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Travel Adventures - Cruiser's blog on an adventure trip to Alaska

Follow the adventure of Shirley and Grahame aboard the yacht
TANGLEBERRY on a three month expedition trip along the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Alaska.

Page 1 - The Boat and the Crew
Page 2   Provisioning for the boat
Week 1    Week 2    Week 3   Week 4   Week 6  
Week 7    Week 8     Week 9  Week 10   HOME AT LAST
　

Week 7  July 28 to August 3

Our next destination after Wrangell is Petersburg.  The weather was not cooperative and our journey along the Wrangell Narrows was wet and miserable with the wind and rain blowing direct to our faces.
We had our cruising suits on which kept us really warm.  That day, we had to cut short our trip and spent the night at Deception Bay, waiting out for good weather.  We don't mind the rain, or the wind, but wind and rain together is simply too much.


Next day, the rain stopped, and we're proceeded to Petersburg - a genuine, working town of fishermen and lumberjacks - with a population of 3,000  - prosperous and friendly.  3 boat harbours with slips accommodating 700 boats.  Do your math.  That's a lot of boats per capita.

By this time, our relatives said their good-byes and headed back to Canada via the Alaska ferry to Prince Rupert.  Meanwhile, we ventured out to Thomas Bay in search of whales, icebergs and glaciers.  We were not disappointed, as we saw all three in one day plus more.   (albeit- miniature versions  as we are still far south, and the dramatic ones are further north)

Note the floating iceberg.  It is greenish blue in color.  We saw several more in clusters of four or five, but they do not photograph well from a distance.

We spotted several whales along Frederick Sound but couldn't time them well enough for a photograph.  Luckily, we managed to get one with our zoom lens.  See the magnified photo below.







Iceberg, whale, and now the glaciers- Patterson Glacier and Baird Glacier.  These are not the grand ones found in the north.  Below is a video of whales taken by other Alaskan cruisers. This will give you an idea of how excited we got when we see these whales.


Patterson glacier

Baird glacier

Le Conte Glacier, just a few miles off Wrangelll, the southernmost tidewater glacier.

giant anemone

　

giant jellyfish

The next day, we proceed south along Clarence Strait and had to avoid some kelp debris on the way.  These kelp can cause damage to the propeller.

This night, we stopped at Thorne Bay at Prince of Wales Island - once the biggest logging camp in all of USA.  A friendly town of 700 people - where just about everyone is a fisherman.  Below is a photo with a halibut.  Halibut- the ugly diamond-shaped bottom fish - is plentiful in Alaska, where it can grow to 9 feet long and weigh as much as 500 pounds.  

Our cruising friends have been catching fish, crabs, prawns every day, with extra in their freezer box.  We've been given rockfish by Sandy and Al - cruising from Arizona on their boat called WINDSHIFT.  They've got a freezer full of fish.
　

We have the option to continue to Juneau and Sitka (which I really wanted to see - after reading the book "Alaska" by James Michener) or head south to home.  We decided that we have seen enough and now on our way HOME.

1,091 miles away from home.   There's another month's of travel time.

Page 1 - The Boat and the Crew
Page 2   Provisioning for the boat
Week 1    Week 2    Week 3   Week 4   Week 6  
Week 7    Week 8     Week 9  Week 10   HOME AT LAST

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