grizzly bears – Riveted

Taku Harbor to Ford’s Terror

Laura Domela — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 23:40:52 +0000

What?? No crabs at all? (One male, but too small, and tons of kelp.) Boohoo. Taku has always come through in the past. (There are a ton of other traps in here though, so we definitely are late to the party this year.) Oh well. On to try for some halibut!

The seas were nice and calm this morning and we dropped halibut lines about an hour before slack tide and fished through it. We got nothing. Not even a nibble. Eventually we pulled the halibut lines and trolled a couple of spots for salmon, but got nothing there as well. We did see a big humpback hanging around the shore though.

Okay so, no fish today. We timed our arrival outside of Ford’s Terror for the time of high slack in Juneau (which today was 5:45pm). (You can only enter Ford’s Terror on a high slack tide, and high slack at Ford’s Terror is typically between 20 and 60 minutes after high slack in Juneau, depending on the size of the tide swing.)

When we arrived at the tall waterfall there was an UnCruise boat anchored in there (not going into Ford’s Terror) and the Discovery out of Juneau, a gorgeous wooden smallish passenger boat. (This is my kinda cruise, if we didn’t have our own boat.)

We binoc’d the entrance and there was definitely still a bit of current. Small icebergs were hauling ass around the corner and into Ford’s Terror. And you know what that means….as soon as you turn the corner into that narrow entrance, there will be icebergs.

The Discover headed in on the early side (to us) but seemed to do just fine. We waited another 5 minutes or so and made our way slowly between the shoals and still had about a knot or two of current with us (and the icebergs weren’t a problem). We went in 35 minutes after Juneau high slack (6:20pm) and I don’t think we saw less than 16 feet under our keel.

This place!! I’m (a) so glad to be back here, and (b) so glad we are planning to bring our friends here with us in just over a week. It’s still the most incredible anchorage ever, and worth the trouble and planning to get in here.

There was a sailboat already in here, so three boats total. We made dinner and played a game and called it a (rainy) night in Ford’s Terror.

When we woke up this morning we were the only boat in Ford’s Terror. Apparently the sailboat and the Discovery caught the early high slack (around 6am) this morning, so we had the entire Terror to ourselves all day. The next high slack will be around 7pm tonight, and I believe Sam and some visiting family will be coming in then.

So, Ford’s Terror is kind of a T. You come through the entrance channel, and then turn left at the end to anchor in the west arm. We’ve never actually been in the east arm. Last year with Tiffani and Deke (and our substandard outboard) we thought we’d go over there to explore a little bit but the tide was flooding and the current started pulling us in fast, so as we turned around and gunned it to get out of there, our engine died (like it did often). We had a short bit of panic thinking we might be stuck in there or have to portage our dinghy over the grassy bit of land that separated the east arm from everything else, but we made it out. Whew!

This morning when we woke up and realized that it was just after high slack tide, we decided another shot at the east arm was in order. We could explore all we wanted, and by the time we came out, the current would be in our favor! It was raining a little bit, so we each donned what we call “the Full Alaska” (Grundens pants/jackets, Xtratufs, and Atlas gloves) and headed out!

There are waterfalls everywhere here. I don’t think there is any one moment where there are less than four in view. It’s crazy.

To the far right of that low bit of grassy land in the shot above is where the narrow entrance is to the east arm. We made it fine (had about a knot of current against us) and once inside the water was icy blue and this arm is just as insanely beautiful as the west arm.

We wove our way in to the very end and then turned around to come home. (Through the narrowest part we maybe saw 3.5 knots of current boost.)

The scale of Ford’s Terror is hard to show in photos. It’s so easy to just get lost in it, visually…like vertigo, or a dream. You’re gliding along in the dinghy or a kayak on calm water, with mountains thousands of feet high surrounding you, water falling from everywhere, and reflections diving deep that look almost as detailed as the land above. It’s a crazy dizzy feeling of beauty and I just love it.

See that waterfall down there at the end of the west arm? See the tiny white dot to the left of the waterfall? That’s Airship.

We got back to the boat and I made us some breakfast (brunch by now, since we were out for almost 3 hours touring around). Oh yeah, we took both Torqeedo batteries with us. Our first battery almost did the entire trip…we had to swap ‘em out when we were only about a quarter mile from the boat.

While I cooked breakfast, I watched this black bear on shore.

Later on this afternoon we noticed a brown bear on shore and decided to take the dinghy for a closer look. One of the best things about the Torqeedo electric outboard is how quiet it is for watching wildlife. You could not have done what we did from such a close (but safe) distance in a gasoline outboard.

This guy looked like he noticed or smelled us once or twice, but he could not have cared less that we were there. He was just going about his business of moving gigantic rocks out of the way so he could eat the good grub underneath. The crows stayed nearby and seemed thankful for their super strong neighbor.

Dinner tonight is some grilled king salmon (that we caught!) with some risotto and roasted broccoli.

More Misty Fjords

Laura Domela — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 19:20:40 +0000

Kevin arrived back in Ketchikan after spending the week in Austin for work. He brought his mom back with him, and we’ll be showing her SE Alaska from Ketchikan to Petersburg this week. (I was really ready to get off the dock back out in nature again!)

Our first stop after some sightseeing in Ketchikan (Creek Street, Saxman Totem Village, and dinner at the Bar Harbor Restaurant) was Walker Cove in Misty Fjords. We were here a little over a week ago and really thought she’d like it, so here we are again!

We anchored near where we anchored before, in about 90 feet of water. There’s only one other boat in here. Both of us are anchored, and the mooring ball is free.

We noticed a very light-colored grizzly on shore while Kevin was setting up the crab traps, so all three of us went out in the dinghy to put out the crab traps, but first took a detour to get a closer look at the grizzly. He was digging in the sand on the beach when he noticed us…

We weren’t very close, and the electric motor on the dinghy is super quiet, but we didn’t want to disturb his meal, so we moved on to set the crab traps. After that we took a dinghy ride up the river a little ways.

On the way out, the grizzly was still on the beach and he didn’t seem to mind or notice us much, so we just sat still and watched him do his thing for about a half an hour. Look how light his fur is! This definitely is not the single male we saw in here a week or so ago…I’ve never seen a bear this light in color.

I made crab bisque for dinner and we played some games and got to bed fairly early.

This morning, Kevin and Shirley went out to pull the traps (in the rain) and I took a quick shower and made breakfast so it was ready when they got back. They brought back maybe 7 males, but only four were big enough to keep. Four’s plenty for dinner though, so we’re set!

We pulled anchor and left Walker Cove, headed around the rest of Behm Canal for Helm Bay. We wanted to make miles today! It was nice and calm most of the way around, but the forecast in Clarence Strait was for NW wind 20 knots in the afternoon, seas building to 4 feet, so we figured we could get some of that in the west arm of Behm. And sure enough, we did. Waves were 4 feet (or more) and pretty choppy (but straight on our bow), and the wind was gusting to 25 knots. It was a wet ride, for sure. (Glad we could show Shirley a more complete Alaska experience, not just the placid days filled with humpbacks and unicorns.)

I took no photos while we were in the soup, but here’s one from right before:

The conditions weren’t too bad at first, but definitely got progressively worse during the “cruise.” We chose a few duck out points in case we needed them, but ultimately kept going for Helm Bay.

We passed the entrance to the bay and extended out for a ways before turning in…since we knew we’d be surfing some pretty good-sized waves into the cove before we had shelter. It was challenging, but some REALLY good experience. We only had a couple of squirrelly sideways moments when I didn’t turn to starboard fast enough between waves, but all in all I think I did very well surfing Airship into Helm Bay. We’re on the Forest Service dock now, cooking up some crab.

Tomorrow: Meyers Chuck.

Icebergs, Glaciers, and Bears

Laura Domela — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 16:35:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We left our little cove inside Tracy Arm and cruised the 25 miles or so to South Sawyer glacier. There was far less ice to dodge than when we were here before. Far less, and far less other boat traffic as well.

Passing a seal on our way to the glacier:

We were able to get very close (but not too close) to South Sawyer. We turned off the engine and just hung out for a while, watching (and listening to) bits of glacier calve off into the water:

Here's one as we were approaching the glacier that has another boat in it, for scale:

Here are too many photos of South Sawyer glacier (and another seal we passed on the way out):

(Note on the chart plotter how close we are to the mapped glacier.)

We decided to head in to see North Sawyer glacier, since the path was so clear. (We didn’t go in there last time at all because there was SO much ice.) There was pretty much NO ice in front of North Sawyer, and we were the only ones in there (besides two kayaks), so it was all ours.

The rock in here felt really different than in South Sawyer. Dark browns and rusts and yellows and oranges (see kayak on the right for scale).

The ice was dark and packed tight, and we only saw a few little bits fall into the water.

And this one, with a seagull circled in yellow, for scale:

Waterfall near North Sawyer:

More glaciers as we headed back out Tracy Arm:

Cool growth pattern of the green on rock:

More floating ice:

We had an amazing day exploring Tracy Arm. We heard the captain of the Disney Wonder cruise ship talking to another boat on the radio, and he said that this was the closest he’s ever gotten to the glaciers. Great day to be exploring in here!

As we got close to the anchorage where we stayed last night and would stay again tonight, we spotted a brown bear on the shore with two cubs…but the two cubs were really dark…like black bears. The sows and cubs we've seen before have all been the same color. Anyone know what the deal is with this bunch?

Also, bald eagles on an iceberg (again):

Back at unnamed cove, we anchored almost where we’d anchored the night before, and no sooner were finished anchoring when we noticed a brown bear on shore. We watched it for a bit, and then watched a guy in a dinghy setting crab traps who looked like he didn’t see the bear at all (and due to the compression of this long lens shot, looks VERY close to the grizzly, doesn’t he?)

The bear stood up and looked left (away from the dinghy) as it noticed another bear.

They saw each other, and the new bear ran toward the bear that was already there.

They approached each other slowly, and then began a casual chase up the shore.

They stopped and faced off, and then stood and wrestled with each other, while making growly bear sounds that carried well across the water so we could HEAR them growling/roaring/playing/fighting. They did this several times…chasing, facing off, wrestling, walk away…chasing, facing off, wrestling, walk away. We could see and hear ALL of it. It was super cool. We all thought (and said out loud, several times) “I can’t believe we even get to see this!”

Oh, then rainbow over icebergs:

And misty clouds in the trees:

Dinner was a hearty soup with pulled pork and veggies, with a side of garlic bread.

Our original plan was to next go into Endicott Arm and to Ford’s Terror (entering at high slack around 3pm), but since it was only 20nm away, we had some time and decided to go north for a bit in Stephens Passage to see if we could get some internet for a few work things.

Very large iceberg just outside of our anchorage as we left:

We went for quite a ways though with no hint of any connection, so we opted to go up to Taku Harbor for the night. We knew we’d gotten connected just outside the harbor, so Plan B it was. We floated around in Stephens Passage with internet for a bit and did some work, and then headed into Taku Harbor toward the free public dock. It’s busy in here at this time of year and the dock was almost full, but we got a spot and then took the 7 year old onto shore to burn some energy on the trails and the giant rope swing.

Crab traps went out and we grilled some halibut for dinner, with a side of spinach ravioli and asparagus.

In the morning the weather was super crappy and the forecast was not looking great for our cruise back down to Ford's Terror, so we opted for another night in Taku Harbor. We caught a bunch of crab, hiked around the old cannery, and took advantage of the docks and the swing for some exercise. Bummer that we didn't get back to Ford's Terror, but we can't really complain. At all.

Leesoffskaia Bay, AK

Laura Domela — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 16:19:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

We liked Leesoffskaia Bay so much we stayed two nights!

We took turns in the kayak yesterday afternoon (it was kinda rainy so we were all Alaska'd up in our rain gear and Xtratufs). Tiffani made dinner last night (stove-top chicken pot pies…delicious!) and we sat on the top deck afterwards just watching the light change.

Earlier in the evening Kevin and Deke went out in the dinghy to put the crab traps out and came back with NEWS. They dinghied up to the swim step and said something like “Hey you guys. While we were out putting the crab traps down, some shit went DOWN.”

They saw something move on the tiny islet to our west. It was a big brown bear. They watched said brown bear as it shuffled down to the water, got IN the water, and swam about 200 yards across to the other island…about 30 yards from their dinghy! A SWIMMING GRIZZLY. They had no iPhones, no GoPro, no cameras of any kind. They did not even take a walkie talkie with them. If they had, they could have called and told us to look toward Swimming Grizzly Island because we could have seen it all right from Airship.

A swimming grizzly. No photos.