Week Nine - Sitka to Ketchikan

What a wonderful week we have had with Hugh and Barbara on board with us! We have enjoyed quite a number of the 'typical alaska' sights, including the cool, rainy weather. Several days have been heavily socked in with pelting rain and low clouds. However, as I've said before, this seems to settle the water and gives us pleasant cruising conditions.

We have eaten seafood everyday! from our own catch of halibut, as well as the generous gifts of crab and salmon from neighbouring boats. So healthy! and SO GOOD.

As we work our way south, we returned to Wrangell and repeated our Breakaway Adventure tour into LeConte Glacier. This time we were fortunate to be able to get a lot closer to the glacier face; sometimes if felt too close for comfort as the calving cliffs of ice crashed into the inlet waters creating large swells that rocked our little boat. I'm including a picture of an accompanying tour boat to show what it takes to manuevre through the floes to get closer to the Face. Very interesting and thrilling.

After Wrangell, we anchored in Anan Bay so that we could tour the Bear Reserve Conservatory Park. We were escorted by rangers and a guide, note his rifle close at hand, along a half-mile boardwalk to a secure observation deck where the bears roamed freely around us. From there we could watch the roaring river that teemed thick with salmon heading upstream, and bears 'scampering' around the boulders to little eddies where they scoop up the salmon and chew them up recklessly. Quite a sight, so close at hand. We were able to get into a photography 'blind' hanging right above the river for some very exciting viewing.

A mother sow 'Virginia' took her baby twins down to the river for lunch; you can see them returning up the fallen tree with the salmon in her mouth. It was all routine for them, but an exciting day for us.

We are now in Ketchikan harbour, a nice touristy little city and our last stop in the USA. We arrived at noon on Thursday, and enjoyed a rare warm sunny day. Hugh and Barbara will depart from here this evening, and we hope the now stormy sea abates before Saturday morning so we can start working our way into Canadian waters, and Prince Rupert on Sunday.

We feel now like these two months have gone by so fast; we are grateful for good health, good cruising, and SO MUCH wonderful adventure.