Alaska Recap - Part 3

Tuesday morning we awoke in Saginaw Bay close to Chatham Straight. We got off the boat again and again I had elected to go kayaking.... this time with mom.

We got in a two-person kayak and headed out into the little bay. We spotted some birds along the rocks and then headed for the headlands where there were some supposed Indian rock paintings (not sure if the rock painting is old or not). On our way out to the headlands, mom and I we encircled by the videographer in his zodiac. Oh joy... we were gonna be in the DVD of the trip! We came back to shore along the rocky coast, enjoying the water and the scenery.

Back on board the Sea Lion, we spotted a lone sea otter floating near the ship. He was on his back eating working his paws feverishly. Every once is a while, he would do a complete spin the water, amazingly keeping is head and feet above water. What skill! As the sea otter floated away, we headed out of Saginaw Bay into Frederick Sound towards Chatham Straight. Our goal was to find whales! At the point where Frederick Sound meets Chatham Straight, there is the small Yasha Island. On this tiny island were hundreds of sea lions crowded onto the rocks. We couldn't get too close, but as we approached, many of the sea lions headed for the water while others stayed put and gave us curious glances.

Past Yasha Island, we headed out into Chatham Straight, but there were no whales as yet to be found. We sailed along and discovered a beautiful waterfall along the straight and we went to take a closer look. Eagles and a variety of ducks were near the waterfall. No great photos though since the sun was on the wrong side (the waterfall faced east).

We left the waterfall and continued north up the Straight and suddenly we heard "Whales ahead". YAY! Off the bow we saw two Humpback whales headed towards us. We watched in awe as they surfaced and blew water out their spouts and then dove for deeper waters with their signature tale high in the air. It was great to watch and being in a smaller boat, we even we able to turn the boat around and follow the whales as they ventured south down Chatham Straight.

After an amazing day of viewing all sorts of animals, we ate a delicious dinner. While we were finishing dinner, we noticed out the window a rather fast Dall Porpoise swimming right by the ship. I ran out of the dinning room and discovered the porpoise had moved up to the bow and was riding the bow wave. It was getting dark outside so getting a photo of this very fast porpoise was difficult, but it was amazing to see him riding that wave on the bow of the ship. Beautiful!

Photos from Saginaw Bay
Photos from Chatham Straight

The next day, Wednesday, I woke up not feeling particularly well and what felt like the start of a cold. The weather outside matched my health with nasty rain and swelling seas. Our opportunity to kayak that day got nixed pretty quickly and the crew managed to find a small inlet to offer hikes. I opted to stay on board and stay dry and I took a large amount of cold drugs and snuggled in bed trying to kill this cold as quickly as possible.

That afternoon as we headed up into Icy Straight near the entrance of Glacier Bay, the weather let up enough that we were able to spot and follow another Humpback whale. This guy was very close to the boat and at one point surfaced a mere 100 feet in front of the bow. Everyone was able to get great shots of him as he dove and produced his barnacled-covered tail one last time.

Although the wildlife was cooperating with us, the weather was not and our afternoon activity also got canceled. Instead, we headed to the small town of Elfin Cove, a adorable little village with no roads where the locals get around on a small network of boardwalks. Apparently only about 20 people live here in the winter, but its close access to the Pacific makes it a prime fishing lodge local in the summer months. We walked around the boardwalks, visited a few of the local stores, watched a man doing a honest to goodness chainsaw carving out of a tree trunk, and talked with some of the local fishermen in town. It was a very enjoyable time and I think Lindblad should add this quaint little town as a permanent stop on this cruise. We were told by some of the crew that they divert to Elfin Cove maybe once a season, so we felt lucky that we got to go there. It sure beat Petersburg.

It took us a while to leave Elfin Cove due to a old hand truck getting caught in the ship's anchor. They had all the crew working on that anchor for about 2 hours before they got the hand truck released. Once able to freely move again, we headed out into Icy Straight and docked overnight near the entrance to Glacier Bay.

Photos from Icy Straight & Elfin Cove