North To ALASKA!!And the TAT!!!

The Inside Passage I took the BC Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and then the Alaska Marine Highway from Prince Rupert to Haines, Alaska. Some of my better photos are shown here. I saw many light houses, and some pretty interesting weather (left). It was nice in general, at times a bit windy, don't forget your head gear or hats for this trip. We passed several pods of killer whales, a breaching pair of humpback whales (below), and a couple of Dall dolphins surfed the bow wave of the boat. Due to their very fast swimming speed they make a characteristic splash when they break the surface of the water. The only time I got off the AMH ferry was to go in to see Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. On our way back from the glacier we saw a black bear in someone's driveway. We also saw many bald eagles.

The Dall Dolphins have a characteristic splash due to their fast swimming speed (below)!

The Tat The Tatshinshini trip was lead by Craig Corona (left), with John French, and Mike Pratt. We had EXCELLENT weather, and a great group of people. We saw several eagles near or in their nest, one with a fish, and a wolf way off in the distance. A grizzly crossed the river in front of the lead raft (I now have pictures of the bear compliments of Axel {our resident chemist on the trip} Lubeck)!. A family of hoary marmots lived on the island where we camped with a view of Alsek Bay. The wildflowers, like the fireweed, were beautiful on our hike over to view Alsek Bay. We walked on a glacier, drank from a pool in the blue ice (and filled our water bottles), and experienced the whiteout phenomena if only for a short while. From one spot on the river we saw 19 glaciers, one which was at least 3 miles wide. I must go back to Yakutat to fish also. The Situk river has the perfect rocky sand bottom that the Salmon love!! They get the steelhead, sockeye, king, and silver runs every year and there are many Dolly Varden trout. This is a truly majestic place to visit.