LeConte Bay & Petersburg
The low clouds did not bode well for our morning Zodiac cruises through the ice, but Southeast Alaska being what it is, we were proved wrong quickly after the first Zodiacs were off the stern. A break in the clouds allowed sunlight to strike blue ice and the air sparkled. Dozens of camera shutters started buzzing and pretty much didn’t stop for the remainder of the morning. Light rain and clouds were ever-present, but sunbeams came and went as if part of a stage set, timed to perfection.
Crossing Frederick Sound we were distracted by a tall dorsal fin in the distance. We changed course (obviously) to investigate, and found it to be a solitary male killer whale (identified by Jack Swenson as possibly T102) on a relaxed course south. As it was not exactly our preferred direction, we left it behind after some excellent looks and set course once more for the fishing town of Petersburg.
This small town is one of my favorite places, a no-nonsense place, with hard-working folk. We went every-which-way once tied up at the dock: bicyclers went off in a circuit of 5 miles around the edges of town, flight-seers went into the air, some photographers went to capture the incredible reflections in the harbor stillness, others went shopping, and the rest went across the Wrangell Narrows to visit a muskeg, or Alaskan bog.
By mid-afternoon all were on board and for the first time all summer, we turned hard to port instead of starboard on exiting Petersburg harbor into the Wrangell Narrows. Southbound, the Narrows were expertly navigated by Captain Kay at the helm. “Christmas Tree Alley” is the local name for the excruciatingly narrow section covered in navigation markers of red and green. Low tide on top of it all gave us an even greater appreciation of the dangers just beyond the clearly marked channel on either side.
Onward to another immense area of Southeast Alaska’s temperate rainforest: Misty Fiords National Monument.
The low clouds did not bode well for our morning Zodiac cruises through the ice, but Southeast Alaska being what it is, we were proved wrong quickly after the first Zodiacs were off the stern. A break in the clouds allowed sunlight to strike blue ice and the air sparkled. Dozens of camera shutters started buzzing and pretty much didn’t stop for the remainder of the morning. Light rain and clouds were ever-present, but sunbeams came and went as if part of a stage set, timed to perfection.
Crossing Frederick Sound we were distracted by a tall dorsal fin in the distance. We changed course (obviously) to investigate, and found it to be a solitary male killer whale (identified by Jack Swenson as possibly T102) on a relaxed course south. As it was not exactly our preferred direction, we left it behind after some excellent looks and set course once more for the fishing town of Petersburg.
This small town is one of my favorite places, a no-nonsense place, with hard-working folk. We went every-which-way once tied up at the dock: bicyclers went off in a circuit of 5 miles around the edges of town, flight-seers went into the air, some photographers went to capture the incredible reflections in the harbor stillness, others went shopping, and the rest went across the Wrangell Narrows to visit a muskeg, or Alaskan bog.
By mid-afternoon all were on board and for the first time all summer, we turned hard to port instead of starboard on exiting Petersburg harbor into the Wrangell Narrows. Southbound, the Narrows were expertly navigated by Captain Kay at the helm. “Christmas Tree Alley” is the local name for the excruciatingly narrow section covered in navigation markers of red and green. Low tide on top of it all gave us an even greater appreciation of the dangers just beyond the clearly marked channel on either side.
Onward to another immense area of Southeast Alaska’s temperate rainforest: Misty Fiords National Monument.
