We returned to Juneau to drop off Ryan’s friends, the Keneally brothers, and
then set off for Tracy Arm, which lies three hours south of Juneau and is one of
the most spectacular fjords in North America. Nearly 25 miles long, it is most
often a river of icebergs that are calved from the glacier on an almost daily
basis. One has to navigate slowly and with considerable care to visit the
magnificent South Sawyer Glacier. More than a mile wide, it rises majestically
2,500 feet into the wispy white clouds hanging along its crown. Large cruise
ships have difficulty navigating the narrow fjord, so it is almost exclusively
the domain of private yachts. On our return, Ryan and his friend Nick Fletcher
rode a large, flat iceberg for a quarter-mile downriver. When we drew
out into the bay, we all agreed that the Tracy Arm experience ranked with the
best of our more than 30 years of yachting.
Top photo: Ketchikan’s Creek Street. Bottom photo: Totems are a
reminder of local traditions that venerate wildlife and the environment. (Click images to enlarge)
Traveling south to Wrangle and the Anan Wildlife
Observatory, we thought of all the wildlife we had observed, but wondered
where were Alaska’s bears? We were soon to find out at Anan, 35 miles south of
Wrangle, where thousands of spawning salmon draw brown bears, black bears and
other wildlife to feed in the lagoon. Sighting more bears than we could count,
we saw old black bears, young brown bears and cubs watching their mothers in the
rapids catching their noon meals—all seemingly oblivious to the human intruders.
The park rangers were very helpful in seeing to our safety, and we carried our
air horn and bear Mace as added precautions. After saying goodbye to Anan and its remarkable bears, we
headed south to Ketchikan where we were joined by our good friends Mike and Jan
Joyce of Hargrave Yachts. A visit to Creek Street, with its tales of the Alaskan
Gold Rush and the ladies who "entertained" the miners there, brought to life the
hardships and rugged life of the last frontier.
 |  |  | | Left photo: Fishing boats on the finger at Petersburg. Middle photo: Ryan Emmons
tries his luck in Wrangle Bay. Right photo: A "local" salmon-fishing at Anan
Bear Park. (Click images to enlarge) |
As we left Ketchikan to continue our voyage south to Vancouver and
beautiful British Columbia, it was difficult to believe that anything could
possibly top the Alaska we had grown to love and admire in a few short
weeks.
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