Alaska
June 11th 2010, Pelican, Lisianski Inlet, Alaska
Glacier Bay
After our 5 days in Glacier Bay which is the ancestral home of the Huna Tlingit Indians, we believe we have been blessed with surely one of the world’s most beautiful places. It dazzled us with soaring snow-covered mountains, eight tidewater or hanging glaciers, whales, sea otters, sea lions, harbour seals, birds of every kind, not to mention the bears.
On deck
One of our scariest moments was getting fairly close, but within rule limits, at Margerie Glacier when an enormous amount of ice calved from the face, and we had tidal waves heading our way followed by icebergs hot on its tail.
We had the engine switched off at the time and drifting but quickly started it up to head into the waves instead of being in the broadside position, but quickly did a 180 deg turn when we saw the ice coming our way. This sent things throughout the boat crashing everywhere and much consternation for all on board, particularly Marg and Ros who wondered what maybe had been broken down below in the salon and galley.
We spent our last night at North Sandy Cove to be treated with our third sighting of a black bear, and took off at a leisurely pace to leave the Bay and head for Elfin Cove about four hours west.
At airport for helicopter ride to Margerie Glacier for mushing experience
Margerie Glacier - mushing.
Elfin Cove
Elfin Cove is a small fishing village whose quaint houses are connected by a boardwalk, and boasts that only six people live here in the winter to keep an eye on things, as most inhabitants take off south for nicer weather, and mainly just travel around enjoying life.
(Update: we heard the only bar in town burnt down 7 days after we left - this is serious in a boardwalk town, as the fire could have spread to all the other houses.)
The level of travel is often dictated by the abundance of the fishing crop over summer. We had a young couple Tiaga and Amy on board for cocktails, and both had travelled extensively around the world including Australia.
Tiaga a good looking, dreadlocked, 29-year-old fisherman with his own boat who is a born and bred local, and Amy a marine biologist who once worked at Sea World on the Gold Coast, spends her summer on one of the Alaskan Marine Highway boats giving lectures on wildlife etc.
Pelican
After Elfin Cove we went around the corner to the Lisianski Inlet to visit the quirky little town of Pelican, another boardwalk village fishing village perched on a cliff face, to wait out some bad weather outside for 4 days.
The local cafe has Wifi available which was a relief as we had not had internet connection for the past week.
Our plan is to get to Sitka via the inland Peril Strait route off Chatham Strait instead of going outside into the north Pacific, which could be a bit uncomfortable if another low-pressure trough approaches.
I am very keen to do this personally, but we have some nervous nellies on board who had a tough time coming down from Skagway in Lyn Canal. The biggest challenge was to hit Sergius Channel at slack water, and we were told many vessels are on the bottom, including a tug that went down in a whirlpool, allowing its barge to float away.
