Icebergs and Whales Galore

Passage through Wrangell Narrows is 21 miles long with more than 66 navigation markers. Apparently at night this myriad of markers (which are red and green) gave this place the nickname of “Christmas Tree Lane”. In some places it is only 30 feet wide and it is suggested that small craft travel this with a favorable current and never in a fog. It was along this passage that we saw the huge Golden Eagle on the shores of the fishing camp.

At the end of the narrows we moored at the Petersburg Public Float (across Wrangell Narrows in the community of Kupreanof). The dock is large and robust. There were only a kayak and two aluminum boats on the dock when we arrived after 9pm. It continued to rain. I saw a note in the Charles Charts book that this area has an annual rainfall of 2.7 m (106 inches!). Lara went to the end of the dock where it ended in a dense overgrown forest. This is bear country so I (Lara) did not go any further.

We threw out our crab pot and went to bed.

Friday July 11, 2008 – Departure Petersburg across Frederick Sound to Tracy Arm

Jim and Lara had a crab!

We pulled up the crab pot and there was a 12” crab in it. He was making little hissing noises; we felt sorry for him. We took his picture and threw him back. (Note: Lara has several recipes awaiting the next crab that may not be so cute.).

As we departed south of Petersburg we were met with ICEBERGS! These break off the glaciers and float away. What a sight. These were as big as our boat, with a few that were up close and many in the distance. The backdrop for this sight is Devil’s Thumb, a spectacular 9,077 snow covered granite pinnacle of a mountain. It is a cold crisp day.

We crossed Frederick Sound into the most amazing whale show ever. They were everywhere in groups of two to six (or more). One of the babies was jumping clear up and out of the water.

At one point, I heard a huge exhale near the stern of the boat and a whale was right there! His back and fin exposed.

What an amazing whale party. Jim slowed the boat and we idled through with whales surrounding us on all sides. This went on for hours. A full sized whale broached (jumping clear out of the water – twice) in the distance in front of us. What a sight to see.

As we entered Tracy Arm we noticed a killer whale circling an ice berg. It was a male with a tall fin. He submerged and we did not see him again. See fin in front of iceberg:

Shortly thereafter we rounded the corner and found a perfect spot to anchor.

We immediately took the dinghy out for a spin and came upon a humpback whale. This experience was AMAZING. The sounds of its long exhale and surfacing surrounded us. That lovely sound and the sounds of a near fight between Lara and Jim: “We’re close enough! Really! No closer! That whale might surface under us, knock us over and we will die in this frigid water!” Jim wanted me to be sure to mention that it was Lara who was the scaredy cat. We stayed close to the shoreline, watched and listened to one of the largest of all mammals.

At one point, the whale flew up out of the water with its mouth wide open scooping up fish. This was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.

We also saw many, many more of the golden eagles (which again are large birds, much bigger than the bald eagle), flocks of bald eagles, dark spotted seals, little tubby duck/birds and little seagulls. Lara captured the shots of the eagle about to pluck a fish out of the water and the eagle on the ice berg when we were out on the dinghy ride. We also scooped up a little iceberg. They are heavy. We brought a little one into the “house” to examine more closely. It is so heavy and clear. It is hard to grasp that it is thousands of years old.

Saturday, July 12th.

We made arrangements with “Arista” (a similarly sized boat in our anchorage) to go up together and trade photos. In the morning we checked in with them to find that they had a terrible nights sleep as ice bergs were bumping them all night. They were anchored much further into the iceberg field. Their Captain appears to be a professional and there are three couples aboard. They are from Monterrey CA.

There was a huge iceberg that floated in toward our anchorage. This thing was a big as a house and would definitely have been bad news had it bumped someone!

The trip along Tracy Arm extends north for about 9 miles before turning east for another 13 miles in a passage between steep, Yosemite-like cliffs where the glacier meets the ocean. Icebergs became more numerous as we came closer to the glacier. The water is very deep (up to 1000 feet) in this canyon.

We left at 0800 and it was (you guessed it) raining and a bit foggy.

It was at mile 9 that we reached the northern most point of this journey (57º55.4’N 113º 34.4’W) where the water temperature was 39ºF. I (Lara) was overcome with emotion, grateful to have been given this opportunity to make such an expedition; aware of Jim’s hard work to get the boat 2300 miles north and realizing that this is really a once in a life time trip.

It took about three hours of careful navigation north until we turned the corner and could see Sawyer Glacier! The rain had slowed and the fog lifted. The ice field was thick enough so that Jim was driving the boat from up top (where his field of view was best – but it is open and it was COLD). There were a couple of hearty looking spotted seals on icebergs and a few puffins (reddish orange beaked tubby birds).

The icebergs have a variety of colors to them. Some are a deep, deep blue. Some look like glass. Others are filled with ancient soils. Water cascades down the sheer cliffs in torrents of waterfalls. As we neared the glacier the water turned a turquoise green color from the glacial silt.

Our buddy boat Arista is a “go fast” fiberglass boat and at this sight they opted to go no further. I think Jim was relieved as the bumping of icebergs was nerve wracking (each visible end of an iceberg has an unknown underwater portion). We rafted boats, traded photo disks and then they dashed out of the iceberg mine field.

We stayed for a bit to enjoy the sounds and sounds of this once in a lifetime encounter. It was very quiet when we heard a booming CRACK that echoed. Jim and I just looked at each other marveling at the sounds of ice cracking and breaking. Somewhere north of us a sheet of ice was falling into the water below – a new iceberg was born.

With a strange mixture of sadness and elation, we turned out boat back south. This must be what it feels like to summit a mountain....