A glassy ocean let us slip by easily along Frederick Sound and by the lovely town of Petersburg, on to our morning visit of Le Conte Bay and its ice fields.
Petersburg was founded in the late 1800s by Norwegians, having in mind that there was wood available, abundant fish, and all the ice needed to conserve it to be sent to Seattle. It has an enormous fishing fleet with trollers, purse-seiners, trawlers, crabbers, and purchasers. And it has barely a couple of T-shirt stores! Four big canneries (nowadays packeries) prepare and freeze the fish, principally salmon, but halibut, black cod, and others, to be sent by container and by plane to the Lower 48 and to Asia.
We approached the Le Conte ice carefully, and lowered our expedition landing craft to begin a series of ice tours in the small bay. Pieces of all sizes were to be seen, and we slowly made our way between them, from one to another, taking many photos. The glacier proper is not visible from this point, as it is to be found behind a large mountain that blocks our view. Different birds were seen, cormorants and gulls, terns and long-tailed ducks. Eagles were enjoyed also.
Eventually we lifted our expedition landing craft and set off for Petersburg for our afternoon of adventures. After lunch we set off to some float-plane flights over the Le Conte Glacier, hikes across the Wrangel Narrows to the island of Kupreanof, and a walk into an interesting bog or muskeg where we saw a number of plants adapted to living in acid conditions. Others enjoyed a bicycle ride in town, or walks along the long docks, to learn about the different types of fishing ships used to haul in such an abundant fish crop. Walking into town was interesting, the two downtown streets were very interesting, including two super hardware stores with everything imaginable, especially fishing gear.
After a scrumptious crab feast dinner, we slowly set off into Frederick Sound and set our sails to the north, into Stephens Passage, where a new adventure awaited us.
