A Whale of a Tail/Tale!Hey Kat!This story is for you!Yesterday we were ready to leave Northern Alaska to head across the Gulf of Alaska to Sitka. Sharry had just mentioned that we hadn’t seen very many whales over the past couple of weeks and just then I heard a scratching sound against the side of Starr’s hull. It sounded like rough sandpaper rubbing and the boat moved slightly to the port as though it was...
June 26, 201859 41N, 144 32W;2300ZWe are making the 350nm crossing of the Gulf of Alaska heading to Sitka and just passed Cape St Elias on our port side, 75nm East of Prince William Sound.As I filled in the Ship’s Log I noted that we had covered 3165nm since leaving Honolulu with only 225nm of open water left to get to Lituya Bay Just North of Cape Spencer. The rest of the run to Seattle...
After some terrific glacier viewing we picked our way back out through the ice cubes to clear water. The spot where the ice ended was right over a submerged moraine, the ancient limit of glacial ice where rubble carried by the ice was deposited creating a shallow area. The moraine was very popular with the Otter. There were multiple rafts of as many as thirty of them floating around. It looked like some kind of...
Starr’s course wavered as she headed north, but we finally decided on Disk Island off of the mainland. On the way there we set our shrimp pots in 350 feet of water hoping for better luck than our first drop. We saw a small boat sitting stationary nearby and headed over to speak with them. They had just landed a thirty five pound halibut and gave us some tips on where to find more. We...
Yesterday we explored some awesome hidey holes here in the sound. Our guide book said that a couple of the coves in Jackpot Bay are cruiser favorites, and we had to check them out.We also decided it was time to do some shrimping and fussed around for an hour setting our two pots in 300 feet of water outside the bay. The pots, line, clips, and buoys were all new equipment Don bought in Dutch...
One of our consultants told us about the great glacier viewing in Icy Bay, so we headed in that direction after a pleasant morning in Otter Cove. It was like entering a different world as Starr approached the entrance to the bay. All of a sudden the water was full of small ice bergs, which we hadn’t seen before. We were trying to get close to Chegena Glacier, but the bergy bits got so dense...
The seas flattened out and the skies cleared as we entered the fjords of Prince William Sound. Starr wove her way around headlands and through the islands to our anchorage for the evening at Fox Farm Bay.This is the southern most protected anchorage in the sound and is the first and last stop for many boats arriving and departing this cruising paradise. There was another boat in the anchorage when we arrived. They departed shortly...
The weather front passed through during the early morning hours on Monday wreaking havoc in Seward. Campers’ tents were blown down, leaves and branches littered the ground, and streams overflowed. We knew we’d made the right decision in staying put for the day when we came across an outhouse that had been knocked down by the gusty winds.Lori and I spent the day touring Seward. We went back to the Sea Life Center and to...
Shelia took us on a driving tour of Seward and then up to her new house that is currently under construction on Bear lake a few miles outside of town. She and Al are about 2/3 done, and it will be a very comfortable home when it is finished. She loaned us her truck so we could do some provisioning, but on the way back to town Don took a detour to have a look...
The Starr crew spent a drizzly and windy day exploring Seward. We headed first to the Maritime Center where live seals, sea lions, otters, fish and sea birds can be viewed up close. It is very well done, and it was a perfect day for that kind of activity. I also checked out the Seward Museum/Library, and on the way back to the boat ran across this mobile taco stand down on the waterfront. It...