Inside Passage

Today the sun rose at 3:05 glimmering across Tongass Narrows, blazing into the open window,  the birds chatter a welcome to another long sunlight day punctuated by sun, clouds, sprinkles, fog...welcome to Ketchikan!  Our journey to here was abroad the Kennicott, one of the eleven vessels that make up the fleet of Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS,) that covers 3,500 nautical miles of  awe inspiring views spanning from Bellingham, WA, North through the Inside Passage, across the Gulf of Alaska, through Prince William Sound, South-central/Southwest and down seven westward communities of the Aleutian Islands.  The City of Unalaska/Dutch harbor at the end of the Aleutian Chain is the terminus of the route.  We were two of an estimated 320,000 passengers who travel annually on the AMHS....our ship the Kennicott carries 499 passenger and has a vehicle capacity of 1,600 linear  feet or approximately 80 twenty foot vehicles.  Without the AMHS, air would be the only route of travel to visit cities like Ketchikan which is not accessible by road.

After flying to Seattle and spending a day touring Anacortes we boarded the ferry the Kennicott in Bellingham for an 1800 departure....as un-luck would have it we rented a car from the airport in Bellingham and had a difficult time securing a cab to the ferry terminal, we were the last passengers to board....less then 10 minutes before departure....not a particularly good idea.  As the passage was to last for 37 hours we had a cabin (one of 82) which was much nicer than I had expected.  The "bunk" beds were a challenge or perhaps I should say that navigating the ladder to the upper bunk was the challenge:)

With so many hours of sunlight/daylight the glorious scenery drew us to the upper decks and endless hours of awe struck observation of the beautiful passages, breeching Humpback whales, schools of torpedo-like Dall's Porpoise traveling at lightening speed fostering a "rooster-tail"  creates a 

hollow pocket of air that allows the porpoise to breathe while swimming,  soaring bald eagles,  flocks of marbled murrelets and black legged kittiwakes, snow capped mountains, verdant shores, waterfalls, stimulating conversation with fellow passengers from NJ, Ohio, Colorado, Alaska...it was a lovely boating holiday from boating...

Anacortes is lovely, of course the first place we ended up was by the commercial waterfront...looking at boats....there clearly is something about us and the sea......

We arrived in Ketchikan where two behemoth cruise ships were docked, thankfully our B&B is 5 miles from town so we don't have to "experience " the frenetic crowds....today we visited the Totem Bight Historic Park, in 1938 the US Forest Service began salvaging overgrown and weather-damaged cedar totem poles that were left behind when southeast Alaska Native peoples abandoned villages in the early 1900's in response to the decline of the barter economy.  Skilled carvers were hired from among the older Natives of  the Tlingit and Haida tribes and the poles found rotting were repaired or replicated. The worlds largest collection of totem poles is found here. It takes one person a year to create a totem pole and apparently for $1,000-5,000 a foot you too can have a totem carved for your native art collection.....I think that I will have to stick to a collection of C.Alan Johnson figurines.....

Ketchikan is an interesting small city that has a history steeped in fishing camps, gold and copper mining, fishing, a cannery and as transportation hub.  Today Ketchikan with a population of 15,000 is     a berthing place for 2-4 cruise ships a day which disembark up to 9,000 passengers each day.  A flotilla of float planes dot Tongas Passage and the sound of their frequent take-offs and landings mark
the two hour sight-seeing trips to Misty Fjords.  Buses and "duck" boats ferry the masses around to the tourist attractions.  We rented a car so we were able to "experience" the beautiful forests and wildlife the abounds here without having to "experience" the masses.

Ketchikan's namesake is a creek long used by the Tongass and Cape Fox bands of Tingits as a fish camp they called "kitchxaan heen," - over the eagle's wings river. It is in the heart of 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest, the largest in the US.  A flight to Misty Fjords National Monument (40 miles south of Ketchikan) was spectacular, the 2.3 million acres temperate rainforest created over millions of years of glacial periods and  when the glaciers melted 13,000 years ago, the granite walls, steep ravines, of deep canals, lakes, cascading waterfalls and inlets were left. Thanks to an annual rainfall of 12 feet, towering cedar, western Hemlock and Sitka spruce trees thrive. 

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endless array of visual wonder.  

I'm sitting at the edge of Ward Lake, Kurt will be fishing when he finishes getting ready to go fishing, the faint waning moon is setting over the evergreen tree tops on the years ago distant shore and it is reflected in the mirriw surface of the lake.  It's early light, a loon calls, woodpeckers tat, steller jays are screeching-squaking of immitating the calls of other birds,  feeding  fish disturb the reflection of the forest.  The sun is inching its way towards the top of other line on the mountain behind us casting a brighter light on the lake and distant shore of temporate rainforst that is home to red cedar, Canadian Hemlock and Sitka Spruce,   50' from where I sit a  mature bald eagle silently glided in and picked up a fish and blithly continues on its flight.  So far the eagles 1, fisherman 0.    It just doesn't get much better than this. 

Although that being said, the fish hatchery located on a stream leading into Herring Bay is a favorite feeding and training arena for bald eagles and black bears. For hours we watched immature eagles attempting to  

fetch King salmon from the shallow river, obviously the fetcing is an acquired skill as most of the somewhat clumsyimmature eagles repeatedly came up short of a meal.  THE black bears weren't having an easy time of it either

The aerobatics of mature the eagles was spetacular.  

Immature bald eagles are as large as the adults, but lack the white head and tail.  instead they are mottles brown and white.  First year eagles are dark brown with brown eyes adn a brown bill.  In the second and third uears they develop a white bib that stands o

ut against the darker belly feathers---this eventually darkens t a uniform brown. The white head and tail develop around the fifth year.  As the eagle matures, it's bill and eyes gradually turn yellow.

Lost Blog....recreated..Florida, 2013

Blogless in Florida,  some redundant...

For what ever reason, the Google Blog site has chosen to forsake me, my last newsy blog of Feb. 20 went missing in the Google blog cyberspace known only to a chosen few.  Memory will not likely serve me if I try to recreate that blog, but suffice it to say that we were departing Dunedin, Fl after a lengthy(33 days) unplanned stay there.  Dunedin is a jewel of a town to get stuck in , the town dock was inexpensive, my Aunt and Uncle live there during the winter, the town full of interesting restaurants is within walking distance and the 34 mile Pinellas paved hiking, biking trail which runs form St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, intersects the town.  Add to that beautiful weather, dolphins that fed in the marina basin, a visiting Green Heron who took a liking to our Hobie sail-yak, a sky litered with osprey, great white herons and fanciful pelicans, and one has every reason to enjoy an extended stay there. 

We took every advantage of our time there that was extended due to a transmission problem that necessitated a rebuild which necessitated waiting for a tiny o-ring that obviously was carried to Dunedin from NJ by someone hiking. 

The Pinellas trail afforded us the opportunity to break out our folding bikes out and explore the near environment.   A road trip brought us to Honeymoon Island State Park, a 2810-acre barrier Island resplendent with white sand beaches, and  pine forest that is home to great horned owls, bald eagles and osprey.  While hiking we came upon two gentlemen sporting SLR cameras with 800 mm lens attached, they were observing a great horned owl nest with two babies.  What a thrill it was to look with the magnification to see the Mom owl with her downy babies nestled under her wing,  Papa owl was in a nearby tree and apparently providing well for his family as I have since learned that both babies fledged and can be seen practicing their flying and foraging techniques.  

Fledged Baby owls on Honeymoon Is

Momma Owl and baby

 Visiting with my Aunt Rose and Uncle Art, who celebrate 64 wonderful years of life together,  was a treat; cooking dinner for them and going out to dinner in our favorite Greek restaurant, Hellas, in Tarpon springs was always a pleasure.   Hearing about the events of their lifetime created memories to cherish.

A 2-hour road trip to Summerville brought us to Elaine and Ron’s home where we celebrated my sister’s 75 birthday with her and her sister-in-law Lois who was visiting from Southold, a wonderful time was had by all.

On Feb. 13, we departed from Tampa airport and flew to New Orleans where we spent two nights at Place d’Armes before driving to the Castille family reunion  that was held at Fausse Point State Park near Lafayette, LA.

 

                                                                                                        Place d' Armes

Gerry and Robyn met in New Orleans  and later  shared out lake front (literally suspended over the lake) cabin.  Frank and Yvette did a phenomenal job  providing most of the food for the event, Frank was the master chef  for huge pots of boiled crawfish,  and assorted savory gumbos.  He outdid himself this year and between he and Yvette, and a delicious Jambalaya made by Jan, and Alligator burgers that Brian provided the three day feast was complete.  Kurt Jr and family participation ensured quality grandchildren time for Kurt.  

                             

Kurt, Carl and I drove to Avery Island, perhaps best known as the home of Tabasco sauce, of greater interest to me was the Civil War history and tour of 250 acre managed park Jungle Gardens on the Island that is situated on a massive salt dome.. It is one of five salt dome islands along the Louisiana Gulf Coast.  It formed when alluvial sediment covered a vast plane of salt left behind by an ancient saltwater ocean. 

Bird City

In 1895 Edward Avery Mclihenny (third generation of the island) creator of Tabasco Sauce, helped save the Snowy Egret for extinction by establishing a rookery that became known an s Bird City.  Today as many an s 20,000 snowy egrets nest on long nesting platforms suspended over a   

                                                                      protected lake.  

In addition to the protected nesting site for the magnificent egrets the island is home to exotic plants, with numerous varieties of azaleas, Japanese camellias, Egyptian papyrus, majestic live oaks, a jungle garden and bamboo.  A shrine housing a centuries old bronze Buddha sits atop seven “hills of knowledge” in the Jungle Gardens. It sets overlooking a little pond in a very peaceful existence since the early 1900’s. 

 

On Feb. 22 we finally extricated ourselves from Dunedin and headed south along the Gulf coast, stopping at Venice Yacht Club where Kurt reconnected with second cousins Sigrid and Hans. 

An uneventful 30 hours of non-stop travel brought us down the western shore of  the Everglades and  through the cut south of Flamingo. Into Florida Bay.  After bouncing alone the shoal bottom of the cut we arrived in Plantation Yacht Harbor in Islamorada, Plantation Key, FL, where we spent an idyllic  9 weeks fishing with Neail, pushing our sail-kayak to the max,  visiting friends and entertaining treasured family. 

The first to visit were Kurt's niece Sharon with her daughter Jordan and hubby Chris...being from Plano, TX, Jordan had a couple of firsts such as swimming in salt water....swimming with dolphins....catching her first fish

Jordan's first fish!

Jordan and Mom enjoying a singing lesson.

Jordan's first swim in salt water.

Sharon and Jordan after dolphin encounter.

 Next to visit were my son Matt with daughter Isobel and wife Gala.  They too enjoyed swimming, playing with dolphins, snorkeling on the reef.

Gala getting "kisses"

                                  

Belle shaking "hands"

Matt hanging on!!!

Belle hanging on with determination!!!!!

Easter Sunday found us is  Everglades National Park enjoying the active Wood Stork and Roseate Spoonbill rookeries and the endless array of lazy alligators woven in the shallow water and shoreline.  

Gator

Wood Stork

A trip to Key West is always a must so on a somewhat non-tourist Wed, we drove down the Overseas Hwy the 87 miles to the famous (now ruined by cruise ship stop overs.)  A tour on the Conch tram re-familiarized us with the unique  architecture and topography of Key West.  Since then I have read “Hemmingway’s Daughter” a wonderful novel for anyone who  has read “Old Man and the Sea” by Hemmingway.   

As I type this we are 8 hours into a 24 hour voyage to bring the boat from Islamorada to Owl Creek Marina near Fl Myers where we will store the boat for what is likely to be for us a very long 7 months.  With plans to spend 6 weeks in Alaska this summer and a two week river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam planned in October,  we decided to leave the boat in FL.  The solidly overcast sky has lifted off the horizon and there is an orange cast to the sky below the sugar candy clouds to the sea surface which is steely gray with a enough wave action to give it a textured look like corrugated steel.  Soon the sun will dip below the cloud line in a brilliant mass of pulsing energy protesting it’s confinement behind the blackening clouds. 

Night has fallen like an opaque cloak, we go from navigating through fields strewn with crab pot buoys to absolute darkness in a sea still strewn with crab pot buoys but now the fate of those bobbing foam markers that mark the scrounge of crab existence are out of my control.  Life in the wheel house takes on a different appearance a night; the chart plotter that tracks where we are and where we are going has a muted soft red screen, the radar screen takes on new importance as my night vision, a white light blinking every 4 seconds is visible on the horizon, not yet visible on my radar set to three miles.  As the sea jostles us about the white light appears to be wildly dancing about, not the steady flashing beacon suspended 18’ above the water surface.  My chart confirms the bouy’s presence.  A commercial ship has just called the radio to the Coast Guard on Channel 16  asking about information regarding the presence of squalls in the area that we are both motoring through.  Earlier the radar showed a significant squall activity that thankfully passed behind us. The captain was advised to monitor 22 Alpha, the station that the coast Guard mans for non-emergency communications.  Earlier today there were repeated  Coast Guard Channel 16  announcements regarding the danger of  sea spouts that several were sighted off Miami, boaters were advised to “use caution., ” and avoid the areas where the spouts had been sighted.  I am reminded that previously when we were in this area in the day time a Coast Guard helicopter was hovering over a boat practicing with a diver being lowered to the boat, I am every mindful of and grateful to the Coast Guard  and the many lives they save. 

The structure of the blinking light is now showing on my radar at the one mile range, I'm concerned that it didn’t show up when it was three miles away, need to adjust the radar settings,   My auto pilot course will bring us too close to the marker so I will adjust the course to go around it.

Because we are leaving the boat for several months, we have emptied and turned off the freezer which is now defrosting like a calving glacier, dumping huge slabs of ice into the bottom drawer of the freezer, as Kurt sleeps, in between checking the radar, engines and  generator temps, and oil pressure, confirming our course, perusing the depth gauge, watching for boats I am running down to the galley to shovel the chunks of ice from the freezer drawers.  At midnight I have to wake Kurt so that he can switch the fuel tank; we have 4 and occasionally “forget” to switch them before they run to empty and the engines suddenly lose power…..  never a good thing, most especially not good at night  while rocking and rolling on the Gulf.  The wind is slowly building, it’s close to twenty and lightening illuminates the uninhabited Everglades shore, again the marine forecast was dead wrong.

A gray, wind swept morn brought us through the narrow channel into the Ft Myers area and to Owl creek where we were welcomed by pelting, wind blown rain.  Very sad to be leaving our Water View home..........

Departing Dunedin

A Sunny Thursday morning, 64 degrees after a cold front delivered shivering temps to the snow birds, flora and fauna. It's 0900 I'm sitting in the cockpit enjoying a cuppa, the waxing moon in setting over the gulf, silently suspended above the tops of waving palm trees.  Across from me two noisy crows decorate mast tops complaining/conversing about who know what, sailboat halyardsconstantly clank, in the distance a red-bellied wood pecker distinctively calls, and from above the plaintive calls of osprey as they endless glide silent wind ribbons. A gaze upwards rewarded me with the sight of a pair of wood storks gliding across the sky, a very unexpected sight. A pelican lazily swims nearby,  the occasional splash of the jumping fish interrupts my reverie and I glance up at my little visiting heron friend (Green Heron) to amuse me.  Picture below as he is perched on the Hobie which is tied behind the transom.

On the 19th of January we arrived in Dunedin on the west coast of Fl. to visit my aunt Rose and uncle Art, 93 year old brother of my father and his wife of 63 years. Coincidentally, the little "noise" that I have been hearing as we idle and change gears has been steadily increasing in intensity from a slight metallic loose change in your pocket jingle to a metal plates thrown on a metal deck sound (no longer to be ignored.) A mechanic diagnosed water in the transmission, a new event as that is checked every day, so this means major transmission overhaul......ok...so we are "stuck" in Dunedin.

Upon transmission removal and delivery to Mastry Engine Service....we retrieve our car from Ft. Myers, meanwhile stopping at Sarasota to revisit our respective childhood memories, mine at a share condo at the south end of Lido Key that is still there and looks the same;  Kurt found the property that his Dad owned and the house that his sister Rita owned:) Unfortunately there is a red tide that is plaguing the area and thousands of dead fish littered the Gulf beaches.

So if you have to be "stuck" someplace, let me recommend Dunedin, there is a delightful town full of wonderful restaurants and shops within an easy walking distance from the lovely, lazy marina, a paved hiking/bicycling trail of 39 miles runs that runs right through the town; everyday we have walked or biked.  The trail leads to the access of  a number of county and state parks.  While hiking through Hammock Park, a 90 acre nature preserve of coastal forest park featuring 5 miles of trails, we spotted an male Anhinga drying his wings as a majestic blue heron glided in to perch nearby him.  The deep forests are home to the illusive gopher tortoise,  and small animals and birds;  we saw a Hairy woodpecker and Pileated Woodpecker (18")  and during one bike ride a RedTail Hawk swooped down in front of us and picked up a snake flying to a nearby fence where he unfortunately (fortunately for the snake?) dropped it, he sat on the fence, 50 ' from us willing us to leave him alone. We finally had the sense to stop gawking as hunger gave way to bird watching and we biked to the local barbecue stand and had a pile of ribs to cancel the goodness of any exercise for that week. On another ride Kurt had to yield to a flock of oblivious ibis who decided just as Kurt came by that the bugs were more tasty on the other side of the path.

Exploration with the Hobie-sail  (at the entrance to the marina a pair of Oystercatchers  have found a low tide feeding extravaganza) and the inflatable led us to Honeymoon Island and Hurricane Pass where for a brief time a small pod of dolphins accompanied us out in the channel as we went out into the Gulf.  That excursion whetted our  appetite and yesterday we returned to Honeymoon Island, a State park of 2,810 acres where we hiked on the "Osprey" trail and were lucky enough to meet two gentlemen photographers who were observing a nest of Great horned Owls (mom with two chicks) we were offered the opportunity to observe the nesting mom through the SLR 800mm lens magnification, it was magnificent to see the owl majestically perched upon her stolen throne with her two gray downy chicks, Kurt eventually spied Dad Owl high up in a pine tree a distance away; if my life depended on it, I never would have found that well camouflaged .  The gentlemen also offered us a view of a Yellow-rumped warbler which reminded me of the one that which hitch-hiked with us in the Chesapeake a couple of years ago after he flew in through the open wheel-house door; it was very windy and I suspect that the poor thing needed a rest.

As we were finishing up our walk on the Osprey trail, aptly named due to the numerous active/occupied osprey nests, a Great white heron landed on the trail in front of us and decided to saunter with us for a while; because I was focused on her, I stumbled upon a   rotund armadillo who was busily foraging on the side of the path; it's likely that I would have sauntered by him/her without notice if not for the heron.......Mr. Armadillo had the cutest pink nose, I suppose if you live in TX you do not think armadillos cute, keep in mind, NY'ers don't see them in the "wild."

Sanibel, Captiva, FL

"What a Difference a Day Makes, twenty-four little hours" and 30 kts of wind and a drop of 20 degrees of temperature! Spent last night gyrating on the hook in three foot seas between Cabbage Key and Useppa Island as a cold front barreled through again humbling us in the force of nature.  This morning finds us with a chilly 55 degrees and winds NW at 24 as we motor  North (wrong direction for warmth?) towards Sarasota. 

 For the last two days we have been anchored off of Sanibel Island on the side west side of the  J. N. "DIng" Darling NWR (cartoonist/father/founder of National Wildlife Refuge),  a birding paradise.    We launched our beloved Hobie kayak sailboat and sailed for many glorious, sun drenched hours over to Pine Island; a roseate spoonbill flew overhead so close, it felt as though I could reach up and touch it; a very rare treat, also saw wood storks that are fairly rare and  for a short while a dolphin consented to gracefully glide next to us....nesting osprey's decorated every channel marker; feeding osprey gracefully glide on silent ribbons of wind, momentarily hover then fold their wings back to swiftly dive for unsuspecting prey which they carry aerodynamically aligned as they fly to their nest to feed a spouse sitting on eggs (they mate for life) or young.

Last week we departed from the comfortable, well-appointed Bob and Jeanne Resort in Jupiter and headed for the the east coast.  Neail B. accompanied us as did glorious weather conditions as we traversed the somewhat seemingly endless miles (150) of Okeechobee Waterway that connect East with West coast Fl.  A peaceful anchorage under a blanket of stars near Indiantown brought us to the entrance of Lake Okeechobee which means "big water" in the Seminole Indian language.  The lake has a surface area of 730 square miles and is a key component to south Florida's fresh water supply and natural habitat to fish, birds and wildlife (the latter remained hidden.)  Our second night our was spent at a county park dock where overnight docking was "strictly prohibited." We managed to spend the night without  being fined or arrested for theft of services and left at daybreak for the final leg of the journey down the Caloosahatchee River to Ft. Myers.

While spending a couple of days in Ft Myers at the Royal Palms Yacht Club we toured the 20 acre Thomas Edison and Ford winter Estates which are situated immediately next door to the Yacht club.  On the grounds of the Edison Estate is a Immense Banyan tree that was a gift of Harvey Firestone and currently covers an square acre of land (43,560 square feet!) The sap from the banyan tree provided  latex from which tires were made for Henry Ford's cars.  A tour took us through the gardens, museums ,  pool complex, caretaker's house, Botanic Research Laboratory and the Thomas Edison's winter home which was built in 1885; the yellow pine post and beam home was pre-cut in Maine and transported by ship to Ft Myers where local laborers assembled it.  We gazed at the dining room table where Thomas Edison sat and dined with such notables as Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Charles Lindbergh, Marie Curie, and President Herbert Hoover....very humbling.....to think that one man, in his 83 years of life was responsible for inventing the tin foil phonograph, electric lighting system and filament for the light bulb, and other inventions totaling  1093 patents   that have had such a profound impact on mankind. 


Nothing can compare with the pleasure of walking down the dock and spying  a momma bottlenose dolphin teaching her baby to fish, of course I felt a little sorry for the fish who was clearly not having a "good day," but the baby dolphin certainly was, throwing the poor mullet up in the air and catching it and swimming helter skelter, jumping with glee, splashing gracefully only to give the poor fish another toss into the air….imagine the thoughts of the poor fish as he was being clenched between the rows of glistening white razor sharp cutting instruments of death while being propelled sideways through the water; in-between being lofted into the alien environment for an air born glimpse at the heavens where was likely to soon be residing. The lesson continued for 20 minutes and I'm happy to report that the fish lived to tell the tale of horror and likely live with matching rows of small puncture wounds and PTSD.  

Others of his school however were not so lucky as the baby dolphin was a fast study and the fish were smaller and better suited to the baby's little pallet, Momma and baby delighted in dining; swiftly slicing through the school of mullet, chasing, chomping, throwing unsuspecting victims in the air and leaping to catch them mid-flight, landing gracefully with the sun sparkling like diamonds and reflecting in long rays off their steel grey bodies.  

 God and Mother Nature are grand.  

                                                                       "baby"


Coincidentally we just passed G37A adorned with two majestic Bald Eagles ( in Lemon Bay, Manasota, south of Venice)