SAILING ALASKA 2007 – Ch.7

June 20^th Auke is a lovely community and a 30 minute express bus ride into Juneau. We are docked in the bay and it is a four minute walk up to the Harbour Masters Office and then on to the Grocery Store, Waffle House (e-mail) and laundromat. What a pleasure to sit on our boats and watch the eagles soar down to pick up herring that flood the bay and also to watch the whales come into the bay in search of the herring as well. From our boat we have a pretty view of the nearby Mendenhall Glacier. The first thing we did on arrival was make a phone call home and we were happy to find out that our new great-grandchild had safely arrived. This is Dalan and Bishop’s second girl now. What a joy – as are the two blended children, a boy and a girl.

We bussed into Juneau, walked around the cruise ship docks (5 ships in that day), spent a couple hours in the Museum that houses the Indian History and artifacts of Alaska. Very well done and interesting! It was summer solstice and a special day for Carol so she made a fabulous chocolate cake with white icing topped with blueberries and strawberries fashioned into the American Flag. How nice of her to invite us over for coffee and cake. Yummy!! Next morning I awoke to the excitement of Dean out on the dock saying that he had netted a King Salmon. I jumped out of bed, threw on my housecoat and went to see what was happening. Sure enough there it was on the fish counter. Now he tells me he thinks he is going to throw it back in the water. "What are you saying, Dean I ask? You can’t do that! Where is Norm?" "Oh, he is up at the head of the dock checking out his e-mail." "Go get Norm and see what he says". Okay! The story goes like this – while Dean was walking his dog down the float he arrives at a boat where a charter fellow is jigging while he is waiting for his group to show and wouldn’t you know he hooks this 25# or so fish. He tells Dean he has no time to deal with this fish and if he nets it he will give it to Dean. Wow! Norm cleans it and cuts it up and how nice of Dean to share it with us!! We know have a nice supply of salmon in our freezer and we all love salmon! This is living off the land for sure.

SAILING ALASKA 2007 – Ch.7

As we leave Juneau we make our way up Lynn Canal and around Pt. Retreat – our most northerly point of travel – and then southward down to Chatham St. and into Funter Bay to anchor overnight. This was a good crab area and we got seven big ones between us. Saturday as we come close to Tenakee Inlet we spot a herd of eight whales feeding and very actively working in what is called bubble-netting. We follow them down this inlet and for a couple of hours they gave us a show of a lifetime. They go down about fifty feet and circle the herring expelling air that rises and appears to the fish as a net or an enclosure. The whales are below the fish and whales, fish and bubbles all rise together and at the surface when the feed have no where to go the whales open their mouths and scoop them in while expelling the water. The baleen acts as a sieve and there’s the meal! These big humpback whales eat about 800 pounds of small fish a day. It was an amazing experience to see these magnificent animals so close! Almost too close as they surfaced about 10 feet from our boat and swam along beside us as if to acknowledge us! Scarey! We couldn’t imagine the results if they had come up under us. Every day we have something to be thankful for.

We continued on to Saltery Bay where another whole new adventure awaited us. As we came into the bay where a river flows in we saw brown bear (grizzlies) on the shore feeding on grass. Quite a few of them (11) - one being a mother with her two cubs! That made it quite an experience for the "doggie owners" who would have to do their beach run – but they did – and I understand Carol is well prepared with her bag of bear arms. Dave and Dean went in the skiff up to the head of the arm with cameras and came back with some awesome pictures. Just wait ‘til you see them!! Dave has a yen for excitement so once again got in as close as he could to those bears – then a "little bit" closer – but it sure makes for some good pictures.