Granite Bay to Cascade Bay via the Mears Glacier

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It was hard to leave Grantie Bay. As we exited the Bay, we found the same whales were back and feeding in the shallows to the south. We all hove to and out came the binoculars and the large lens. I got a great shot of side-by-side flukes of the mom and her calf..

Karen, the master of the windless, cleans the anchor chain as she brings it on board

The crew of Deception stops to admire the humbacks

Mommy, Daddy and little Baby

School's in as Mom teaches her offspring the art of humpback feeding

We continued to see lots of humpbacks as we made our way south in Wells Bay.

The course to Mears Glacier up the Unakwik Inlet was wide open and quite calm at first, as pretty as it was sunny. We had to pay special attention as we crossed the moraine, as it was quite shallow and the fairway was narrow. The path to the glacier was clear of ice all the way until about a 1/8 mile from the face, when we made a right turn at the head of the inlet.

Mears Glacier comes into view

The glacier was gorgeous, and we took lots of pictures. The sun was out, so there was a bright blue sky framing alpine mounts.  The glacier produced a handful of calvings. Nothing spectacular, but they always holds your interest.

Deception in front of the Mears Glacier

Scott and Alison hug on the bow of Telita

Lance and Kathy, the owners of Telita enjoying the Mears Glacier

As we repositioned the boats to best advantage for photos, all of a sudden we heard a roar coming from the direction of the face of the glacier. No - not calving ice -  but rather two F-15 fighters that flew low over the glacier and then pulled straight up and departed as fast as they arrived.

I commended our flotilla leader, Brian Pemberton for arranging the attempt to stimulate the glacier into calving.

After sitting for a half hour enjoying the glacier and taking photos, the ice had filled in so we needed to go very slow though the bergy bits. We tried to find a clear path, and at one point saw 5’ on the depth sounder. Yikes! There was lots of banging and crunching as we made our way to more open waters. No damage, just noise.

"It's my Ice"

(Karen’s POV: These glaciers are fun to visit, but it’s not stress free, especially when the ice fills in unexpectedly around you. It’s essential to drive from the flybridge to see all the ice bits on and under the water, and Bob made good use of our rear view camera to avoid banging props into icebergs as we maneuvered our way out. I told him that I was ready to take a break from running up long fiords to see glaciers.)

Cascade Bay, in Eaglek Bay, is all about the waterfall. Otherwise, it’s a bit too open for our taste. It is open to the southeast, which is direction of the wind tonight. It has turned cloudy and rainy, and we are rafted to Telita in the SW corner of the Bay, without a lot of interest in shore exploration. We had drinks with the Telita crew up on the flybridge, which was dry and warm enough, with a reasonable view towards the falls. For future visits, the sailboat Saltia was in the NE corner, nicely protected from Southeasterlies.

Telita passes in front of the waterfall in Cascade Bay

Deception and Patos rafted in front of the waterfall in Cascade Bay

Some explorers arrived by float plane as our explorers form Mother Goose beached their dinghies 

Dinner was Ling Cod and broccoli. It rained all night.

 

Emerald Cove to Granite Bay

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We arose to a beautiful day, with sunny skies and calm winds. The fleet was off at 9am for a long “tour” of various anchorages before ending up at Granite Bay. We (OceanFlyer and Telita) decided to take a slightly different and shorter route, but we still indulged in some good “snooping”.

The green of Emerald Cove

First we went to the right, to check out Gem anchorage (great if the weather allows the amazing view) and Jade Harbor. I was really hopeful that Jade would be a great anchorage to check out on our way back to Cordova in July, but it was choked with kelp and didn’t look that interesting to us.

Then we headed over to Growler Bay, only dodging a piece or two of glacier ice that floated into our path. The Jim’s Rest anchorage was glorious in the sun, with lovely open meadows to walk on backed by treed mountains. We were tempted to stop, but kept on going to the head of Growler, which was also nice, particularly the view of the valley.

From there, we went through Elder Passage, which was easier than it looks on the charts, and not too shallow as the tide was rising. Elder Bay itself was only so-so after Growler, so we headed out and turned directly for Granite Bay. Deception and Patos detoured to Long Bay before following us.

Perfect weather in Prince William Sound

Dream Catcher, the 5th boat in the flotilla, was several days behind us, having taken a look at Glacier Bay before heading out in to the Gulf of Alaska for the passage to Prince William Sound. They raised Brian on the radio today, informing him that they were now in the Sound, but had been holed up for several days in Yakutat due to bad weather. We were thankful we avoided all of that.

As we approached Granite Bay, we saw whales fluking, a mom and a calf. We watched for a while before proceeding into the Bay. Granite Bay is glorious, with bold cliffs and some cute grassy areas here and there. We anchored in 60’ of water, and invited Patos to raft alongside us. Telita anchored closer to the mouth of the bay, while Deception braved the narrows and rocks to enter the Granite Bay lagoon. (Of course, given our schedule the following morning, they had to depart the lagoon about 10:30pm rather than spend the night, or they’d be stuck due to low tide.)

We went on a dinghy excursion in to the lagoon while the girls from Patos borrowed our kayaks. Rich and Rowan from Deception were trying to climb some of the steep terrain, and we gladly left that to them, comfortable in our dinghy. The water in the lagoon was so clear, it was blue-ish almost like the Carribean in the shallow areas. On our way back to OceanFlyer, we could clearly see all the rocks and boulders Deception had snuck through to get into the lagoon.

Kayaking in Granite Bay

Emily enjoys the Bay

Afternoon exploring in the dinghy

The crew of Patos joined us for drinks and appetizers, and then Bob and I enjoyed a dinner of pork tacos. After dinner, we could see that the whales were still outside Granite Bay by the flukes and blows way in the distance, so we ran up in the dinghy to see what we could see. We watched a bit, but soon turned around and headed off to bed, happy to be snug in Granite Bay.




Landlocked Bay to Emerald Cove via the Columbia

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We had another leisurely departure, it was nice out and and we actually tested out Bob’s porpoise-cam, putting the go pro on the boat hook and dropping it to water level at the bow. It was so funny, as Telita was watching us and wondering what we were doing to the poor porpoises.

We're rafter to Telita on the on our starboard side in Emerald Cove

Passing the distinctive spires of Tatitlek

It started to get very gloomy as we crossed the Valdez VTS area. We could see Deception and Patos on AIS, but then they disappeared. Turns out they were headed up to the Columbia Glacier despite ice and rain with low visibility.

Ok. So, the Columbia Glacier is to be the highlight of today’s passage. It is known as one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world and has been retreating since the 80’s. Named after Columbia University by the Harriman Alaska Expedition in 1899, it is  one of many glaciers in Prince William sound named after colleges. It’s a big one.

Telita works her way through the ice

You can see the glacier from afar, but when it first comes into sight you still have a long journey to go before you near the face. The ice field approaching the glacier extended into our path, but the ice was open enough for us to pick our way with care.

It is never a straight path to the glacier front. You move slow and try to pick a path where the ice seems small and the space between the bits is a least a boat width apart. It is not unusual to have to stop to a full stop, spin the boat in a new direction before continuing on.

Patos had turned back (not wanting to ding the boat’s gel coat or props), but  was a few miles ahead and encouraged us to keep coming. So we did.

The closer we approached, the colder it became. The wind was blowing off the glacier, adding to the chill. By the time we arrived near the face, I had donned my fleece, jacket, hat and fleece gloves. For me, the least enjoyable part of cruising to a glacier is that the helmsman must pay attention at all times. You cannot take your eye off the ice. So no pictures enroute (though Karen took several) and even when you look away to admire a berg passing by,  that’s always when you hear the thunk of ice hitting the hull.

You cannot avoid hitting ice. But you try to limit it to the small bits and on your own terms.

It took forever to get near the face (2 hours, actually), but eventually we stopped and all posed for pictures in front of Columbia. In fact, the difference between the location of the face as it was depicted on the most current charts and the actual face was dramatic. Our charts showed we had “traveled” over a mile out of the water and on the glacier!

Deception and OceanFlyer planning photo ops

Deception with the Columbia Glacier in the background

Brian, our fearless leader, poses with the "ice pusher" 

The crew of Telita bundled up in front of the Columbia Glacier

The perspective makes OceanFlyer look big in front of the Columbia Glacier. But we're still a 1/4 mile away.

OceanFlyer's crew, that us, poses for pictures

Columbia Glacier and its offspring surround us

With the photos “in the can”, including an otter giving Karen the stink eye as we went past, we reversed our route and began the equally long journey out of the ice field. One thing you count on is that the route you come in on will not be the route you use to exit. The ice is consistently shifting and moving. Opening and closing constantly.

The ice fields provide good "critter watching"

We give these big ones a wide berth

We were a bit tired on the way to Emerald Cove, our anchorage for the night, and we asked Deception if we could raft alongside as we were too lazy to anchor and there was a potluck tonight aboard Deception anyway. Telita made a similar request, so we were snug in a 3 boat raft, with Patos a short distance away. The rain became more persistent and we were glad to be enjoying the potluck on Deception to celebrate our first glacier face of the trip.

Easy to see why Emerald Cove got her name

Transporting the "pots" for pot luck tonight on Deception

Beartrap Bay to Landlocked Bay

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We had a leisurely morning, with a plan for a 10:30 departure, so Telita could exit Bear Paw safely and then join us for our trip to Landlocked Bay.

Beartrap provided good holding and the anchor came up clean. That makes Karen happy.

Beartrap Bay mirror smooth

We got underway ahead of Telita so Bob could troll for salmon. I drove the boat slowly on one engine, and Bob caught a fish, but it decoupled from the hook before I could slow the boat enough.

We drifted for a while at the mouth of the bay, waiting for Telita and enjoying sunshine and more Dalls porpoise. Telita was slow to get going, but we later learned they had drained their start batteries by leaving the engine room vents on all night. Oops! Happens to all of us.

Port Gravina on the way to Beartrap Bay

Today was another journey of 35 miles. It took us about 4 hours, and was uneventful. The highlight of the trip was having Dalls Porpoise play in our bow two different times off Gravina Rocks (we got video!) and finding some cell coverage at Tatitlek on the way into Landlocked Bay.

The entrance was clear and not too stressful, narrow in one area but definitely manageable. We anchored off the waterfall (a small one) and asked Telita to come alongside. We had pasta and salad aboard Telita, and watched Lance’s favorite Aussie film “The Castle”, which was great fun. The weather was still a bit gloomy, so we all hit the sack about 10:30 to prepare for our trek tomorrow to Columbia Glacier.



Cordova to Beartrap Bay

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We arose to a nicer day than yesterday’s wind and rain storm. It was a calm morning and we maneuvered out of our slip on G dock at about 9am without issue, despite the 3 rafted Bow Pickers right behind us. While most of the fishing fleet was snug in the harbor, there were still lots of comings and goings as we headed out, and the fuel dock was very busy.

Rounding the harbor entrance into the channel we passed the Northwestern, of Deadliest Catch fame, moored at the fish processing plant. She looks small when you picture her out in the Bering Sea fighting gales to harvest her limit.

The Northwestern of The Deadliest Catch fame

We later learned that in the non-crabbing season she contracts out to be a fish gathering boat in the sound. The smaller boats off-load their catch into her and then return to fishing. Once full, the Northwestern then takes her aggregated load to Cordova to offload and then goes back out and does it again. 

The weather is dead calm, and Karen drove most of the way while I did some boat chores and worked on pictures. We saw some sea otters and some Dalls porpoise, but they disappeared as soon as I went out to get a photo. While the sun is making an appearance in the open waters of Prince William Sound,  clouds started to settle down over the mountain tops as we rounded Gravina point.  So as we make our way into the fiords to our anchorage, I expect them to return to form a more gloomy sky.

Majestic Prince William Sound

As we made our way past Comfort Cove making 8 knots for Beartrap Bay, three Dalls Porpoise approached and began riding in our bow wave. We immediately went onto bow to take pictures, videos and to generally cavort with the Dalls.

Traveling companions play in our bow

They remained for what seemed a half hour but was probably half that. So long did they frolic at our bow that both Karen and I got a little bored and returned to the warmth of the cabin.

Telita had spent the night at Comfort Cove and was preceded us into Beartrap Bay. In fact, they arrived close to high tide, so that she had enough water to make it into the small cove at the head of Beartrap called Bear Paw Bay.

Beartrap has an easy but interesting entrance, and is gorgeous at the head, with steep mountains topped with craggy faces, as well as some treed mountains and a few waterfalls to boot. We passed a Bayliner headed out, probably back to Valdez. We hoped this meant that there would be no one in Beartrap besides Telita.

Our arrival a couple of hours later than Telita made the water in the approach to Bear Paw a little too skinny, so we were content to drop anchor at the head of Beartrap in about 22 feet of water. Even though the boats were less than a quarter mile apart, each was invisible to the other; so each crew felt as if they had the bay all to themselves.

The crew of Telita out exploring ion their dinghy

We explored the area around the island midway into Bear Trap Bay. Using the sounder on the dinghy, we looked for additional locations to anchor. Turns out there are lots of good candidates where you can tuck and drop the hook. We even found one shore where someone had installed a ring to facilitate securing a stern line. We enjoyed seeing some shallow caves and another waterfall.

What's in those caves?

Karen said, "I want to get closer"...So she got wet;)

Mother Nature did some sculpture in the rocks

Dinner was onboard; chicken stir-fry and wine. Dessert was aboard Telita: peach and apple crisp, courtesy of Alison aboard Telita and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies from the oven of Karen.