small glacier "chips", brought them aboard, and used them both in the refrigerator and in our "anchor dram" drinks. It certainly adds history to our libations. How many thousands of year old water are we consuming? What history has passed?
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Our dingy excursions included getting up close and personal to a series of waterfalls and iceberg formations. Absolutely breathtaking!
Our return to Holkham Bay at 8 PM concluded a perfect 55-mile of travel and a breathtaking day!
Karen and Susan continue to be in command of the galley, whipping out creations that would challenge Martha Stewart. We are eating and drinking well.
Debi had been concerned on how we would handle the withdrawal from cell phones and e-mails. Well, today we took almost 75 photos….and didn't miss being separated from the rest of the world. Putting things in perspective, the ice around us has seen and endured centuries of history. Certainly our stay here is a lot more limited, and doing without cell and e-mail has been a positive change of focus.
With our fresh flowers on the dining room table, drinks with glacial ice, and catching up with Phil and Karen's adventures, what could be bad? Our thanks go out to Howie and Pam for letting us use their 44' Beneteau. We were pleasantly surprised on the quality of the "Wandering Eye". Contrary to the sailing vessels that we have rented in the BVI and St. Lucia in the Caribbean, this boat, lined with fine wood and all the finishing touches that come with a high end product, have made this chapter of "life's events" several notches about expectations.
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