If you go to Alaska, you have to take a cruise, that seems to be the general opinion. Neither of us are cruise ship people, I shudder at he thought of thousands of people on these huge cruise ships; it was our idea of hell !
I carried out hours of research and finally stumbled upon a family run business, operating a 87 foot yacht, (built in 1931) with 6 states rooms, accommodating a maximum of 9 passengers. The itinerary was flexible, meaning that what we saw determined our route and timings; more importantly it avoided the routes taken by the large cruise ships – we had found our ideal cruise :)
There website is: www.alaskacharters.com
The cruise was full - that meant a mere 9 guests (including us) and 3 crew, along with the Captains wife and 2 young children - hopefully this would make for an intimate and personal encounter of Alaska. The itinerary was flexible and depended on what we saw, but would hopefully include whales, orcas (fingers crossed), bears and glaciers - all up close and personal. Discovery was a beautiful, well maintained vessel, the crew were friendly and the other guests (3 Brits, 4 Yanks) seemed amiable enough. We checked out our berth (cozy), were briefed on the marine heads etc and then settled down for a light lunch as we left the dock.
Cruising out of Juneau we passed alongside Douglas Island. In the distance we could see a number of day boats and the spouting of whales. Approaching we were treated to humpback whales bubble netting; a method of feeding. It was phenomenal to see, this had been the top of Josie’s wish list and we'd seen it within a couple of hours of departure. We followed them for about an hour, watching them breathing, diving and bubble netting another 4 times.
The only disappointment was that it was us and another dozen boats observing which though it sounds strange (and selfish) made the experience feel more Disney and a little less special. Don't get me wrong, it was an absolutely amazing sight and a great privilege. I asked Ben (Captain and owner) later about the number of boats and why we joined in, mainly it was because it was the first time he'd seen bubble netting this season and as it was the beginning of the trip wanted us to have the opportunity to capture it. If we had come across a similar scene at the end of the trip and had already have witnessed the behaviour then we would not have joined the circus - fair enough !
Leaving the day boats behind we cruised on, passing a floating marker buoy laden down with sea lions, and watching both whales and dolphins passing by. We eventually entered Swanson harbour where we berthed for the night,it was just us and a couple of bald eagles. An evening meal, wine and conversation were a great end to our day.
Today was Josie’s 40th birthday; the main reason for our trip to Alaska, I was hoping for something memorable. We awoke at 7am, and after a coffee took the boston whaler to shore for a walk (some people chose to kayak) before tucking into blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Leaving the harbour we headed out for a spot of fishing. I'm not really a fisherman but there is something special about standing on the deck, rod in hand and not a ripple in the water; fishing whilst humpbacks swim past not more than a couple of hundred feet away from you. After about 20 minutes i got a bite and landed my first pink salmon ! We caught 3 in total which the chef decided was more than enough for all of us.
We continued to cruise for the rest of the morning, the odd whale and dolphin passed by but nothing that seemed to warrant further attention - the captain was obviously on a mission - but to where and to see what ?
The scenery was stunning, with tree covered mountains to either side of us, however we started to feel restless as hour after hour passed with little stimuli - the wildlife obviously wasn't playing ball, I know this from my job but it doesn't stop it being frustrating when you've built up your expectations. Nothing showed and so at about 3pm we arrived at the small settlement of Tenakee Springs. Crab pots were dropped and then we headed for shore, following a trail through the temperate rainforest until we reached a suspension bridge over a river. We had hoped to see bears fishing in the river, however no bears showed so we headed back and walked through the community. It was a single road with houses on stilts on the waters edge and on the opposite side houses built into the mountain side. All the houses were unique and a little eccentric, people were friendly, transport was by ATV or pushbike and the whole place had a real bohemian and laid back feel about it. The area was buzzing with hummingbirds, we must have seen about 100 during our walk, as well as a couple of woodpeckers.
Back on the boat we had the salmon we caught that morning, washed down with a chocolate birthday cake that they had prepared for Josie’s birthday.
Next morning the crab pots were raised, after releasing the females and juveniles we were left with 17 good sized crab - looked like it was seafood for dinner again.
ORCAS ! Just as I took my first mouthful of breakfast the shout went out. Never has a table been abandoned so quickly - it was like a scene from the Mary Celeste. A transient (mammal eaters) pod of 6 Orcas were alongside the boat. We ended up following them for over 2 hours, at one point we were also joined by a solitary humpback whale that just glided by. We were absolutely captivated by this pod, truly a once in a lifetime experience.
We continued our travels, the waters were calm and it was warm enough to sit out on the deck. We passed a barge full laden down with giant logs; only to see a helicopter appear above the treeline with a huge log attached to a winch, lowering the log onto the barge, it continued to repeat the procedure, slowly disappearing out of site. After lunch we spotted a couple of humpbacks and trailed along with them for probably an hour, we were rewarded with a solitary humpback bubble net feeding. Continuing on we passed a small pod of dall porpoises ( look like small orcas) - its was certainly shaping up to be a memorable day.
We pulled into a sheltered harbour mid afternoon (kasnyku Bay); salmon were leaping out the water as we dropped anchor. There was a salmon fishery located here and the previously released salmon were returning to spawn. Heading to shore we walked towards the stream and patiently sitting there was our first bear of the trip - a juvenile grizzly, watching the salmon jumping as they headed up stream. We watched him for about half an hour, then out of the forest a younger, smaller bear appeared. He hadn’t noticed the other and it was like a comedy sketch as he did a sudden double take upon realising he wasn't alone. He turned tail, but too late as he was spotted and given chase. A little posturing and he scarpered off, to reappear further down the shoreline.
Returning to the vessel we headed to our anchorage spot for the evening (Baranof Island - Takatz bay). Our anchorage was in a beautiful natural harbour, there were tree covered mountains either side with waterfalls cascading down, at the end of the harbour was a green meadow. Bald eagles looked down on us and harbour seals swam by without a care in the world. A few people took out kayaks whilst others fished (albeit unsuccessfully) for halibut.
That evening we sat down to a huge plate of dungeness crab.
Leaving the harbour the following morning, we were almost immediately treated to a couple of Orcas (they respectfully waited till after breakfast to show). More importantly the sun had decided to make its first appearance since we arrived in Alaska.
Passing humpback whales and porpoises we arrived at Warm Springs Bay, disembarking at the settlement of Baranof. We were left to our own devises so headed along the trail to Baranof lake, a wonderfully serene lake, surrounded on all side by mountains and fed by glacial waters. We sidetracked onto a goat trail which took us to higher ground, allowing us to look down on the lake in one direction and the bay in the other. Taking an alternative route back through some marshier land, we came across lily filled ponds, orchids and animal tracks, including those of a rather large bear.
We then headed to the natural hot springs, which flowed into a couple of natural pool before draining into the river. There was something magical about sitting in a hot pool (105F), in woodland and overlooking a fast moving whitewater river, carrying icy cold water. There was a pool right by the edge of the river which made a natural cold water plunge pool - believe me when I tell you it was icy cold. Returning to the boat, we ate lunch, tucking into king salmon cakes, whilst continuing on our journey towards Admiralty Island. The weather had picked up and the boat rocked and rolled, it was wonderful to hear the creaking of the wood, although the crashing of crockery in the galley was probably not quite so welcome.
After a couple of hours we pulled into cannery cove, another beautiful protected cove. There was a meadow complete with stream running down into the cove, we could just make out a bear eating the grass in the distance. We grabbed a kayak and headed in a little closer to watch the bear for about half an hour, continuing along the shoreline we watched a couple of seals chasing fish.
In the evening we went ashore to see a friend of Ben’s who owned a lodge on the cove. Alan was certainly a character, having lived in such an isolated location for many years ! He had originally bought the land from the cannery when it went insolvent, and had purchased 32 acres of land for $1.50 an acre ! He had a beautiful hand built lodge, with stunning views over the cove. Showing us around he proudly pointed out his hand made gun - it looked like something from an Arnie film and took 50 caliber bullets, which he had to make himself. When asked what he shot with it, the reply was 'anything I want'. This included using it to shoot (rather than cut) the tops off the trees. We sat around an open fire, toasting marshmallows and chatting for hours.
Awoke during the night to the sound of heavy rainfall and the morning dawned misty and miserable.
All of our expectations were low, I had pretty much written the whole day off, then It became a whale day! Within a couple of minutes of leaving the cove we spotted and headed towards a couple of whales. Somewhat reluctantly a few of us braved the rain and cold thinking a few minutes viewing at distance was all we were scheduled for. Then more and more whales started to appear, until wherever you looked you could see 5 - 6 whale flukes raising and disappearing beneath the waves. The whales then started appearing all around the vessel, the sounds they made were phenomenal, we were so close we were even sprayed with their fishy smelling exhalations. They bubble netted, both individually and in groups, spouted, dived and generally put on a real Nat Geo moment. We spent the whole morning watching them, there must have been at least 50 whales in the area. By the end, my fingers, ears, toes were numb from the cold and drizzle - but well worth the potential pneumonia :)
Not only that, but the seas had progressively calmed, the rain stopped and snatches of blue sky could be seen.
We stopped for an hour to fish for halibut, managing to catch 2 between us before sitting down to some much welcomed salmon chowder, whilst the vessel continued its journey. In the distance I saw the first huge cruise ship that I had seen since leaving Juneau, thankfully we seemed to have opposite destinations in mind. We continued to see individual humpbacks during the course of the day as we headed towards our anchorage for the evening. Anchoring near the meadow at Windfall Harbour, we almost immediately spotted a bear which we got to watch for about 40 minutes as it lazily ambled along the shore.
Looking out of one of the windows over a fish stew (today’s halibut, freshly caught mussels and the remaining crab), I happened to glance up to see another bear on the waters edge.
Bears before breakfast ! I took advantage of kayaks deciding to paddle towards the meadow to see if I could spot any bears, a shout from the boat told me there was one in the opposite direction ! So off I paddled to be rewarded with being able to follow a fair sized grizzly along the shoreline. Not a bad start to the day.
After breakfast we headed to Pack Creek, a famous area for bears; there are only 24 permits available each day so we knew it wouldn’t be crowded. We arrived at low tide which is the best chance to see the bears and a 10 minute walk saw us at the viewing spit.
It was cold and raining, however the 2 bears that were there kept us captivated for about 2 hours as we watched their antics. A 3rd bear briefly appeared further up the creek but didn’t grace us with there presence.
The hot chocolate waiting for us on the boat was well received and we took the opportunity to thaw out before embarking on the 1 mile walk through the rainforest to a viewing platform overlooking a section of the creek. The walk itself was awesome, it also answered the question of 'do bears shit in the woods', with plenty of evidence on our pathway.
Climbing the platform, we held our breath and looked over the creek - no bears in site! It looked the perfect location, shallows with plenty of salmon working there way upstream. There was a beaver dam on the other side of the platform, but alas no beaver either. Whilst waiting we were treated to great displays by numerous bald eagles - but that wasn’t what we wanted.
Half an hour and just as we were ready to call it a day, Josie shouted out 'bear'; further down the creek, but heading in our direction was a grizzly bear. It went out of view and we waited ... and waited .... and waited. After about 5 minutes it appeared right in front of us, his first lunge in the water rewarded him with a fish - what a sight ! He then promptly disappeared into the forest with his prize. Thankfully he reappeared after a few minutes and proceeded to chase salmon around and around, providing us with about 10 minutes of entertainment before heading further upstream. This for me was undoubtedly the highlight of the cruise.
Back aboard we had a long journey ahead of us in some pretty choppy waters to enable us to spend our last full day viewing the glaciers of Tracey Arm.
We were treated along the way to an unexpected diversion to view a Sea lion rookery. There were hundreds of them, as soon as they got wind of our approach many of them fled into the waters. The noise they made was incredible, defiantly indignant as being disturbed. we hung around for a while before continuing.
Passing Sumdum glacier I couldn’t resist shouting the immortal line of 'iceberg dead ahead', upon seeing our first chunk of floating ice. That night we anchored in no name cove.
We set off early heading into Tracey Arm Fjord, there was a low mist but it started to break and the sun even threatened to make an appearance.
The fjord itself was stunning, a narrow steep sided passageway; snow capped mountains in the background. The sides of the fjords were thick with trees and glacial streams and waterfalls were too numerous to count. We passed beautifully coloured and shaped icebergs, some were larger than the boat itself.
The journey was sadly cut short as rounded a bend in the fjord we were confronted with a waterway so thick with ice broken away from the glacier that it was impossible to proceed. We took the opportunity to net some glacial ice for evening cocktails ! There was disappointment that we didn't get to see a coastal glacier, however, the fjord was a spectacle in its own right. Heading back out we got the classic shot of a bald eagle perched on an iceberg.
We pulled over in a cove and spent a couple of hours fishing until we caught a 40lb halibut - more than enough to feed us all.
Our final night was spent at Taku Harbour.
Next morning arriving in Juneau we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Anchorage - the next stage on our Alaskan adventure.
