Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Whitney Island to Tracy Arm Entrance Cove

At anchor, we hear lots of hull slap, water lapping loudly on our hull as wind, tides and current move the boat around while we sleep. Here's what the boat's track looked like on a recent night:

Raising the hook early, we headed for an anchorage at the Tracy Arm Entrance, our planned furthest northern point. North Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier lie 20 miles east, and we'll explore them Tuesday.

We traveled up Frederick Sound, a big, calm (today) body of water, and came upon dozens of whales, mostly too far away to photograph or identify, but not Orcas, lacking a big dorsal fin, so perhaps Gray or Humpback.


Frederick Sound is completely encircled by snow-capped mountains, all 360 degrees.


For over an hour we kept peering at a big white boat in the distance, checking AIS targets to see if it was a cruise ship, ferry or something else. 


Finally our biggest binoculars answered the question: an iceberg!!!


Sadly, in a funny way, icebergs became like zebras in Africa: the first time you see one in the wild, you stop and take 70 photos; then over time you come to realize they're like mosquitos: they're everywhere!!! So you take a bunch of photos . . . then stop.

We dropped anchor, put a kayak in the water, and Cathryn went kayaking while Bob took care of a couple boat chores. 



Cathryn brought a tiny bergie bit home for Bob, to smash and use for drinks at Happy Hour.


And then we met Ed and Sharon, John and Sherrie, anchored nearby on their 53' Eagle, folks from Saint Helens, OR near Portland. They invited us for drinks, we dinghied over, and a good time was had by all. We also agreed to buddy boat the 24 miles to the Sawyer Glacier tomorrow.


There were 17 boats in the anchorage, 11 of them big sailboats who were caravaning together from Puget Sound to Alaska, and we last saw that group three weeks ago in Pruth Bay. And the full moon was out!
















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