Last year we were on our way, a whole year ago, and i am still struggling to tell my story, it has been beautiful weather so i have been scrubbing and cleaning the boat, we are surrounded by large trees, maples, weeping willows, and they all have been sending their pollen into the wind, it seems right at Curtsy, who has been covered with a fine, stubborn layer of green, it doesn’t wash off easily, it means spending most of a day, washing, using hot water and soap.      But, i love taking care of her, this is my home, and so the blog had to wait for a while!!    bright, sunny day today, 22 inside the boat, 32 up on deck, my micro greens are busy, most of them are now 6 ” tall and ready to be eating .

But, thats enough about that, here we go with the continuation of the journey last year.

We aimed , on July 14th, for Cosmos cove, on Baranof Island, it has a L -shape and provides great protection if the weather gets rough.     No one seemed to head to this Cove, all the more reason for us to anchor there.     We were well awarded, the shore line was wild and beautiful, huge Sitkas  lined the beaches, lush, waist high grass grew every where we looked, my first thought was….bears!!!!          The day was sunny and warm, and we sat in the open cockpit, relaxing, didnt take long, and there out of the forest ,ambled a brown bear, i think a male, bachelor maybe, he didnt not once looked at us, but proceeded to munch on the fat grasses.        After an hour , he stretched out , scratched himself, (what a life), and dozed for a bit…..   he then got up, and started walking towards the little reef , that was right in front of us, he kept going, straight for the water, and let himself sink into the coolness, i could so understand how good that must have felt to him!      he then kept going, swimming to the other side of the narrow bay.      Here was new grass to check out, more to explore, he shook himself out, gave us one look, and off he went.

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Any information, about the whales i wrote about , i learned from the book, ” WHALES,AND OTHER MARINE MAMMALS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA.     BY TAMARA EDER      illustrated by IAN SHELDON

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We headed to Cosmos Cove on July 14, it was raining hard in the morning, but it cleared up later on.    On this small journey, from Pavlov Harbour to Cosmos Cove, is where a very special adventure began……

Everywhere you read the warnings, “do not go close to the whales, keep away several hundred feet, do not harass the whales” and on and on……    We had seen so many spouts, all well away from us, but we were not prepared for what happened on this day.    Bert decided to do some fishing ,so i slowed the boat down to 2 knots, Curtsy has hydrolic propulsion so she can happily trawl along, at that speed, with the engine rpm at 1500.  The sun came out , and we were totally enjoying ourselves.        Then, close by, several whales surfaced, Humpback whales, it looked like a family pod, and they were busy!!!  And then my heart jumped; they were bubble feeding!!!!!!     I Ran for the camera after putting Curtsy on automatic pilot, grabbed the lenses, filters, just all my stuff to make some super photos!!      When the whales bubble feed, they all dive deep, all at the same time, and there is nothing, total quiet……    The tension is overwhelming, because WHERE are they going to come up????        Well, yes!!! right in front of us!!!!       Here is Bert, trying to fish, here are all these whales, i turned the boat around, slowly, and went towards the whales, still doing 2 knots.        The water churned , huge heads came up, mouths wide open, by this time i counted 7 whales, i could clearly see the baleen, they were pushing the water through, while the food, small fish, plankton,krill, stayed behind in their mouths.      Baleen plates are made up of a keratinous material, similar to nails and hair, the plates grow down from the gum of the upper jaw, and they hang down, next to each other, kind of like curtains or blinds.   When they bubble feed, or lunge feed, they ,upon surfacing, take in tons of food-rich water, they then  close their mouths , but not completely, just enough for the baleen to touch the lower jaw.  They then press the sea water out.  With the bubble feeding, the whales create a “curtain”, which disorients the fish and krill.    They take in tons of food at a time, and that is why they are here in the North after all, to become very strong and well fed for their journey South in the fall.

The baleen whales are the largest of the cetaceans , and the largest are the females, funny ,as these huge animals feed on the smallest creatures in the ocean!!!  Baleen whales have paired blowholes, which means, two of the them, side by side, the toothed whales have one.

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From Hoonah, after filling with fuel, we headed into Chatham Strait, our goal was Pavlov harbour, a beautiful place from what i was reading about it.     I was quite ready for that…..    It is also called Fresh water bay, it offers good shelter from all kinds of weather.  So we headed there on JULY 12TH , Vaughan Balaam’s birthday.       We were the only boat, which is quite lovely, as we came into the harbour, we were met by two Alaskan brown bears, sauntering along the shore, not paying any attention to us!!     After a while, two more boats came in , but there was lots of room for us all.      This place is magical, there is a waterfall at the head of the bay, with a fish ladder on the one side.   The path to the falls leads around the bay, and winds in and out of the beautiful forest.    Everywhere i looked there was bear scat, she grasses were very lush , and it looks like they come to feed here all the time.        The trees all were giant Sitkas, immense trees, i will write down what i wrote while i was there……

PAVLOV HARBOR

PAINT BRUSH ,ALL ALONG THE SHORE , PEEKING OUT FROM UNDER THE TALL,TALL GRASSES.         REDS AND PINK,PEACH ,YELLOW, EVERY VARIETY GROWS HERE.  THE IMMENSE SITKAS STAND JUST INSIDE THE FORESTS EDGE ,HUGE TREES,AMONG THEM, DEVILS CLUB, ALMOST IN BLOOM.    TWO YOUNG BROWN BEARS STROLL ALONG THE SHORE, TURNING A ROCK HERE AND THERE ,SNIFFING THE AIR ,BITING AT THE GRASSES.   AT THE WATERFALL ,A MINK SCURRIES TO THE WATERS EDGE,BUT SEES US ,AND RUNS BACK INTO THE FOREST.     FISH ARE JUMPING EVERYWHERE ,BUT THEY ARE NOT BITING……THEY ARE KING SALMON WE THINK, MAYBE READY TO JUMP UP THE FALLS, OR USE THE FISH LADDER.

So, that is Pavlov, a gorgeous anchorage, i loved it there…..

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July 11th we headed to Hoonah, we needed to get fuel, do some laundry and walk to the local store for some provisions.     The weather was still beautiful, the docks were quite full, looked like the total fishing fleet came back into harbour, but our spot from last time was still unoccupied, so again, we made that turn, in low tide, i kept on waiting for that sound, where the keel meets the bottom, but nothing happened……     The carving shed was quiet as the carvers were all still in Bartlett Cove, we walked to the store, bought what we needed , talked to some very nice folks there and strolled back to the boat.    I was ready to go on pretty soon, so much more to see, the other boaters we had travelled with, went to Sitka, which lies at the West shore of Baranof Island, we were contemplating to go, but the weather turned nasty, and i think we were a bit tired, i still felt so very overwhelmed, and didnt feel very good.    So heh, we said, Sitka wont be taken away any time soon, so we will go again, which will be in 2019!!!!        Continue reading →

That evening, after the performance, Owen asked us if we liked apple pie, he really , really would like some apple pie.     Sarah joined us, but we found out that there was no apple pie, so, ok, we all decided on the chocolate cake.     Owen held us captive with his stories, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening.        This had been day7, so we figured that we would leave the next day, little did we know, that we had exceeded our welcome.     All in all, we did go with Sarah to Gustavus, and thought, since it was not very busy, we could go the next day.    Well, NO WAY!!!!    We had to leave that afternoon, the weather had turned bad, wind blowing, tide against us, but NO!!   they would not let us stay!!!   So July 11th , we headed back to Hoonah.      The Sea otters smiled at us, as we struggled on, against the tide.  Continue reading →

We were and are very interested in the Huna (Hoonah) , tribal hut, its a big project and as i told before , we had met 2 of the master carvers already.     if you are interested, go to;http://go.nps.gov/tribalhouse         We heard from Sarah that there was going to be a presentation by two Tlingit representatives , who would tell stories by dance and song.   Owen James, one of the master carvers, who also is the captain of a 40 feet canoe, carved out of 1 , yes, ONE Sitka tree, was glad to see us, and remembered us from Hoonah.   Owen’s Tlingit name is SANEK, which means little frog.      He told us about life here, about his story, a rebirth, and i was deeply impressed by this humble man.           Every carving, every painting has a story, some of the carvings tell about what happened here , in Glacier bay, the ice overtaking the villages.    Owen and his friend Doug, danced and sang, and all the folks present seem to really enjoy the show.  Continue reading →