Alaska "Journey" 2010

Monday, 16 August 2010

August 8-9, Red Bluff Bay

Snow capped peaks

Red Bluffs - with mist

Big brown bear - right in the middle of the photo

Running on shore

And this is why the bears are there - John caught a picture of a salmon jumping!

Red Bluff Bay

Another gorgeous location. We entered a wonderfully sheltered bay that had red granite bluffs on one side and snow capped peaks on the other. It is hard to capture in photographs the scale but take my word for it, it was beautiful! On the way in we passed an old cannery site and much to our surprise saw a huge brown bear fishing in water up to his neck. Unfortunately he heard and smelled us before we got a chance to stop and spend much time watching him fish - he was soon out of the water and up the stream away from our view. But we do have one picture - look real close and you will see him in the centre of the picture. The rusty pipes in front of him are huge so it gives you some idea of the scale.

That night and the next morning we saw more brown bears checking out the beach and stream for nibbles. It is amazing to see these rather large animals run or swim - they are fast! I wouldn’t want to be in their way or any too close.

August 7-8, Warm Springs

Journey in front of the water fall

Me in my kayak

Stuck as the lagoon emptied into the inlet and the tide came in - finally got out

"Sea Snot" above and deflated sea anemones below

My kind of hot tub - one with a great view!

Hot spring pools with waterfall in background

John having a soak

Warm Springs

And besides a beautiful water fall, that is what is there - warm or hot springs to soak or bath in which is actually quite appealing after a week without a shower. Also the kayaking was pretty spectacular despite getting stuck in two opposing tidal currents.

Wednesday, 4 August 2010

July 27th - 29th - Appleton Cove

Steve checking out the creek the bears were the night before

View from Appleton Cove

Mama bear and 3 little bears

Papa bear

And the eagle is always there to eat the rest of the salmon

Appleton Cove (a good place for a girl who grew up on an apple farm!)

There is nothing quite so special as seeing grizzly bears in their natural habitat doing what they do naturally - no observation platforms this time. We spent two days watching a total of 6 bears play, fight, rest, graze and catch fish. One very big male with a golden blond back, a big female with three fairly large cubs and another outsider who hung on the edge of the activity. We were anchored as close as we could get to the beach without going aground and were still half a mile away but with binoculars were treated to quite a show. Especially when the big male was fishing. He would splash around in the stream, I imagine to confuse the fish which probably wasn’t very hard to do, and come up with a big salmon which he would carry up the bank to eat. It was lovely to watch the mom and her cubs. They all looked big and healthy and seemed to spend most of their time hanging out with each other and staying out of the way of the male. Fun days!

July 31 - August 2

The hunter with his prey

Nancy's jelly fish - you should see the video!

Journey

A quiet moment in my kayak

Before we re-entered civilization in Sitka - we spent two days in a lovely anchorage doing some kayaking, watching the rain fall and the deer graze on the beach. By chance we ended up on an island known for it’s abundance of Black Tailed Sitka deer. They appeared to not be afraid of us as they watched us enter the anchorage and anchor. However they may have learned a new lesson about man. We were woken at 5:00 one morning by a gun shot. At least John was - I slept through it. John jumped out of bed and spent the next hour watching two hunters in a boat, skin and haul out one of the deer they had just shot. August 1st it was - the beginning of hunting season. The rest of the day the eagles and sea gulls had quite a feast on what the hunters had left behind.

July 25th - Whales and sea lions

Humpback whales feeding close to shore

Sounding

Stella Sea Lions on their favorite buoy

July 26th - Tenakee Springs

Nancy takes over the helm from John - for a minute!

Approaching Tenakee Springs

Just missed the open garden day

No - the rocks are not glued together but are balanced on each other

Veg Alaska style!

Alaska Malmutes - Bella and Oz

A "Des Res" - ripe for conversion

My New Favorite Place
A most special place - and maybe my new place to dream about living in in Alaska. Tenakee Springs - rhymes with “finicky”. Of course the day we spent there was warm and sunny and all the houses strung along the beach looked especially cheerful. And the gardens were glorious! We had just missed their open garden day so every garden was at it’s best. No cars except for a fire truck - lots of bicycles left here and there that we were welcomed to use - and very friendly people. But then again I think the sun brings out the best in people - especially when you haven’t seen it for a while. I thought we would never get rid of the postman who came down to see us on the dock and stayed to chat for an hour.