sunset – Riveted

Matia Island to Anacortes

Laura Domela — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:40:00 +0000

After hiking (and ALL THOSE MUSHROOMS) yesterday morning, we left Matia Island and decided to take our time getting back to Anacortes. We went the long way 'round the west side of Orcas Island. We didn't see any whales, but it was a lovely cruise.

Oh yeah, this was the sky at sunrise Sunday morning at Matia:

Airship, from the hiking trail:

Mount Baker and friends toward the end of the day in Guemes Channel:

Even the refinery looked cool:

As we approached the marina though…that's when the sky went crazy. Such a great sunset!

Here's today's route (32.5 nautical miles):

Sunset in Ketchikan

Laura Domela — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 12:45:25 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

That is straight outta the camera, no filters whatsoever. Incredible, isn't it? I couldn't make this sunset look real in Photoshop no matter how hard I tried. It was spectacular. Sure glad those cruise ships left!

This is our view (same direction) this morning:

The cruise ship spot on the left (other side of that structure) doesn't have today's cruise ship in it yet, but it wouldn't be much different than a wall of fog even it was there. (There are four ships scheduled in port today. Four!)

Here are a few supporting photos for last night's sunset:

Today we're heading to Foggy Bay (an overnight stop before going the rest of the way to Prince Rupert tomorrow).Foggy Bay is 30ish miles from Ketchikan, and Prince Rupert is another 50 or so from Foggy Bay. We did the trip in one long day on the way up, but it'll be nice to break it up this time.

The forecast for Dixon Entrance (today and tomorrow) is for 1 meter seas, and winds (varying directions) from 5 t0 15 kts. Sounds like a great weather window. Now if this fog will just burn off so we can better see all those dang logs in the water!

Alaska Has No Clue How to Edit

Laura Domela — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 03:50:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

One of the most important things I learned in art school was how to edit. So many students try to cram every idea they have and every technique they know into each piece they make, and one of the biggest challenges for professors is to get students to see that “less is more” and that too much stuff can overwhelm the audience. There’s an elegance in the simplicity of a piece of art that’s been pared down to its bare essence. Some of the most difficult things to design are the pieces that seem the most minimal, and most artists and designers struggle with this throughout their careers.

ALASKA TOTALLY DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO EDIT!

We woke up this Sunday morning in Flynn Cove with eagles flying overhead, otters swimming nearby, and salmon jumping out of the water all around the boat. While I was making breakfast (salmon cakes using the Coho we’d caught on our way into Flynn Cove last night, topped with an over easy egg and hollandaise sauce) Kevin grabbed the crappy little telescoping fishing rod that we used to throw in the kayak bag, and put a spoon on it and went out and reeled in a 5 pound pink salmon. Before breakfast. How ’bout that?

While we were heading out of the cove (past the humpback whale near the shore), we hooked another big Coho.

After a bit more trolling for salmon, we dropped the anchor in 120 feet of water to fish for halibut in a spot not too far from Flynn Cove (where we planned to spend another night). While that was going on and we were sipping a beer on the upper deck, across Icy Strait from the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park, two humpbacks were basically circling our boat, grazing at the surface the entire time we were fishing.

We came back into Flynn Cove to anchor for the evening and to cook up some fish tacos for dinner with the rockfish and salmon we caught today… (oh, did I forget to mention the rockfish? we also caught rockfish) …anyway, while we were heating the tortillas on the grill, some harbor porpoises came into the cove and swam around our boat for 45 minutes or so (of course, because, you know, that whole editing issue).

One of the many salmon jumping around the cove:

We ate our fish tacos (delicious) and then noticed that the sky was turning a beautiful blend of pastel pinks and blues, so we went out on the bow to watch the sunset.

Pretty, isn’t it? But no, Alaska can’t stop at a beautiful sunset, a tiny wooded island in the foreground, and the mountains of Glacier Bay behind. Alaska needs to add some humpbacks, tail- and fin-slapping, right there along with the F you sunset:

(You can click to see these two a little bigger if you want.)

(The only way I even got these shots is because I was ALREADY looking through my lens taking photos of the sunset.)

Here are the rest of the photos. I don’t even know what to say about them. “Ooooooh. Aaaaaaah. So pretty. Sunset. Barf. Whatever.”

And there’s no audio with these photos, but I’ll also tell you that there were wolves howling occasionally as we sat there on the bow of the boat, wondering where the hell we were where this was normal.

Oh, and then the moon rose, and I went up to the pilot house of the rocking boat with my zoom lens and managed to get this shot:

Let’s do this again tomorrow, Alaska!

Sunset at Stuart Island

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 23:15:31 +0000

We took a beer and a little charcuterie board to the top deck to watch sunset tonight. For a mostly gray and rainy day, this was a pretty sweet end:

Whoa. Sunset.

Laura Domela — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 22:41:15 +0000

Alsea Bay, Oregon.