Humpbacks and Bergs

The last three days were spent retracing our path from Petersburg to Endicott Arm via Frederick Sound, Stephens Passage and Tracy Arm Cove. As we rounded Cape Fanshaw we could see dozens of spouts and splashes from humpback whales feeding and playing from Storm Islands all the way to Windham Bay. We had never seen so many humpbacks in one place, and from the radio chatter, they were also on the Admiralty Island side putting on a show for yachts and cruise ships alike. At least one came totally out of the water and more surfaced and sounded close to the boat. We finally just put the engine in idle and enjoyed the show. Along the way we snacked on Miriam's freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Arriving at the Tracy Arm Bar well past slack water we bucked an ebb current of more than 4 knots for a few minutes and then anchored with six other boats in the cove. By dark, there were 13 boats as they returned from their trips up Tracy Arm in the clouds and rain. It seemed to be a magical time as the clouds lowered and the rain reduced visibility in the cove as the light gradually faded. We sat in our warm cabin and toasted Connie's Birthday with Margaritas before sitting down to a birthday dinner of prime rib roast, salad, scalloped potatoes and birthday cake baked on board by Miriam. Connie picked the movie for the evening, "It's Complicated", and we actually all stayed awake to the end.

The wind and rain increased overnight and the wind was gusting to 25 knots as we pulled the anchor for an early start up Endicott Arm for the third time. Visibility was very poor, the rain was heavy and we seriously considered staying at anchor for the day, but we detected a slight improvement and headed out anyway. The Tracy Arm Bar buoys were only occasionally visible since they were mostly underwater from the current. Fortunately, both the range marks and the electronics allowed us to shoot the channel carried out by a 5 knot ebb current. We briefly panicked as a barnacle encrusted ancient buoy surfaced in mid-channel directly ahead of us. We think it had been held down by bergs in a previous season and finally broke loose.

The visibility improved as we headed down Endicott Arm, and the ice concentrations were remarkably clear, allowing us to motor at near full speed to within 1 mile of the face before we had to slow down and pick our way for the last portion. Two other boats were there, and we launched the tender to get even closer and take more photos. There was a large section of the Dawes Glacier that calved and sent rollers down the arm while Ben and Connie were out in the tender. There were frequent smaller calvings taking place so the water was constantly rolling. After enjoying the scenery and collecting more glacial ice for future libations, we headed back to Tracy Arm Cove for the evening and relaxed from the long day. Connie has now photographed every blue berg between Dawes Glacier and Tracy Arm Cove. We were surrounded at anchor by small floating bergs that had found their way into the cove, little knowing that they were going to end up in our drinks! One of the bergs decided we were worth hanging out with and stayed right alongside for hours. No gourmet meals after this long cruising day, but leftovers converted into stroganoff.

The evening turned glassy calm and after watching a movie, we retired, only to be awakened at 0430 by a horrible crunching scraping noise outside. We instantly knew that the berg had decided to snuggle up alongside and parts of the berg could be seen underneath Spirit. We tried just fending off, that did not work. We then just raised the anchor and headed back down Stephens Passage to Petersburg. The porpoise and humpback whales were out in force and we stopped for nearly 2 hours just drifting with the engine turned off and watching the whales. At times we could see them pass under Spirit and then surface alongside, breathing in and out with whooshes and just ambling along. The humpbacks finally departed to the north and we continued our trip into Petersburg, arriving at 1530. We looked at the hull as far as we could see and the berg appeared to have not even scratched any bottom paint, just created noise.

The log now stands at 2556 nautical miles on day 76 of our voyage.