Alaska

June 5th 2010, Glacier Bay, Alaska

We have just anchored in Reid Inlet right in front of Reid Glacier. 

Reid Glacier is a tidewater glacier, i.e. it calves (breaks up) into the sea making icebergs, as opposed to a hanging glacier which diminishes and melts on the land usually at higher altitudes. 

Glacier Bay has 8 major glaciers so is a favourite destination for the big cruise ships, although a limit has been put on the bay to only have 25 boats at one time, and stringently controlled permits are required to enter.

After staying at Bartlett Cove the first night then Shag Cove on our trip north, we were treated to the sight of our second black bear sighting which gave us a thrill.

Alaska is not immune to global warming of course and their major glaciers are receding at a rapid rate. In fact the weather experienced since being in Alaska has been great and we are still only in Spring, so I expect they will be in for another very warm summer following on from the same last year.

To arrive at Bartlett Cove to exercise our 5 day permit, we spent the night in Funter Bay after a really rough trip coming down Lynn Passage from the town of Skagway. This is regarded as the toughest weather passage in SE, AK and doesn’t offer any shelter to duck into for most of the trip.

3 Clowns and a midget. Nordhavn get together.

Boat Harbour

We experienced up to 40 kts on the nose with an opposing tide that built up short sharp backless waves that gave the girls a bit of discomfort, and Ros had been unwell for a few days prior. 

I hailed a landing barge going across our bow and he suggested we follow him into Boat Harbour for some respite from the conditions.

When I consulted the guide and found that the entrance was only 60 feet wide, and it wasn’t yet slack water, the cure may have been worse than the pain.

The big lesson learnt from this is not to completely trust weather forecasts at all, but to take notice of our rapidly falling Barometer, talking to the locals, and just using our instincts. I thought I would have learnt this crossing Bass Strait over the past two years, as the Australian Bureau of "Maybeology" never got it right both times.

Skagway

Skagway wasn’t particularly recommended to us because of the influx of up to 10,000 tourists per day arriving from the cruise boats, however we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We did the White Pass, and Yukon Route train trip which was spectacular with its scenery, and we managed to finally see a young black bear on the side of the tracks as he quickly scurried away.

Before Skagway, we had a night in the nice little village of Haines with Crossroads and Cloudy Bay and celebrated Janice Trembeki’s birthday which was a fun night.

We also had a problem with the boat PC, and handed it over to Stanley from Crossroads, who claims not to be that competent, but very persistent, so we gave him a great vote of appreciation as he got it up and firing, and we blamed it on the uploading of new MaxSea charts the day before.

To say we are having a great time is an understatement of the reality. The conditions are almost perfect with sunshine most days, flat water, scenery to die for, and my expected afternoon kip always happening, and at cocktail time my favourite single malt Scotch.

Life is superb for us at the moment and we are surely blessed.

Pete and Sal O’Brien from Coffs Harbour joined us