We left Bartlett Cove about 9 am this morning. You have to call on the radio and let them know you are headed out of Bartlett Cove and into the Park. When you exit the park for good, you also need to let them know as well. It was good that we got a later start because the current was against us and slack would be at 10. We still did slow down considerably, but even though it was pouring rain, it was a nice cruise.
There was too much weather that socked in the mountains and scenery. We only saw a couple of whales – until we got to our anchorage! There were TWO whales, 8 sea otters, a harbor porpoise, and a variety of birds. One of the whales came up its mouth wide open! That is the first time I have seen that, it was SO SO SO cool. We enjoyed them in the area for half an hour or so and then off they went.
The anchor set lickety split and we ended up where we wanted! Win/win. This is a stunning anchorage! We are hoping to see a bear along the shore later. We would launch the dinghy and putter around but it is pouring rain. It is supposed to ease up and, I believe, be nice tomorrow. Not sure what is on the agenda. We’ll have to check in with Tracy and Rocky. I would like to check out Marble Island one more time and maybe see a puffin or two. Maybe I can actually get a picture!
As it was pouring rain and no fun to sit outside, Jim and I were watching some YouTube. I looked at the shore and there was a bear there! We went out on the cockpit and watched it for a good 15 minutes until it meandered into the woods. Jim thought maybe we might want to go to shore and do some exploring. That changed his mind right away.
I sat in the cockpit to have my coffee and could hear whales blowing. There were 3 out in the bay and it was feeding time. They were coming up out of the water with their mouth wide open, rolling around so their flippers were high in the air, jumping out of the water and landing with a huge crash! We could also hear the sounds they make, beyond description. We watched them for a full two hours. During that time they also swam in and out of our anchorage.
We decided to go out exploring and head over to North Sandy Cove for the night. We spent all day hugging the shoreline, looking for bears (success!) and other wildlife. We happened on a mama mountain goat and her baby at sea level, which we found surprising. There were others up on the towering cliffs as well. While we were combing Gloomy Knob for more goats, there were more puffins! Win/win! Now we don’t need to stop by Marble Island to have a peek at them one more time before leaving. I took pictures of them. You will have to trust that the 8 little black specks with absolutely no detail are puffins. (time to invest in a camera for closeups of wildlife and scenery)
Sandy Cove is also a gorgeous anchorage. The tide is too high to have any bears along the shoreline. There is quite a bit of current that runs through here, but it is nice and peaceful and we have a good set. Rocky and Tracy rowed over for happy hour and to discuss plans. We are going to spend the next 9 days getting to Ketchikan. The plan is to leave at 5:30 in the morning. We have a long trip back to Hoonah for the night and the wind is supposed to pick up in the afternoon. We’d like to be tucked in before that happens. Rocky also needs to stop for gas before he exits the park, which is quite the process. He waited 45 minutes and gave up once already.
We got up at 4:30 so we could coffee up before our 5:30 departure. We are surprised to see another boat in the anchorage. Now we cannot leave before 6 am because there are quiet hours in this particular anchorage between 10 pm and 6 am. Drats. We could have slept another half an hour. The fog is really thick, maybe visibility will increase before we leave. I texted Rocky. The rules are generators and non-propulsive motors, so he is leaving. We putzed around too long and are now not ready. We’ll catch up as we aren’t getting fuel.
We are coming back here next year, that is for certain. You can hold back-to-back permits, so we will apply for those.
Although this has been the adventure of a lifetime, it is not all sunshine and roses – I have not seen any stars for a long, long, long time. The days are long and it clouds up every night. There was supposed to be another solar storm last night, but the entire sky could be ablaze and we would not have seen them. We have decided we are going to go do some star gazing in our six months of land lubbing.
Our intrepid flotilla leader made a YouTube video of the LeConte Glacier. Here is the link. https://youtu.be/RxV2Q0qtNCc?si=wNhVwjev_IZU8I4t
Time to get on with my day.
Talk Soon.