From
Petersburg, we motored in the calm to Entrance Island where we spent a
relaxing evening in the sunshine tied up to a public float. After
sleeping in a bit and amazed to wake up again to gorgeous sunshine, we
motored up Stephens Passage headed for our anchorage at the head of Tracy
Arm in Holkam Bay. After only motoring about a half hour, I was
startled as an enormous humpback whale surfaced only about 30 feet in
front of the boat. Motorsailing, we had to put the engine in neutral
to avoid hitting this mesmerizing animal. Slowly, it dove back into
the water, and we continued to watch it surface again and again as it
traveled southward. Truly awesome! We even saw a number of
other whales blowing in that same area over the next several hours.
Only
a short while later, we saw a huge white barge in the distance; wondering
what it was we spied on it with our binoculars (probably the most used
tool on board). It wasn't until we got closer that we realized we
had spotted our first iceberg! As we moved on, we saw more and more
enormous blocks of floating ice, and had to actually dodge them to reach
our anchorage in Holkam Bay.
We would spend the next day traveling down and back Tracy Arm, a narrow
fjord approximately 20 miles long. The water here was amazing,
colored bright green from the glacial melt. Cliff walls towered
thousands of feet above us, with a wide variety of plants, mosses, and
trees growing in every crevice they could find. The walls of the
fjord were intricately 
carved
by glaciers, with sweeping valleys sliced through the towering stone peaks
still sprinkled with snow. As we traveled, we had to dodge icebergs
traveling out to sea, once part of the Sawyer glaciers at the head of the
fjord. We could not help but feel like tiny ants in a child's
sandbox. Finally reaching the head of the fjord, we saw the awesome
Sawyer glacier. Like the icebergs we had seen, it was the most
amazing color of clear turquoise blue, unlike any color we had seen in
nature before. As we got closer, we heard a thundering rumble as we
watched giant pieces of ice fall from the glacier into the water; we found
ourselves riding on ocean-like swells from the impact! Hundreds of
seals lie sleeping on the prairie of ice floating in front of the
glacier. We were breathless the entire time we gazed at the
beautiful glacier; it was then that we realized how far from home we
had truly traveled.
The
next morning we pulled up our anchor for the last time, at least for this
trip. Today, we would make our long anticipated reach up Gastineau
Channel to Juneau. We were amazed to be greeted with south winds
after the fog cleared, so we set our jib and mainsail wing and wing and
glided up Stephens Passage to Gastineau Channel. We weren't in a
hurry and enjoyed our leisurely approach to Juneau as we had to reach the
Douglas Bridge at low tide (1530) so our mast would clear.
When we finally did reach the bridge and triumphantly cleared it, we
felt we could cheer at last -- we'd made it to Juneau! We'd
successfully anchored many times, dodged shallow spots, rocks, deadheads,
whales, and icebergs. We'd motored over 200 hours, but did get some
awesome days of sailing in. We called the Juneau Harbormaster and
got our temporary slip assignment; after tying up Jenny P, we set off to
explore our new home.
-sdj-
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