Bjorklund Log: Alaska Trip Day 52

7/7/11 (Thursday)

Blue Mouse Cove, Glacier Bay, AK

Miles travelled: 43

(Tor reporting)

We awoke this morning around 0715 and weighed anchor before 0730, to head north up Muir inlet to see Riggs Glacier and McBride Glacier. Although it is physically possible to travel northwest to the end of Muir Inlet (to see the Muir Glacier), the park closes certain inlets to motorized vessels to manage their impacts. The end of Muir glacier is currently closed to motorized vessels and the furthest we were allowed to travel was to the terminus of the Riggs tidewater glacier.

The weather started with overcast skies and very light east wind. Jess worked on getting breakfast going while Tor worked on getting north. We motored north along the west shore and stayed close to shore in hopes of seeing wildlife and Interglacial stumps that remain from earlier glaciations. The weather continued getting better as the clouds dispersed and the sun kept shining. The Riggs glacier was very impressive with its wall of ice directly opposite the towering White Thunder Ridge on the west side of Muir inlet. We went as far north as was permitted, turning around at 59 degrees 2.7 minutes north latitude!

On the way south we hugged the east side of Muir inlet and got as close as we dared to the Very shallow sediment fan emanating from the McBride Glacier. The electronic depth sounder went from over 400 feet of water to 15 in a boat length. Yare made a Hard turn to starboard to make sure we didn’t run aground before determining that we were just too far from shore to have the depth reading make sense. We finally figured out that with so much suspended sediment in the water the depth readings just couldn’t be trusted. We decided to play it safe and stay out towards the center of the channel as the tide was ebbing and getting stuck didn’t appeal to either of us!

McBride Glacier is one of the fastest receding glaciers in the park and was hard to see from offshore of its silt fan as it is already close to 2 miles up its scoured arm.

Working South we passed Sealers Island which is currently off limits due to being a rearing ground for seals and the park prohibits any vessel coming closer than 100 yards. We skirted the island well outside the 100 yard limit but did not see too many seals or pups. Shortly after we were hailed by S/V Osprey on the VHF and stopped mid channel to chat. They are friends from The Puget Sound Cruising Club in Seattle and it was very good to catch up on their trip since we last saw them in Juneau. We also hailed the Nordic Tug ‘Restless” on the radio as we recognized them from Hoonah. It is fun to stay in touch with the many friendly folks on the water up here.

Continuing south we crossed the large portion of Glacier Bay and headed for the shoreline just north of Geikie inlet where there was a whale carcass reported to be on the beach. We spotted the carcass but there were no large mammals feeding and it had been pretty picked over having been in place for over a year. Surprisingly there was still a large mass of fleshy parts in the center of some very large bleached out bones.

We pulled into Blue mouse cove and anchored in the SE corner of the bay in about 35 feet of water in a mixed bottom. We anchored next to the only other boat, Taranga (a fast passage 39 sailboat). Shortly after arriving, Gerd, one of the owners of Taranga came over to say hello in his dinghy. We were just feeding the boys, but had a great visit nonetheless. Gerd and his wife Linda built the boat from a hull and deck kit 34 years before and have over 50K miles cruising the inside waters between their home in Vancouver BC and Alaska. It was very inspiring to meet likeminded folks with a remarkably similar story to our own, just quite a bit further down the road of adventures. We very much look forward to seeing Taranga again and staying in touch with Gerd and Linda. After the boys went to bed Linda brought over some brownies and we very much enjoyed visiting with her. Neat Folks.

I should also mention that the evening in Blue mouse cove could not have been any prettier. The sun was shining, the clouds were all gone and we could even see what we think was Mt. Fairweather in the distance. Just gorgeous!!!